Reading WHAT I ATE IN A YEAR, Stanley Tucci. (Lots of pasta). He goes to the gym every day though.
Kevin is leaning toward University of Wisconsin. They have a lot of sports management programs, Firs t I heard of this as a major.
Went to a clarinet concert for Josh's birthday. Like THE STUDIO (Apple), sort of. Just started TH E PITT (MAX).
What are you up to?
13 comments:
We have not been up to much. I am putting this up early because we are going out to breakfast and grocery shopping. I will come by and read other comments Monday morning when we get back.
Our condo building is being power-washed and we need to clear away some things around the front and back of our building tomorrow. And Tuesday a.m. I have a doctor's appointment.
Mostly we are still watching the same shows but we did start watching LUDWIG and have watched four episodes so far. We finally finished CSI have now watched the first episode of CSI: NEW YORK. And we watched the last episode of MCDONALD & DODDS.
Glen read THE DAY THE WORLD CAME TO TOWN: 9/11 IN GANDER, NEWFOUNDLAND (by Jim DeFede) last, and then he started A COLD WELCOME: THE LITTLE ICE AGE AND EUROPE'S ENCOUNTER WITH NORTH AMERICA by Sam White. This is the second book he has read on the Little Ice Age in the last six months.
I am currently reading a fantasy, ROYAL ASSASSIN by Robin Hobb, first published in 1996. It is the second book in the a trilogy, and 670 pages long. I am about 60% done. It is a very good read but slow going.
I hope to hear that everyone else is doing well.
I love your political sign.
Again, I spent most of the week lying down and telling my back to behave. It seemed to work because my back is much better and I can now move around without the use of canes. I used the time to finish the jigsaw puzzle from hell (it turns out the puzzle was missing only one piece), and like a fool, started another puzzle from hell; this one has wooden pieces and some of them are slightly swollen and -- rightly or wrongly -- have to be forced to fit wherever I think they should go -- I expect it will take me a month of frustration to finish the puzzle properly..
So it's been a week of very little happening to Jerry.
Walt came back from his weeklong business trip. Just before he left he was let go from his second job. Before we left for Florida for his current work in cybersecurity, he had been doing secret squirrel stuff for Homeland Security and DHS wanted to keep him on at least part-time, so he had been working about 20 hours a pay period for them. But then came Elon. Losing that job will not affect the household one way or another, but Walt's current contract is up in October and it's up in the air whether Elon or America will be around by then. Not too worried because Walt's job is important to national security, but you can never tell in these times. In the meantime, Christina's job is safe for the next seven weeks of school. Her third-grade student had a new IEP which clearly stated Christina was an important part of it. She should also be safe for the coming school year; her student comes from a military family and a proposed transfer last year was squelched because it was important her student remain in this particular school.
Ike the Penguin was knocked out of the March of Penguin Madness in the second round. As feared, he lost to the penguin with only one wing. Que sera sera. Both Ike and Mark are taking the bad news stoically. Coi9ncidently, I been spending a lot of time n the internet checking out penguin memes about Trump's new tariffs. Go figure.
It's been a tough tine for animals in the extended fam. Happy the beagle mix developed some sort of skin rash/crud and had to have her backside completely shaved and lathered with medicine. Chicken Nugget, Amy's Cane Corso mix, cut her paw badly on some metal, bled all over the house, and is now taped up like a mummy. Both dogs are doing well and will be back to normal soon, after creating a lot of worry in both households.
Open Books is a neat used book store in Pensacola. A nonprofit, it sends books to prisoners throughout Florida on request. they had their annual one dollar book sale this Saturday, with thousands of books in every category set up under tents in their back yard. Since I just don't have enough of them in the house, I came away with 24 super nifty books. (Last year, I bought 43.) A great time supporting a great store.
We cancelled our pre-Easter get-together at Blackwater State Park this weekend because the weather predictions had thunderstorms from hell due to hit the Park on Sunday. Of course, the weather men lied (I blame the DOGE cuts at NOAA) and it was clear and sunny all day. Instead of spending the day lounging by Blackwater River, we spent it lounging at home.
