Enjoying DROPS OF GOD (APPLE) and JURY DUTY(PRIME). Also watching GRANTCHESTER.
Still reading MISS ALUMINUM, (Susanna Moore) and finishing up DAUGHTER OF TIME.
Lots of rain in Michigan. Today I saw UNREST, a Swiss film set at the end of the nineteenth century. Can't say I liked it-too tedious, but it had some interesting ideas about the 20th century's dawn in terms of anarchy, communism, capitalism, feminism. All contrasted to life of the workers in a watch factory.
I start some PT tomorrow to try and strengthen my knee. Hope it doesn't make it worse.
What about you guys? Maybe you are up to more than me.
17 comments:
Good luck with the PT. My ezperience has been mixed, with bored therapists either not giving a damn or dedicated ones willing to alter the program to respond to sdpecific (and sometimes changing) needs. My cousin Pam, who passed away a few months ago, was one of the latter, specializing in pediatric PT; several times in the past I would meet parents who, when discovering my relationship to Pam, were effusive in their praise of Pam and the "miracles" she worked with their children. I hope you get a Pam.
Came back from the whirlwind week in Massachusetts yesterday afternoon exhausted, and slept for almost twelve hours. We had been scheduled to fly from Destin, Florida, to Boston but the airline dropped flights to Boston suddenly a montha go so we ended up flying to Newark and renting a car for a looong drive to Cape Cod. We stayed at Kitty's family cottage while Jessie and the girls traveled the Chatham to vistied with her in-laws. We had a specific list of things to do while there: Christina wanted to eat at Cook's restaurant at least twice for their fried clams (they were mighty good and in New England you don't have to search far to find the whole-belly Ipswich clams); we had to go to Cuffy's sweatshirt store in East Dennis just because (much money was spent there -- the place had expanded literally four times its size since we were there two years ago, attracting more and more tourists); in honor of Kitty's mother who loved shopping there, we went to the Christmas Tree Store, our last opportunity because the chain is going out of business (very disappointing, if the one we went to was representative of the the vhain over the past couple of years, it deserved to go out of business; the girls has a favorite ice cream place they weanted to go to buty it was clused that day so they went to Smitty's in Mashpee and had what they swore was the best ice cream on the Cape; Jack insisted we have s'mores after a cookout and Christine lost a battle with a giant s'more whose chocolate and marshmallow kept escaping from the sides. Tuesday most of the gang drove to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut; Jack was fairly sick in that morning, so I volunteered to stay home with him. We played Go Fish, but I twisted the rules a bit -- instead of saying "Go Fish" each time, you had to say "Go [and include the name of a specific type of fish, without ever repeating a fish]" -- when you're ten you have to think pretty hard to come up with so many different types of fish. Then I played "Go Hunt" with him, which is the same game but with names of animals. After these marathin games, Jack felt better and spent an hour and half kayaking along the shoreline of the lake. Meanwhile the gang had a good time at the aquarium, althoug it plaed when compared to larger venues such as the Atlanta Aquarium.
Wednesday morning we left the Cape to travel up the 128/I-95/Rte. 3 parkinglot that is the beltway around Boston to Gloucester for a whale watch. The weather was great and the water was beautifully calm as we traveled to two different whale feeding grounds; at each of the feeding grounds we saw a mother and calf; both duos allowing us fantasic views for about half an hour each. At the first feeding ground, we saw a mother "bubble feed" her calf -- the mother would blow a large air bubble underwater trapping many small fish in the bubble; the bubble would rise to the surface where the calf would eat it and the fish it contained in one large swallow. The grace and the awesome majesty of the whales is omething I can never get tired of. On the way back to port we encounted a large pod of playful gray seals. I am constantly reminded how lucky we as humans are to be part of this glorious universe.
More to come.
I hope the PT helps, Patti! I hope you're enjoying Grantchester. I hope it's quite good.
