Saw THE OUTRUN with Saoirse Ronan. Beautifully filmed and she was terrific but boy the story is too familiar by now. Also saw ARMY OF SHADOWS at the Detroit Film Theater. Made in 1969 by Jean Pierre Melville, a French Resistance story. Dark in every way. We went out to dinner after that and we were the oldest people in the room by 35 years. This was a super expensive place-the salads were $17-20 and entrees were $50--75. How did these kids get so much money? And to me, all the women looked like sex workers. I am getting too old. Happy to see the diversity though.
Reading BRIAN by Jeremy Cooper. So very British. Also lots of haiku books.
Watching MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, DISCLAIMER, ABBOTT'S ELEMENTARY, HOMICIDE.
Lots more great weather. What a autumn this has been.
What about you?
15 comments:
Did you do anything to celebrate Phil's birthday, Patti? I find that's a great way to honor someone you love who is no longer with us.
We survived Massachusetts, or, perhaps, Massachusetts survived us -- it's a toss-up. We left late Thursday to drive to New Orleans for a 5:30 direct flight to Boston. The long drive was made much more tolerable when he stopped off at a Buc-ees at 1:30 am for sodas and saw a baby goat in a pink sweater by the gas pumps. The owners had him on a tight leash; otherwise, we might have committed a goatnapping. (At that time of morning, the thought of grabbing the goat and taking it to New Orleans seemed reasonable.) When we got to NOLA we learned our flight had been delayed three hours -- "sorry for the inconvenience." There's little to do at any airport that early in the morning...
Our flight was on Spirit (Motto: More seats means ore money for us, sorry for the inconvenience) and the space between the seat rows was designed to torture anyone over 4 foot seven. Luckily I had an aisle seat and could stretch one leg into the aisle (something passengers headed to the john and the flight attendants had to leap over. Within half an hour everything hurt: lower back hips, knees, and feet; I had a bad leg cramp, and -- out of the blue -- a toe cramp. I eventually spent most of the flight sitting side saddle, and occasionally standing. while I was standing, a woman moved past me and pushed me out of her way, causing a sudden spasm in my back and I also fell over. It was not an enjoyable flight, made less enjoyable by waiting twenty minutes waiting on the runway while they found a ramp to deplane us.
Our motel was almost worth the pain of the flight because it was located next to a Dunkin' Donuts. For reasons known only to god, the Dunks in Florida don't have butternut donuts, but the ones in New England do, so we each had butternut donuts every day we were there.
Saturday morning we headed out to my brother's house, only to get a text from my niece that she was having a miscarriage. It was very early in the pregnancy and she had been told that this would probably happen so, although saddened, she was not devastated. She urged us to come over anyway. Our presence made a tough time more tolerable and she was upbeat for the whole weekend. We had been told that my brother's early Alzheimer's had been affecting him more lately but he seemed in shape, considering. He is now very gaunt, moves slowly, and his voice is raspy, but he was present throughout the entire weekend. Kenny was still bright, funny, and interesting. He may have been affected by the disease but he was not diminished. Christina and Amy did a great job keeping him engaged in conversation (a talent that thankfully all of the Tribe shares) and Kenny was truly interested in what they had to say and we were truly interested in what he had to say. Normally, Kenny tires out easily but that did not happen over the weekend. Also, he has not been very interested in food but when we took him out to a restaurant he ate like a trencherman (and flirted with the waitress, so we could tell he shared my genes). All in all, it was a fantastic time. I was so glad to see him and hope that he remains just as present for a long time.
One other great thing about our visit was Lily Marie, now fifteen months old and unstoppable. Lily is cheerful, smiling, and loving. I mean ALWAYS cheerful, smiling, and loving, with nary a cranky gene in her. She is always on the go and loves her toys and dolls and books and block puzzles. She is now learning to talk. Her first words was "bear," followed soon by 'I see doggie." she played "I see" with Christina as they looked out the window and she saw "a zoo"; she may have meant tree, but "zoo' was good enough a description for her. Also, on Sunday she said the word "baby" for the first time.
More to come.
I'm glad the autumn weather is holding for you. It's such a beautiful season! And I keep meaning to watch Abbott Elementary; haven't yet.
Great picture of Phil. From our interactions, he was always a really lovely guy. We'd be a block ahead and he'd be slowly strolling with Jackie, talking about whatever. Time moves on for some of us, while those we've left behind remain in our minds as we remember them, like Phil...and Bill Crider, for another.
This was another pretty quiet week, though the upcoming one is a busier one. We have the dentist today, our flu shots tomorrow, our Anniversary on Thursday (going out to our favorite Italian restaurant), then a sort of Anniversary treat - going to see the adaptation of Delia Ephron's LEFT ON TENTH with Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher, on Broadway, We've never seen her on stage, but have seen him several times, including as Nathan Detroit in GUYS AND DOLLS. Depending on the rates, we might stay over at a Marriott on Sunday night. Or not.
