THE FRIEND (Sigrid Nunez) was a favorite novel a few years ago and now it is a terrific movie. Bing, the dog who plays Apollo will steal your heart. Also reading TELL ME EVERYTHING by Elizabeth Strout, which is enjoyable. She has an unusual style, which is probably not for everyone.
So much on TV right now: OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS (Apple), THE PITT (MAX), HACKS (MAX,), BLACK MIRROR, etc. Started a Netflix show called THE CLUBHOUSe about the Boston Red Sox, and NORTH UP NORTH, a comedy, about an Inuit community at the Arctic Circle.
Bulbs finally coming up although it is still pretty cold here. I am way out of shape from my trip to Florence in three weeks. I ordered a walking cane, just in case.
What about you?
17 comments:
I admire your adventurous spirit. I haven't had too much pleasurable travel in my life.
How exciting, Patti! I hope you have a wonderful trip! And I've heard The Friend is very good. Thanks for the reminder of it.
I'm moving much better, although I often bring my cane with me. just in case.
Finally -- FINALLY -- made it to the beach again after weeks of either cold, rainy weather or insufferable back pain. It was glorious. Warm weather, white sand, calming waves, good company. No dolphins, thought. Christina (who has gone to the beach often with Jack during spring break), Erin (who roams many beaches in the area, and Walt (who goes out early in the mornings to photograph nature) all have spotted dolphins lately. I'm jealous.
Amy's birthday is later this week and we are going out to celebrate. I may actually get to meet her new boyfriend whom I have been assured is not imaginary. Mark's birthday is the following week; he'll turn 25 and will now be able to rent a car (something that would have been much appreciated last Thanksgiving when his car was stolen and torched). Also upcoming for the girls (and their girl-childs), a trip to New Orleans to see HAMILTON, followed by the first camping weekend of 2025. Christina and Walt will be headed up to Virginia in July to see his folks; Walt's dad has has several heart-related issues (he's 81) and they will try once again to convince them to move down here where they can be close by. Although they are basically isolated in Virginia, Walt's mother is resisting the idea and is planning a move to an assisted living complex up there in October.
Mark has been sending us photos of him and his new friend, a hatchling Socorro Dove chuck. the species is extinct in the wild and the zoo has had only one of about 35 eggs hatch in the time Mark has been there. The new chick is very cute and Mark is strutting around like a proud new daddy. The chick is still unnamed and I ould like suggestions to send to Mark. He also told us about recently trying to hand feed Indy (for Independence) the American Bald Eagle who was more hungry than usual and almost took off his hand. We were also sent a clip of Ike, Mark's Gentoo Penguin friend, trying to help him shovel snow for the penguins; the job took much longer to finish with Ike's help. Birds make life interesting for Mark. Still no word on the job opening in the reptile depart, though.
Had our second community college evening school art class this week and the already small class size is diminishing. The instructor is really terrible. This week she wanted us to try a still life using a wet on wet technique, without explaining the wet on wet technique and without giving us any help. I ended up not trying a still life but was experimenting on light and shadow on my own. Jessie and Amy pan to bail this coming Tuesday in favor of a book club; not sure if they will be back I'll stick it out for at least another week. Best artist this week was Erin (which was actually a given), followed by Amy, who painted a demon bird in the corner of her still life...
Still reeling over the double whammy of losing Ken Bruen and Peter Lovesey. Both wrote books that were an important part of my life. I had met Lovesey in person and he was as kind and as personable as his reputation; never met Bruen, but he was evidently the same. When I rule the world, some people will be allowed to live basically forever -- a boon that will not be given to the current Administration. (While I was laughing to the poorhouse over the tariff actions, 381 books were removed from the Naval Academy Library -- the first one the list was HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST. **sigh**)
To be continued,
Enjoy. Our traveling days - other than winters in Florida -are mostly over.
This was a miserable week, cold - in the 40s - all week, also windy and with several rainy days. Just hideous. But, of course, so many people are having so much worse, with flooding and the like. And we seem to have turned the corner, to mostly 60s coming up.
