The Secret World of Arrietty

Good morning my dears! It is only ten o'clock in the morning, and I have already ventured out into the world and come back to the roost. It is cold, and I am already pondering making some popcorn to accompany me whilst I watch my latest new find: The Secret World of Arrietty. It is based off the children's book "The Borrowers" about little people that live in our houses. You ever wonder where something is that you have misplaced? Well, it probably wasn't misplaced, a Borrower probably "borrowed" it. ....

I still remember watching the 90's movie with John Goodman "The Borrowers." I loved the books as a kid and the movie, and it's a pleasure to be watching this studio Ghibli jewel.

Arrietty is almost 14 and going on her first expedition to "borrow" and along the way is seen by a human boy.

There is a scene where the mother is worrying about Arrietty going on her first outing, and the father says, "she needs to learn to survive once we aren't around anymore." ...

And upon venturing into the big open house, Arrietty wonders out loud, "What is this place?... It's so big?.."  I don't even have to be a two inch tall girl to have asked that question myself looking at the big world around me sometimes. Sometimes it is so easy to feel like just a small speck in this great big world we live in. I like to feel that way sometimes; it can put a lot of things in perspective and simplify things. It makes me feel like a little kid again.

That is one of the things I like most about being a kid, is I can look at things for how they are, not for all the complications I sometimes needlessly add on being an adult.

Have a simply beautiful day all,
Read Riding Hood

From Up On Poppy Hill: true love is always young love

 Good early afternoon all my dears, it is a cloudy day here, and the threat of rain is hanging over us all.  I am actually off of work and just arrived home from the river. I enjoyed quiet time at the river and I ate my early lunch before coming home and tucking myself up to maybe write, watch some movies, and thumb through some books.








I had the pleasure of watching the latest Ghibli film, From Up On Poppy Hill. I first found out about it a while ago from a trailer on YouTube. Since the poppy is my favorite flower, the title alone drew me in. It is about two school kids in post World War II Japan that fall in love with each other.

I think Studio Ghibli enjoys sharing stories about love, and more specifically, about young love, or love found by people young in heart, people new and fresh to finding true love. Like Howl's Moving Castle, the characters aren't necessarily young, but upon falling in love with each other, the love they share isn't messy, it is pure and adulterated, it is a love that children often find and lose and that adults are lucky to ever find again. The love I am talking about is a love that doesn't stem from lust or loneliness, but a love that sparks between two individuals over a connection. Two people can be a perfect match for each other, but if they don't have that "love" for each other, it's like that saying, "who cares for all the crinkling of a pie, if at the bottom some sweetness doth not lie?." It basically is saying even if a pie looks perfect, if it doesn't taste sweet, no one will care  for it. And just like two people, even if they look "picture perfect" together, if there is no love, what's the point?


As we become adults, we go through experiences that jade us and we begin to look at all our childhood dreams as "childish notions" that should be set aside to "grow up." As little girls we want our prince charming, and as little boys we want our princess, but sometimes growing up, life and circumstance gets in the way and over time we convince ourself that the notion of finding "prince charming" and finding "our princess" is ridiculous and foolish. This is where we are wrong. It is not wrong to hope for our prince, or our princess's, we just have to grow smarter about seeing things for what they are. It is not wrong to love, but it is wrong to stay with someone just because you love them, when all they do is hurt you and never give back the same love you gave them. As young people too often we fall in love with someone that we "see" as our prince/princess, when really love has blinded us and what we mistake as royalty is really just the opposite.
So, what am I trying to say?....
Never stop believing in love.
Never stop hoping for your fairy tale.
Women, We should want a prince charming!
Men, You should want a princess!
But don't go looking for a princess in a slut
and don't go looking for a prince in a player.
And if you want a prince, don't present yourself as anything less than a princess.
And if you want a princess, don't present yourself as anything less than a prince.
AND never settle for less than Exactly what makes you happy.
Learn to recognize what's in front of you, and don't beat yourself up for loving people, you can't help who you love. But you can help what you do and who you get involved with.

Watching From Up On Poppy Hill, I enjoy the belief that true love is always young love, no matter what age it finds us; whether it is like the little children in Ponyo, or these young adults in Poppy Hill.







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