Monday, March 11, 2024

Monday, Monday

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13 comments:

Jerry House said...

I sprang forward. Now my circadian rhythms are all shot to hell.

Mark thinks his interview with the Gator Boys went well. We'll known in a week or two. Thursday Mark brought home is buddy Spruce, the (now) two-week-old red-handed tamarin monkey, for another sleepover. Spruce does not seem much bigger but he's healthy and cute as all get-out. He's now being feed every three hours with an eyedropper instead of every two hours.

Thursday was Kitty's actual birthday, and Christina, Mark, and I went out to celebrate with Greek food from a newly-opened Greek food truck in the neighborhood. (Kitty's triumvirate of food choices were Greek food, high tea, and fudge.) We ordered gyros with fries. Turns out we did not order gyros and fries, but WITH fries. They put the dang fries inside the gyros. Who does that? Is this a tradition from some remote part of Greece I was unaware of? It tasted pretty good, though

And Sunday we all went out for high tea to celebrate Kitty. The English Creamery in Pensacola does a pretty good job. At the table next to us was a mother, grandmother, and two young daughters, all dressed in their finery to celebrate one of the girl's birthday. Others at the tea shop were also dressed to the nines. Christina, Jessie, Amy, and Erin all wore fancy frocks. (Ceili was headed directly for a shift at work so she was less casual.) Jack looked very dude-ish in a dark shirt with red flowers. I had my denim shorts, navy polo, white athletic socks, and boat shoes -- I'm an old fart so I could get away with that. The tea shop had a tuxedo cat that greeted all visitors by demanding to be loved and petted; it was the same cat that was there two years ago when we went -- I think she recognized me. After tea, we toodled on down to Foley, Alabama, to an out let mall that had a Vera Bradley store. (Kitty loved Vera Bradley.) We hit that store and a zillion others at the mall; Christina, Jessie, Amy, Erin and Jack spent an obscene amount of money. They also had a large store that catered to dog owners and dog lovers, and sold all things dog related, including a pink tulle tutu that I did not need, did not want, and did not buy.

Also this week, Walt made it to Thailand to photograph a muay thai martial arts championship. It was a 33-hour trip (including a 9-hour layover), but Walt loves Thai food. So where did he go to eat when he landed? That's right, a Japanese restaurant. Go figure. He also visited a 7-11 store jsu down the street from his hotel...

Watched the latest episodes of VERA and DEATH IN PARADISE as well as MURDER IS EASY (which I thought was well-done). Happy the John Stewart is back on THE DAILY SHOW, if only on Mondays. Not so happy that HBO has delayed airing John Oliver on YouTube until Thursdays. I had been catching him on HBO which became MAX, which suddenly vanished from my TV -- I suspect I can get it back but will have to pay far more than I have paid or am willing to pay. **sigh**

Books read on the next post.

4:00 AM
Jerry House said...

Continuing on...

George Bess's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA was a massive graphic novel with great artwork, although it played semi-loose with the story itself. James Tynion IV has started a graphic novel series detailing well-known UFO encounters. BLUE BOOK: VOLUME 1/1961 goes into the Betty and Barney Hill encounter outside of Lancaster, New Hampshire; their story became fodder for John Fuller's best=selling book THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY. Consider me a skeptic. Actually, consider me a skeptic in spades.

My FFB this week was THE GREEN GODDESS GAMBIT by "Larry Maddock" (Jack Owen Jardine), the second volume in the AGENT OF T.E.R.R.A. series, which combined middle tier pulp science fiction with a MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. vibe with limited success. I enjoyed it, but as Steve Lewis and George Kelley both said, it was a "muddled mess."

Also a muddled mess was James Patterson and Brian Sitt's second book about The Shadow. The conceit here is that Lamont Cranston, who has lived for over ten thousand years, and Margo Lane were stuck in suspended animation in 1937 for 150 years. Margo Lane had just become pregnant at the time and never realized that she had given birth while in suspended animation. The Shadow's old enemy, Shiwan Khan, had used the century and a half to take over American and enforced a brutal dictatorship. The Shadow, Margo, and their great-great-great-great granddaughter defeated Khan in the first book of the reimagined series. Now they face the Destroyer of Worlds who wipes out entire populations, armed only with an ever-growing array of mystic powers and the spitting image ancestors of the Shadow's old gang of allies. Muddled mess doesn't begin to define it. Broad strokes, rapid jump cuts, sudden changes in plot, and a lack of detail and characterization are the hallmarks of this book. File this one under "I Read So You Don't Have To."

