Saw the Oscar short docs on Saturday and whoa what a depressing bunch. First one dealt with racism among teens in a UK housing project; second end of life issues; third American Fascists meeting at Madison Square Garden in 1939, fourth about refuges trying to get to Rome on overloaded boats (many do not make it) 5th, which was my favorite about village women outside New Dehli learning how to make and sell sanitary pads. Until then they used rags and had little idea what a period was for. But it had humor and success so I give it the Oscar. Those hills of used rags outside the village was horrific though.
Enjoying RUSSIAN DOLL. Natasha Lyonne is just terrific as his her male counterpart. Clever concept that they really run with.
Reading essays by Janet Malcolm, which are weird, wonderful, overwritten. And that makes them interesting. Sometimes. The first two on a clothes designer and a pianist are fabulous.
It is so cold and so many days were icy last week. Need to get beyond this weather so I can escape more often. Oh, how I wish I was a homebody. Instead I am always itching to get out. Which are you and what have you been up to.
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I'm glad you're enjoying Russian Doll. I admit I've not tried it yet, but I keep hearing good things about it.
When I was young, I traveled a lot and enjoyed it. Now, I'm a homebody. Just give me a comfortable chair and a good book and I'm happy.
We saw THE LEGO MOVIE 2 and enjoyed it.
Our new Serta mattress was delivered (and the 10-year-old Stearns & Foster mattress was removed). Much better sleep!
Because now my time at home is mostly full of chores, nursing, ordering supplies, figuring out how to fix things, etc. I seldom get to sit and read. And I feel like a prisoner.
Like George, I'm basically a homebody.
This week, however, I was out and about. My brother and his wife came down from Massachusetts for a short visit. Unfortunately, like most of the country, we have been having unseasonally cold weather here. Not Massachusetts cold, but cold anyway. We overate at various restaurants, spent a windy morning watching the waves at the dog beach. (Duncan the dog, who was newly trimmed, did not care for the cold and wind), and tried to watch the sunset on a gray day from the 7th floor of their air B&B. Good time, good laughter, and Jack found a new idol in my patient brother who not only lost to Jack at tic-tac-toe but also gave him his first lesson on guitar.
Saturday evening, we all went to see Erin's Winter Guard in competition. Teams from West Florida, Southern Alabama, and somewhere in Mississippi competed. Erin's group took first place. (Winter Guard is basically Color Guard performed indoors.) We were impressed with all the kids there. They were all supportive of everyone competing, cheering people when they did something amazing and showing support for people who occasionally messed up. One group had a dilemma -- their coach never finished devising their routine, so they spent the last few minutes frozen in their last step and got an overwhelming applause from the audience and the other kids. A couple of kids twirled air flags, rifles, and sabers because of broken fingers. It is also heartening to see a number of body types on the floor; in my day cheerleaders and twirlers had to be relatively thin, but this sport has opened up to accept anyone who is willing to work hard, with everyone supporting each other. I am amazed at the athletic ability of the (mostly -- there were a few scattered boys also competing) girls. It takes strength, coordination, and a huge amount of practice to learn these routines that combine dance, gymnastics, and pageantry. At Erin's high school I know, from three to five hours are spent each weekday rigorously practicing. So a hearty and earnest cheer to all who participated.
To make the week even better, I read the latest Jack Taylor from Ken Bruen, THE SILENCE OF GALWAY. Bruen leaves most other writers in the dust. I also enjoyed a couple of great graphic novels, Brian Vaughan's THE PRIDE OF BAGHDAD and James Herbert's THE CITY, and have been dipping into random old pulp magazines for short stories.
We're still going through the twenty-one seasons of SILENT WITNESS and enjoying it. We are only on Season 2 so we have a long way to go. I also liked TOMB RAIDER, the Lara Croft reboot; Kitty thought it was meh.
A new granddog is on the way. Christina and Walt will be making a ten-hour round trip jaunt into the heart of Alabama to pick up their new adorable puppy Happy. And Felipe, the tiny skink who has taken up residence in our living room, seems to be doing well. I was a little concerned when I came out yesterday morning and Felipe wasn't moving. When I investigated he twitched a front leg slightly. Then, in a face-slapping moment, I realized that lizards are cold-blooded and that it was very chilly in the living room. Duh!
May both you and Phil stay warm and warm-blooded over the coming week and enjoy everything it has to offer.
We are enjoying RUSSIAN DOLL too. It really has that Lower East Side/Tompkins Square Park feel to it, and she is terrific. We've started watching the Israeli series WHEN HEROES FLY on Netflix. Good one. A dozen years after the war in Lebanon ended, a woman who was the sister of one soldier and girlfriend of another, who supposedly died in a train crash in Colombia 10 years ago, may be alive after all. The two former friends, along with two others - a rich guy who is dying of cancer and one who has emigrated to Bogota and is running a hummus restaurant - reunite to investigate and find her. (This is dubbed into English, by the way, though the Israelis all speak English.)
We're also watching (with subtitles!) the British INFORMER on Amazon Prime, about a possible Islamic bomb plot in London. Paddy Considine is the cop, and Nabhaan Rizwan very good as the title character. I didn't really care for the first episode (I particularly dislike - intensely - Bel Powley as Considine's inexperienced partner. The second was better and we'll keep watching for now.
Otherwise, we're watching THE KOMINSKY METHOD (the last episode was watched was the weakest), THE WEST WING (series two), and NCIS (series seven), as well as DOC MARTIN (series eight, a rewatch) and MIDSOMER MURDERS (series fourteen). And then there are movies: YOUNG DETECTIVE DEE: RISE OF THE SEA DRAGON, a George Kelley recommendation, which was a lot of fun; AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (which I will be generous and say was probably better on the big screen), THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE (a decent adaptation of the book about PTSD in soldiers home from Iraq). The Mr. Rogers documentary is next.
Obviously, we've been staying in mostly, though we are going out for lunch most days, and to shop. I can finally drive, which should help. Still going to physical therapy twice a week. We actually had two warm and one mild day this week, which helped.
A period is for ending a sentence. I thought everyone knew that. :-)
I'm so sorry you're unhappy at home!
It has been cold and windy here, a couple of snows and lots of rain. Good reading weather. I'm also a homebody, so reading, working on jigsaw puzzles, doing home chores, meal prep and clean up fill the day.
We enjoyed the Grammy show last night, and later seeing Lindsey Graham's final downhill race (on NBCSN). I'll finish a 1946 country house mystery today, then start on something completely different, a lost race novel. There is so much to read!
Rick, I would PAY to see Lindsay Graham downhill race.
Lindsay Vonn.
I am a homebody also, which is why I am happy that I will be retired in 10 months.
I am happy that my husband's eye surgeries and the follow-up are done for a while, although his eye is not improving as fast as he wants it to.
We had the cataracts done last year. My eyesight is pretty good; Phil's less so because he has some rare condition. Oh, how i wish I was a homebody. Instead I stare out the window and wonder when the weather will allow an escape on foot.
Glen has had serious problems with his retinas (worse on the left eye) over the last 10 years, and in the left eye it has caused more loss of vision, which his specialist was hoping to correct at least partially. Only time will tell. And the retina surgery was somewhat painful, unlike his cataract surgery. He is finally driving himself to work this week, which makes us all happy.
Just dealing with these minor problems for a month made me much more aware of what you and Phil have been going through.
Thanks, Tracy. You just never know what is waiting around the corner or how long that corner will be.
I get it. Please make sure you are taking time for yourself in some way, Patti.
I always leaned towards being a homebody and Sandi was always the one who wnated to go places. Even when she was so cick and in ICU she still wnated to go places and do things. When that desire she had so strongly went away that last year, I knew things were going to hell long before the docs looked at their scans and shook their heads. As I sit here writing this, it is Valentine's Day evening and my second one without her. She loved this day and the fact that I hated it was our yearly joke. Cher's song about turning back time, one she loved, has been in my head all day and that has not helped.
Anyway, on the making me happy front as I will NOT cry again today---Scott's class next Tuesday has been cancelled. Becuase of that and the fact that we got the library and the grocery shopping done on the way home last night after class, we can stay home and go nowhere until next Wednesday. And if that dude cancels his class.....
It was way up in the 70s if not the low 80s here in NE Dallas today so we sat outside this afternoon and read. I also wrote a couple of reviews. Cooked steaks and potatoes on the grill and even had dinner outside in the backyard tonight. That was nice.
And, if you follow me on Facebook, I just put up a dinner picture and earlier I shared pictures from the Big Bend region of SW Texas where the flowers are in bloom. That made me happy.
K
(8:30 PM and 66 Degrees with crickets chirping)
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