Delights: June 30 to July 6

June 30: Our movie theatre is hosting a summer-long festival of animated films by the legendary Studio Gibli, co-founded by the acclaimed director and animator Hayao Miyazaki. So I attended a matinee of Howl’s Moving Castle, having just read the book by Diana Wynne Jones. (Thanks, Dianne, for the recommendation!)

I loved the book, which included an hilarious subplot on being old. I loved the movie more, not only because the anime’s textures, colors, and whimsey delighted me, but because the film doubled down on the old-age stuff. The protagonists — all formidable, complicated 65-year old women — offered a running commentary on aging, led by our hero Sophie. The women were voiced with delicious knowing by Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall and Blythe Dinner, with Billy Crystal playing a fire demon trapped in the cooking hearth.

The audience, composed of families with children and a lot of retirees, audibly savored different parts. The kids shrieked when Wizard Howl’s towel dropped off to show his bare bottom; the retirees chuckled sympathetically as Sophie and the Witch of the Waste lurched, exhausted, up an unending flight of stairs. (“I’ll never get there with these legs,” Sophie complains. She sits down on the staircase to rest; when she stands up, her knees pop.) 

And we practically snorted when Sophie moaned, “Being old is worse than I thought.” But, the retirees would have added, it also lets you go to the movies at 11 a.m. on a weekday (and not have to ask your mom’s permission to buy popcorn).

Bonus: The Witch of the Waste aptly remarks as she watches Sophie climb the stairs, “I don’t get it; where does she get all that energy?”

July 1: The 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival — an annual week-long event offering music, conversation, crafts, folkways and lots of food — spotlighted the wide-ranging beauty of the Ozark Mountains. Touching Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and a bit of Illinois, the Ozarks (I learned) encompass Cherokee-language recording artists (in all musical genre, including heavy metal), mountain bike ramp builders, a Marshall Islands boatwright and, of course, bluegrass music.  

As the fiddler, banjo, guitar and harmonica swung into a lively tune, two 70-somethings from the audience entered the dance floor. The couple stepped, shuffled, twirled and, for the next number, were joined by a 70-something woman in purple pants. A few songs later, the gentleman invited a third 70-something woman onto the dance floor, after he’d seen her stepping, shuffling and twirling on her own. When the fiddler announced the band’s closing number, all four 70-somethings returned to the dance floor: stepping, twirling and, at the end, unselfconsciously joining hands in a joyous circle.

Bonus: Sophie reminds us: “One nice thing about getting old is that nothing frightens you.”

July 2: “Are you listening?” Kevin called from another room. Today’s broadcast of  “Hidden Brain” featured the surprising delights of aging and, yes, I’m listening. I chuckle as I hear Old Sophie’s wisdom pass through the studies of psychologists. 

“Are you listening now?” Kevin calls. Yes: old people can’t always live in the moment and do need to think of the future. (Note to self: get to work on that financial advisor thing.) 

The episode concludes with the psychologist noting that many old married couples are actually happier as they age, in part because they wear the years they’ve shared as a badge of honor. (“‘You may not be perfect, but you’re mine,’” explains the psychologist.) I smile and turn around. There is Kevin, a bit of glisten in his eyes and his arms open wide. 

Bonus: Here’s a description of the Hidden Brain podcast The Best Years of Our Lives: “Aging isn’t just a biological process. Our outlooks and emotions also change as we age, often in ways that boost our well-being. Psychologist Laura Carstensen unpacks the science behind this surprising finding, and shares what all of us can learn from older people.” 

Double Bonus: Listening to the podcast again, I heard an anecdote about Simon & Garfunkel, which led me to their albums and this very fitting song, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy). I listened to it three times. You remember how it starts:

Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy

July 3: I love beaches. And I love construction equipment. Rarely do I get both at the same time. Today was my lucky day!

Bonus: Eventually I moved to a quieter place where the beach had already been restored. I noticed a large group of seated women, their heads turned sharply to the left. What are they all looking at? Oh joy! Like me, they are enthralled by a nearby corral of construction equipment. And then they shifted into downward facing dog.

Bonus: Sophie reflects on some of the frustrations of aging: 

• “Do you know how hard it is to do things when you’re old?”
• As I sat there shivering in the movie theatre, Sophie whimpered, “Why do you get so cold when you’re old? I’m fatter than ever, yet the wind blows right through me.”
• After being dropped on her bottom to escape the bad guys, Sophie laments, “I’m too old to be treated like this.”

July 4: Seeing a cluster of teenage girls walk past her in front of a Bethany Beach frozen custard shop, a woman  smiles and calls out, “Hi, guys! . . . But I know you don’t want to see your teacher!” And, looking at them, she playfully puts a hand in front of her face. 

The teens walk by without noticing her.

Poor teacher. On the other hand, everyone knows that teachers live at school and never look cool and tan and happy on a boardwalk.

July 5: The lawnmower parted the waving grass with a tidy path. I guess I can thank the mower: first I noticed the crisp path; then I spied two meadows of buttercups on either side. My eyes filled with yellow as I drove by, and I rued the voracious blades. But as I write this, I think of the mown path, lined up perfectly with the front door. And I wonder if, just maybe, the family chose to keep this welcome mat of sunshine.

Bonus: Sophie on cleaning:

• Howl’s young apprentice: “Are you sure you’re not a witch, Sophie?” Sophie: “I’m the worst kind of witch: the kind who cleans.”
• Sophie: “I’ll clean your room last.” Apprentice (much later): “I’m not ready! I’m not ready!”
• Howl: “You completely ruined my magic potions!” Sophie (scoffing): “I just organized them.”

Double Bonus: Finally, Sophie (and others) on the joys of aging: 

• “This isn’t so bad, is it? You’re still in pretty good shape and your clothes finally suit you.”
• “Hee hee hee. I seem to have become quite cunning in my old age.”
• “Well, the nice thing about being old is that you’ve got nothing to lose.”
• Sophie: “Do you have to keep smoking that?” The Witch of the Waste: “Don’t deny an old witch her pleasures.”
• The Witch of the Waste (now 90 years old) says again and again: “Oh, what a pretty fire.”
• Sophie: “When you’re old, all you want to do is stare at the scenery. It’s strange; I’ve never felt so peaceful before.”

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