We had a concert at the Beacon, The Mavericks, on Thursday, so took the express bus (Jackie has refused to ride the subway since before the pandemic) to the city and stayed at a nice Marriott on 37th Street off Fifth Avenue. (The Beacon is on Broadway and 74th Street.) Raul Malo, the lead singer, is being treated for colon cancer, but he seemed in decent shape and good voice. Jackie's theory is that perhaps his illness explains their presence as opening act on tour for Dwight Yoakam this year. We left before Yoakam's set and were far from the only ones to do so. Not our thing.
Yes, a lot of stuff worth watching on television, Patti. My favorite by far is THE PITT. We watched THE LAST OF US's first episode in series 2 last night. Also watched the first HACKS of the new series. We quit THE RESIDENCE, which got worse and more ridiculous each episode. The 15 minute "birdwatching on the beach" scene that opened episode 4 was the last straw. Saw an episode of THE CHELSEA DETECTIVE this week, as well as continuing BOSCH: LEGACY (Honey Chandler is now DA) and many others. Just getting started on Hulu/Disney+ too. Way more Acorn than Britbox lately, though we watch both.
I thought Chris Offutt's THE RELUCTANT SHERIFF was the weakest book in the series. Really liked John McMahon's first in a new series about an FBI team, HEAD CASES. Steven F. Havill seems to be ending his Posadas County (N.M.) series, and IF IT ISN"T ONE THING... is close to the last, I'm guessing. Bought several more short story collections, as per usual.
Nothing big doing this week, but next week we have our first show since November, DEAD OUTLAW. I plan to try THE MANDALORIAN, one of George's favorites, on Disney, and Jackie is checking for Marvel movies we've missed since the pandemic.
Patti, we visited Florence twice in the mid-70s, stayed both times in a pensione right down the street from the Duomo, and had a wonderful time. If you're looking for a good restaurant, our favorite from then is still in business and highly recommended - Il Latini. Yum.
Have a safe week.
Jerry, I did meet Ken Bruen and got to tell him how much his books meant to me and he was as gracious as you say.
Naval Academy Library:
Maya Angelou, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, out
Mein Kampf, in
Back again.
George posted a review of the latest HELLBOY movie and it was really bad. This weekend I was working on my Monday blog post and, because my computer hates me, kept losing parts of it into the ether. After losing two hours of work, and the recreating and rewriting that work only to lose it again, I gave up in disgust and decided to watch that HELLBOY movie for myself. George was right (he always is!); the movie was terrible. I ended up sending George my own review, which was much harsher than his. Beyond that, not much TV this week -- LUDWIG, DEATH IN PARADISE, the late night comics, SNL, HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, and JOHN OLIVER. Like many others, I seem to be getting my news from the comedians; they are much more reliable and factual, although I do miss living in an area which has REAL newspapers, like the Boston GLOBE or the WAPO.
I read a bit this week. Finished George Mann's 1930s alternate world pulp novel GHOSTS OF WAR. Leslie Charteris's LADY ON A TRAIN (my FFB) was a movie tie-in to a Deanna Durbin vehicle; this was the only non-Saint fiction Charteris had written over a thirty-year period. James Lee Burke HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN was an early Hackberry Holland novel; this time Hackberry finds love, loses it, marries the former girlfriend of the SUNDANCE KID, kills a lot of Mexicans in 1916, finds what might be the Holy Grail, searches for his lost son Ishmael, and goes up against a powerful and influential psychopath; don't ask me jhow he did it, but Burke managed to make it all work. THE MURDER MASTER was a 1938 pulp Shadow novel by Walter B. Gibson writing under the house name Maxwell Grant; Gibson was always inventive but his writing style always seemed dull to me when compared to other pulp writers of the time -- Lester Dent, Norvell Page, and so on. I also read a bookm of occult detective stories, THE GHOST SLAYERS: CLASSIC TALES OF OCCULT DETECTION, edited by Mike Ashley; I'm a sucker for those sort of tales. I read two DC Comic graphic collections, both major entries in that fictional universe: Grant Morrison's FINAL CRISIS and Brad Meltzer's IDENTITY CRISIS, each of which brought a slew of major and minor characters to the stage, sometimes with confusing results. And, lastly, I read a YA fantasy graphic novel by Newbery Medal and Newbery Award-winning author "Avi" (Edward Wortis), CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK; I've read a number of his prose books and this one was just as enjoyable, just as good. Currently reading HSLF OF PARADISE, James Lee Burke's first novel.