You are making me miss Cape Cod, Jerry. We usually stayed in Wellfleet although we did Dennisport one year and it rained for seven days straight. We have friends who lived near Hyannis and other is Wellfleet but getting there is too difficult now. You either land in Providence or Boston and still have a fair drive.
Glad you got to be in a special place for Kitty.
The previous Granchester series was a better one for me, Margot.
The smoke from the Canadian wild fires is back. I'm trying not to leave the house when the Air Quality is in the Dangerous Range. The eastern part of NY State is dealing with flash flooding. What do you do when 8 inches of rain falls in an hour or two.
We're firming up our BOUCHERCON plans. I see Megan is on a panel Friday morning. But, I'm annoyed the San Diego organizers have panels on Wednesday--our travel day. No other BOUCHERCON has had panels on Wednesday before.
With the Actors now striking with the Writers, little new TV programming or movies will be showing up anytime soon. More time to read!
My brother is the head of the Physical Therapy department at a local college. He told me who provides the PT is more important than what PT they're delivering. When I've needed PT, my brother pointed me to the best therapist in that area. Stay safe!
Got back from Maine on Saturday night. Beat the rain. We're off to Costco now. Back in an hour.
I recommend Maine. Portland was really nice.
Portland is the only place I have been in Maine and I loved it.
They must have more people who want to participate than ever. Surprising considering how expensive flying across the country will be for many.
Little happening here other than my insomnia. I haven't slept at all since yesterday morning. No medications seem to help.
Halfway through Beware the Woman. Enjoying it a lot. Read a lot of short stories by different writers.
Watched a lot of movies on TV, but nothing in the theater. Watching Loudermilk on Prime.
We went to my brother's house to meet my two-month-old grandniece Lily. When Kenny was diagnosed with rapidly developing dementia, his daughter Julie and her husband Tom moved in to help Carmen care for him. The baby has been the best possible medicine for Kenny, who holds her and tells her how beautiful she is. It is a bit disturbing for me to see the person my younger brother has become physically. He looks old, very old. But the essential Kenny is still in there. He still is funny, able to joke and laugh (even about his dementia). He takes each lucid or semi-lucid moment as a gift.
Everyone held Lily and no one wanted to give her up, including Christina, Jessie, Kenny, Carmen, and Kaylee. Julie had the brightest maternal glow I have ever seen. I held the baby and tried to teach her the words to "Waltzing with Bears," but failed. Jack fell in love with Lily and held her for a few minutes. Baby holding is a fine art in my family. Thursday, it was off to Kimball's ice cream stand in Westford for our traditional ice cream for dinner blowout.
Friday was Kitty's interment, a low-key affair done well. I wandered through the cemetery visiting old friends and acquaintances from my childhood, as well as many of my departed relatives. I left happy, knowing that Kitty was safe, loved, and among friends; and I was calm, knowing that she would also remain with me as long as I breathed air. Fourteen of us then headed out to the Hong & Kong restaurant in Chelmsford for Chinese food (another tradition).
The small, un-air-conditioned church where we held Kitty's memorial sevice has not changed much in the past seventy years. One importsant difference was the addition of Luna, the church's emotional support dog, who is brought out for funerals. Tiny Luna knew her job and did it it well. I am now firmly convinced that every church needs a calm, loving, and empathetic emotional support dog. Gina, the pianist, was the same person who played at my sister's funeral ten years before and it was good to reconnect with her. The service was opened and closed by a church deacon (deaconess?), Linda. It turns out that her two teenaged sons worked for us one afternon over twenty years ago and they still remembered Kitty and the fun they had that day. Jessie and Christina distributed packets of tissues to each of the pews.
I picked some of the songs that held a special meaning for Kitty. essie recorded them to play at the service. I would say a few things about what those songs meant for her and the memories they held. Intersperced, we had people speak of their memories of her. Erin read what Christina had written because Christina would have cried insensibly if she had tried to read it. Kaylee, Kitty's niece Dawn, Julie, Kenny, and my niece Lauren also shared memories.
