How about those Lions!!! Maybe this is our year.
A lot of cloudy weather. Since it so cloudy in Detroit from November to March, I really hate it when this happens earlier. The temperature is nice though. Some lunches and dinners with friends but nothing at the movies to see. Hoping the new Poirot opens and gets good reviews.
A friend and I went to a couple of plant nurseries on Saturday and at one of them a wedding was about to begin. The groom wore a bright blue tuxedo with brown shoes, which we thought unusual. Black, right? But apparently that's a new trend. The bride was completely traditional. Having a wedding at a nursery seemed odd-it was in the greenhouse, which was fairly dirty because of the leaves blowing in. But it was also sort of nice for a September wedding.
What month did you marry in and was there anything unusual in your outfits? I think my brother had a maroon tux or maybe it was just the cummerbund. Or maybe that was a prom tux. I would check on it but it's on a top shelf in a closet.
Mine was dead normal except I wore a short gown. Megan did also thirty years later.
Watching THE SECRET SHE KEEPS, based on a Michael Robotham novel. It's on Prime. Also the PBS Sunday night fare. Contemplating watching HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER since I am listening to Viola Davis' memoir. Boy, can she read it well.
Still struggling with this book club book. So well written but boy it moves slowly. I think anything I have to read I struggle with. Listening to lots of podcasts as I walk and ride the bike. My PT guy came to the gym in my bldg and worked out a routine for me since I am out of therapy now. A new fun one is TEAM DEAKINS, which interviews film people. I will finally learn what a best boy does.
So what's new with you?
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30 comments:
Aww, that wedding picture is lovely, Patti! I was a June bride, myself. I can see how a plant nursery or other similar place would be a beautiful venue for a wedding!
We got married in the round in a girl's dormitory in what was then Lowell State College (now part of Mass Lowell). The lounge had been consecrated as a Catholic chapel so everything was jake with Father Joe, the Newman Center priest who officiated. Father Joe didn'r give our marriage much of a chance, but when we ran into him some ten years later he said that every other couple he had married while at the school had broken up and we were the only ones to stay together. (He was a great guy but evidently a poor judge of character.) In the center of the lounge was a water statue of Orpheus and someone forget to turn off the water during the ceremony. I wore a regular suit, but my shirt had ruffles because, hey, it was 1970. Kotty wore a stunning gown that was specially made for her. All the groomsmen had beards; the maid of honor and the bridesmaid all wore outfits that Kitty had handmade for the occasion. A gaggle of girls from the dormitory, many of them in pajama, weatched on from the lobby. Two friends with guitars provided the music. A champagne reception followed and the venue soon ran out of champagne and had to bring in more -- much more. Good times.
It's been a warm week. Sage the cat and protector of all things on top of the refrigerator turnd nine this weekend. West Nile virus has hit some of the birds at Mark's zoo, with three birds dying in the last two weeks; the latest bird to go was one of Mark's favorites. Amy started her job as an animal control officer; the second day on the job, she and her superior had to go to a local bayou in search of an injured blue heron, which they were unable to locate. But Amy was able to do many other nifty animal control things and she's been able to use her walkie talkie, which she thinks is cool. Now that Amy has recovered from COVID we were able to have the previously planned lunch at McGuire's Irish Pub, where the servings are just way too big. After which we went to Jessie's to play with Wonky Cat, who is sweet, uncoordinataed, and somewhat intimidated by large crowds.
Book read this week were THE PROTEUS CURE, a medical thriller by F. Paul Wilson a& Tracy Carbone, Lee Goldberg's clever MY GUN HAS BULLETS (my FFB) and his latest thriller MALIBU BURNING, Erle Stanley Gardner's THE CASE OF THE TROUBLED TRUSTEE (which complete my read of all of Gradner's novels and nonfiction books), and Joseph Lewis French's 1925 anthology TALES OF TERROR. Currently readin James Lee Burke's CREOLE BELLE, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's SILVER NITRATE, and Lee Goldberg's BEYOND THE BEYOND, the followup to MY GUN HAS BULLETS.
