As a part of my regular, normal, non-mystical day yesterday, I streamed a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey from the PBS website. Masterpiece Theater really is always so good, though I rarely watch it. I don't usually need fiction since my 'real' life is rather overfull of drama at all times.
Downton Abbey is a variation of the Upstairs/Downstairs model in which every member of the household plays a role, something that makes more sense to me since I've been a servant in so many past lifetimes. Watching Jane Austin mini-series is always a little tedious, since the servants say almost nothing. They're kind of invisible, two-dimensional. Only the upper class people have personalities. In Downton Abbey they are all of them a bunch of characters, including the servants.
I'll admit that my favorite characters in the series are the ill tempered, self-centered maid and her buddy, the ambitious, self-serving footman. They sit around smoking cigarettes all the time, gossiping and planning how to advance themselves within the hierarchy of service. If they meditated every day, if they were kind and mindful, well, the unfolding drama would not be very compelling, at least to me. In fiction, at least, I prefer those with minor character flaws to long suffering, really good characters who I find, almost always - in fiction - to be boring. Am I revealing something about myself I shouldn't? Hope not!
Today is clear and calm. The promise of spring is in the air, though spring is a ways off still. I even heard birds singing this morning (first time in awhile). I'm going to get out for a nice walk, maybe open my third eye again to the unseen, thereby once again engaging in my personal drama. It was a nice break yesterday, though. I see why so many people enjoy fiction. It's like a mini-vacation from the sturm und drang of 'real' life. Very cool.
12 comments:
These photos are lovely.. Very soothing.
Downtown Abbey sounds divine! I must check it out.
Have a beautiful day♥
Love the icy shots!
I Tivo'd this series but I haven't checked yet to make certain that it really did record. I am looking forward to watching it! Glad you are enjoying it!
I love PBS and Masterpiece Theater is always good!
And, escape from the drama of real life is a good thing!
;)
The photos are like something from a fairyland of ice...just captivating.
Fiction is usually a great way to escape into a world more interesting than the ones in which we dwell, but surely your aim in sampling fiction is to capture a moment of "ordinary-ness."
Whatever works to change things up this time of year, I say.
Pip, pip...cheerio!
I have not talked with you in so long I missed your planned visit to Poland. I do have a fb friend Ela Anders if you want a local contact. I am happy for you and your visitation by the burly angel. I can imagine it now in my mind's eye and that surprise shy but please look on your face. May you always hear the angels. Xx
love fiction, but more than that, the stories of the people that come to life through it.
we are slipping and sliding here abouts with overnight freezing rain...be careful out there on your walk
Ypur photo's are incredible! I too love fiction just to take me away from my real life. Hope you have a grand day and much love!
boy oh boy reya - i walked home tonight - eight km - the snow like wet sugar, brown where the cars had mushed it up. the sky that pale blue-grey i know you know, and i realized that my eyes were closed. not the ones i spot the ice with. nope the other ones. they've been closed for about three days. that's why i was so bummed yesterday. i was missing so much!! so this evening some breathing. some timelessness. gotta welcome my other eyes back. oh and i had a major jane austen binge in november and i had the very same sense of the real players - the eyes beneath the stairs - as being shoved off into the wallpaper. yeah i want their story. it's gotta be better!!! steven
I've been enjoying Downton Abbey, too. My only gripe is that it seems to be written partly as therapy for modern Brits who are still dealing with the legacy of the class system. There's at least a couple "you can be anything you want to be" talks per episode, and as dialogue they don't flow all that well with everything else.
Great hats, though. I find myself staring at the women's hats, don't you?
The hats and the dresses are truly fantastic. It was a graceful moment for fashion, definitely.
My daughter in DC called last night, Reya, to tell me she smelled spring in the air. So you're not imagining it!
Another blogger suggested Downton Abbey to me just yesterday. Guess it's a sign to add it to my queue!
I am glad you can sense Spring on the way, and are noticing the birds. Our birds are so raucous here in Australia, crows, cockatoos,kookaburras and throaty wattle birds - harsh sounds, but much loved. I'm woken each day by screeching cockatoos whatever the season. Love your photos.
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