Sunday, April 07, 2019

THings That Are Making Me Happy

Kevin got a dog! His name is Walter and he is 1/1/2 and part Corgi and part something else. This has been a long time coming.

Liked THE MUSTANG a lot. Bruce Dern stole the movie. Along with the gorgeous skies and mustangs.

Started watching THE OA. Not sure if I like it or not. Liked SHRILL (Hulu).

Thanks to the friends who  helped me out this week. None read my blog so I won't bother naming them. But boy, what would I do without the occasional lunch out, breakfast out, shopping trip, etc?
You can never have enough friends. I can testify to that. Special thanks to Karen who took Phil and me to see THE MUSTANG. A long drive for her, but boy there was nothing else to see.

Lots of nice walks. Wish Phil was with me but it's been a long time since that happened. Sort of horrible getting used to bad things.

Enjoying A FRIEND IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF.  (Bill Boyle)


20 comments:

Margot Kinberg said...

Glad you've had the support of friends, Patti - that's so important. And so glad to hear about the dog, too. They can be such wonderful companions.

Jerry House said...

Yea for Kevin! I am wondering whether the new dog was named after William Kotzwinkle's Walter, the Farting Dog. Or perhaps for Uncle Walter, who (according to the song) goes Waltzing With Bears? Inquiring minds want to etc.

Kirstjen Neilsen is out as Homeland Security head (insert happy dance). Trump is sure to pick someone even worst (insert frowny face). Every time I think we've hit bottom, President Cheet-o finds a bottom below (insert long exasperated sigh).

Woke up bright and early Saturday morning to take Mark to his 10K race. It was a muggy day and Mark hadn't practice but still he came in second overall with a time of 45:13. This was the 13th annual Michele Hill Race, which provides scholarships to students throughout the area; close to thirty $1000 scholarships were given out during the ceremonies. Plus, they fed us! A good time, good people, good cause. Mark was pretty sore at the end of the run, though.

Beaching yesterday with Jessie and the girls (Christina was laid up with the flu from hell). Gourmet doughnuts, followed by lunch at P. F. Chang's, plus the ladies went shopping while I sat in the car with the windows down and good book -- the best way to shop.

Looking forward to the last season of GAME OF THRONES, although I expect things will not end well for anyone. I saw very little worthwhile on television this week. Scott Foley's character on WHISKEY CAVALIER is annoying, Morris chestnut is totally miscast in THE ENEMY WITHIN, and the second season of THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA is more stupid than chilling. Thank goodness for John Oliver.

Spring is here. Despite a couple of days of driving rain, the weather bounced back in good fashion. the good weather also brought us a spring surprise. When I opened the door the other day, a bird flew in and rested on a picture frame in our living room, just enough out of reach to frustrate the cat. A lovely bird and a reminder that -- despite the world seeming to go to hell in a hand basket with the current administration -- beauty still remains and life is worthwhile.

Have a great week, Patti, and may good friends continue to make your days brighter.

George said...

Spring seems to have shown up this weekend. We enjoyed 60 degree temperatures and a bit of sun. Diane celebrated the good weather by washing the outside windows while I picked up tree limbs from our last wind storm. Today is rainy so I suspect I'll have to get our lawn mower tuned up and the blade sharpened as the grass starts to grow.

I'm not surprised Bruce Dern stole THE MUSTANG. He's been stealing scenes in movies his whole career!

We have lunches scheduled with friends on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week.

And we have tickets for THE AVENGERS: ENDGAME!

Jeff Meyerson said...

So agree on Morris Chestnut, Jerry. I could barely force myself to sit through one episode of THE ENEMY WITHIN. Most of network television sucks.

We finished the final season (sad) of CATASTROPHE on Amazon Prime and the first season of Ricky Gervais's AFTER LIFE on Netflix. We're enjoying the very different but interesting Israeli SHTISEL on Netflix. Also watching season two of the Finnish cop show BORDERTOWN. The others are the same (MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE and WILD AT HEART on Amazon, NCIS and THE WEST WING on Netflix). Jackie never watched THE GILMORE GIRLS, so is adding it to Netflix.

One of our favorite movies of 1987 was John Boorman's autobiographical HOPE AND GLORY, nominated for five Oscars (but swept away by THE LAST EMPEROR). It is the story of 9 year old Billy Rohan and life in the Blitz in 1942 London, followed by a move to his grandparents' home on the Thames outside London. We recently discovered that over 25 years later, Boorman - now over 80 - made a sequel, QUEEN & COUNTRY, about a now 18 year old Bill being drafted. Rather than being sent to Korea, however, Bill and his friend Percy end up teaching typing to other draftees, while pursuing women and resisting the awful Sgt.-Major Bradley (David Thewlis). Many of the characters in the first movie make an appearance, but only David Hayman as the father reprises his original role. It is quite worth seeing, as long as you don't expect a classic like the original. I got a copy from the library.

Weather has finally turned to Spring. Four of the last five days were in the 60s,

pattinase (abbott) said...

Loved CATASROPHE. And I felt they were swimming back. Nothing else makes sense.
Will look for QUEEN AND COUNTRY.
A nice thing about retirement, George. Lunch with friends.
Kevin's Mom is eager for him to be a runner as she was a big runner in HS. So far he hasn't shown much interest. Hockey is his game.

