Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Practical Magic

"I dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for."

~Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock)

Practical Magic

If you've known me very long, then you know that Practical Magic both the book and the movie, have been favorites of mine for years! This year they are a little more special to me, I am going to see, Practical Magic 2 today, the first day of autumn, as a a little treat to myself. Practical Magic 2 came out a couple weeks ago, but I saved it especially for today, as a little treat to myself. I will tell you all about it later in the week. You already know about the original film, released in 1998, but if you don't go watch it. It's a really great movie to get lost in. It's worth your time. A little romance, a little supernatural thriller, and all about women and the magical powers we all hold and bring us together. A story about sisterhood and so much more! Including a nifty soundtrack my Alan Silvestri. One of my favorite movie composers of all time! So, have you seen Practical Magic 2 yet? Have you seen either movie yet?

"Curses only have power when you believe in them. I don't. 

You know what? I wished for you too!"

~Gary Hallet ( Aiden Quinn )

Halloween Countdown FIlm #16... Practical Magic

 

 

"Can love really travel back in time and heal a broken heart? Was it our joined hands that finally lifted Maria's curse? I'd like to think so. But there are some things I know for certain: always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck, and fall in love whenever you can."

 

 Sally Owens (character)

~Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic 

 

Practical Magic IMBD page.

 

I read the book and I saw the movie, and both just happen to be stand alone masterpieces. Practical Magic is actually just one story, in a series of books by, Alice Hoffman, which spans centuries, and tells the story of the Owens women. The story goes all the way back to their ancestor, Maria Owens, a beautiful and tempting woman, with the ability to make magic happen! The books are a fascinating read, although it's dark and deep, but great for this time of year. 

 

By contrast this film, while portraying some of those themes, also celebrates the very best of life. Family, community, friendship, loyalty, discovering who you really are inside, and romance, while embracing the magic we all possess. I know that there is magic in my life, and moments when I have experienced so much of it, that I had to wonder if I was a witch. Like knowing things about people, before I meet them, and having the occasional dream that comes true, almost immediately after I wake up from it.

 

Call it intuition. Call it magic. Call it plane old coincidence, none of it should be ignored because it's a gift to me grateful for, and embraced. So watch this movie, and feel all the emotions it throws at you! And if you enjoy it, there's good news, because the sequel is on the way next year! There is a lot about the Owens woman, just waiting to be told! 

 

The original music is by, Alan Silvestri, and is amazingly beautiful! 

 

Amas Veritas  is one of my favorite songs.

 

 

Sandhill Crane In An Autumn Sunset

 

"It's amazing the places that love will carry you. 

It's astounding to discover just how far you're willing to go".

 

~Jillian Owens

Practical Magic

By Alice Hoffman 

 

 “If a year was tucked inside of a clock,

 then autumn would be the magic hour.”

 

 ~Victoria Erickson

 

 

Practical Magic

"You ever put your arms out and spin really, really fast? Well, that's what love is like. It makes your heart race.
 It turns the world upside down.
 But if you're not careful, if you don't keep your eyes on something still, you can lose your balance.
 You can't see what's happening to the people around you.
 You can't see you are about to fall."

~Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic

Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies, but before that, it was one of my favorite books. The two are very different, stand alone stories. The book is very dark. A magical cautionary tale, mostly about being careful what you wish for, while the movie embraces woman-power, magic, and of course, love. Love of family and life, and the love that celebrates finding someone..."a love, that will make time itself lie down and be still".  The movie also has one of the most beautiful pieces of music, ever in film. To me, it is the sound of autumn, and Halloween in particular.

Amas Veritas

 "Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender for luck. Fall in love whenever you can."

Sally Owens

~Practical Magic

#38 Leaf Of The Day

October 30th 2019

Grass Valley, California

Nikon

~Mood: Quiet

~Me 

Happy Halloween!

"I was born on the night of Samhaim, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper thing and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it."

~Carolyn MacCullough

Once A Witch

I wasn't born on the night of Samhaim, I was born on June 29th, on a rather dull, hot day, in early summer. A nothing special day. But I have always wished that October 31st had been my birthday, as it is my favorite day of the year! Free candy. The possibility of seeing a ghost, and a day when it's okay to admit that sometimes I dream about events that haven't happened yet. Or know things about people that I have just met, without them telling me! Or sometimes I know that the phone is about to ring, and sometimes I dream about the future... and sometimes those dreams are eerily accurate! Like earlier this year, when I dreamt about being surrounded by pheasants, and later that evening a pheasant appeared in our backyard. It stuck around in the yard, for about 3 days later. But on the third day, when I went looking for my new friend, it was gone, and I haven't seen it since!