While scrolling around, Jackie discovered 4 "Sara Stein" movies on Prime (90 minutes each, so you could think of them as four long episodes if you prefer). Stein is a Homicide Detective in Berlin. In the first (SARA STEIN: SHALOM BERLIN, SHALOM TEL AVIV), she comes across a young woman who has been stabbed several times outside a club. The woman dies, and she investigates. Her family, believes her Palestinian boyfriend killed the Israeli woman, but why? Because they (supposedly) often fought? The solution is surprising, if a bit of a stretch. But in the meanwhile, Stein meets and instantly falls in love with Israeli musician David Epstein, and in the end she shows up in Tel Aviv, where the rest of the series is set.
We watched the first episode (on Acorn) of THE LONG SHADOW, a series about the five year hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, in the late 1970s. It concentrates on the cops (Toby Jones, David Morrissey, Lee Ingleby) and the victims rather than the killer.
And we watched the first episode (on Netflix) of series 3 of THE LINCOLN LAWYER. Otherwise, we've been watching what we were watching before. We watched the 27th of 37 episodes (about 100 minutes long now) of INSPECTOR MONTALBANO on MHz Choice.
I read T. J. Newman's third airplane-related thriller, WORST CASE SCENARIO, and Lee Goldberg's arson hunters' tale, ASHES NEVER LIE, as well as the Ed Hoch short story collection.
Jessie brought some books for Lily and she really liked TEN LITTLE LLAMAS, insisting that Kenny read it her six or seven times in a row. (One of the other books was WALTER,THE FARTING DOG, but I think she needs to be a bit older to appreciate that; Kenny seems to appreciate that now.) Lily has been a godsend for Kenny.
There was a large used bookstore in Burlington that we had to check out. Christina, Jessie, Amy, Kenny and I all scored a pile of books; Julie picked up many, many books for Lily; and Lily made a new friend with a three-year-old girl who was fascinated by her. Also, because the nearest Potbelly's (Christina's favorrite sandwich shop) to us is in Tampa, we just had to eat at Potbelly's twice on our trip. Yum. I need to go on a diet now.
The flight home was just as bad. Spirit has a couple of "legroom" seats available at the front of the plane, but these had been sold out out when we booked, so I ended up with an aisle seat in the back of the plane. (Some time after we had booked our flight, one of the "leg room" seats became available and, while waiting for the plane to arrive at Logan, they announced that the seat was available for anyone willing to pay and extra $75; also some aisle seats were also available for an extra $25. Strange, I thought. turns out Spirit has a billion dollar-plus debt and is soon expected to file for bankruptcy.)
We made it home and I spent the next two days lying flat on a heating pad and taking anti-inflammatories. The, stupid me, I decided to take some of my bedroom furniture out to the yard and paint them. A couple more days on my back with the heating pad and pills.
Saturday was Greek Festival Day in nearby Mary Esther, so Christina, Jessie, and I went. The food lines were long and slow and didn't seem to be moving at all, so we decided to try a Greek restaurant about eight miles away. It turned out the Greek festival had gotten their food from this restaurant, but judged poorly and kept running out of food so it kept sending people to restaurant to pick up more food for the festival. so we ended up eating Greek festival food but eliminated the middle man.
Sunday was crafts day. We decided to paint bricks to resemble some favorite books. The original plan was to paint the bricks and mod podge a copy of the cover onto each brick, but we decided to show off our lack of artistry by actually painting the cover on each brick. I did a cover from an Adrian McKinty book (my perspective was way off, as expected), Christina did one from a T. J. Klune book, Jessie did one from a romantic fantasy she was reading, Erin di a great job on A MAN CALLED OVE, and Amy knocked it out of the park with a detailed drawing of THE LIGHTNING THIEF by "Brick" Riordan. We missed our normal playmates Mark (now in Albuquerque catching flamingos at the zoo so they can be treated for bumblefoot -- a very real and possibly fatal disease; we're so proud of Mark), and Trey and Kaylee, both of whom had to work.
Then it was time for Christina's third grade Halloween project. She had been "volunteered " to decorate the classroom entry with a large, scary tree (with six branches -- no more, no less), a haunted house, and a witch's cauldron -- the tree on a large roll of brown paper, and the others on a roll of black paper. I have to admit that what we came up with looked much better than what any of the third-graders could do.
Not much television aside from the regular shows. As for books, I read two William F. Nolan books on motor racing: a collection of articles about race drivers, MEN OF THUNDER, and an anthology of articles on the subject edited with Charles Beaumont, WHEN ENGINES ROAR. I also read Christopher Golden & Thomas E. Sniegoski's dark fantasy THE NIMBLE MAN (my FFB), and thrillers by "Jack Kilborn" (J.A. Konrath), AFRAID,; John /Farris, THE CAPRTORS, and Joe R. Lansdale, SUGAR ON THE BONES, the latest Hap and Leonard.
Time to put those Halloween decorations in your window, Patti. Stay safe.