More to come.
I'm back.
No, I have not done my taxes yet, despite making a solemn vow to have them done in February. It's just such an easy task to slough off. I fear I will be doing them (again!) on April 15th. I am so weak.
DI Mervin Wilson finally solved the murder of his mother (we knew he would) on DEATH IN PARADISE. All that remains now is for Commissioner Patterson to get his job back (we know he will) and for Mervin to decide to stay on the island (we know he will), then we can get back to the usual fare of impossible crimes solved because someone fiddled with the timeline (we know they do that every flipping week) (Have you ever notice how predictable some shows are in certain ways? I.e., MIDSOMER MURDERS almost always has three murders per episode -- no more, no less -- before one of the Barnaby's solves the case.)
A fair amount of reading this week. Jack Taylor had his unexpected sawn song in Ken Bruen's final novel, GALWAY'S EDGE; I am going to miss both Bruen and Taylor. Christopher Farnsworth took over the reins of the Jesse Stone books from Mike Lupica with ROBERT B. PARKER'S BURIED SECRETS, one of the better books in my favorite Parker series. Lester Dent is a long way off from his Doc Savage novels in the crime story HONEY IN HIS MOUTH, written in 1956 but not published until 2009; a greedy, not too intelligent grifter is drafted into being a lookalike for a South American dictator. I also read two early books bu=y Michael Crichton under his "John Lange" pseudonym: THE VENOM BUSINESS and ODDS ON. VENIOM was an overly complicated, slow reading, and unnecessarily diffuse book; ODDS -- Crichton's first novel -- was a much better tale of a hotel heist with unexpected complications. I also read three graphic novels: G. Willow Wilson's POISON IVY, VOL.3: MOURNING SICKNESS, Oliver Bly's THE MUSHROOM KNIGHT, VOLUME ONE (with great artwork), and David /small's THE WEREWOLF AT DUSK AND OTHER STORIES (a "lit'ry" collection of three stories -- one original by Small -- tending to the philosophical). I have about fifty pages left to read in George Mann's THE GHOSTS OF WAR, a weird/superhero/Cthulhu-like/alternate New York in the Thirties mix-up, with robotic golems; I'll finish that one today. coming up, James Lee Burke's HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN and whatever else seems bright and shiny to me.
Have a great week, Patti. Keep holding Trump and Elon to account, and stay safe and happy!
Two days packing, four days on the road (not bad conditions at all), then unpacking and shopping, etc. Yes, we're home. We have our first concert - The Mavericks opening for Dwight Yoakam (who we may or may not skip, depending) at the Beacon on Thursday. Staying at a Marriott on 37th Street.
We did watch the first episode of THE PITT. They aren't inventing the wheel, but it was very well done. We might try the first WHITE LOTUS too. Watched the third of four A REMARKABLE PLACE TO DIE (Acorn) episodes, set in a beautiful part of the Southern Island of New Zealand. The stories are all interconnected. I don't love it, but it is watchable.
Watching BOSCH: LEGACY (the last series) and his daughter gets more annoying as she goes on. At least they have two episodes a week. What is wrong with shows like RECIPES FOR LOVE & MURDER (Acorn, I think) is that, with one episode per week, it's hard to keep track of what went on previously. Still, the South Africa setting is different.
Also on Acorn, a show Patti might like, is TRUELOVE (one word), a six part miniseries about a group of old (British) friends who gather for the funeral of another, who David (Peter Egan), a doctor, presses to agree that if another of them is dying, they will help them die out of love. Six months later, Tom (Karl Johnson, who played the zany grandfather in MUM) is dying of stage four pancreatic cancer, and he asks ex-cop Phil (Lindsay Duncan) and ex-SAS man Ken (Clarke Peters) to help him die. Naturally, there are ramifications, and I see other deaths ahead. Duncan is great as the central character, an unhappily married chain smoker, with complicated feelings for her old flame Ken.
I read SUNRISE ON THE REAPING, the latest prequel to THE HUNGER GAMES, and I'll finish the new Chris Offutt book today, which is certainly not a patch on the great first two books in the series.