Today -- 9-11 -- is leaving me in a pensive mood. My niece, who was a stupid and thoughtless teenager at the time, and some friends drove to the Pentagon and perched themselves on a nearby hill and watched what was happening. Being stupid and thoughtless is part of the baggage of being a teenager and I'm glad to say that she is now pretty smart and thoughtful. We grow older and we grow wiser, but somehow bad things continue to happeni this world. **sigh**
Have a fantastic week, Patti! Stay safe and be sure to smell the roses.
My brother and his bride were married in a Swedenborgian chapel overlooking the Pacific and held their reception at a botanical garden. Lovely on all counts!
My sister and her first husband were married in the small church where we held Kitty's memorial service earlier this year. Mt sister's friends organized work parties the week before and painted the entire interior of the church for her wedding.
My parents were married late in the winter in the same church; it was decorated with fresh-cut pine boughs.
I have to express my admiration of Jerry's memory of the details of several weddings. I am not sure Phil would have remembered so well.
Margot-we got married between Phil's semesters at Rutgers. We were lucky to get such a nice day.
Diane and I got married on December 29, 1978. The church was still decorated for Christmas with dozens of poinsettias and a couple of huge Christmas trees. I wore a tux and Diane looked splendid in a long white gown (which she still has in one of our closets).
September is Doctor Month for us. We have our yearly appointments stacked in September because we want to get these taken care of before the weather in Western NY turns cold and snowy.
Congratulations on the big Lions win! Hope the Bills can beat the Jets tonight!
Still recovering from Jet Lag from the trip to BOUCHERCON in San Diego. Very few people wore masks...but we did.
And some people picked up Covid on the trip.
Do I dare get my hopes up about the Lions?
Patti, despite Viola Davis, I wouldn't recommend HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER. It was just so over the top that even Jackie couldn't get through the first series, let alone the rest. But, YMMV.
Thanks for mentioning the Robotham series, which I knew noting about. I like those books of his that I've read, so will add this.
We saw SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET on Wednesday. I was able to pick out great (for us) seats online. Much like our preferred seats at Jones Beach, these were aisle seats with NO SEATS in front of us, back of the orchestra on the third aisle. The show was very good, the closest to the original production (down to the 26 piece orchestra and full orchestration). The biggest difference in the case was, Angela Lansbury was 53 when the original opened. Annaleigh Ashford is a much younger, and more playful, 38. (Len Carious was 40. Josh Groban is 42.) For those who say this is the best cast by far, all I can say is, you're entitled to your opinion, but no. Lansbury was sui generis, Ashford is just very good. Groban, on the other hand, has a terrific voice. I'd definitely recommend it. Jackie assumed the big crowd for the Wednesday matinee after Labor Day could be attributed to Groban's fans.
The weather has been odd, the first heat wave (three straight days over 90) of the summer for us. We only had 8 days over 90 all summer - in 1991 and 1993 we had 39 - but added 4 this week.
TV, watching SCOOBY DOO on Prime. I mean Harlan Coben's teen series, SHELTER. Can't help but make the comparison, though some of the performers are very good. Why did they make the sister in law and son black? I don't remember that from the book. And, of course, the uncle - start of Coben's main series - has the major role in the series, but can't appear here because he has a series of his coming coming to Netflix. So there are innumerable references, but instead they invented an aunt for the kid to live with. Believe me, if Jackie wasn't invested in this, I would never watch it.
We're on the second series of the Italian THE SILENCE OF WATER and the Swedish THE TRUTH WILL OUT. Also (Acorn) THE CHELSEA DETECTIVE. Plus, on PBS, the second series of PROFESSOR T (I remember last night's episode from the first series of the Belgian original) and the fifth of UNFORGOTTEN, with the new Chief Inspector still awful. Her husband is having an affair and no longer wants to be married, and she is (apparently, we don't know what she was like before) letting this take over her life to the point where she is just not really involved in doing her job, and is treating her detectives abominably. She needs to go, but I assume she will get her act together before Sunny quits. Right now, he's just telling her off to her face about what a bad job she is doing, which is somewhat satisfying.
