The Secret Language

I invent words. Those close to me are already in the know and make use of them. A couple of years ago, my nephew came to visit while we were living in Cluj. We had some great laughs during his stay and when he left, he had already put to good use some of my invented words. One evening, I received a call from my sister.

‘You have driven my child crazy with your invented words. What does ‘hopsh-hopsh’ mean? Yesterday, he asked me to do it and he was filled with indignation at my lack of understanding since it had been so much used during our stay in Cluj.’

‘It means to take a nap or even to snore, sometimes’, I replied laughing.’

I remembered about this dialogue the other day, when my husband referred to it (taking a nap) by changing it into ‘hapciu-hapciu’ (the equivalent of achoo in Romanian). 

Well, the squirrel is really a part of our world and we cannot help but refer to him.

Beauty

It's evening. I arrive at a restaurant. The kind waitress leads me to our reserved table. Then, she tells me that until my friend gets here I can read the menu online.

At that very moment, my phone was in my hand as I was texting my friend.

I (with the classic mobile phone in my hand): 'I do not own a smartphone, but I am waiting for my friend to arrive in order to check the menu.'

The waitress (slightly shocked, but comes back with solutions): 'Oh, but this too is beautiful.'

Little Apricot

It's snowing, but in my heart spring unfolds.

Stronger and stronger that beautiful sound of the song my father sang while we were little comes back to me.

This is how spring sounds. This is how we laugh. This is how we rejoice.

(the Romanian words 'zărzărică' or 'zărzărea' refer to a type of apricot, a small one)

P.S. A lot of songs include verses about a guy named Ionel who seems to appear and ruin things. 

Film recommendation

When a great actor passes away it's hard to explain why one feels sad. Especially, if it happens that one has never met that actor, but one feels to have shared so much that no explanations are needed.

I am not entitled to rate actors' performances, but Robin Williams' seems hard to be replaced. And actually, I do not seek to have it replaced. I guess, if we tried to replace things we would not gain anything - well, not anything new, that is.

Christopher Plummer recently passed away. But his legacy is so great that it becomes priceless. I took a liking to him from the first time I saw him, performing in The Sound of Music. Over the years, I was glad to discover and rediscover him in various roles.

His entire filmography is worth watching. All his movies are great. One surely will find in them a thing, a look, a saying, a smile - no matter how small - to win one's heart forever.

I dearly recommend the movie Remember. I reckon that talented people and their work should not be surrendered to forgetfulness.

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