have been a leading lady a long time ago because she can carry a movie. And Richard Roundtree, since died, was as gorgeous as ever. Lots of fun. Rewatched POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, which was better than I remembered. Also watching NORTHERN LIGHTS (Britbox, okay but not great), GRANTCHESTER, THE BEAR (HULU) THE LETDOWN, an Australian show on NETFLIX.
Still working on HORSE. Can't really get into all the info about horse racing but some of the other strands are better. Megan talked me into buying ANGELS by Denis Johnson and I have to begin JAMES by Percival Everett for my second book group. Megan also sent me a collection of stories by Kate Atkinson. I think when I tell her I am reading HORSE week after week, she worries.
Going with Josh, Julie and Kevin at the end of the week to Stratford to see: LAS CAGES AUX FOLLES and SOMETHING'S ROTTEN. If I don't get an entry on MONDAY, MONDAY next week, I will at least post it for you guys to use.
I almost had a haiku published. The editor said I got three of the four votes I needed. So I will keep trying. Haiku is a funny thing. Some of the ones I read are so simple as to seem banal and other so complex they seem impenetrable. I think I am still not reading them correctly. I will have a story in DARK YONDER imminently. I will give you a link when I have one. I think sports fans will like this one as it deals with 1968 Pennsylvania sports teams.
*Whoopy, I just had a haibun accepted. Seven hundred drafts apparently paid off.
So what about you?
18 comments:
Congrats on the acceptances. You should also be congratulated on the near-acceptance; these days even coming close is something to celebrate.
Cayley is moving this week. She has a place with two others from work. She'll be taking Gargoyle (her cat) and one of her roommates will be taking Donut (Amy's ball python) so Jessie's house will seem that much emptier. This will be Cayley's first real place and she's a bit nervous because adulting can be hard.
In non-family animal news, Mark had a chance to get a young 3-foot alligator. (Walt immediately said, "Go for it" and Christina immediately said, "Is it legal?" Three things stopped him: 1) it's probably illegal; 2) they'd have to buy/build a large enclosure for the back yard; and 3) Mark will probably be getting the job offer from Albuquerque this week, which would leave Christina with a 3-foot alligator. Sorry, little lizard. Despite rainy days this week, we were able to beach yesterday morning. The four ladies were in the water for only fifteen or twenty minutes when Amy said, Guys, we've got to leave the water. Now." She had spotted a shark swimming close by. True, the shark was going in the opposite direction, but who can really trust a shark?
Went with Christina and Jack to get Jack in for a routine blood test and, lo and behold!, there in the waiting was a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. I hadn't seen one of those in years (if I ever had); I didn't even know they were still in business. This gave me the opportunity to read from it to Jack -- loudly, publicly, and and with enough emphasis to completely embarrass him. They had a tiny umbrella for sale -- just three inches in diameter when opened...I suppose for those who want to protect just one specific body area from rain. They had many other cool and stupid things (all costing far more than they were worth); I mentioned a number of them in my blog post for today...
This week is a time for remembering. Today would have been my sister's birthday. I miss her. I also miss Kitty's brother Stephen, whose funeral was ten years ago this week. In our family, funerals are meant to ne enjoyed and Stephen had a great send-off as we took boats out into the middle of the Chesapeake to spread his ashes -- he would have really enjoyed that.
I just checked. I have read at least 166 books over the first half of this year. (The number is probably a little bit higher; I am not that diligent in keeping records.) A pretty hefty number but still somewhat behind last year's half-year total. Books read this were Robert Crais's THE LAST DETECTIVE, Robert Jackson Bennett's fascinating fantasy detective novel THE TAINTED CUP, and Sarah Pinborough and F. Paul Wilson's apocalyptic novel A NECESSARY END (my FFB this week). Collections read were Erle Stanley Gardner's CITY OF FEAR (also published as PULP TALES PRESENTS #1: ALL DETECTIVE MAGAZINE), Theodore Sturgeon's THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF THEORDORE STURGEON, VOLUME XIII: CASE AND THE DREAMER, and Lawrence Block's DEFENDER OF THE INNOCENT: THE CASEBOOK OF MARTIN EHRNGRAF. I also read four Miss Pickerell books by Ellen MacGregor (They are addictive): MISS PICKERELL ON THE MOON, MISS PICKERELL TAKES THE BULL BY THE HORNS, MISS PICJERELL AND THE LOST WORLD, and MISS PICKERELL MEETS MR. H.U.M. (the last two co-authored with Dora Pantell). Fantasy I read a brief publication for 1964, H.P. LOVECRAFT: A SYMPOSIU, with Fritz Leiber, Robert Bloch. Sam Russell, Arthur Jean Cox, and Leland Shapiro -- a transcript from a session at the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society. currently reading STEP BY STEP, a "walking" memoir by Lawrence Block; in the queue is Harina Nagendra's historical detective novel A NEST OF VIPERS.