George said...

Before I retired there was little time for lunches with friends (they were working, too!). Now we have some time to share so lunches are popular. We used to do dinners, but now no one wants to go out at night. Diane and I now prefer matinees for movies and plays.

Rick Robinson said...

Barbara has several friends, her quilt group, but I'm afraid I have few to none. My friend Dave promotes a group lunch once a month but it's about 20-30 people and Dave is the only person there I know or with whom I have any common interest. So I usually don't go, just to be a wallflower at the end of a table while everyone else chats it up. I've always been a homebody, and like it that way, and Barbara does things (movie, lunch, visits) with her group.

Sorry you have to walk by yourself, it's better with a companion, isn't it?

Rainy here, predicted for the next week, which makes things kind of gloomy.

pattinase (abbott) said...

We used to take two walks a day together, so yes, it is lonely. I play podcasts but actually it distracts me from things i should be paying attention to.

TracyK said...

Glad to hear that Kevin got a dog and part-Corgi sounds good. I don't know about their temperament but they are very cute and not too large.

Also good that you are walking. I need to be walking more and I have a hard time motivating myself.

My husband's eye problems are improving, which makes me very happy. I am having more health problems lately and had an MRI, which was scary, but apparently the results from that are good, so happy about that.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Glad to hear good news from you, Tracy.
As a kid without siblings or even cousins, a dog will be good for him.

pattinase (abbott) said...

PS GILMORE GIRLS is so relaxing. I have watched it three times, in fact.

Jeff Meyerson said...

We almost exclusively go out for lunch too, George, rather than dinner.

Steve Oerkfitz said...

I liked the Boyle book. Am now reading The Last stone by Mark Bowden(Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo), a true crime book.
Watched the last season of Shetland. Currently watching Barry and Killing Eve. The new season of Bosch starts soon.
Tea and Leaf in Royal Oak closed.
74 degrees right now.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Too bad about Tea and Leaf, but it was always empty when we went in.

Gerard Saylor said...

The weather was great on Sunday and I took the dog on a 2 hour walk down the nearby trail that is a recovered rail line. I got back at about 1PM, drank a beer, then fell asleep for a couple hours.

I have had QUEEN AND COUNTRY on my to watch list for a while now. I remember HOPE AND GLORY being so damn fantastic that I'm wondering if the sequel will compare to my memory of HOPE.

I knuckled down and finished a couple books recently. I am going to start THE SECRET HISTORY OF TWIN PEAKS by Mark Frost. I still have not watched the new TWIN PEAKS episodes from a couple years ago. Our big TV sits at the spot in our house where everyone walks by. I don't want to watch the episodes on a tablet and I don't want to be disturbed by teenagers thumping along the wooden floor of the house and passing in front of the TV. Boy #1 still has the super annoying habit of walking over and stopping to see what is on TV. This is annoying because he stops RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE TELEVISION SET AND COMPLETELY BLOCKS THE VIEW.

Todd Mason said...

Time for the Dad Joke, "You make a better door than window," Gerard.

For some reason I remembered THE LAST EMPEROR as being an earlier release. Such an atrocious film...that it managed to beat HOOPE AND GLORY for anything (except maybe costumery) is indicative of why no one need respect the Oscars.

Got the free trial of CBS All Access and of course ended up not stopping it in time, so am paying for the first month. Did see all THE GOOD FIGHT available so far (pretty good, on balance) and the pilot for Jordan Peele's version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE (disappointing in script, if well acted and produced...have to wonder if someone thought a fantasy about comedians would appeal to MARVELOUS MRS. MAIZEL audiences, or something. But it's absolutely unsurprising, which alas has been the tendency of the usual run of all previous competent TZ series, to say nothing of the incompetent revivals (the film, the UPN series and, in my limited sampling, the radio series).

Todd Mason said...

HOOPE?

Todd Mason said...

Also, what might 1/1/2 mean for a dog? A quick engine search didn't turn up anything enlightening.

Kevin R. Tipple said...

Dogs are always good. So are cats. After Krystal passed suddenly last May, we have been debating here whether or not to select anotehr furry companion. Like so many things now, either one of us is really up for that yet.

We have enjoyed both THE ENEMY WITHIN and WHISKEY CAVALIER. WC is just stupid fun and can't be taken seriously. I suspect it was a summer release deal that got moved up.

As to good news here....Scott's BP med seems to be working and his numbers are now where they should be. Doc spent a lot of time calming me down as I am on a hair trigger worry wise these days and it does not appear, at this point, that Scott has inherited my cardiac issues.

My test results are also back and it appears everything is stable with me at this point. In a couple of months I will see the cardiologist for a more extensive workup, but for now things look okay.

Still hoping to be present for Bouchercon 2019 here in Dallas.

K

Todd Mason said...

Podcast alert: Roxanna Dawson directed (an?) episode (or episodes?) of THE DEUCE among others, as well as doing good work as an actor, A CHROUS LINE through STAR TREK work...

She discusses THE BAD SEED with the hosts of this movie podcast:
https://www.maximumfun.org/switchblade-sisters/switchblade-sisters-episode-75-bad-seed-breakthrough-director-and-star-trek