Monday, November 06, 2017

Things That Make Me Happy




Seeing LA BOHEME on my local arthouse movies screen live from the Royal Opera House in London. This program and others like it are available in many places now and gives us a chance to see classic works of music, dance and theater that we may not have been able to see otherwise. Phil watched the 7th game, but my friend, Charleen, and I enjoyed this production so much.

Phil's latest scan was cancer-free. Yay! Four months of freedom after 15 months of surgery,  chemo and radiation.

Enjoyed the Harlem Quartet, played here on Saturday. They are in Detroit for a few days, introducing their music to schools with music programs. They are currently in residence in London so we are lucky to have them here for a week. They play both jazz and classical and are joyous performers.

Having a friend like Mary, who has helped us through the last few years and is making a celebration dinner for us tonight. Everyone needs a friend like Mary. There are very few people who you know you can count on and she is our go-to friend.

Still reeling from the finale of THE DEUCE. Megan talks about her experience in working on the show on the terrific LARB right here.  

And how nice meeting Steve Oerkfitz for coffee. So nice to talk books and movies and other topics with someone I have known online for so long. Everyone I have ever met from my online life has been exactly as they seemed: smart, nice, interesting. 

And what about you? 

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Yay for Phil!

George said...

Great news about Phil! What a relief!

I had a great time in San Antonio at the World Fantasy Convention. It was great to listen to Bill Crider, Joe R. Lansdale, and Scott Cupp expound about books and Life. A great Dealers' Room, too!

Managed to see THOR: Ragnarok. Fun!

Barry Ergang said...

Excellent news about Phil.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Sounds like you had a great week. Not surprised to hear the good news about Phil, who looked terrific in Toronto.

We really enjoyed SCHOOL OF ROCK: THE MUSICAL on Broadway. The Marathon - perhaps counter-intuitively - made getting into the city easier, as the crowds were probably lining First Avenue and later Fifth Avenue and the area around Central Park.

Two more 70 degree plus days were nice.

Another week closer to Thanksgiving (yes, and my birthday) and Florida. We are leaving a week earlier this year.

Rick Robinson said...

Yay for Phil, and you!

Cool, rainy, windy weather here has taken most of the Fall color, but we have been enjoying the fire and reading.

I’m designing a quilt for Barbara which will use Australian fabrics. Just getting started on that.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

Saw Thor also. Lots of fun. Better than the highly overrated The Killing of a Sacrificial Deer which I hated.
Nice meeting Patti last week. Great talking to someone with similar interests.
Enjoyed the first episode of Alias Grace on Netflix. Too many shows I enjoy have ended for the season-Ray Donovan, The Deuce.

Gerard Saylor said...

Congratulations to Phil.

I watched a few movies over the weekend. The ones I watched alone must have been only OK because I cannot recall them. my 11-year-old has taken to watching the bad-awful-horrible films done by Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Riff Trax. We were watching a Star Wars ripoff that was so much worse than I could have imagined.

An workmate from a previous job has been in London for her daughter's wedding. Her daughter went t grad school in London, met a guy, got a job, and stayed. The workmate has been regularly posting photos and locations and I have been absolutely fascinated with her trip. I check the Facebook and web pages of the locations, look them up on Google maps, etc. I don't know why I am having such fun with the vicarious travel but I am.

Yet again I was unable to attend the Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee conference this past Saturday. But, my 11-year-old is still interested in hanging out with me so I had a pretty darn decent Saturday.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Nice when your kids still like you.
My last post reply disappeared.
I said I didn't like SACRED DEER either, Rick, show us the design when it's done, Jeff, I think SCHOOL OF ROCK is coming here.

Steve Oerkfitz said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Steve Oerkfitz said...

Patti-2:13 post is not mine

Jerry House said...

That is fantastic news bout Phil.


This past week marks the 3rd anniversary of the date when the Kangaroo's birth mother gave up all rights to him, leading the way for Christina and Walt to officially adopt him. (She had number of problems, including another upcoming jail sentence, and had only had contact with the Kangaroo during supervised visits. Christina and Walt had been fostering the child since he was six weeks old -- immediately after he was released from drug detox at Children's Hospital.) It is a blessing to have him as part of our family, as we all work to help him overcome the damage done while his birth mother was pregnant with him.

Since we moved to Florida, our grandson Mark has not seen a dolphin, making him the only member of our crew not to be in the "Dolphin Club." No longer. Yesterday, he saw TWO dolphins pods (or, perhaps, the same one twice), as well as a stingray, a skate, a puffer fish, three kinds of jellyfish, an osprey, pelicans, and a mega-large hermit crab. Yat for Mark! #boatinginthegulfofmexico

Mark also competed in the state high school cross-country regionals on Saturday. He didn't make it to the finals, but two of his teammates did and his school placed tenth. Mark has a 15K and a half marathon coming up this month -- both better events for him.

The next week or so looks to be a King family reunion for me. On deck for me is Stephen and Owen King's SLEEPING BEAUTIES, as well as Joe Hill's STRANGE WEATHER. Looking forward to both. In the meantime, I'm finishing up three small-press collections of horror stories by Algernon Blackwood, H. R. Wakefield, and E. F. Benson. #thankyouinterlibraryloan

For a brief while this week, we were afraid that the anemia that put Kitty in the hospital this past spring had reared its ugly head again. Turns out she's still anemic but not badly so, and we're on track to rtoring her to full health. I'm doing a happy dance.

Gerard Saylor said...

The Phantom Oerkfitz strikes again!

Gerard Saylor said...

Here is something I forgot. I decided to try a Peter Rabe novel out and checked out one of the Rabe collections that Stark House republished. I'm almost done with the first story and enjoying it quite a bit.

pattinase (abbott) said...

What kind of pleasure would you take in pretending to be someone else on a place like this! Instead of being part of a group, he/she is just trolling.

Gerard Saylor said...

The fake Oerkfitz is very odd. I presume it is a advertising firm sending out robot posts.

Jeff Meyerson said...

We were discussing the Phantom Steve in Toronto too, trying to figure his motivation. Weird.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

The next step is he'll take over my apartment and get my SS checks.