Doctober

Mike and I have been enjoying a number of films this month at the Doctober documentary film festival at the Pickford in Bellingham.  It has enriched my life to see the stories of past and present people and places struggling, celebrating, seeking grace, justice and trying to do it right.  We have seen horrible injustice and exploitation.   What I think it great about the documentary form is that you see things so clearly (if the filmmaker is skilled) and in a theater the big screen draws you into the world of the subject.  For me, it is so much more powerful than viewing the films at home.

The Pickford Film Center does a great job of curating films for Doctober.  We committed ourselves to choosing films to see and to making time in our lives to do that.  I think the purposeful act of making space to see nine films together in one month takes patience, practice, and commitment to the process.  We sit down as soon as the schedule comes out, study the offerings and our calendars and choose ones we can both agree on seeing.  It works out well.  Both of us see films the other might not have chosen alone.  It is a balance.  There is a balance between our choices and preferences and in the things we choose not to do in our activity-rich community.  The rewards are worth it.

What we have seen so far:

We Come as Friends - A film that portrays the startling truth about the exploitation of South Sudan.
The Birth of Sake - A lovely film about a craft brewery in Japan and the lives of the men who leave their homes for six months each year to live together to create handmade sake.
For Grace - The story of resilience and drive and the opening of a very high end restaurant in Chicago named Grace and how the concept of grace is infused into food, service and life.
Sembene - A portrait of the Senegalese filmmaker Sembene, who was the first authentic filmmaker from Africa, and how he helped reshape the narrative about life in Africa - what it means to be African and the injustices faced from within the culture and from colonization.
The Great Bear Stakeout - Wow!   The link will take you to Western Wildlife Outreach. Grizzly bears in Katmai National Park in Southwestern Alaska.  I was stunned by the fantastic footage filmed by the BBC crew.  Bellingham resident Chris Morgan who is both a scientist and a film star of sorts (if you watch Nature on PBS) was both in the film and at the Pickford to talk about the film, the bears and the experience of being with these large predators. The crew films the bears through a whole season and we see stories of survival and death that are amazing on the big screen.   A sell out for a theater filled with all ages of folks.
This Changes Everything - Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein combine to produce a must see film about climate change and the existential crisis and how we can use it to change our lives.  It was sold out and the Pickford brought it in for the week because of the demand in our coal-port battle ground.
Bikes vs. Cars - The title explains it all.  The locations where we look at Bike activism include Sao Paolo, Brazil and Los Angeles.  The film was followed by a local panel and every attendee was given a free glass of Cono Sur wine when we arrived, produced by a carbon-neutral footprint winery in Chile who have a bicycle on the label.  It was good wine and a pleasant surprise!  Mike has logged over 4000 miles on his bikes this year so he was delighted to attend.  Right in front of us was a biking friend of his.
Black Panthers - Vanguards of the Revolution.  A timely film that relates to why Black Lives Matter is an important movement.  Some of the things the Panther party stood for are the injustices and oppression we still see in our country and why people are rising up again.  I was surprised and pleased that the 2 pm Saturday showing was sold out.

We are seeing one last film this week bring our count to nine for this year!  The film is Haida Gwai and promises beautiful photography.  I am pleased that our son Ben will be joining us for our last film of the festival.   Our time and energy has been well spent this month.  No regrets.

Thanks for reading.

The Sock Drawer

I have been frustrated for sometime by my large and chaotic assortment of socks.  I am a collector of sorts and love colorful socks.  I have had all sorts of socks spilling out of two drawers in my small house and it has been a little crazy.  Yesterday I took on my sock drawers.  I emptied out both drawers, matched every sock that I could, found some strays and some that were too old to mend one more time and quite a few that could be donated to the Lydia Place thrift store, Wise Buys.  I decided that old and orphans could be donated to our Ragfinery store that accepts all sorts of fabrics and used clothing for recycling.  Some clever up-cycler with more patience and time than I have may find something fun to do with those socks.

I sorted into two drawers - one for warmer and hand-knot socks.  See the teal blue and the gray blue socks in the photo below.  Yes, I knit them and love them.  One drawer is for my lighter weight socks.  It will be so easy for me to maintain this system when I wash and put socks away.  I also made space for the socks I love and let go of those that I had outgrown.  I gave away every pair of knee socks except for two pairs of support hose I use when I travel.

The warmer and hand knit drawer

The lighter weight drawer

This simple little exercise was not as easy at it may seem.  I was inspired by my friend Carrie Koehnline who teaches about clutter and I had to be in the right space.  One of the pairs of socks I came across was a pair of Kate's that I have hung onto for 13 years.  It is a coordinating pair (one red and one blue) of bowling cows.  I looked them over and wondered if I could give them away.  I showed them to Mike who came in and out of our room during the sock drawer project.  We agreed they should stay in my collection.  It was a good decision.  I decided to wash them and get them really clean and smelling fresh before putting them in their new space in the lighter weight sock drawer.  It is amazing how something as simple as socks can stimulate so much thought and review of one's life.

I now wonder what else I can sort?  Today I got up and put some energy into putting away my summer clothes and preparing for fall and winter wear.  Actually this was after I got home from visiting my dermatologist and having some pre-cancerous lesions frozen.  I needed something concrete to focus my mind on.  I have been quite worried, not knowing what was up with a recently appeared spot on my sternum.  Mortality is something we are reminded of with regularity as we age and as we pay attention to the affairs of the world.  It is something I have to sort through more often than not these days.  I do not take my life for granted but I can lose my sense of balance when I worry to much about the what ifs.  Sorting socks and clothes for the seasons has helped restore my balance as has the beautiful fall weather. 

I end this post with a gratitude for this blog and for friends who are wiser than I am when I need some help out of a fog of worry and concern about my mortality and those I love both by knowing them or because we are all part of the family of life.

I visited the cemetery over the weekend and cleaned Kate's memorial and added some leaves to remember her by.  Balancing my living and the memory of my daughter.

Autumn blessings and thanks for reading.