I’ve said it before, but Amelie is one of my favourite movies of all time. When I first watched it I had no clue what to expect and as a result was completely charmed by the whimsical yet real world she created for herself in trying to overcome her own isolation by doing good for others. It has a few questionable parts, but as a whole the movie has a message that continues to bring me back to the TV screen year after year.
As a challenge for myself between keeping up with the day to day things, I was determined to have an “Amelie” day for myself. I have a few other real and fictional people I’ve reserved for other days, but I wanted to first begin with her.
And so a story unfolds as the sun wakes me up at 6:00 AM to show me it’s there, I give it a wink and decide to go back to sleep for another two hours. Soon after my feet touch our fake wood floor a cute little orange cat arrives at our doorstep, as my friends wave goodbye for Spain. Matt and I become temporary caretakers of little Jesse who likes when I sing her lullabies in a jazzy voice and also sitting in high windowsills. She doesn’t like the sounds of loud engines zooming by.
As Matt heads to London, I walk down a road to find an address. There are many houses with flowers, but I am drawn to the one with a little iron gate. I will return in a few hours if I don’t cower out, but for now it’s off to the train with a huge bag of memories going to a second hand store.
I can imagine someone buying my green sweater I’ve lived what seems 5 lives in or more. I can dream about another person feeling cozy in the winter time opening up Christmas presents with my former shirt and glowing coloured lights watching the scene for me instead with happy smiles all around. I hated to say goodbye, but a year in my drawer could have been a year on someone else instead.
I have a mission though so I can’t linger in nostalgia or what could become. I put my heart in the mail then I find the ingredients on my shopping list: caramel yogurt, salted French butter, and two-toned peaches of red and orange, plus some tulips and tea. If It weren’t for the wind blowing me to where it knew I could find them all, I would have ridden the train home still thinking of where to go next. Instead I have time for a cup of coffee and a poem or two on the way.
The yogurt is still cold – I didn’t take too long! I love to eat it on the back of my spoon, call it my everyday crème brulèe. I sit and think of five other favourite things and my five least favourite things – hairs on my face after a haircut don’t make the happy list. Time is ticking so I prepare a note and sprinkle some hearts into a bag of tulips and walk by that iron gate with my heart racing! This time I leave my flower bag on one of the curly cues. A whale in the sky sees me as I rush around the corner where the sunlight is falling beautifully between the tree leaves. I think it’s the perfect spot to leave a message from the poem I read earlier. After all that I come back home with one more thing on my heart.
There is an elderly man who is quite frail and I know he goes outside from time to time, but I never see him with anyone. I sneak up the stairs and leave some tea and a sponge cake on his mat with some hearts so he knows he’s not forgotten.
I imagined that someone stole the flowers as they hung on the gate because when I had returned before they were already gone. Then I imagined the man upstairs tripping over his gift – how terrible! The reason I married the man I did is because he leaves me laughing at myself at the end of the day. Who goes around stealing flowers? Maybe I wasn’t discreet in my red dress and they saw me from a mile away, but it doesn’t matter because I’ve enjoyed that house’s flower and I wanted to give them some from me.
There is nothing left to do, but eat some pasta and bake Amelie’s famous plumb cake as I’m serenaded by some accordions and twinkling piano keys coming out of my computer. Some little birds come out to help me bake- it takes us 3 1/2 hours! I burn the cake because I can’t seem to quite figure out the temperature in my fan oven. It turns out though that kitchen scissors destroy the evidence and I spend the rest of the night with Matt and Jesse as we all watch a movie with a flying mouse that rescues a princess. It is a perfect end to a perfect day.
♥
Amazingly delicious plum cake recipe with great how to instructions HERE.
. I miss them and we love to bake – so why not put the two together. Each month we will bake something new, which could be something we’ve always dreamt about, but never tried or we’ll take a new spin on an old classic. The options are open and the list endless! There will be freedom to adjust, adapt, experiment, explore, and decorate to our hearts’ content. I will post our results here on The Traveling Heart, but I want to extend the invitation to you as well. If you like to bake and want to take part, please contact me and you will receive a new recipe each month. You can then post the results on your own blog, fb, twitter, tumblr, refrigerator door… and if you want I gladly would take a comment under the results post with a link to your own beautifully baked delight.
. It’s been on my mind for the past week, because I feel like I am learning so much and I don’t want to forget it! Even if I never read what I write I feel it solidifies my thoughts into my brain better. They are processed. I just went to a conference last week, some new books have arrived, and I feel in a way that I’m getting a little more settled so I don’t want my thoughts to fly away. My head feels like a universe with all these orbiting stars and planets. Maybe some beauty will come of all that flying around!