Enjoy your Stratford trip and have a great Fourth! Take care.
Megan would be very pleased with you, Jerry. An amazing number. If I stopped watching so much TV and listening to so many podcasts and gallivanting with friends, I might read more. I used to read 2-3 books a week and it is now about 2-3 books a month.
Congratulations on getting your haibun accepted, Patti! That's great! And thanks for your thoughts about Thelma I was wondering if that was good, and it sounds as though it is.
Diane and I are slowly improving, but Covid-19 still afflicts us. Still coughing, still drained of energy.
Patrick and Katie are flying to Amsterdam today for the Taylor Swift concert later this week.
I'm dismayed by Biden's performance at the Debate. What a mess!
I'm also dismayed at the prospect of more terrible Supreme Court decisions today. The world is going to hell! Stay safe!
Presidential Immunity decision is the most worrisome for me. To protect Trump, would they open that up to future felons.
Thanks, Margot. I really enjoyed THELMA as did the rest of the audience.
My friend is still tired two weeks on, George. But she said the Paxlovid helped compared to her last two bouts.
Congratulations on the story and the haiku. Glad you are still trying.
I read the new Longmire book - FIRST FROST - and it was a good one. Also read three other books.
Lots of TV as usual. We obviously had BABYLON BERLIN mixed up with another historical German show that we didn't like, because when we started to (finally) watch series one, it wasn't familiar at all. And it is really good. It starts in 1939 and it is fascinating. There is one great nightclub dance scene in the second episode that was riveting. The first three series ran on Netflix, but now all three and the current - fourth - series are on MHz Choice. We finished the Irish series ACCEPTABLE RISK. Started series 5 of MI-5 (SPOOKS), which added Hermione Norris as former MI-6 agent now in MI-5, Ros Myers. We'll finish BLUE LIGHTS (Britbox) series two tonight. It's set in Belfast. Good show. Also finishing the first series of the Danieh UNIT ONE. Most of what we're watching is MHz/Britbox/PBS Masterpiece/ACORN. After watching the first two episodes of series two of the British FAT FRIENDS, they suddenly got series one, so we started that. With Alison Steadman, Ruth Jones and James Corden (who went on to do GAVIN & STACEY 7 years later), this comedy about people trying to lose weight is worth watching.
We'll be leaving next Monday for Connecticut for several days traveling with my cousin and her husband, as we do every July. Last year was Maine, but we're going back to Mystic this time. The weather has mostly been pretty hot but we're getting a little more moderate this week.
Have fun at Stratford.
Congratulations on the acceptance. Must be satisfying and exciting.
The Supreme Court ruling was announced and I am not going to write anything about it.
I finished the recent Charlie Huston novel. Gave up on a Darynda Jones novel (too much romance for me). Started AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins as well as POISON FOR BREAKFAST by Lemony Snicket. Also started one of Victor Gischler's westerns written under the name Nate Morgan.
I've been watching the first season of RESIDENT ALIEN with Alan Tudyk on Netflix. I really enjoy the show. Started BODKIN on Netflix and am halfway through. I may not finish BODKIN; it's ok but not compelling.
Watched the first few episodes of Blue Lights on BritBox and managed to understand most of the characters. Just finished an older Edna Buchanan mystery titled Love Kills. She had Miami journalist Britt Montero chasing a bad guy all across the country and eventually to Alaska. When she got in deep trouble, she called a Miami cop and before you knew it two cops from Miami showed up in Alaska. Not believable and I won't read Buchanan again. Happy the hockey season is finally over. Many Canadians including me lose interest when the playoffs drag on into summer.
