Enjoyed the absurdity of the local Fourth parade. The entire city lines the streets to watch the worst parade I have ever seen. They do have a few marching bands but it is mostly elected officials riding in their cars. No floats. And many people have picnics along the way. The big treat is for the kids having candy tossed at their heads.
Enjoying RAIN DOGS by Adrian McKinty. I loved his Sean Duffy series. This is the book that beat out SHOT IN DETROIT for an Edgar and it is easy to see why. It is a classic locked room and a classic police procedural. And the writing is superb. If you really need to relax, (I almost go into a zen state listening), try SEINCAST, which looks at every Seinfeld episode for about 90 minutes. I only listen to podcasts when I walk but I walk for about an hour most days so this works out well.
Just started DCI BANKS on Amazon Prime and watched the first episode of THE TUNNEL, VENGEANCE. Phil is enjoying SILENT CITY on Netflix and we are looking forward to SHARP OBJECTS on HBO tonight.
What about you?
15 comments:
Sorry that Phil is having such a hard time of it right now. I'm hopeful that much of this will be temporary. It's been interesting reading about your paternal contretemps; I think there are many strange things lurking in the hollows of every family tree.
We enjoyed SILENT CITY, as well as MARCELLA. DCI BANKS is an old favorite. We don't get HBO, so we'll have to wait for SHARP OBJECTS. We also enjoyed the documentary series THE RENAISSANCE UNCHAINED.
We had a quiet Fourth, quite enjoyable.
Grand-dog Pirate, an old and arthritic Chesapeake Bay Retriever, had four benign tumors removed, including a humongous one of her neck, and is recovering nicely. She's a very sweet dog.
Christina and Erin made it back from Greece. They had a great time but we missed them.
Enjoying a passel of Joan Aiken's short stories. I was also wowed by John Connolly's latest Charlie Parker thriller.
Enjoy the week and take good care of yourself while doing it, Patti.
I hope Phil gets some relief soon. Wishing you both well with that. Glad you're enjoying the McKinty - he can write well, I think.
So sorry about Phil's continued travails. My father had a fistula too - different causes, but still...not fun. Yes, an apartment is a lot easier at our age.
Excellent - if too hot - week here. We spent most of the Fourth at a full Yankee Stadium watching the locals beat the Braves 6 - 2. Good game, but though the clouds cut the heat down, the humidity was brutal. We had barbecue at Virgil's (near Times Square) on the way home.
Thursday we went to Connecticut to meet my cousins for the weekend and had a generally great time. The Marriott Mystic is actually in Groton, and we were in Mystic (where we had dinner two nights), Stonington, and both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Casino - once again my cousin won big bucks and treated us to inner - plus Watch Hill, Rhode Island.
Not a lot of reading time this week, but I did like Michael Chabon's short POPS, especially his piece on taking his 13 year old fashionista son to Paris Fashion Week.
We like Stephen Tompkinson and - generally - enjoy DCI BANKS, though I've always felt the 6'2" actor was somewhat miscast as Banks. We are watching a lot of stuff on Netflix and Amazon Prime/Acorn, and haven't given up on MARCELLA or GOLIATH despite the unsavory and downright nasty story lines this season. Also watching DEEP STATE on Epix. We're recording SHARP OBJECTS but will hold off until we finish some of the other shows we're watching, including the final seasons of ORPHAN BLACK and 12 MONKEYS.
Hope Phil's health improves soon!
Diane and I enjoyed ANT-MAN AND THE WASP. Fun Summer popcorn movie!
The temperatures this week in Western New York retreated from the brutal 90s to the more bearable 80s. Thank goodness for A/C!
Am watching Silent City. Plus the first episode of Sharp Objects. Didn't like DCI Banks much. Thought the lead actor miscast.
Read only one novel this week-Hidden Ice by Matt Goldman. Otherwise read a bunch of short fiction.
Went to DTE music theater Saturday night to see the Montreal band Arcade Fire. Looked to be pretty much a sold out show. It was one of the best concerts I have seen. Great show. The best I have seen at this venue since Talking Heads Stop Making Sense tour in 1984. Sure beats the James Taylor show I was dragged to a few years ago. The only concert I have ever fallen asleep at. He was so laid back I was excepting him to fall asleep.
Didn't do anything on the 4th.
Have Phil starts feeling better.