Weather was fine when we got home but has turned rainy and much colder now, at least for this week. The Yankees are in Detroit today, and they had to switch all three games from 6:40 to day games because it is going to be so cold there.
Yes, Jerry, to the predictability of these shows. Another obvious one - on so many of these shows, the "most famous guest star" is the murderer (unless they themselves are murdered). Felicity Kendal on LUDWIG was the latest.
Yes to all those DEATH IN PARADISE comments. Sometimes the "alter the timeline so people think the victim was murdered earlier/later than he was" works better than on others, but we're always looking for it. One of the best was the "Mother Redcap" episode of JONATHAN CREEK.
Western NY will get snow tonight. After some 60 degree days last week, we're regressing back to cold and wet weather. Diane wants to do some yard work, but our backyard is a bog. The foxes have returned--two adults and five little kits. Diane loves to watch them play in the field behind us. They'll be gone in a month.
I'm still stunned that DUKE lost Saturday night. They were predicted to win the Championship. My sister--who sent her daughter to the University of Florida--is rooting for the Gators to win tonight.
I'm still dealing with the death of iconic paperback artist, Robert McGinnis. He was original and stylish. His paperback covers graced hundred of books that I bought back in the Sixties and early Seventies. He was 99 and continued to work during his last decade providing covers for HARD CASE CRIME paperbacks.
Stay safe!
Aside from the usual GOP induced dread and fear things here are doing well. The local library referendum passed last week. I'd spent a lot of time on promoting the building project and celebrated with a long lunch on Wednesday for a nap.
My mother is more seriously considering moving to WI from IL. Not an easily done thing to downsize, sell the house, buy a new house, and move everything. But, she keeps track of real estate here and my wife and I checked out a house for her on Sunday morning.
I listened to THE FIREMAN by Joe Hill. I've never read any of Tabitha King's novels and am wondering if Joe inherited his father's long-windedness. The book was looooong.
Nothing new on the TV front. I keep wanting to watch some of the New Zealand set series that are mentioned here because I want to see the scenery.
Forgive me for not responding. I am dizzy from a sinus infection. I am reading your posts though.
Forgot to mention I am glad the Wisconsin Supreme Court race did not fall to the side of the Musk-promoted guy. I was surprised on how much national attention the election generated.
Sorry to read it, Patti; hope you and Jerry are both much closer to unafflicted soon. Have many smallish nagging problems healthwise, but the spring cleaning swept through two rooms yesterday. Now if the cold snap (afflicting the mid-Atlantic and nearby) will shake loose. Or at least give Drumpf a severe headcold.
Blogstats at the moment: "All Time 2999943"... Given how spotty I can be about blogging, rolling up on 3 mil hits is a good if minor thing--thanks for all the contributions of various sorts, including eyetracks, everyone! Of course, I mentioned the blog just having hit 2M several years ago to a women who noted I was working on it at the library..."How many weeks did that take?" I assured her my blog was not going to vie with WIRED or POLITICO or the like for traffic...
THE PITT is basically ER streamlined, less prone to cuteness, and far less worried about censorship, all good things by me. The mid-late episodes of this first season are Not Cute At All. (And I rather liked ER...and the George Clooney CBS sitcom of that title in the previous season.)
NYT just now:
"Trump Family’s Cash Registers Ring as Financial Meltdown Plays Out
The party was on at a Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament at the president’s Doral resort in Florida and a fund-raiser at Mar-a-Lago, even as markets tumbled."
--of course
Gerard, Drumpf's inexplicable appeal to those who think with their limbic systems doesn't really extend to Musky, and Musky's going to be feeling the invitation to leave (but feel free to tip the Drumpfs on the way out). Elon isn't as good at appealing to people who refuse to think, at least in the States, on balance. Watching MAGA fall over was happy-fying to many. The winner outpolled any recent WI governor, if I heard that right yesterday on the radio (should Go Look).
Patti, sorry about your sinus infection and the dizziness. The only time I thought I had a sinus infection, it was really a bad tooth (and needed a root canal). I heard that sinus infections are really painful. I hope you get better soon.
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