The third and final series of RAGNAROK on Netflix is not good. We finished the second (there will be a third) series of HBO's SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE, with Bridget Everett. Finished TREME. We have one series (of three episodes) to go in FOYLE'S WAR, now in the Cold War post-WWII era of 1947. This was probably Anthony Horowitz's best work.
Oh, your wedding question. So long ago I can barely remember, but...We were engaged and supposed to have a Spring wedding, I think. But then Jackie's younger sister decided to announce her engagement at our engagement party. And she was going to get married in November, six months before us. So we canceled the wedding and got married on October 24 (a month before the other wedding) in the rabbi's study, with about 20 people. We then all drove into Manhattan and had dinner at the Cattleman restaurant near Grand Central. I think I wore a brown striped suit. Jackie wore a short, off-white (beige?) dress, and switched to a pants suit for the dinner.
52 years later, we're still here. My sister in law got divorced after 19 years, as her husband was having a long-term affair. (He has since married the other woman.)
Maybe this will be the Lions year. They have never gone to a Superbowl.
Finished The Wager by David Grann. Will finish Airside by Christopher Priest this morning. Got an eye injection this afternoon so the dilation will stop me focusing enough to read until tomorrow.
Finished the new Justified and Dark Winds (I wish they had followed the books better) .
One of my grandsons is off the Western Michigan University to major in mechanical engineering and business.
Cooler weather coming. I prefer it around the low 80's. Once it is too cool to sit outside I'm stuck inside for the next 6 months.
Jerry, I know what you mean about 1970, the year we got married too. A friend of Jackie's was living with a guy, but agreed to her mother's pleas to get married since the latter offered to make a huge, lavish wedding. I remember she flew in $10,000 worth of flowers from Hawaii. I also remember the brides sister passing the hash pipe around our table. Hey, 1970.
Jackie's youngest sister got married in 1977, and he and the rest of the bridal party (including me, unfortunately) wore powder blue tuxedos, which were a thing then.
I wore a rental tuxedo that was poorly fitted and I was uncomfortable. We ere married late July in New Hampshire.
I tried to listening to CITY OF HTE LOST by Kelley Armstrong. I enjoyed the premise of a small town hidden in the forests of the Yukon that houses people on the run from danger. But, the book went full romance at the end and I bailed out with 1.5 hours left.
Tried watching WAGES OF FEAR on BluRay over the weekend. My BluRay player repeatedly quit on me and I would have to go back into the film and scan to where I left off. Very aggravating and I've not finished it yet. I recall an adaption done as an episode of a western TV show. Cannot recall what series. Maybe BONANZA. Or BIG VALLEY.
Completed the first week of college and high school for my children. Boy #1 is taking some interesting sounding engineering courses. Boy #2 swaps out for a different tuba and I've let-off on bothering him about college applications.
Glad Jeff noted it, so I'm not just a Lone Curmudgeon about it, but HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER is just another Sondra Rhimes goes Soap series, and indeed Viola Davis and everyone else but particularly Davis go OTT at all points. Alice liked that about it initially, but it paled for her.
Don't agree with Jeff or Steve that there's a necessary diminishment when A/V sources vary from aspects of the adapted literature...I think of the likes of THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE or THE GODFATHER, among others...but since I haven't read the originals of "City Primeval" or THE DARK WIND, I'll cease at that point.
My minority opinion on THE WAGES OF FEAR is that it has a huge (un)Profound cop-out ending, which makes it meaningless while striving for Profundity. Damned fine up to that point.
Still enjoying WINNING TIME on HBO and MINX on Starz, both of which are about to run out of new episodes. And PROFESSOR T.