Kent, the best Edna Buchanan books were the two true crime/newspaper books, THE CORPSE HAD A FAMILIAR FACE and NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU CRY. None of her novels came close to those.
Patti, it is great that you have a short story in DARK YONDER and a haibun accepted. I would not worry about how many books you read as long as you are enjoying your other activities.
We have been watching our standard shows, including NORTHERN EXPOSURE, which gets weirder and weirder, and MURDER SHE WROTE, which is always fun. I have noticed that STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE has more time travel related plots that the other STAR TREK shows (that preceded it). We are trying a new science fiction show I had never heard of: THE ORVILLE. We finished the 2nd season of HARRY WILD. Also watched a MIDSOMER MURDERS and a BROKENWOOD MYSTERIES episode.
I finished THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin. It was the perfect book for me: a combination of a book about books with a story about relationships, and set on a fictional island off Massachusetts. Then I read A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY by Agatha Christie. Not my favorite Miss Marple novel so far, but still a good read.
Glen is now reading THE FALL OF BERLIN 1945 by Antony Beevor. He says it is a good read and interesting.
Have a good trip, Jeff.
More than one person has recommended THE STORIED LIFE. I will look for it. Agatha is always fun if not always perfect. I watched A STUDY IN PINK last night, which I know I saw before. I still have trouble with the speed of Cumberbatch's speech. Not the best mystery but it sets it all up. At least I have closed captions now.
I have never read Edna Buchanan.
I liked the first season of RESIDENT ALIEN but for me it ran out of steam. I guess others think differently though as it seems to have two more seasons. I like quirky but shows that get too quirky wear me out. And I can't keep all the women straight.
We had a beautiful day here in Michigan. Upper seventies, blue skies, no humidity.
Further congratulations, Patti--who has time to read much when making hundreds of revisions?
Tracy, glad your eyes are again in reading order, and with good results!
I will not refrain, as Gerard did, from a bit more comment on our worldwide creeping (when not loping) fascism, but it is remarkable what Quislings our RP SCUSAs are willing to be. And my prediction in previous rounds here that Macron's arrogant neoliberal obtuseness would not break in his favor was a bit like predicting a cat will chase a bug, but since no one stopped him, Marine Le Pen and co. are dancing tonight. We'll see if the left manages to help save his fool ass, and everyone's.
Continuing to enjoy a PERSON OF INTEREST rewatch, and the "new" seasons (in US, on PBS broadcast) of PROFESSOR T, GRANTCHESTER and DI RAY (Sunday's complement for me, since the GAME OF THRONES-verse leaves me bored), along with the watchable HOTEL COCAINE on MGM+ cable. All the late-night comedy-chat shows on summer break...so, here's Martin Mull's 1975 comic episode of the PBS series SOUNDSTAGE, as he RsIP.
https://youtu.be/Mfu-1BLNQXw?si=i3uDKS-q2ECLRP0x (the same year SNL got going).
Nice day, finally, over here, as well. RESIDENT ALIEN is easy for me to get Enough of, as well, though it is reasonably clever, a bit like an elaborated "I Could Tell You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You" joke.
Yes. And the characters lack consistency with the exception of the two kids.
Where do I watch PERSON OF INTEREST. Just realized PRIME has international versions of the same show about lactating Moms. I was on my third before I got it. Granchester gets a bit darker every season. And I don't mean that as a color reference.
I've been rewatching POI on Freevee, which has the entire series up:
https://www.amazon.com/Person-Interest-Complete-First-Season/dp/B0095R3M72
There's a lactation tv series with that title? Well, the infants in question are (usually) very interested in their mothers...
GRANTCHESTER does seem, to me, as one beginning to watch with the current season/series, as verging on cozy in a rather morose way, with some alleviating wit...I've enjoyed what I've seen.
I love Robson Green especially. And they continue to introduce real problems from that era. Especially for the women and people of color.
Also in the Pretty Good So Far camp in tv: THE PORTER, a Canadian historical drama series imported by syndicator American Public Television and running on PBS stations.
https://aptonline.org/catalog/PORTER-THE
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