Pretty sure the building doesn't allow any decorations in the windows. But I am considering buying a new Christmas tree for the fifth year. I hear Ikea has a non toxic one. But other places have fooled me. It's the chemicals in the plastic that makes me sneeze.
Jerry's family can make any day a fun day. Can't remember where that phrase came from.
Summer returned to Western NY this week. Yesterday, the Buffalo Bills played a game at the Bills Stadium in 70 degree weather! Tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to approach 80 degrees! That's 30 degrees warmer than NORMAL!
Patrick is in Singapore for a GOOGLE conference. Diane is packing us up for a quick trip to Ohio to visit her sister before the snow flies. We have our annual dermatology appointment today. More annual doctor appointments next week...plus blood work. After 70 it's all maintenance.
Phil was a great guy. Stay safe!
Jerry, Jackie (who is an obsessive planner) checked this "out of curiosity" and says you should have left at 11:30 am on Jetblue and you would have gotten to Boston at 4:00. And their "extra legroom" is enough for me (at 6'1"). I've heard Spirit is bad.
Patti, Jackie was just commenting on how we are one of the few apartments (on this floor, anyway) without front door decorations, like wreaths. This is a VERY crafty neighborhood, and Halloween is probably the favorite holiday for decorating your house, even more so than Christmas.
Patti, we've had ZERO measurable rain so far this month, and could go the whole month without any. Frankly, we could use some, but it's beautiful out.
I had a long work week and then worked half of Saturday.
I listened to UNDER THE SKIN by Michael Faber which I only know about from a film adaptation I've never seen. Plot is that an alien drives the backroads of Scotland to abduct hitchhikers as food. The alien had extensive surgery to pass as human and took the job under extreme economic distress. I prefumse Faber wrote this as a commentary on forced immigration, corporate and oligarchical power, sexism, economic inequality, and more. Was worth my time.
I continued using quick set mortar to plug holes in the house foundation. I also used it to patch a section of broken concrete near our back door. I don't know how well the concrete patch will work and I am interested in finding out.
My wife and I head to Minneapolis this weekend to visit Boy #1. He graduates in May and we've no idea where he may end up. So it is better to visit now when he is close.
Both children had events to travel to. Boy #1's University run club went to Iowa City for a regional race. Boy #2 joined the Wisconsin quiz bowl team and they had a one day trip to Minneapolis and back. A long day that started with a 4.30AM departure and a 10.30PM return. Boy #2 did quite well with the highest average score on his team and was 4th or 5th overall in individual scoring.
I mentioned to the children that is was a Saylor Family Big 10 Round Robin. I excluded all the teams that should not count. Like:
Rutgers.
Maryland.
Washington.
Oregon.
USC.
UCLA.
Nebraska. (Which had teams at quiz bowl.)
Penn State.
My neighborhood is very decorated. But this building allows none. I have never used Jet Blue or Spirit. Heard too many horror stories. But I did use Ryan Airlines in Bosnia once and sat on a bench. I also need a trip to the dermatologist but she seems more interested in cosmetic visits than medical ones so I probably will change again.
Going to see the play STRANGERS ON A TRAIN on Sunday.
Forgot to mention: I saw ARMY OF SHADOWS within the past few years and it was quite dark. I most remember the surprise escape scene during an execution and the murder of traitorous colleagues.
I liked the film UNDER THE SKIN enough to read the novel after.
I've had UNDER THE SKIN on a To Be Watched list for a while. It'll be interesting to see how they alter the story.
I don't envy Jerry driving to the airport at 1.30AM. I'd be wiped out from that.
That is a nice photo of Phil. I liked your description of the restaurant you went to after ARMY OF SHADOWS. I don't remember ever going to a restaurant that expensive. I would like to watch HOMICIDE again. We have it on disc.
We are watching THE ARK and THE ORVILLE, two very different science fiction shows. Also DOCTOR WHO, Season 12, with Jodie Whittaker as the doctor. The last episode we watched was about Tesla and Edison, which was interesting. We recently started rewatching NUMB3RS; we had watched some episodes years ago.
I finished reading THEN WE TAKE BERLIN, a Joe Wilderness book by John Lawton. I really liked the book a lot, but I had a big problem with the ending. Rob Kitchin at The View from the Blue House said it best: "... the most disappointing aspect is the ending. The story just stops. It feels as if at least twenty odd pages are missing."
I haven't decided on a new novel to read, and I am reading a nonfiction book that I started reading in early September: TUDORS: THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM HENRY VIII TO ELIZABETH I by Peter Ackroyd. I am about halfway through it.
Last week, Glen finished reading THE BEST OF MCSWEENEY'S INTERNET TENDENCY (essays, internet articles). He enjoyed that one a lot. He is still reading ICONS OF ENGLAND, edited by Bill Bryson.
He has also started reading THE WAGER: A TALE OF SHIPWRECK, MUTINY AND MURDER. He says it is a history that reads like a novel. I may have to give it a try.
I read a Peter Ackroyd book years ago. Maybe about Shakespeare. You two cover a lot of bases.
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