Thanks for reading February 2021 in This Awful Awesome Life!

We’ll be back in March featuring Women’s History Month and we’ll have some St. Patrick’s Day fun.

March 2021 will feature a special tribute to my son Christian and we’ll celebrate the column he wrote for This Awful Awesome Life.

I hope his efforts encouraged you to listen to some new artists and different musical genres. We often listened together, and I am forever blessed because he chose to share his love of music with me.

Linda Cahill will have some delicious spring recipes along with a couple of St. Patrick’s Day favorites from Pampered Chef. For March in “The Twelve Months of Soup” I have two wonderful recipes - a delicious Potato Leek Soup and a colorful beet salad sure to make you smile.

Orlando Bartro will be back with another thought-provoking article and we’ll feature book recommendations, a book review, and of course a fun quiz. Oh, and we’ll have a few surprises you won’t want to miss.

Until then, stay safe and stay well! Wear your mask and practice social distancing. Get vaccinated as soon as your group is called. It will take all of us to stop this pandemic.

All my best,

 Fran

Answers to The February 2021 Isn’t It Romantic Quiz:

1.    In Barefoot in the Park, newlyweds, Corie & Paul, played by Jane Fonda & Robert Redford share a sixth story apartment in Greenwich Village and struggle to balance her free spirit with his uptight reserve.

2.    Monica & Quincy, played (as teens and adults) by Sanaa Lathan & Omar Epps, meet as children who share a love of a sport that dominates their future and ultimately brings them back together in Love and Basketball.

3.    About Time  is the story of a young man who learns he can travel through time and change his future. When he finally meets the love of his life, he also learns that changing his life can change the lives of the people he loves in unpredictable and often sad ways. Mary and Tim are played by Rachel McAdams & Domhnall Gleeson.

4.    Heath Ledger & Jake Gyllenhaal play the characters, Ennis & Jack, two cowboys who meet in the wilds of Wyoming and fall in love. Over the years, they dream of being together permanently, but can’t fight societal taboos in the groundbreaking film, Brokeback Mountain.

5.    Two former lovers, Ilsa & Rick, meet by chance in Morocco during the WWII and he must choose between having the woman he loves or saving her husband, a leader in the Czech resistance in the film, Casablanca which stars Ingrid Bergman & Humphrey Bogart     .

6.    Mis-matched young lovers, Alice & Noah Jr. are played by Rachel McAdams & Ryan Gosling in The Notebook. Gena Rowlands & James Garner are unforgettable as the couple in the twilight of their lives.

7.    For Nina & Darius, played by Nia Long & Larenz Tate, timing is everything when a Chicago poet falls for a photographer who might not be over an old relationship in the film, Love Jones.

8.    Zoe Kazan & Kumail Nanjiani star in The Big Sick as Emily & Kumail, a young couple in love whose relationship is challenged by their families because they come from different cultures. When Zoe falls ill and slips into a coma, Kumail’s family seizes the opportunity to try to fix him up with suitable mates with comical consequences. Based on a true story of the courtship of the writer of the movie and the lead actor.

9.    The Way We Were is the story of Katie & Hubbell, mismatched college lovers played by Barbra Streisand & Robert Redford. She’s Jewish, pro-Marxist and anti-war. He’s an easy going W.A.S.P. without strong political opinions. Opposites attract, repel, attract, and repel again as he tires of her activism and she remains truthful to her convictions.

10. In Cinema Paradiso, a young boy befriended by the projectionist at the local theater finds solace from the war in movies and develops a lifelong love of films. After he falls for a local girl, he must decide whether to stay or pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. Agnese Nano & Marco Leonardi stars as the young lovers, Elena & Salvatore.

11. The film, Carol, is set in the conservative 1950’s when Therese & Carol, an aspiring photographer and an attractive older woman going through a divorce become friends and lovers. Rooney Mara & Cate Blanchett star in this tale of forbidden love.

12. Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy are Jesse & Celine in the “Before Trilogy.” Bonus points for naming the three films and the years they were released. Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013).

13.  Loving is based on the true story of Mildred & Richard, an interracial couple who married in 1958, only to be jailed and later banished from their home state of Virginia. They took their battle for the freedom to marry all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton star as the couple who fought to successfully invalidate state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

14. Debra Winger & Richard Gere star as Paula & Zack in An Officer and a Gentleman, the tale of a rebellious candidate at the United States Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate School who meets a Townie, falls in love, and finds success with the help of a tough Navy drill instructor played by Louis Gossett, Jr.

15. Amelie is the story of a shy waitress who lives vicariously through watching other people. She decides to try to improve their lives while remaining anonymous. She falls in love with a quirky young man who collects discarded photos of strangers from passport photo booths and finally finds happiness for herself.  Audrey Tautou & Mathieu Kassovitz star as Amelie & Nino.

16. Atlantics is a supernatural romantic drama set in Africa and directed by Mati Diop, who became the first black woman to direct a film featured in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Ada & Souleiman played by Mame Bineta Sane & Ilbrahima Traore can’t be together because she is promised to another man, but their love transcends death.

17. Our Souls at Night is the story of two lonely neighbors who develop a platonic friendship after the deaths of their spouses and fall in love despite the disapproval of their children. Addie & Louis played by Jane Fonda & Robert Redford must decide between their duty to family and their happiness.

18. Like Water for Chocolate starring Lumi Cavazos & Marco Leonardi is the story of Tita & Pedro who are in love but are not allowed to marry because tradition dictates that she must care for her mother. After he weds her older sister, her powerful emotions begin to surface through her cooking. Through the years, their love endures.

19. In the film, Sylvie’s Love, Sylvie & Robert played by Tessa Thompson & Nnamdi Asomugha have a summer romance while working at her father’s music store in Harlem. Years later they reconnect and discover their affection for each other hasn’t waned.

20. An aging womanizer falls for the mother of the young woman he is dating in the film Something’s Gotta Give. Diane Keaton & Jack Nicholson star as Erica & Harry in this romantic comedy written and directed by Nancy Meyers.