Monday, August 07, 2017

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

Spent a very enjoyable Saturday with the whole gang. It doesn't happen enough. And in such a small family, it still seems like there should be more of us. Thanks to my son and DIL for making this happen. The only fly in the ointment was that Megan had to leave early to avoid bad weather. So instead of two days it was only a day and a half. The airlines put you in a bind when they email you saying if you want to change your flight you must do it now.

Lovely weather lately.

Enjoying a Belgian TV series on Netflix called HOTEL BEAU SEJOUR. It's about a ghost and a crime. What could be better. There is even a dubbing option offered but we went with the subtitled version.

Megan passed on an ARC of Laura Lippman's February book SUNBURN, which looks to be terrific.She loved it.

14 comments:

Jerry House said...

School starts next Monday. Christina will be working full time, interpreting for a deaf student. Amy will move into a dormitory for the first time. Ceili will be taking a few classes while looking for a job. Mark will be a senior and Erin a sophomore. and the Kangaroo will start all-day kindergarten...all of which means we will have one week of relaxation before the madness starts -- blissful (and relative) quiet!

The weather has been rather nice this week so we are slowly working on the jungle that is our backyard. Among the growth are a lot of thorny vines that we are slowly eliminating. We should be finished by 2035.

I enjoyed Bill Pronzini's latest Nameless novel, which draws that long series to a close. I've started reading Stephen King's IT in preparation for the upcoming film; this is the only fiction book by King that I have not read and I am close to 400 pages (out of 1153!) into the novel and am enjoying the story as well as the structure of the book.

My father's birthday is coming up this week. He would have been 101 this year. He died 36 years ago and I am still grateful for the time we had with him and for making me the man I am. We will be celebrating and remembering.

I am happy that I enjoy bad movies as well as good ones, especially when there are so many bad ones out there.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Sometimes the difference between bad and good is in the eye of the beholder.

George said...

Just enjoyed a wonderful weekend with temps in the 70s.

The Buffalo Bills play their first preseason game on Thursday.

We're having friends over for to celebrate one of Diane's colleagues's Birthday. He beat melanoma even though his oncologist told him he only had a 10% chance of survival.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Those stories are great to hear.

James Reasoner said...

Spending the weekend at a convention with Bill Crider, Scott Cupp, Joe Lansdale, and many other old and new friends. I'm very much a loner by nature, but occasional get-togethers like this are just wonderful.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I would have loved to be there to meet you. After all these years, you begin to regret people you have not me. Bill and Scott I have met but not you or Joe.

Jeff Meyerson said...

What George said. After some typical July heat - not atypical like the Northwest is having - we've been enjoying a stretch of cooler than normal (70s rater than 80s for the most part) weather. (This past week was mostly 80s, but overall it's cooler.) Still plenty of rain, as there has been all year since January. No drought here.

We enjoyed our second visit to Alamo Drafthouse downtown, this time for WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. I love their no cellphones/no talking/ejection with no refunds policy.

Looking forward to two concerts this week: Earth, Wind & Fire tonight and Lindsay Buckingham/Christine McVie on Thursday.

Jackie decided that Netflix (currently watching Bordertown, GLOW, Daredevil, finished Lilyhammer series one and Marcella) and Amazon Prime (The Man in the High Castle) weren't enough, so she's signed us up for Acorn (there is a one week free trial, by the way) and is compiling a long list of British shows to watch.

Glad you had a good time and thanks for sharing the pictures.

Gerard Saylor said...

I have HOTEL BEAU SEJOUR but not yet started the show. I watch a lot of television when exercising in my basement during the winter months. With the summer weather I get outside a lot more.

Happy news: I bought a new (used) bicycle on Saturday and traded in one of my two beater bikes. The second beater bike is getting a tune-up and will be a city bike for my older son. Riding a bike with good brakes and properly working shifters is a treat.

I've had a cold for several days but my wife and I were able to go out to eat at a Madison brewery on Saturday.

My older son starts high school this year. I was sitting at the student-parents meeting last evening realizing I was now going to be volunteering for a whole new set of organizations.

Charles Gramlich said...

Glad you got to see them. Been lots of stormy weather here for sure

pattinase (abbott) said...

Pretty good so far, Gerard.
We have not had much rain at all.
I cannot get Acorn to work on our Samsung. Strange.

Jeff Meyerson said...

We had to download the Acorn app on the TV (also Samsung). It wasn't there so we had to look at "all others" or something like that. Then we joined on the phone, actually, then went back to the TV and were able to sign in.

Rick Robinson said...

I'm shutting down the blog for a while. I'm having a hard time with my glucose numbers (bad A1c) had a bad PSA, have gained weight though I eat like a rabbit. Have cataract surgery in a couple weeks, but they may cancel due to Diabetes numbers. Getting old sucks.

This will probably be my last blog comment here or elsewhere for a while. So long.

Gerard Saylor said...

Best of luck Rick. Hope your health improves.

pattinase (abbott) said...

So sorry, Rick. Things are difficult here too.