March 28, 2024

Escaping February

Rehoboth Ramblings

Posted

January decided to go out with a bang, or so it is predicted as I write this. The cries of “bread and milk” are heard throughout the land, or at least groans of dismay and sighs of resignation. When there is a blizzard, I always worry less about falling snow and more about falling trees, a constant fear when high winds strike around here.

Now would be a great time to hibernate, if only we could, though I would prefer something more comfy and cozy than a cave in the winter. I always feel sorry for the poor groundhogs that are dragged out of their burrows on February 2, blinking into the light and wondering what the heck is going on. Just leave the poor creatures alone. We all know there are six more weeks of winter in these northern regions.

I’ve been good about going out for walks in the bitter cold (briefly) but tromping through deep snow is another matter. I usually take our dog Lucy out for 20 minutes or so, unless the weather is really bad, in which case she wants to go back inside as much as I do. I’ve become so used to dog-walking over the decades that during those times when we were without a dog, I felt funny walking by myself. I think of canine companions as fun and furry exercise machines, although when there is a blizzard you might wish your dog was a cat.

            Speaking of our dog, I’ve enjoyed seeing a Lucy-lookalike as a supporting actor in the new “The Gilded Age” series on HBO. I found at least the first episode in this latest Julian Fellowes series entertaining, though it’s received several really negative, even nasty, reviews, such as “Dime-Store Downton” (in the New York Times).           

Yes, this new series is pretty much Edith Wharton/Henry James very watered down for a wide audience, but it’s supposed to be just light entertainment about 19th century robber barons and their social-climbing wives, not great art. It’s more interesting if a viewer is familiar with the Newport of that era, though Newport isn’t really shown so much. Visitors to The Breakers might recognize its kitchen as the kitchen in the Russells’ new Manhattan mansion.  

A lot of the show was filmed on an elaborate sound stage on Long Island apparently, a far cry from Highclere Castle in “Downton Abbey”. You can tell when the streets in the background are computer-generated. Regardless of critical reviews, “The Gilded Age” is still a lavish (those costumes!) and amusing form of entertainment for these long, cold winter nights. A bit of escapism is called for in February. And sometimes bad shows can be entertaining in their own (unintentional) way.

Obviously the Julian Fellowes’ franchise, so to speak, has priced itself way out of reach of PBS these days, regardless of the program. I feel sorry for PBS with the fierce competition from all the streaming services these days. But when I find a variety of interesting British shows on free streaming services, I wonder why PBS seems to concentrate so heavily on British crime shows. Maybe that’s all that many viewers are interested in, but I’ve always had off-beat tastes in entertainment. I do enjoy British programs like “Call the Midwife” and “All Creatures Great and Small” which are both entertaining and intelligent. I only wish there were more shows like these on PBS.

We always joke about these cozy British mysteries where charming little towns in The Cotswolds have someone like Father Brown solving one murder a week, as if this bucolic countryside was a hotbed of violent crime. On the other hand, I prefer that to the more grim and grisly British police shows. Anyway, I’d like to tell GBH (I still don’t see why they dropped the “W”) that I enjoy British programs on houses and gardens, history, and travel more than cops/crime/corpses. And let’s not mention the interminable pledge breaks.

Many people escape February (or part of it) by heading to warmer climates. Many others just stay up north and deal with it, one way or another. One of the most time-honored ways of winter escape is to stay cozy and warm with a thick comforter, a good book, and that cuddly little dog, of course.

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