Hoping there's a smile on my face because the Lions won. And maybe the Bills too.
Probably bad luck to even write that.
Have hardly been out of the apartment all week (cold & snow) although that has given me time to get another couple of hundred books ready to donate and several bags of clothes. And shoes. Some of these shoes haven't been worn in 20 years. Moving again gives me the chance to go over what to keep yet again. And I am not keeping books I haven't read in over thirty years or big books or books I have read several times. So mostly I am keeping the books the family has written and collections of short stories and recent purchases. Oh and the 30 or so journals I have stories in. Would like to pitch them but maybe someday Kevin might read them.
Liked AMERICAN FICTION although it was more a story about family than one about writing to me. Wright and Sterling K Brown were terrific. I am tired of the dementia elements though. If there is an older person, you know that is going to happen. As it also did in the last season of BREEDERS. Great show but finished now. FARGO finished up too. So too REACHER although I haven't watched the last episode yet.
Started TRUE DETECTIVE (Max) and MONSIEUR SPADE (AMC). Watching NORTHERN EXPOSURE (PRIME), which was very creative for its day and had more sex in it than most shows today.
Reading LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER for my book group and A HAUNTING ON THE HILL (Hand) for me. Also listening to THE GIRL WHO DIED (Ragnar Jonasson) via Libby. And a million podcasts as I fill bags with the things I should have gotten rid of two years ago.
So what are you up to?
18 comments:
The Lions win one more and they go to the Superbowl. Would have liked to have seen Buffalo win.
Haven't seen American Fiction yet. Enjoyed Fargo and am enjoying True Detective and Monsieur Spade. Starting Loudermilk again. Watched the first season and stopped for some reason.
Reading Jdas 62 by Charles Cummings and The Dead Man and other Horror stories by Gene Wolfe.
Got The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis from the Library. Got great reviews but it's almost 600 pages long and I would rather read a few shorter books for now.
Doctor put me on Metoprolol but I quit taking it. Made me light headed and I felt uncomfortable driving. Also made reading difficult as it blurred my vision. Two days after I quit I felt normal again. My apartment building had reduced heat for awile as one of the boilers went down. It never got really cold . Took them 4 days to get a part from Tennessee. Than a tenant left a window open on the second floor and went away causing a pipe on the first floor to burst. Heat was off fior another day. Luckily I have a space heater and a lot of sweaters.
A cold, windy, rainy week. No beach. Bummer.
Wednesday was kitty's brother's birthday. He died nine years ago, much too young. He was a good guy. That gor me into a morose mood. Adding to that was Sandi Tipple's birthday and your anniversary. Left me questioning why the good ones are all too often too soon gone. I know any answers are way above my pay grad, so I just have to content myself with truly appreciating what we have when we have it.
Walt is starting a photography business. His photographs are truly amazing. How he finds time alongside his full-time job, the family, and the martial arts he has been doing is beyond me. He and Christina gave up their homemade soap business a year ago because, although it made a profit, it was taking up too much time.
Next Sunday is picture painting time for the family. Erin has scheduled us for a painting class/party to help celebrate her birthday. Evidently we will be painting a landscape with magnolias. Ought to be interesting.
Watched more television last week than I have over the past few months. Caught both seasons of BOSCH: LEGACY and the second season of REACHER, and have started ECHO, the Marvel Comics series about a one-legged Choctaw female assassin working for the Kingpin -- the jury is out on that one.
Slow reading week. I read John Connolly's dense fantasy THE LAND OF LOST THINGS -- it was one of those books that has to be read slowly to fully appreciate it; the book delves into the importance of Story, something I've always been interested in. I also read Sophie Hannah's HERCULE POIROT'S SILENT NIGHT, the fourth in a series authorized by the Christie estate. It was one of those books so farcical that I could not truly say whether I liked it or not; eventually all the threads were pulled together for a fairly satisfying conclusion. I also read two graphic novels: Tate Brombal's THE HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER, VOLUME 3: THE BUTCHER'S RETURN and Mattieu Salvia's THE BOOGYMAN. Both had dark artwork that made it difficult to see what was going one. That seems to be trend among graphic novels lately. Currently reading Robert Crais's THE PROMISE, an Elvis Cole-Joe Pike novel, a crossover that also features K-9 policeman Scott James and his dog Maggie; I'll finish that one later today, along with Robert Silverberg & Martin H. Greenberg's SF anthology GREAT TALES OF SCIENCE FICTION. Coming up, James Lee Burke's FLAGS ON THE BAYOU.
Have a great week, Patti. Stay warm. Stay safe.
Good luck with the load-lightening...and the Lions did get somewhere, even if George's Bills didn't.
