THE THORN BIRDS:THE BEGINNING OF AN UNLIKELY LOVE

Images shot from DVD 

This is the title of a very touching story(also adapted into a mini-series) by Colleen McCullough that I’ve read several times and I decided to share it with my visitors so I can get honest opinions. The Thorn Birds is a romantic saga of three generations and it all begins with a little girl called Meghann Cleary, commonly called ‘Meggie’ by friends and family. She is the only girl in a family of several boys, headed by a very hardworking Irish man called Paddy and his overworked wife, Fiona, commonly called ‘Fee.’ She had been handed over to Paddy years back after she had ‘disgraced’ her aristocratic family and did her utmost best to be a good wife and mother but most times she was quiet and remote and mostly favoured her eldest boy, Frank, who never got on well with Paddy. This family lived in New Zealand.
In Australia lived Mary Carson, Paddy’s older sister who had married a rich man and owned several properties; the most well known is her sheep station called ‘Drogheda’. She was a widow with no children and as such decided to send for Paddy and his family to help out in the estate but will become her heirs after she died. When they arrive, the priest of the parish is sent to pick them up from the train station. The 28 year old, stunningly handsome priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart, goes to the station to meet the Cleary family and is immediately captivated by the 10 year old Meggie, whom he regarded as the sweetest, most adorable little girl he’d ever seen and the daughter he’ll never have. Meggie in turn makes Father Ralph the centre of her world as the family, except her oldest brother Frank, hardly had time for her. Ralph and Meggie from then on formed an unbreakable bond. This made Mary Carson angry and jealous; she harboured a deeply passionate obsession for Ralph and hoped in time she’ll be able to entice him into breaking his vows by using her money as bait. He needed money in order to liberate him from his present exile (he was there because he’d been rude to a bishop) and hoped Mary would give him a hefty sum for the Catholic Church, so that he’ll rise up and one day be Cardinal.
Frank’s rocky relationship with Paddy hits the rocks permanently one fateful evening. During a quarrel witnessed by Ralph and Meggie, Paddy unintentionally blurts out the truth; he’s not Frank’s father. Fee’s ‘disgrace’ had been sleeping with a married politician, at the age of 17 and gotten pregnant with Frank. After her grandmother (the only one who’d supported her) died, her rich father had handed her over to Paddy, who’d been one pf the workers on the estate and was forever banished from the family. As Frank was the fruit of that lost love, Fee loved him far more than anyone in the family. Devastated, Frank left home to join a boxing troupe but was later imprisoned for assault. Unhappy at what she’d witnessed and the death of her baby brother afterwards, Meggie clung to Ralph more than ever over the years; he did his best to console her and spent most of his free time with her, infuriating Mary all the more. Everyone else merely saw their relationship as that of brother and sister, but not her. She decided that though she’ll never have Ralph, she’d see to it Meggie never had him instead and would always be dependent on him.
Mary’s 72nd birthday party changed the course of Ralph & Meggie’s lives forever. Meggie showed up at the party looking very beautiful in an ashes of roses (rose-pink) dress, shyly looking at Ralph. It was then Ralph’s feelings evolved- Meggie was now 18, and no longer little Meggie, he was now IN LOVE with her. Two guests noticed the way he gazed at her and stroked her hair, which made him restrain himself and avoided her for the rest of the evening. Later on in the garden, he explained to Meggie that some people might feel their relationship wasn’t platonic if he’d been more attentive towards her. Meggie in turn realised her own feelings towards Ralph. Mary died in her sleep that night and it’s discovered she’d made a new will which forced Ralph to choose between Meggie and his ambition to become Cardinal one day. Drogheda and 13 million pounds is to go to the Catholic Church. The Clearys were to remain in Drogheda as administrators and residents as long as a Cleary descendant was alive- Ralph was to be the executor and pay them hefty salaries. Paddy refused to contest the will, much to Ralph’s anger, he KNEW why Mary had done what she did and he hated her for it. Paddy and the family weren’t greedy, they felt living in Drogheda for the rest of their lives and earning large salaries was more than enough- besides the sum of 13 million pounds frightened Paddy. Ralph and Meggie exchange a very painful goodbye. They confessed their love but Ralph begged her to marry and be happy with someone else. They exchanged their first kiss before he abruptly left her for Sydney. Meggie was unhappy but was confident Ralph would somehow leave the church and marry her.
Some time later, one of the fields in Drogheda is struck by lightning and catches fire. Paddy is burnt to death and one of his sons, Stuart who went to look for him is gored to death by a wild boar. Ralph comes to Drogheda and is told the sad news. He finds Meggie alone and consoles her, which led to them to exchange passionate kisses again, but Ralph forces himself not to let it go further. Ralph conducted the funerals and before he left, Meggie gave him a rose to remember her by. He placed it in his missal and kept it there from then on.
Three years later, a new worker at the ranch, Luke O’ Neill courts Meggie and in an effort to forget Ralph, she encourages it.

-TO BE CONTINUED...

HANG ON PLEASE...

Thank you for coming to my defence Nkechi, I'm as sorry as everyone about this unexpected development; as we speak, I'm doing my best to find another source of material. As for Sister Joy, I DO make an effort for telenovela posts; I found material for my LA USURPADORA posts to the FINALE plus its sequel MAS ALLA USURPADORA after a very long search. Besides, Mrs. Philo is a professional and has been blogging long before me; i'm just a humble writer yet to make money from this blog & recieve royalites from my 2 children's books released in 2006. My aim is keeping my readers satisfied and I'll never stop doing that. Anyone who has additional material for La Mujer de Lorenzo is free to contribute. Meanwhile click on the links above to read on LA USURPADORA ,its short sequel as well as gist about the star of the show, Gabriella Spanic. And rememeber, there'll be more posts on TU O NADIE(No one but you). Seasons Greetings!

