Celeidgh

(And yes that is how you spell it, I believe. (It's pronounced "KAY-lee"))

Tenth had a Celeidgh tonight. A Celeidgh is a Irish or Gaelic evening of dancing. It was really fun and I don't think I have ever sweated so much while having such a good time. We did all sorts of dances, in some of which I actually understood what I was doing.
I now understand why all the girls in Pride and Prejudice (and other such novels) always loved going to balls; it is very fun to do something with such a large group of others. What I can't figure out is how on earth they managed to dance in floor-length dresses with corsets. Oh, well, I suppose that they, actually knowing how to do them, were much more graceful and therefore used up less energy...
Well, all in all, I enjoyed it immensely and I hope very much that they do it again.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

NO SPOILERS!!!!

I went to see Pirates 3 today. Daddy was telling us how crowded it would be but we were plagued by doubts given that we were going to the 9:10 AM showing. Indeed, there were about seven other people there. It was nearly 3 hours long... but worth every moment. It kept you on your toes, never knowing the next thing that they would run into. It left you (or at least ME) wishing to watch it again to iron out all the wrinkles about what on EARTH (or not, given the title) was going on in certain scenes.
My only advice for those of you who will be going to see it: hold your breath, listen carefully, and stay 'til the VERY end of the credits. I mean the whole way to the end as there is a rather important scene that helps to conclude the movie. It also helped me to come home a read a detailed synopsis on Wikipeadia...
All in all it was a wonderful movie, that was great entertainment. The battles and swashbuckling was well done; Jack Sparrow was as priceless as ever; it was (Hannah thinks) Kira Knightley's best performance (but she dislikes that actress) and she was really good; their were even moments when you wanted to yell "Wait! That can't happen!" but, of course, it happened anyway; and if you think about it it has examples of really good morals, about which I hope to write a short article.
I am looking forward to seeing it at least once more in theaters if not twice.

“Spells”

A spell (that breaks the pace of life abloom)
Disrupts life’s tale. Tells of events epic:
Living bodies in an eternal tomb.

The first spell’s cast by a bringer of doom
This tangible spell’s effect is basic,
Living bodies in an eternal tomb.

Not so the next. A game act, from His bloom,
To release His life fully, for our sake.
A Love that broke the pace of life abloom.

Buried three days in dark, despair, and gloom
His disciples’ hope and strength burnt like wicks.
Eternal body in a living tomb.

A different “spell”, “cast” over us, by whom
Many lives saved. Those who sing His lyrics,
Will find broken the pace of life abloom.

He rose again, it need not be assumed.
Within His will, it’s our predestined pick–
(an act which breaks the pace of life abloom)
Living bodies or an eternal tomb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(This is a Villanelle. One of the stiffer forms of poetry. Given that I don't have time to blog, and yet feel sorry when I don't, I am forced to blog my poems...)

Thunderstorms

There is an oppressive feeling in the air.
The sky lowers angrily
And there is an air of expectancy,
About the atmosphere.
Then! What’s that?
Suddenly, a CRACK! and droplets of water,
Thousands of them fall through the air.
Splattering the pavements with rain, and
Creating rivulets of cleansing water,
Through the city,
Which scuttle in the gutters.
Tiny rivers. Little rushing rivers.
That wash away the dirt of days past.

A friend lost, to distance or death.
Or even just a disappointed expectation.
Many things in this life
Can make us shake with fear.
Trials and hardships
That shake all that we believe
Or simply make us wriggle
‘Cause we don’t know what’s next.
Tests come in all different sizes,
And often, when we think we’re not ready,
They’re sprung on us, or may come
In a simple, slow and steady pace.
They even may be long in coming, or long in leaving, too.

Trials can sometimes
Seem more than we can hold.
And we can’t see
That any help will come.
“There cannot be a dawn,” we say,
“There isn’t any hope!
I am locked into my misery,
And it cannot do me good.”
We laugh at those who say that clouds
Have a silver lining. For we say
“They can’t be right. And I’m the only one to ask!”
But we are often cleansed and washed
By the most oppressive trials.

VERY Good Movie

Well, if any of you have not seen the new movie called The Prestige you really aught to. We got it out and watched it last Sunday. It is a movie that makes you think about what it is trying to say. I was a bit sceptical about its premise (I had gathered what I THOUGHT the premise was from hearing about it from people and reading about it online.) I thought it was simply about two magicians in Victorian England fighting for who was the best. But while that is there, there is SO many more themes and truths conveyed.
You never guess the ending until it is sprung on you (at least I didn't) and it leaves you with things to talk about. Like convincing Daddy that it WAS a believable plot because while some of the things would not have worked in the real world "that is the reason for fantasy." As I said to him "In all good fantasy you are asked to make one big assumption. For WOM to work you have to make the assumption that in Victorian London people really could walk around throwing spells at each other. In The Prestige, the assumption that you are asked to make is that the machine can actually work."
It doesn't happen often that a movie sparks loads of conversation, I think it happened last with The New World. Which was also good. I am looking forward to watching The Prestige again with Mom and ironing out some of the kinks in my remembrances of it.

Would anyone care for a portable construction site?

Well, if any of you do one has moved into our hall. Over the last 2 years the men have been working on our steps. But it has never really looked like a construction site. It had jack holding the stairs up, and even the occasional piece of draped canvas, and a wrenched up floorboard or two.
But our state of peaceful construction IS NO MORE!!!!!!!! No, the plasters have moved in for the week, bringing with them everything from scaffolding to (and this WAS a surprise) plaster. Now there is scaffolding rigged up on the steppes and plastic hanging everywhere, protecting the wood.
There is a powdery smell that lingers in the air.
There is metal(sp?) poles and wooden platforms nearly blocking our way to the upper stories.
There is progress! Which is cool!
There are six men scrambling around with large amounts of wet plaster and long sheets of dense chicken wire! (which they nail to the underside of the stairs and slather the plaster on)

Pork at Passover...

We had a hectic week, but right in the middle we had pork for passover. I trust that you all know that pork is like the unclean of the unclean as far as Jews are concerned. However, given that we are not Jews and that God said that nothing was unclean unless he made it so, we had pork for passover.
And it was very good pork.