Fell asleep this afternoon and woke up just in time to absorb too much crime drama in a row...Showtime/Paramount's THE WOMAN IN THE WALL (post-Magdalene Laundry trauma) in its debut episode, managing to out-grim even M. SPADE and TRUE 'TEC' on AMC and HBO...and since I was up, went ahead and caught national broadcast repeats of NUMB3RS (H&I) and PETER GUNN (MeTV)...lessing degrees of grimness as one rolls back the decades...with the CBS MORNING NEWS at 4am to ground one as much as CBS chooses to...Meatball Ron choosing to endorse Mein Drumpf while critiquing him for the germphobe's closest response to responsibility, his half-hearted support of Covid research, vs. Ron Soi Disant's "leadership" in furthering the pandemic in his state was also a grim sort of humor. Looking forward to the probable GOP candidate's incarceration...and perhaps RDS can sit in an adjoining cell.
Enjoy the landscapes, Jerry...and good luck with the meds, Steve (and neighbors and their plumbing incomprehension).
I'm happy for you about the Lions, Patti. And I give you credit for going through your place to sort everything. I need to do that.
So, we bought a car.
Our car is 13 years old but only has 74,000 and has given me little trouble over the six or seven years we've owned it. But after spending $500 last summer to fix the air conditioning, it broke down here, and this time would cost me over $3,000 to fix. And then, other things are bound to go wrong, right? We weren't planning on another car for another couple of years, but the signs were there and Jackie was pushing hard. Anyway, we went down to the Subaru dealer in Delray Beach (there is a much closer one in West Palm Beach, but it is a lot smaller and there were extremely unresponsive when I had a problem with a previous car) and within a day we had a new (to us) 2021 Forester with only 18,000 miles on it. It's a Pearl Cream White color, which I really like. All good so far.
Other than that, which took about a day and a half, it has been mostly reading, television, and eating out. The weather has been mostly cool (though not, of course, by New York or North Tonawanda or Detroit standards) and with El Nino rains. We don't mind the cool weather - 60s and 70s - at all.
What are we watching? I've always associated John Simm with LIFE ON MARS, the first thing he did that I remember here. But he's been in a lot of other shows. He plays Ch. Insp. Roy Grace in the GRACE series (fourth series this year), and played a serial killer in small parts of both series of Irvine Welsh's CRIME. We recently saw him again in his mid-20s as a disturbed former foster child in the "Best Boys" episode of CRACKER. This week we watched him in the 2011 EXILE (on PBS Masterpiece), a three part mini-series that the British do so much better than we do. Speaking (as you were) of Alzheimer's... Simm is a disgraced and fired journalist who flees London and returns home to Manchester for the first time in decades, since he ran away as a teenager after being severely beaten by his father. Dad, a former local newspaperman, is the Alzheimer's sufferer, played brilliantly by Jim Broadbent. Simm's sister, who has given up her life to take care of the abusive father, is played by Olivia Colman. It all involves the file Simm discovered as a teenager, which prompted his father's beating. Well worth a try.
More currently, we're watching MONSIEUR SPADE (two episodes so far) as well as THE WOMAN IN THE WALL (Ruth Wilson, about the Magdalen Laundries), ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, ASTRID (most of these are on PBS too), THE SHIFT (a Danish show on MHz Choice about midwives at a Copenhagen hospital), REACHER (was there any doubt as to how it would end?), and JOE PICKETT (on Paramount+), which isn't bad but not as good as I'd hoped.
Congratulations to the Lions (first NFL Championship game since 1991, first time they've won two playoff games since their last Championship in 1957) and bummer about the Bills.
Congratulations to the Loins! The Bills found another way to lose in the Divisional Playoffs, this time a missed Field Goal.
Much of Western NY was shut down because a massive snow ban that dumped 70 inches of snow on West Seneca--a town south of Buffalo--and a couple feet of snow on the rest of us. The white-out conditions caused wide-spread Tavel Bans and closed schools.
Diane and I hunkered down. Diane baked her tasty Apple Bars and made a pot of yummy Chicken Noodle Soup. She caught up on some DVRed HALLMARK movies while I caught up on Library Books.
Temps go into the 40s this week so melting snow will be a problem. Stay safe!
Comments on your other comments:
Have never seen LOUDERMILK. May try an episode.
I take Metropolol, Steve, and have never had a problem with it.
One more show: we watched the first episode of FUNNY WOMAN (also on PBS Masterpiece). It's sort of a British MRS. MAISEL, at least set in a similar period, with a young woman (Gemma Arterton) winning Miss Blackpool, then quitting to go to London to try and become a star.
Jerry, I know what you mean. Yet Trump and my awful Uncle Philip (at 90) are still alive. Who can explain it?
I like MONSIEUR SPADE. Really stylish although it requires focus with diving in and out of French and a large number of characters to keep track of. Not laundry folding fodder.
I can't imagine having a painting party. Hardly anyone in my family could do that. Your family is interesting and artistic. I feel the Houses deserve a series.