BREAK IN TRANSMISSION

VERY BAD NEWS folks; my main source of material, MBI, announced its temporary closure of operations in THE PUNCH and as such, unless I find another source, there would be no LA MUJER DE LORENZO posts for a while. I'm very pissed off about all this, especially since it seems the telenovela is about to come to an end. But don't despair, there'll still be posts on the other telenovela, TU O NADIE (No one but you) and I promise, it's eqaually interesting. Pls, continue to log in on my blog, I won't disappiont you.

P.S click on CUANDO SEAS MIA FINAL EPISODE (contd.) & see the additional pics I added to the post.

2 BIG LOSSES: Makemba and Crichton

I'm sure many of us have heard about the recent death of 'MAMA AFRICA', Miriam Makeba in

Italy, when she collapased on stage during a concert. But while Africa is in mourning, so is America, for they've just lost one of their most talented writers, who was also a medical doctor, producer and director. I'm talking about Michael Crichton, author of JURASSIC PARK,

THE LOST WORLD, RISING SUN, DISCLOSURE, & other novels, including being the creator of the T.V series ER. Mama died of a heartattack(on stage) at age 76, which Crichton died at 66 after losing his battle with cancer. Both will be greatly missed and I know the legacy they left behind will go on for a long, long time. May they both rest in peace.

THE NEW FIRST FAMILY: The Obamas

The euphoria of President-elect Obama's victory is yet to fade away; I heard in the news today that new mothers in Kenya have been naming their new born sons 'Barack' & daughters 'Michelle' after the new First Lady. Already President Bush has welcomed his successor & his family to the White House & commented that his victory ''a triumph of the American story.'' The swearing in is to take place on January 20th 2009; I'm sure a lot of Nigerians would be glued to their T.V sets on that second historical day. Personally I plan on taping it if NTA shows it live.

We should all pray for President-elect Obama , that his administration would be fruitful peaceful and he'll more than justify his voters'confidence in him.
As for the soon to be First Lady, Michelle Obama and their two little girls Malia Ann & Natasha- no doubt living at the White House would be overwhelming at first but gradually they'll have to adjust and also play their own roles during the new president's tenure. I JUST CAN'T STOP praising God for this unforgetable triumph in history.

'THIS IS THE LORD'S WORK!' - Elizabeth the 1st

PRAISE BE TO GOD, FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS & MIRACLES FLOW!!! When I got up this morning, (i stayed up till 2 watching the polls) I immediately switched on the T.V and STV News reported that Senator Barack Obama emerged the winner of the 2008 U.S.A presidential elections! AT LONG, LONG LAST- Dr. King's dream finally realised, our prayers answered - a free and fair election resulted in an african-american the new president of the U.S.A. This is truly a historical and very,very happy day for the black race and I can't stop praising God for making this happen; I never never doubted for a minute He had something huge in store for the so long downtrodden african-amercians, never doubted it for a minute. Already several world leaders have congratulated the new president-elect on his victoryand a mass celebration is still going on in his late father's country-Kenya, their president has even declared tommorow a national holiday to commemorate this happy day.

What I like best about this is that a lot of people, BOTH black & white, voted for Obama, showing interracial unity, equality and friendship- one of the main things Dr. King wanted so much & for that I praise and thank God to infinity. And wherever Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers & Malcom X are now, I sincerely believe they are weeping & singing with joy at what God has brought to America, A GREAT CHANGE.

CONGRATULATIONS BARACK OBAMA!

SOLDIERS OF CHANGE

"One day, there’ll come a time when we’ll be judged not by the colour of our skin but by the content of our characters…

Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

– Martin Luther King (1929- 68)


And by ‘SOLDIERS OF CHANGE’ I’m referring to the Americans who supported the Civil Rights Movement back in the 60’s as well as the Americans today supporting & voting for Senator Barak Obama-the first African-American presidential candidate after the bitter years of slavery, complete inequality & racism & oppression. Ever since I watched HEAD OF STATE, I prayed and prayed & never doubted that ONE DAY, Martin Luther King’s DREAM would one day be a reality. In many ways it actually has, but this historical day would make him sing in heaven! And I’d like to say Colin Powell is a living example of a gentleman- he’s a former Secretary of State and a Republican, yet he’s publicly declared he will vote for Obama!
I heard in Yahoo News that Obama is leading in the polls as well as the sad news of his beloved grandmother’s death (Allah rest her soul). I just hope whatever the outcome there won’t be any horrible riots out there; so far the election is quite peaceful, which is something this country is yet to practise as well as good sportsmanship in politics. There’s widespread praying here & in other parts of Africa, especially in his father’s country- Kenya- for the outcome to be the pride of Africa end up becoming the new President of U.S.A. Obama isn’t just representing the democratic party, he’s representing the entire black race- and God knows when U.S would ever have another African- American presidential candidate again.
On the other hand, McCain would be making history too, being the oldest man to run for first term , just as John F. Kennedy was the youngest man to be sworn in as President. But be as it may, it’s time for a great change & for the Presidency to be back in the hands of the Democrats; Senator Obama has already promised his first act would be ordering the troops to leave Iraq & negotiate for peace once & for all. The soldiers of change should pray and pray and leave it in our Master’s hands ; He alone knows who the winner is going to be…