The service went well and, in some small way, honored Kitty's life and her impact on others. It was a loosely structured affair designed to stress the importance of life, family, friends, and love.
The past year or so was a rough one. We lost my cousins Pam and Jack and my cousin Karen's youngest son, Matt; Kitty's cousin Lynn lost her beloved youngest, CJ. None of us have fully recovered from those terrible losses. There have been break-ups and make-ups and shake-ups and illnesses and recoveries. My niece Becky almost lost her husband this past year to sepsis (he's fine now, thank you, but it was a close call). One of Jessie's high school friends showed up to support her; he had lost his own wife only two months ago. That people, some of them in great pain and still reeling from great loss, can come together speaks volumes. And now we have Lily, and few hours after the service, we got word that my niece Sarah had just given birth to Tyler, her second child. The circle of life continues. May the circle be unbroken.
I apologize for going on at such length, Patti. It's been an emotional and healing time. Stay safe.
Jerry, thanks for telling us about Kitty's interment, you have such a lovely, large, sharing family.
My husband had a tooth split or crack a week or so ago, and today will have the first appointment to get a crown for the tooth. No big deal, I hope, but he has been being super cautious about what he eats lately.
Our condominium is in a group of four joined units and the unit on one side was just sold. The new owners have had a lot of stuff ripped out and it was a noisy three days, although the first day was the worst. We ended up watching a lot of shows in our bedroom, where the noise was less. We watched all of the WORRICKER TRILOGY, PAGE EIGHT, TURKS AND CAICOS, and SALTING THE BATTLEGROUND. We had seen PAGE EIGHT before, the other two were new to us. Enjoyed all of them. Bill Nighy is wonderful and lots of other good acting too.
We also watched the ARCHANGEL miniseries of three episodes, with Daniel Craig. I had never heard of that, was only barely aware of the book by Robert Harris that it was based on. We liked that too.
My reading has been going slowly lately. It took me a week to read SS-GB by Len Deighton. Reading about Germany being successful in winning WWII (or at least taking over part of the UK in this case) is not pleasant reading for me, but I enjoy most books by Deighton, so it was a good read overall. Now I am reading book 12 in Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series, THE NATURE OF THE BEAST.
Jerry, sounds like a beautiful tribute to Kitty, and thanks for sharing it with us.
Despite forecasts to the contrary, we had mostly really nice weather in Maine and Connecticut, without a drop of rain. It was mostly warm, in the 80s (one day 75), but not terribly hot and humid like we've had here. Monday we drove up to Hartford and stayed the night in a Marriott. My cousins live east of town. We met them for a delicious Italian dinner. Tuesday morning we were at their house as instructed at 8:30 and it was about a three hour drive to Maine. We stopped in Kittery for lunch at Bob's Clam Hut, apparently a well loved place. Jackie had the fried shrimp basket, I had the haddock.
Our hotel was a Sheraton in South Portland, just a few minutes from downtown. Portland is the largest city in Maine, but at 68,000 people, it is smaller than our neighborhood in Brooklyn by about 10,000, though the greater Portland area is around 300,000, they say. It's a nice waterfront town, at least in the summer, with plenty of boats and lots of seafood restaurants. Turns out three three restaurants we ate at, recommended by my cousin the restaurateur, are owned by the same people - Fore Street, Score's, and Street & Co. It was not all seafood, of course. The first night I had a gigantic pork chop. Luckily, Jackie had something small so she was able to share mine. The last night she insisted we get the lobster fra diavolo for two ($95), with clams, mussels and calamari on a bed of linguine, along with the split lobster. Very good.
But wait, there was even more food, including my first ever lobster ("lobsta") roll at The Lobster Shack at Two Lights. This is on Cape Elizabeth, right up the road from the Portland Head Light, a lighthouse commissioned by George Washington in 1791. We got the water side view on a one hour lighthouse tour of Casco Bay that was very informative.