Far more enjoyable and worthwhile were James Lee Burke's third novel about Billy Bob Holland, BITTERROOT (which takes the tortured Texas lawyer to Montana), Martin Edward's second Jack Devlin novel, SUSPCIUOUS MINDS (which shows the author's talent on full display early in his career), and Christopher Golden's latest, THE HOUSE OF LAST RESORT (an eerie haunted house tale in Sicily -- with rats, lots and lots of rats!).

I also read Leo P. Kelley's science fiction anthology/textbook THEMES IN SCIENCE FICTION. I'm not versed enough to say whether it was a good textbook, but it was a pretty neat anthology.

Currently reading Parnell Hall's standalone thriller CHASING JACK.

Have a fantastic week, Patti. May your circadian rhythms function well. Take care.

4:31 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

When is Congress going to do something about DST, eh Jerry? I know: never. We're going to be stuck with this miserable system for the rest of our miserable lives.

But I digress. The Academy Awards were last night and I can truthfully say, I don't care. We didn't watch a single minute of it, not even the red carpet. Emma Stone was the only (mild) surprise - personally, I am not surprised, as it was the clear insider over the unknown outsider - but since I didn't see most of the movies (we did see THE HOLDOVERS), what can I say? We've totally turned our viewing around from 50 years ago. We almost never go to the movies and even rarely watch something at home, other than old favorites. The hassle of going to a movie is not worth it, for the most part, and frankly, I don't miss it.

What did we watch rather than the Oscars? I'm glad you asked. We watched the last three episodes of THE TOURIST. While the second series was not quite up to the first (the fifth episode was a bit of a letdown), it was still very good and well worth watching, if you haven't do it so far. (It's on Netflix.)

We finished our run through THE GOOD LIFE (favorite British sitcom), so we'll see what we add to replace it on Saturday Brit Night. Finished the second of three series of MUM (Britbox, I believe), with Lesley Manville, who seems ubiquitous these days. Also watching the 13th series of DEATH IN PARADISE and VERA, and reruns of MI-5 (SPOOKS, now on series 3). Still watching CANDICE RENOIR (series 8), WALKING ON SUNSHINE (series 3), etc.

The weather warmed up this week (low 80s the last three days), but back to the mid-70s now. We had brunch with my cousins on Thursday, and one was bemoaning that she hasn't been able to go to the beach a single time int he two months they've been down here, and it just hasn't been beach weather. Of course, for non-beachgoers like us, that's not a bad thing.

Trying to get more reading done, but the pesky internet gets in the way. I play a lot of games every day, for one. And we have online subscriptions to the NY Times & Daily News and the Washington Post. I'm reading mostly short stories, as usual.

Speaking of the Times, This Morning said that March 11 is considered the "official" start of the pandemic, so it is four years ago today. We were in Florida then, and it took some time (at least a week) to really notice the effects down here. First the Sunday greenmarket shut down. But it was the closing of the mall (we went to Macy's for Jackie to pick up something she had ordered online, and it was a ghost town) and Starbucks that told us it was time to pack up and go home.

Stay safe out there!

7:59 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

I guess you didn't get that bulletin, Jerry, but yes, there are some Greek places that do put fries in the sandwich. Usually they tell you, though...

8:03 AM
Kevin R. Tipple said...

I did not spring forward. As usual, I crawled and screamed curses.

9:04 AM
Diane Kelley said...

After 70 degree temps last week, Winter returned yesterday with a few inches of snow and freezing temperatures. That was the cherry on the cake of the hated Time Change that Bill Crider used to rail against (and everyone supported Bill's position).

Patrick is back from Dublin but getting ready for his trip to Paris, France. Katie is going to take another trip to NYC to see some Broadway plays with friends.

I finished our Federal and State Tax Returns and e-filed them. Diane wrote out the checks (we owed money to the Feds and the NY State) and I mailed them so we're done with that.