I have been to surprisingly(?) few weddings thus far and none of my own. Made the mistake of wearing a black suit to a moderately Buddhist Chinese-American wedding, but was mostly forgiven. Gave the Non-Family toast at an Orthodox wedding, with a phase of Italian and of Japanese as a nod to the families...the Japanese family was happy. It was pretty easy, between John's uncle (not Dutch, but...) and Laura's cousin to give the best toast. At the wedding of my college friend Miya Simms's sister, I was merely part of the crowd, while Miya and Jerry Pournelle's daughter, like the sister/bride in the Rangers or some similar elite military squadron, were among the bridesmaids, so I was amused by that discovery.
I've decided to root for the Orlando Anarchy, in the women's pro football league. Hope DeSantis and/or Trump eventually say something ignorant and smug to them, and are suitably tackled/sacked. Among long-defunct NFL teams, the Toledo Maroons seems to be the name that tickled George the most...
Am enjoying ARCHER, though I think the writing is a bit mournful, given the cast losses and the wrapping up. Still enjoyable.
Guess I will forget HOW TO GET AWAY then. I am looking for a many seasoned series that can take me through winter. Been watching ER (2nd time), but again, medical is not my bag. How about any thoughts on THE SHIELD. I have never seen that one.
I wish I could see wedding pics of you guys.
I did not want a big wedding so we got married at the court house.
Todd- I agree with you on Wages of Fear's ending. I actually prefer the remake done by William Friedkin called Sorcerer.
I emailed you a wedding picture.
Have never watched The Shield but somewhere along the line, probably when she got The Wire, Jackie bought the complete DVD set.
Phil liked it but it seemed awfully violent at the time.
My son and his wife got married at a courthouse.
Off to see the photo.
Glen and I got married at the Santa Barbara Courthouse in the judge's chambers. We had just moved to Santa Barbara in November 1979, and we didn't know anybody there. Our next door neighbor and her boy friend were our witnesses and took us out to brunch at the El Encanto restaurant afterward. This was in January 1980 and it wasn't cold at all. I wore a nice dress, sort of hippyish, definitely not white, and Glen wore a sweater and a tie, maybe. Our best friend in Riverside was supposed to come but did not, due to back problems.
Five years later the same judge that married us married our best friend and his wife in the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens. They were moving from Riverside to the Bay Area at the time.
I have been getting ready for the annual book sale which starts Friday (and goes for another nine days after that). I still have uncataloged books from last year's sale and a lot that I have bought since then. So I am working on getting those cataloged and shelved before I bring in more from the book sale.
As far as what we are watching, we have finished THE AFTERPARTY and are in the middle of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, season 3. We watched one of the more recent MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 shows last night; it was a weird one. A movie supposed based on H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come from 1979, with Jack Palance, Carol Lynley, John Ireland, and Barry Morse. We have started rewatching LEVERAGE and continue with our rewatch of the original CSI series.
Reading: Last week I read DEATH IN THE FIFTH POSITION by Edgar Box. I enjoyed it. From 1952-1954, Vidal Gore wrote three mystery novels as Edgar Box. They all featured public relations specialist Peter Sargeant. This first book in the series is set in the world of ballet in New York.
I am now reading GENERATION LOSS by Elizabeth Hand. I have read a good number of unusual mysteries lately and this is the strangest of them all. There are four books in the series and I have the 2nd one, AVAILABLE DARK. The main character is a photographer. Set mostly in Maine on an island.
Glen is reading CITY OF SHARKS by Kelli Stanley. It is the fourth (and last) mystery in the Miranda Corbie series, set in San Francisco in 1940.
I will NEVER be a brown shoe guy with a black or navy suit not matter what seems stylist. Of course, I seldom wear a suit these days not even to funerals. One my friends, who was the VP of a large firm. told me that he donated all his suits to an organization, which provides suitable clothes to out-ot-work men. Since then several of mine have gone there, but I kept a couple along with my black dress shoes. I'm such a traditionalist that it still doesn't seem right when I see so many men wearing an expensive business suit without a tie. Saw a photo last week of Jimmy Buffett at an awards ceremony wearing a nice suit and tie. Couldn't see if he was in his usual bare feet or wearing brown shoes.
