A River Runs Through It

COMPASSION is awareness of the other’s situation, and is accompanied by the wish to relieve suffering and to procure the other’s happiness.--Matthieu Ricard, ALTRUISM
Besides that first sign of crisp coolness when I detect the Halloween/Autumn season I often get a card in the mail that reminds me that Halloween is near.   This time the HAPPY HALLOWEEN card arrived from my good friend, Lottie Powell, in Yreka, California.  She is married to a firefighter named, Mike, and they have a baby girl now named Reida.   Lottie included a recent photo of Reida (taken in September 1992).  Reida Michelle Powell is 23 months in this photo.  She’s such a cutie pie, wearing that bandana.  Lottie plans to stop over to visit Alan and me at the beginning of 1993 during their Southern California trip.  I look forward to seeing her.  Lottie kept her words simple:
Michael,Wishing you a warm and wonderful HALLOWEEN.I hope all is going well with you.We are heading for JOSHUA TREE in January.  See you then…Always,Lottie




Photo:  Reida Michelle Powell, September 1992
On October 9tha new film came out called A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT.  Alan and I really loved it.  It makes me want to visit Montana and go fly-fishing someday.  It may not be a good idea if there are mosquitoes around though.  Ha-ha. 

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT is a true story about two boys growing up in rural Montana in the 1920s while rebelling against their stern Presbyterian minister father.   The eldest brother Norman (played by actor Craig Sheffer) eventually leaves home to become a disciplined, grounded professor, while the younger brother Paul (played by actor, Brad Pitt) becomes a rebellious journalist and descends into gambling and liquor.  Their mornings are spent in school and religious study, while their afternoons are devoted to fly fishing for trout in the Blackfoot River.   Most of the film surrounds the men's love of fly fishing for trout in Montana's rivers, and their shared experiences through it while growing up.   It’s a great character study with rich, dramatic acting.   I want to see it again.   I know I’ll get something new from it each time I see it.
“And I knew just as surely, just as clearly, that LIFE IS NOT A WORK OF ART, and that the moment could not last.”--Craig Sheffer, as the elder Norman in the 1992 film,A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT