Mostly taking a break this week as I try to get by what would have been Phil's 75th birthday on the 18th. I did go and march with the UAW strikers and I enjoyed MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER. Also enjoyed COME AND AWAY. So it isn't all bad. But pretty hard indeed. And I have dental surgery on Wednesday. Yes, damn bad week.
Tell me what you're up to.
14 comments:
Thinking of you, Patti, and sending you hugs....
Bummer. Sometimes these anniversaries just seem to sneak up on you.
Nothing special last week and the same this one. Weather has been pretty good. We did get a little rain, which we certainly can use, and looks like we'll be getting more Wednesday. It's mainly lunches out, books, and television, with the occasional doctor or dentist thrown in.
Diane, her sister from Ohio, and I will be seeing COME FROM AWAY on a Sunday matinee. Then we're going to a swanky restaurant for dinner.
Diane wants us to bring in the hoses we use for watering the lawn. We had a frosty morning over the weekend so the lawn mowing will come to an end, too.
I'm looking forward to having you on our THE PAPERBACK REVOLUTION panel! Should be fun!
Sorry about your upcoming week. You'll get through it, of course, but it's bound to take a heavy toll. One trick about the dental surgery: bite the dentist. Hard. Right off the bat you'll show him who's boss. On second thought...
Quiet weekend. The girls and kids have gone to Arkansas for the long weekend just because they've never been there and because Arkansas has Potbelly's restaurants (which this area doesn't). So they ate at Potbelly's, took some pictures, went to the zoo, and reported that Little Rock is a really lovely place. Who knew?
It's been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week for Donald. Can you see me doing my happy dance?
Watched the second half of the fifth season of VIKINGS, which we somehow missed when it first aired. This season has been panned by fans and I can see why. Although still enjoyable, it compressed a lot of plot points in a rather hasty manner, making you ask about some of them, "Why?" I did get a kick out of Ivar the Boneless, noticing that whenever he got into one of his madman rants he sounded just like Trevor Noah's impression of Donald Trump. We also re-binged on the three seasons of CARDINAL.
I was very impressed with THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND OTHER IMAGININGS, Mike Ashley's latest collection of early stories and articles by Algernon Blackwood, one of the best writers of the supernatural in the early Twentieth century. The contents, for the most part, had not been reprinted since their original magazine and newspaper appearances over a century ago. These are all minor (sometimes very minor) efforts, but a number of them still hold great power. I especially liked two articles: one about hunting moose in Canada (and I usually hate hunting stories) and the other about a long canoe trip down the Danube. Blackwood spent his life in touch with nature and I appreciated the chance to vicariously feel his love for it.
On the negative side this week, we missed the Greek Festival in Pensacola this weekend. They always have great food but Kitty just could walk the fairgrounds this year. On the positive side, the damncat threw up only once this week and missed hitting the important stuff!
I hope you take your week slow and steady, Patti. There's better times a-coming.
Never look forward to dental work.
Didn't read a lot this week. Read Debbie Harry's new autobiography. It was okay. Read too much like transcripts from taped interviews which it was. Now reading The Devil In the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson. It is a mystery set in a debtor's prison in 1727 London. Enjoying this a lot. Pretty dismal place to be. Have Pursuit, a new suspense novel from Joyce Carol Oates on hand and the new Michael Connelly comes out tomorrow.
Saw only one theatrical movie this week. Joker. I liked this a lot. Joachim Phoenix gives a incredible performance which carries the movie. I will probably see this again. Tired of fanboys complaining that it doesn't follow the original origin story. It's only a comic, get over it. Marvel and DC have been revising their characters for years.
Also watched El Camino:Breaking Bad on Netflix. Also pretty good follow up on what happened to Jesse Pinkman.
Not watching much tv. Halfway through the new season of Goliath and Peaky Blinders will be next.
I loved EL CAMINO. I know it was more sentimental than some fans wanted but I thought he needed some sentiment to make up for a year of torture. Funny how some of the shows Jerry mentioned I have never even heard of. TV gets denser and denser.
Looking forward to that panel, George.
Am wondering how cold NY will be at the end of November, Jeff. I was there a few years ago at Thanksgiving but I can't remember.
I liked COME AND AWAY but I had trouble making out the lyrics. And in this case, they are important.
Good luck with the dentist! Those anniversary of events are tough. I still think of my parents on their birthdays, though they are long gone now.
As you saw from my post, I'm barely reading anything, just a few short stories and no books finished.
I did catch an hour of a show title VERA and liked the title character a lot, a police Chief. So I've got on the list to get the series, or one of them, from the library for a binge watch. Have you or anyone seen it?
We've had one light frost, but otherwise the weather has been nice here. Leaves falling and some yard work done.
Usually it is not too bad in late November but we have had snow more than once in November, once when my sister was visiting from California. I'll look at the last few years when we get home today.
I did see a season of Vera before it went to Acorn or Brit Box. Liked it a lot.
Thanks, Jeff.
Vera is on two of our PBS stations here, so we have seen all 9 series (4 - 90 minutes episodes each).
Weather: 2018 Thanksgiving Day (11/22) was very cold - 27 - but most of the days before and after that ranging from the mid-40s to the low 50s.
2017 was generally warmer, most days in the 50s with a couple of 40s.
2016 was colder, mostly in the mid-40s, but much warmer until the 19th. It warmed up to the 50s after Thanksgiving.
2015 warmed from the mid-40s earlier to the 60s starting on Thanksgiving Day (the 26th) for several days.
2014 warmed from 32 on the 19th to 56 on the 23rd to the upper 60s the two days after that, only to drop back to 51 on the 26th and the 30s the two days after that.
So, hard to guess at this stage, but 40s or 50s seem the most likely.
Very variable, Jeff. Thanks for the hard work!
I am seeing this Friday morning--yes, I am late--and hope the horrors of dental surgery have passed and things are on the uptick. My vision has still not recovered from my own surgery back at the end of July so I apologize in advance for any typos that slip in.
Can't say anything has made me happy this week. The grief has been way worse than normal. Last weekend I was a wreck. Not sure what is triggering it worse than nortmal, but I am very much dreading the coming holidays. A neighbor across the street has her Christmas lights out AND a pumpkin on her porch. I am waiting for the seventh seal to break and demons to run the streets.
I am more than a little annoyed with network TV. It seems like all the shows we watch, Madam Secretary, NCIS and its many flavors, Chicago PD, and the list goes on and on, have gone into preach mode on various topics. Madam Secretary is probably the worst offendor, but they are all doing it and I am tired of it. I watch TV for escape and preaching at me in the guise of fiction is not helpful.
The drought continues here in North Texas. The State Fair is winding up its run and in a normal year that would have meant several rain events. This year there has been a little bit, but not much.
I go see my doctor next Wednesday to talk about various blood work tests and some issues I am having. I still hope to be at Bouchercon here in Dallas, but it is not looking good. I am not sure there is much point to my going and spending the majority of the convention on a bed in a hotel room though my son is advocating that as he thinks I will be better than I think I will be. Time will tell what the doc thinks and I will go from there.
From NE Dallas where it has finally cooled off a bit,
Kevin
So sorry, Kevin. You should go to B'Con if you can. It would probably help a little to have something new to focus on. That is why I am going. Any diversion helps me.
That is my son's contention. He figures even if I am in a hotel room flat on my back in bed taking a break becuase of my medical stuff, I am better off. I am nbot so sure. I'm still falling apart in public thanks to some trigger and do not want that to happen down there either.
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