I shrug it off, because all the women in my family have these flashes of insight. It was passed down to at least three generations! My husband, Alan, has come to enjoy it when it happens, he always says I should try for the California Lottery numbers, but that isn't how things work. I just have little flashes of truth, sprinkled with whimsy. Am I witch? Nah, I don't think so. But sometimes I have to admit, I wouldn't mind that label so much. After all, I don't have a long spooky nose, I don't ride a broomstick, and I don't cook up gross slimy things in my big black cauldron, also known as a Crockpot.

I'm just me, and whatever it is that causes the occasional insights I have, isn't something to fear, or ignore. It's fun, and one day it may just stop happening, so for right now I will just enjoy it, and enjoy the fact that I, and the women in my family, like the women in the book Practical Magic, we are a little different then other folks. It's just a finer tuned instinct than most folks have, and I thank GOD for it! It has been a cool source of fun, and it has, at times, literally saved my life. What can I say, I am just me, and Halloween let's me feel like I can just be me, with or without a costume! I am free to just be happy in my own skin!

 "Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can."

~Alice Hoffman

(Sally Owens)

Practical Magic

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

 

Autumn Is Practical Magic

"The smell of burning firewood and the molding of organic, earthy substances reminded her of jumping wildly into the enormous leaf piles of autumns pas and she suddenly wished that it was appropiate for someone her age to do such a thing."

~Abby Slovin

Letters In Cardboard Boxes

Autumn Is Practical Magic!

 Autumn is slipping away, and piece of me always dies with it. While I always feel emotional about autumn passing away, this year carries a deeper sadness than most years, because this has been a very emotional three months! The leftover emotions of 2015, settling into owning a home and all that goes with that. The election. The unbelieveable fear and pain the election's aftermath left me with. The cancer scare. 

But there were also some incredible moments of joy as well! The time spend with Alan on this vacation was absolutely perfect! We had a blast! The awe of seeing Yosemite for the first time! Finding out that our house has gained enough equity, that we can finally get our bills under control, and breath a little easier, maybe even begin some real renovations! All helped to balance my feelings!

It was a bittersweet autumn!

Like the dark leaves and the vibrant colorfull ones, it all blended together in a beautiful fateful tapestry.

Autumn is a whole life, lived in just three months.

And I will be lonely for it, until it is rebirth in September!

Until then...

"Squeeze your eyes closed, as tight as you can,

 and think of all your favorite autumns, crisp and perfect,

 all bound up together like a stack of cards.

 That is what it is like, the awful, wonderful brightness of fairy colors. Try to smell the hard, pale wood,

 sending up sharp, green smoke into the afternoon.

 To feel the mellow, golden sun on your skin, more gentle and cozier and more golden that even the light

 of your favorite reading nook at the close of the day."

 ~Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland

In A Ship Of Her Own Making

Leaf Of The Day

December 19th, 2016

Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

 

 

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 135~ The First Full Day Of Autumn

"Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron and russet, and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies."

~Sharon Kay Penman, Time And Chance

Okay, now I can post a new autumn photo every day, and no one can accuse me of trying to rush the year along! LOL. Truth is, I know I begin to miss autumn the day after Christmas each year. It's that week, between Christmas and New Years, that I begin to see the colors of autumn fading away. I don't mind winter, it holds some wonderful opportunities for a photo bug like me, but the smell of fireplaces, and the taste of apple cider and the delicious seasonal feasts of Pear and Havarti sandwiches, with a mug of freshly made French Onion soup, makes those short beautiful 90 or so days feel like a big warm hug. No other season comes close to giving me a sense of well being quite like autumn does.



"Squeeze your eyes closed, as tight as you can, and think of all your favorite autumns, crisp and perfect, all bound up together like a stack of cards. That is what it is like, the awful, wonderful brightness of fairy colors. Try to smell the hard, pale wood sending up sharp, green smoke into the afternoon. To feel the mellow, golden sun on your skin, more gentle and cozier and more golden than ever the light of your favorite reading nook at the close of the day."

~Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making

And now the beautiful "Amas Veritas" from the movie Practical Magic...




If autumn had a theme song, I believe it would be Amas Veritas.

:)

Now, pop over to my friend JR's blog and say Hi. He is awesome, he always makes me smile. :)

JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/09/apadf6-130.html

Music Please (A Musical Meme Sent To Me From Laura)

"To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself. Incredible and inconceivable."

-Aaron Copeland

Yea! I have a new meme to play, y'all know my fondness for memes. :) In fact, I have two new memes for this week. One sent to me from my friend Laura, of the blog, "Adventures In Juggling," and one sent to me from another good friend, Patrick, of "Patrick's Place." I am going to do Laura's meme first, and Patrick's meme later in the week. This is a busy week for me, and we have a Round Robin Challenge coming up this Wednesday, so Patrick, look for the meme you tagged me to do, this coming Thursday! :) So now... on with the Music Meme...

Here are the rules

1. Name between 5 & 10 songs that have made an impact on your life. I'll leave it up to you to decide how many you wish to describe.

2. Pass it onto five other people with a link back to your own post and this one as the original.

Click HERE to see Laura's original entry. :) Thank you Sweetie! :)

My Music List

1. Here Comes The Sun, By The Beatles
It was the first song I remember hearing on the radio as a little girl. I remember singing it over and over as a child, and I also remember that it always made me smile... even to this day. :)

2. I Saw The Light, By Todd Rundgren
As you know, one time, a long time ago, I fell in love at first sight. I remember every thing about it, even the fact that this song was playing on the radio. Well, it wasn't meant to be, but Mr. November did become my friend. It's a fond memory, of a profound moment, a long, long time ago. :)

3. Groovy Kind Of Love, By Phil Collins
Alan and I fell in love to this song. :) We enjoyed it so much that we had it played at out wedding, as our parents walked down the aisle. It's still our song. :)

4. The David Duchovny Song, By Bree Sharp
You knew I had to include this song... right? Oh how I lust after that man! LOL. Sighhhhhhhhhhhh. Hey David, like the song says..."I'll be waiting... in Nevada." :)

5. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, The Ramones
What can I say? It really, really rocks... and appeals to my wild side, which is fading fast. ROFLMAO! God, middle age is soooo much fun. :)

6. Prelude in C Minor, By Chopin
I really enjoy classical music. Always have. I put this piece on when I am feeling a little lonely, there is just something about it which makes me feel good inside. It's romantic, but a blue kind of romantic that makes it seem a little bit ok, to allow myself remember loves from the past. Sigh... I guess it's a girl thing.

7. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, By Rachmaninoff
Rachmaninoff wrote pure romance with this piece, it was a perfect choice for the haunting tune in the movie, "Somewhere In Time." I had heard it years before the movie came out, but since hearing it in the film, I always associate it with Christopher Reeve, and Jane Seymour in the roles of Richard and Elyse. It's one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.

8. Soak Up The Sun, By Sheryl Crow
I like this song for a pretty simple reason... it reminds me to stop taking life so damn serious, and have some fun. You know? ;)

9. That's Just What You Are, By Aimee Mann
I swear this song was written about every man, Alan and Elvis included, that I have ever met. Ladies, you can find the lyrics here. Go have a look and tell me if it reminds you of anyone you know? LOL.

10. Amas Veritas/Practical Magic, on the Practical Magic Soundtrack.
I loved the book, but I loved the movie just as much. :) This particular song is so lovely and so vivid that it is what I imagine autumn would sound like if it have an official tune. I love playing it, it is warmth and color and everything autumn is to me. I sound crazy I know, but it truly is sensual in every sense of the word. The whole soundtrack is wonderful, but this song makes the whole thing come alive. I love getting lost in the notes. :) You really must hear it sometime. :)

Okie Dokie, that's it for me. I now need to tag five people to play along. I usually leave it open for folks to join in, or not as the spirit moves them. So here is what I will do, I will send out some emails to some folks, as to not put them on the spot, and if they play, I will ask them to come back here and leave a link in the comment thread for this entry. If there is anyone else out there who wants to play, feel free to join in. Everyone is welcome! :)

Thanks again, Laura! :)

-OndineMonet
"Notes At Rest"
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, California
July, 2007
Afternoon