I'm excited about your upcoming trip to Florence. hope you have a great time. Meanwhile, have a fantastic week, Patti. Stay safe and don't take any wooden nickels.
Good idea about the cane, Patti. In the '90s when Jackie broke bones in both her feet in June, we still had a trip to England in August. She took a cane. Later, once in Vegas, once in Florida, she needed a cane but - of course - had neglected to bring one with her, so I had to go search for one. I remember a trip to Walgreens on the Strip to get one. She now has three adjustable canes hanging in the hall closet, and I remembered to pack one for Florida. Of course, like an umbrella when rain is predicted, this was a preventative that assured she wouldn't need it. Better safe than sorry.
I like Elizabeth Strout too, and put it on hold. (Surprisingly, the Cloud Library says it will be available in one day. We'll see.)
Even for Strout, it is unusual. She moves from character to character and yet makes it work.I am worried the arthritis will make me too clumsy to use a cane safely.
I had fewer bad days in Fl and that surprised me. Thanks for the restaurant rec.
I want to read THE FRIEND by Nunez. I will find a copy later in the year. I also want to read Strout's latest book but I have a few more of hers to read first.
Last Tuesday, I saw my Primary Care doctor about my Urgent Care visit related to an episode of fatigue and dizziness. I have not had any further problems and she and I both felt like it was an isolated event. She gave me some advice if it happened again. So all is fine.
That same day, Glen saw our dentist for a crown that fell out, and he found out that the tooth has decay and it cannot be replaced. He will have the tooth extracted by a different dental group that handle extractions.
At 10:10 today approximately we got warning of a "nearby" earthquake but it was near San Diego and we did not feel anything. It was 5.1 magnitude.
We are watching LUDWIG, one more episode to go. We finished Season 14 of DEATH IN PARADISE and are continuing to rewatch the earlier seasons. Also watched the first episode of ROSEMARY & THYME. Last night we started the 2nd season of NCIS: SYDNEY and continued on ELSBETH Season 2.
Glen is continuing to read A COLD WELCOME: THE LITTLE ICE AGE AND EUROPE'S ENCOUNTER WITH NORTH AMERICA by Sam White. He is almost done with it.
This week I read MY NAME IS MICHAEL SIBLEY by John Bingham. It is a very quiet, restrained novel about a man whose old friend is murdered. It turns out he really hated this friend and wanted to kill him but says that he did not. Michael Sibley narrates the novel so the reader is never sure exactly how much to believe of what he says. I liked it a lot, although it was a very tense read. But also about 250 pages, a good length. (There is an introduction to the book by John le Carre, and John Bingham was the person he based the character of George Smiley on.)
Last night I started reading ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME 1 by Solvej Balle, a Danish author. I first heard of this book in December of last year when Glen sent me an article from the Atlantic about it. In the article the novel was described as a time loop story and I had never heard of that terminology for that type of time travel (like Groundhog Day). It is very short, 160 pages, and I am halfway through. The book is part of a seven volume work and all are not translated to English yet. I hope to get a copy of the second one soon.
I admire you for trying your hand at various activities, Jerry
Have that restaurant on my list.
Some great reading ideas. I want to put a few on my kindle
The Strout has 62 e-book copies at the Brooklyn Public Library and 136 holds. I put it on hold this morning on the Cloud Library and they said it would be available in two days, Just got a notice the book is available.
I'm still working through THE WALKING DEAD. I quit on a couple books and listened to HOME IS WHERE THE BODIES ARE by Jeneva Rose. I likely selected HOME for the WI setting but it may have been that I liked the cover.
Just started listening to SciFi WOOL by Hugh Howey. Apparently is a series on Apple+. I do enjoy this type of post-apocalyptic story with people kept inside - an underground silo of some sort in this - and away from a poisonous environment.
This Wednesday is the symphonic band at UW-Madison. On Tuesday I speak to a nearby Town Council and ask for a contribution of capital spending for the library expansion project.
Over the weekend I did a fair amount of outdoor stuff with garden tilling, yard waste clean-up and disposal, and repairing and replacing rotted wood on our kayak rack and old-barn garage.
Kevin should meet up with your son and get the scoop. He'll be there Friday and Saturday
I have Friday off if they have questions. Not sure what my kid will be up to. I've heard that the campus tours for prospective students are well done.
thanks, gerard.
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