Maudie: must see

A vile day out there - cold, pouring. But I'm in MY HOUSE WHERE IT'S WARM AND DRY. And I know where everything is. I can take food out of the freezer and HEAT IT UP. And I can do laundry ANY TIME I WANT. Does it get better than that?

Still jet-lagged, kind of woozy, but not badly. I'm getting my chores done and had a grand reunion with my family yesterday.

That's Ben ready for bed, wearing his boots - he still wears them at night, though by day, his little feet are perfect. And were in constant motion yesterday, tearing my house apart.

Today was Wayson's 78th birthday, so I made him a big lunch. He is family too. And then I went to see "Maudie." As a Nova Scotian, I've known about this marvellous, odd little folk artist for many years, loved her bright paintings. I look forward to any movie starring Sally Hawkins, an exceptionally fine British actress. And so it's no surprise that I adored this beautiful film, which has an incandescent performance by Hawkins but also Ethan Hawke doing a very good job as her almost brutish husband. It's a story of resilience and dedication, a woman with almost nothing going for her not just surviving but triumphing. She's a kind of Van Gogh, a driven soul who has to paint despite isolation and difficulty, though in the end, unlike him, she achieved recognition if not wealth before she died. Sally Hawkins's courageous and generous performance pays tribute to a courageous and generous artist. Highly recommended.

As I left the screening room, a woman stopped me and said, I saw you were at the film. What did you think? We began to talk; she loved it too. She told me she's from Newfoundland and her cousin Mary was one of the producers. And when she said Mary's name, I realized that her cousin Mary is married to my friend Nigel, whom I've known since high school. By the time I left the Varsity, this woman was another new friend. May this keep happening to me. I like it.