blue's feeling blue

[BlueGrey]

I remember years ago reading Jean Kerr saying that she was actually nostalgic for her future.  At the age of 40ish, she really thought she'd be a young mother one day, coming home after a tennis game and whipping up a creme brulee for her adoring family.  Ms. Kerr was a very, very funny woman and "nostalgic for the future" really stuck with me.  

It's kind of snowy, slushy and grey tonight.  And my L.L. Bean catalogue winter scene just isn't happening.  Will I ever have the energy to make my own Christmas decorations?  Shouldn't I be tramping through the woods these days wearing a gorgeous handmade sweater?  Sometimes, I sneak out at night and gaze at the stars.  But my first thought is always that I should gaze at them more often.  

I think maybe the winter doldrums came early this year.  Anyone else?

[sparqui]

Gazing at the stars sounds very calming and beautiful BlueGrey. I'm not big on cottaging but being a city dweller, I certainly appreciate being able to watch the night skies in their full glory when I am out in the country.

As for winter doldrums, mine usually kick in by late January, early February.

[lagatta]

Me, as soon as I can't ride my bicycle any more - early this year.
 :rant2:  So I have to find something else to stay reasonably fit and feel somewhat alive.

I hate the countryside and even more the wilderness (glad they exist, mind you, but I'm terminally urban) but indeed being able to see bright stars is lovely. Remember that keenly from stays in Italy (not in Rome, of course, but in middle-sized cities) where the night sky was so often clear.

At least my cat, who was in very bad shape, is on the mend (knock wood) so that is a very positive note. I have a lot of green plants, and was able to bring in quite a few geraniums that still have red flowers, so I don't feel as if I'm only looking at dead trees and dirty grey snow.

[skdadl]

I remember Jean Kerr,  and her husband Walter, who was the ... film critic? ... for the NYT? No, I'm wrong: theatre critic.

I may not be quite grasping that "nostalgic for the future" thought. Did she mean that she was reimagining herself young again? That's not such a bad thing to do. I suspect that most older people keep feeling a bit surprised that the world thinks they are old when they still feel that they could bound or sweep into a room like a kid. It's an odd experience getting old.

[fern hill]

I don't get it either.

While there are definitely some crappy aspects to aging, I don't want to be young again. And why reimagine one's life? This is what am I. Because of what I did. And what happened to me and the world.

Sounds like this Jean Kerr has a case of Ralph Lauren-wannabe-ness.

[chester]

It's kind of snowy, slushy and grey tonight.  And my L.L. Bean catalogue winter scene just isn't happening.  Will I ever have the energy to make my own Christmas decorations?  Shouldn't I be tramping through the woods these days wearing a gorgeous handmade sweater?  

On Radio 1 Saturday, someone quoted someone else on advertising (sorry, i can't remember details of program or participants): "advertising doesn't missrepresent the product, it misrepresents the social conditions of its consumption".  I always wanted to do a study: "cost" out the home and clothes depicted in an ad for oh, say, the swiffer and compare the results to the average for the people who actually buy the swiffer....

[lagatta]

It isn't only the cost, for someone in a too-new city in the Prairies or the Middle West would be hard put to find a charming place like the New England settings of LLBean ads at any cost. Though of course such ads are selling a "lifestyle" that requires pots of money and perfect teeth.

[BlueGrey]

I may not be quite grasping that "nostalgic for the future" thought. Did she mean that she was reimagining herself young again?

Can't really remember.  I think she was paraphrasing somebody else whose definition of mixed up was someone who was nostalgic about the future and hopeful about the past.  It's just a kind of bothersome feeling that life isn't playing out quite the way it should.

Lagatta said "Though of course such ads are selling a "lifestyle" that requires pots of money and perfect teeth."

Too true.  And I'm a sucker to fall for it.  But it's not just advertising.  Anne Tyler's books always make me long for a mixed-up, interesting but generally happy extended family.

[skdadl]

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

I believe that is generally attributed to John Lennon, but don't quote me.