I remember reading the Edgar Box books. He was a good writer. Megan loved Generation Loss but I had trouble getting into it. LEverage was with TImothy Hutton, right. Don't think I saw that one.
Prom tux
I reversed Gore Vidal into Vidal Gore again. Oh well. I have read two of the Edgar Box mysteries and liked both of them. Now I just have to read the one in the middle.
GENERATION LOSS is not what I expected for sure, but it is keeping me interested and I am 2/3 of the way done. I can see why Megan loved it.
Yes, Leverage is with Timothy Hutton. He is good in it and I like the other actors also. My favorite is Christian Kane.
More marriage stuff.
Both my wife and her sisters were married far out of state. She and I did a small family wedding in New Hampshire after looking at several other places. I was keen on a destination wedding and flying to Gibraltar to get married, But that would have been super expensive. (I'm not a big John Lennon fan. I just thought Gibraltar would be neat.)
I'd also looked at going to Ontario or Quebec. Both Canada and Gibraltar would have had extra licensing hoops to jump through. As it was, we had to fly out to New Hampshire a month or two early to sign up for the marriage license in advance. That was OK, we lined up photographer, flowers, lodging, and meals while there.
My wife's two sisters were married at a resort in the Caribbean and in Colorado. The CO license did not require any officiant or witnesses. They just decided on a day and location as the two of were there on vacation and hiking and camping.
THE SHIELD does verge on hyper-machismic soap-opera, but if you can stand that in hardboiled fiction, it's mostly interesting, even if it keeps stacking its deck for corruption to triumph, even in circumstances where that degree of corruption probably wouldn't (which gives you some idea of how stacked the dramatic deck has to be). I mostly enjoyed it, and it does have a rather realistic ending.
Somewhat akin to OZ in this, only without surreal flourishes.
NUMB3RS runs on the H&I broadcast network at 3am ET simultaneously with THE GOOD WIFE on StartTV, and I've rerun through both those Ridley/Tony Scott productions twice recently enough...much as I had with CAGNEY & LACEY on Start and HILL STREET BLUES on H&I. The Retro TV network, as does YouTube, have the series DANGER MAN/SECRET AGENT, with Patrick McGoohan, DA VINCI'S INQUEST, and some even older items such as NAKED CITY (you want to talk about Actors Studio grads at work) and FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE, if you haven't exhausted these. I have caught the occasional episode of SUSPENSE as well. LOU GRANT too elderly, as well? Since I do like medical series, ST. ELSEWHERE would work for me, and there's still a number of good series in these modes since.
I've seen a few episodes of DANGER MAN on Prime and enjoyed them. Some nice storytelling and McGoohan plays quite a few personalities as an undercover man.
Have never seen OZ either. But rewatched THE GOOD WIFE recently.
Sandi and I were married on June 15, 1985 in a church in Somerville, Mass. The same church her parents had been married in decades earlier. The same church you can see Boston police chase drug dealers through in a COPS episode from 1993.
At that time, I took a 56 inch waist. The rental suit that was delivered about three hours before the weeding had a 68 inch waist. Mother in law pinned it like crazy so I could wear it.
That worked fine until I had to start kneeling and standing up. The church was very quiet and you could hear a pin drop. You could also hear it ricochet when fired from my waist. Pretty soon, the folks in the front row were ducking and holding their programs up as I inadvertently made one after another fly.
By the time we arrived at reception, all the pins were gone, and the MIL broke out more to get me through the dinner before I could finally change back into my regular clothes.
Thankfully, nobody was nailed in an eye or something.
Kevin, I love that story about your wedding, and the rental suit.
When we danced at reception, I lost a few more pins. Some of her family had a tradition where they took their shoes off to dance. More pins down meant that everything sopped so the floor could be checked to make sure nobody got wounded.
Anyway, some other stuff went on that was funny, but I am going to stop as I am not here to hijack things.
KRT in Big D
Recently attended a wedding. Groomsmen in black tie wore a variety of different shoes, all black, but two men had no socks. Never saw that before.
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