Yeah, last time we saw James Taylor will be the last time. He was so laid back he was barely conscious.
So sorry to hear of Phil's continued health problems. I'm sure you can handle the pot watering, but you may want to weed out some as not worth the effort. We've cut back to only a few large pots and mostly just perennials in our beds and planting areas.
The weather is heating up. We had the second driest, hottest Spring on record, and not the weather is moving into the 90s for the next week to 10 days and no chance of rain. Thank goodness for ceiling fans and AC. July-September is the hot dry season here, but after a dry Spring, the fire danger is severe. That didn't keep the idiots from shooting off illegal fireworks, though. Grrr.
I'm glad I'm doing my Current Reading posts again, the 2nd is up.I've been reading some things I've enjoyed.
My father has a continuing UTI. My mother says the bacteria must have colonized so the infections will continue to flair up and get knocked down by antibiotics. His UTIs tend to effect his behavior and personality and also wear him out.
We had a hot week and I was worn out most of the weekend. We went to the Trek Bicycle store in Madison on Saturday to buy Boy #1 a new mountain bike for his racing team. I complained the whole time about the price. I took full advantage of the fancy coffee machines available at the store. https://bit.ly/2zxRuDF and https://bit.ly/2KFOn1v When Boy #2 said that the new bike for #1 means we should buy #2 another kitten I reacted as such: https://bit.ly/2ND7Wp6
That night I mentioned to my wife that the damn price tag on that bike was freaking high, but I was just as annoyed because I knew I was going to buy the kid the more expensive of the two bikes any way because I want him to have the better bike.
I won't tell Phil about Mr. Saylor. Hope that doesn't happen. What antibiotic has knocked it out? Maybe that behavioral thing explains his passivity.
We are having our first extended dry period. I had a tree surgeon today tell me I should probably take the redbud down. That makes me sad. I love that tree and will never see another one of its size.
I loved Arcade Fire, Steve.
Five books came in at once at the library. I will list them at Rick's.
Thanks, Patti.
Update: Deb hasn't been here today, but Jackie and I got to spend several hours this afternoon with her husband John and daughter Victoria, taking them to Junior's near Times Square for lunch. Victoria will be going to Oxford for several weeks on Wednesday. We had a great time and she was (in Jackie's assessment) delightful
I am not surprised. Like mother, like daughter.
So sorry to hear about Phil's situation. I knew about the cancer...not the added complications.
Well....on my front, my concerns over a worsening of my cardiac situation were relieved last week as the cardiologist believes what I have been dealing with is caused by the grief acting out in strange ways. On the not so positive side of things, he also thinks that with the how long I was taking care of her, my guilt over failing to protect Sandi and save her as misplaced as that may be, the way I am wired emotionally, and all the rest of it that it will take me far longer than a year to hit rock bottom and start coming back a bit. Like other folks in my life, he suggested some grief counseling and told me I need to get back to my own fiction writing, reading, and taking time for just myself.
Our string of 100 degree plus days finally broke late last week and we have had rain here the last two days in the afternoons. A wonderful relief and one that should help the water bill a little bit.
Twenty minutes after the heavy rain stopped the mowing service showed up and mowed the sopping yard. I resisted channeling my inner Dad and did not open the door to scream, "What are you doing? You can't mow wet grass!!!"
Kevin
UTIs and fistulas, no less. That is a lot to cope with. We just need to fix a number of things Out Back, including the cat fence. Life is not the most cooperative at times. Better times.
I generally like Marti Noxon's work, but the pilot of SHARP OBJECTS did little for me, as I grow tired of drama where all the adult characters act like adolescents. The cast is more than fine, and I'm reminded of how much I don't get to see Elizabeth Perkins work these days. But none of the pipe laid nor the revelations already in evidence struck me as promising...hope you like it better than I did.
Good of you to praise your novel's competitor! Thanks for the pointer. Quite a lot to sort out as I keep setting loftier goals for even my FFBs than I have energy or sometimes time for.
Was very pleased when a major sf writer as well as a few others were kind enough to praise my piece on Ellison for last week's FFB. I can still look at it and see little but the flaws, including its incompletion, but am remembering not to argue with people who are actually being supportive.
Again, better times. (I'm seeing a Lot of good casts saddled with at best mediocre writing of late. Noxon juggling two series perhaps doesn't help.)
My commiserations, Patti, for you and Phil. I hope things soon improve.
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