Just by chance, I'm completely caught up on Library books. That only happens a couple times each year. I've suggested more Library purchases, but they're still in the pipeline so I can focus on actual books I've purchased. Stay safe!

9:12 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...

George, we had 84 here a couple of days ago. Back to the mid-70s today - at least all the rain is gone! - but we'll be back over 80 starting on Wednesday. My cousin loves the beach, but she hasn't been able to go once this winter as it was mostly too cool for her, so perfect for us.

10:43 AM
Gerard Saylor said...

DST generally does not bother me. I used to get angrier about DST when I was younger and had a parent forcing me out of bed an hour early.

Still reading THIN RED LINE in bits and pieces. The frequent changes from character POV can be subtle and throw me off. Mainly, I get annoyed because the battle maps are not detailed and, since this is a library book, the maps are almost entirely covered by the taped -n cover and an old book card pocket.

Did finally finish CROW GIRL. Boy, that was a long one. Started HELLO, TRANSCRIBER by WI author Hannah Morrissey. Having a bit of trouble with that one after listening to CROW GIRL. CROW was 30 hours and I would let my mind wander at times because, hey, what am I really going to miss? But, with a regular length novel like HELLO I have to pay attention or risk missing an important plot point.

Still watching BLACKLIST and occasionally smirking at the silliness and absurdity. There is a healthy amount of tongue-in-cheek humor in there. I was wondering last night how long it took to shoot each episode with all the many gunfights and car chases and fistfights.

Boy #1 was home for Spring Break. He just hung out at home. I visited my mother in IL for a couple days. Got down and worked on cleaning the grout on a section of her tile floor. I had trouble telling if the floor was getting any cleaner but she said it looked much better. I'll have to complete the floor next time I visit.

11:37 AM
TracyK said...

I had a bad night sleeping. Daylight Savings Time changes always mess me up for days. We did not watch the Oscars either.

Friday we went to the Santa Barbara International Orchid show. We figured it would be the least crowded day, but there were still a lot of people. Great displays and we got good photos.

We finished DEATH AND OTHER DETAILS. A beautiful show but confusing at the end. Lots of unlikeable characters. Otherwise our normal shows. Looking forward to STAR TREK: DISCOVERY coming back.

I read DEFECTORS by Joseph Kanon. The first book I have read by that author. About US and UK agents who have defected to Russia. I liked it. Now reading YOUR REPUBLIC IS CALLING YOU by Kim Young-ha. The story takes place over the course of one day in the life of Ki-Yong, a South Korean man with a wife and teenage daughter. Except that he is really a North Korean spy who has been in South Korea over 20 years, and has now been recalled to North Korea.

Glen finished THE HONJIN MURDERS by Seishi Yokomizo. His current book is CHURCHILL'S MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat by Giles Milton. He is reading too many books that I want to read too.

12:11 PM
Gerard Saylor said...

Re: long time spies. How many just stay where they are? You settle into a life and grow and family, get a mortgage, make friends, volunteer in the community, etc. I suppose some spies risk murder by their home countries if they defect or go silent. The host country may send them to prison. I should watch THE AMERICANS.

1:15 PM
Anonymous said...

Five more days then back to MI. It’s been fun but I think 8 trips to CA is enough. Looking at Sarasota for next year. Stay well.

1:32 PM
Steve Oerkfitz said...

DST doesn't bother my sleep patterns since I am not on a regular schedule, although I am glad to see sunshine later in the day.
Always watch the Oscars. I saw 8 of the ten movies. Have yet to see Zone of Interest or American Fiction. I'm a long time movie buff. It bactually went faster than usual.
Watching The Gentlemen on Netflix, Shogun on Hulu and Constellation on Appletv. Saw Dune part 2. Great movie, needs to be seen on the ig screen.
Halfway through The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett which I couldn't renew so I'll have finish someother time. I was really enjoying it. Also read The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman and also reading On Animals by Susan Orleans.

9:55 PM
Anonymous said...

I too always watch the Oscars. And see as many of them on the big screen as possible. American Fiction was a good one. I too missed zone. Probably gone now.

2:11 AM

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