Always liked the actor from Life on Mars-plus the show.
Sorry about the Bills but they've had quite a few great years--and this one was too.
I take Metropolol. Maybe that's why I sometimes don't feel quite right. Sorry about the heat issues, Steve.
We have had rain for three of the last four days. Very much needed. We had an overnight visitor on Sunday, the male half of our friends from Stockton. We went out for breakfast this morning, then after he left, went to the grocery store.
We have been watching some new (to us) shows. NORTHERN EXPOSURE, which I am really enjoying. DEATH AND OTHER DETAILS and CRIMINAL RECORD. We have only watched one CRIMINAL RECORD episode and not sure whether we like it or not. We have watched GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Vol. 1 and 2, so that we can soon watch the latest film in that series.
I read A DARKNESS ABSOLUTE by Kelley Armstrong; the author is Canadian and the book is a thriller set in a remote town in the Yukon, where criminals or others who need to hide go to live, off the grid. I love the premise and the books was entertaining, but it was not as good as the first one.
I am now reading book 25 in Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series, WANTING SHEILA DEAD. I am not sure if her writing is getting better or just different, but I am enjoying the book.
Glen is continuing to read HOLLYWOOD AND THE MOVIES OF THE FIFTIES by Foster Hirsch. He is also reading a short story book, SING YOUR SADNESS DEEP by Laura Mauro. So far he is not liking that well, but he will persevere to the end.
I am pretty impressed with how well Northern Exposure holds up. I have read a few Jane Haddam books but not lately.
They are showing my apartment to possible renters so the pressure will be on if they want to take it. After this, I have got to try and make my life less stressful. My stomach and my teeth are feeling the stress.
Tracy, Jackie is a fan of Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series too. Have you read her new, time travel mysetery series? We have the first one; the second is just out.
Jeff, I have not read the new time travel series by Armstrong, but it is on my radar. I like time travel and I like Armstrong's writing, so I will read it as soon as I can.
Ice and snow today. My mother is also staying indoors as the ice moves across Illinois.
Boy #1 is on the Dean's List again at MN's engineering school. Boy #2's high school play practice has begun.
I read WHAT SHE SAW by Gerard Stembridge. It was ok. A thriller where a woman in a manic phase visits Paris and witnesses an assault in a high-end hotel. I have a Daniel Woodrell novel, WOE TO LIVE ON, coming up next along with FIREKEEPER'S DAUGHTER. I think FIREKEEPER'S was recommended here.
ON Netflix I've been watching THE MIDNIGHT CLUB and FISK. FISK is funny. Set in an small Australian law firm. It's a kooky-people-show-up-every-episode show.
MIDNIGHT is based off Christopher Pike Junior and YA horror novels. A mansion used as a teen hospice where all the teens are close to death but are still looking pretty and healthy with witty comments.
I randomly selected a NORTHERN EXPOSURE episode. No sex yet. When Ed showed up on screen I had immediate recall of my fondness for the character.
Dang. Looked up the actor for Ed in NORTHERN EXPOSURE and found out he is Billy Drago's son.
FUNNY WOMAN is rather better than MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, and less anachronistic...in the third episode, it digs in a bit harder than it had previously, and it wasn't a slouch in the first two episodes. (Missed the first run, caught it on DVR from an overnight repeat.) Since I'm watching the broadcast feed, the perfectly acceptable language in the UK or Canada broadcast is silenced and asterisked in captioning. And utterly guessable, but our virgin ears are preserved.
Congratulations to your sons' progress, Gerard!
Lots of sex by the third season. I can't think of a show today that treats sex and romance so easily. We have been puritanized. I watched and liked FISK too. She is very talented.
FUNNY WOMAN is good but I haven't been convinced by her acting on the sit com whereas Mrs. Maisel was a great standup almost immediately. Not that's necessarily the point.
I found out last night that Boy #1 was awarded a departmental scholarship for this semester. I found out on my own when doing college financials.
Boy #1 never actually told his parents.
This is normal.
Watched the first two episodes of the new Vera series on BritBox and the complete limited series of Fool Me Once on Netflix. Also have watched a few Reacher. Going to try Criminal Record. Read S. A. Cosby's latest novel All The Sinners Bleed, which I liked. However, I felt he hadn't been fair with the reader when he revealed the bad guy. Picked up an older book in Quintin Jardine's Bob Skinner series. It's one of the best UK crime series, but you don't seem to hear much about Jardine in North America. With all the rcent snowstorms, you wouldn't think no snow would continue to be a problem. However, I read this morning that the organzizers of the Northern Manitoba Trappers' Festibval in my old hometown of The Pas, Manitoba have cancelled the World CHampionship dog race due to lack of snow on the ground. It only was canceelled once before in 77 years - in 2021 due to the pandemic. When I was growing up, the race was 200 miles over four days.
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