What else? Shopping, naturally. There is a mall five minutes from the hotel, but I suppose the highlight for some was a visit to L.L. Bean headquarters in Freeport.
Our plan was to hang out Saturday morning, maybe eat lunch nearby, then go back to Connecticut and spend another night, then come home yesterday. But the deteriorating conditions changed that, so we left Saturday morning, had a quick breakfast on the road, drove back to Connecticut and ate lunch, then drove home, arriving just as the first raindrops hit at 6:30 pm.
We had a good time as we always do, since we started these trips in 2017. Nancy is three years older than me, and her husband Jerry is a still practicing pediatrician. Next year: the Berkshires.
Obviously, we didn't get much watching or reading done this week, though we finished D.I. RAY last night and will finish SLEEPING DOG (Germany) tonight. Watched the penultimate LAZARUS PROJECT (which, like D.I. RAY, has been renewed).
While we were away, Jackie did get tickets for the Eagles' farewell tour concert in September, with Steely Dan as the opening act. It cost a fortune, but I'm thinking of it as two concerts. And we canceled our trip to Washington so saved that money. This is at Belmont Park's new UBS Arena, and we'll just drive home after the show. No shows on concerts this week, but next week is The Mavericks.
Sounds like a great trip, Jeff. Late in life, I have developed a shellfish issue so it would have been haddock for me.
Teeth become a big part in life after a certain age. I have never watched those shows, Tracy so I will look for them as I am running out.
Tracy, tell your husband not to fret over the crown. Easy peasey. I had a post and crown done that lasted over 40 years (the crown anyway -- the post stayed around a little bit longer).
Jeff, that lobster fra daivolo sounds delicious. You've got my mouth watering. I hope you and Jackie did justice to it.
Steve-I didn't see you on here. Have you tried Ambien? That's worked for me for six or so years. I get at least five hours and often six.
I have a mouthful of crowns. Some very old. Now they always want to put in a new tooth for five times the price.
I loved LOUDERMILK. Why did they cancel it?
I listened to THE END OF THE WASP SEASON by Denise Mina. Great job with the characters and insights by one character on Scottish culture and how people are usually treated by one another.
Our part of WI has stayed North of the heavy band of smoke coming down from Canada.
In a couple weeks my wife and I move Boy #1 out of his apartment and back home for a month. We then move him back into his new place.
We also need to begin car shopping. We'll give the old car (200k miles) to Boy #1 and plan to buy an electric car for my wife. She was looking at car options last night and prices are, of course, high on most models.
Meanwhile, the new cat is Destructo Cat and looks to chew and claw on feet and hands and arms. The dog will sometimes lie next to me and wag her tail and the cat will go after the tail and sometimes just try and gnaw on the dogs haunches.
I've had some good luck with tv, while in the breaks between assuaging cats and repairing drawers (the kind in the kitchen, rather than the cloth sort)...finally looked at the BET+ series AVERAGE JOE, the pilot for which Paramount Global put on some of the BET cable channels (I recorded it from BET Her), and it turns out to be a rather deft, relatively witty and not too unbelievable hardboiled account of Joe, who is a plumber (a bit of a thrown-away joke, I think) discovering that his recently late father had been not only running a small-time car-repair garage and towing service, but also had been running drugs for the local (and Russian emigre) mobsters...only to have stolen rather a lot from the thugs just before his death from natural causes. Joe, his buddies, their families, and others increasingly find themselves drawn in the pilot, which is all I've seen so far since I don't have BET+ streaming...but suspect and hope more episodes will find their way to cable in the wake of the strikes.
The World Channel series ON STORY had a good episode on the series BARRY not too long ago, with Alec Berg and Bill Hader, which I also finally took a look at, and both PBS's SOUTHERN STORYTELLERS' pilot episode and the first two episodes of JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMEVAL were worth seeing, and rather compatible.
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