Patricia Abbott (pattinase): Monday, Monday

Monday, June 09, 2025

Monday, Monday

Not much to report. I am finally recovered from Covid. Went to a strange play about Jorge Borges today. But other than that I read (La Brava by Elmore Leonard and Mornings Without Mii (Mayumi Inaba) and watched "Oh, so much TV."

DEPARTMENT Q, PERNILLA (Netflix) and rewatched ABSENCE of MALICE). I know there was a lot more TV but forgetting what.

What about you?

29 comments:

Jerry House said...: So glad you have recovered. I'm at the age where I get concerned when the good people get sick.

This week I am bartching it and am on animal duty. Christina and Walt are off to a cabin at a Louisiana state park for a week to belately celebrate her birthday. Fishing poles, camera equiopment, and lots of reading material packed. Relaxation is on the menu. I have been left with detailed instructions about the animals; I told christina not to worry because I also have the number of the local pet cemetery. She was not amused.

Christina also decided to celebrate summer by adding purple straks to her hair. She was a bit hesitant because she has never added any color to her hair, but It looks very good. In solidairity I told her that I would add white streaks to my hair. She told me no one would notice.

Jessie dropped out of college many years ago when she married Michael. After Michael had died unexxpectedly, she was too busy trying to raise two young girls and keeping things aflot to go back and finish college. Over the years, she has attained a number of certificates but no college degree. Now she is less than three weeks shy of graduating. It took a long while, but words cannot express how proud I am of her. In her current job in the engineering department for the county, one of her duties is coming up with the department's yearly budget. They just approved her $33 million budget with very minor changes; she's very proud because, in these fiscally conservative times, she also managed to negotiate a number of salary increases as well as the purchases of needed equipment. Yay, Jessie!

Mark's great gila hunt has been postposed for a week because of dangerously hot weather in the desert. He has also infomed us that he will probably be getting a new snake because why have less snakes than you have fingers on one hand? I doubt if it is Trump's tariffs to blame (although it could well be), but the price of rodents is skyrocketing. Mark bought ten pinkies (tiny, tiny baby mice) and five baby rats to feed his snakes and the cost was $5 == a price that outraged mild-mannered Mark. We told him that we would bring a cooler full of mice and rats for him when we are finally able to arrange a visit this summer. Mark also texted us this week that he had a falt tire. A little later he texted, how to you change a flat tire? We told him top Google it, and a few hour later he texted back that the tire was changed and it was surprisingly easy. The next day he texted to say that he broke "something" when changing the tire and his car would be in the shop for a full day. **sigh**

Amy is getting grief from a work tyrant. She had some down time on her regular shift so she began doing some unfinished but necessary work that had not been assigned to her that day. The tyrant reamed her out for doiong something other than what she was assigned. This has ahppened more than once to Amy and to others where she works, so she is sending out feelers for a new job. Evidently she is not alone in doing this. I know the reason why work tyrants exist is to verify the Peter Principle, but really?...; 8:56 AM
Jerry House said...: Me again.

Erin's boyfriend Trey has told Christina and Walt that he would like to take them out to dinner. Just them. And not Erin. Trey said he thinks it's time for him to do this. Trey is a sweet, well-mannered man who has recently graduated college, and he and Erin have been together since high school with no sign of letting up. So we all know what's coming. Except Erin, who has no idea. so don't tell her.

I've had my new phone for about six months and still have not been able to access voice mail. I'm on the same plan as Christina and Walt and they have not had any problems. Found out this week that I will have to go directly to AT&T to have them access it; according to the internet, this is a flaw in some of the company's phones -- one they never bother to tell anyone about. HUMPH!

Mid-week storms knocked out my cable access for several days. I recovered my computer, but my television was another story. The television died literally minutes before I was to begin the final show of the final season of BERGERAC. I finally got television back late Saturday so I was able to watch that last show (it really wasn't worth the wait **sigh**), as well as the latest for DEAD VALLEY, and the first episode of THE BARON, my new streaming fixation. Of course I also watched the Trrump-Musk bromance breakup as reported by the late night comics.

For reading, it's bee a Hard Case Crime week, having read Michael Crichton's (as John Lange) Easy Go (my FFB), Christa Faust's final Angel Dare novel, THE GET OFF, Scott Von Doviak's LOWDOWN ROAD, and Samuel Fuller's BRAINQUAKE. I'm halfway through the Charlse Ardai 20-story collection DEATH COMES TOO LATE,and have Robert B. Parker's (not THAT guy) PASSPORT TO PERIL on my bedisde table. Currently reading the fourth and latst Penetecost and Parker from Stephen Spotswood, MURDER CROSSED HER MIND, and an earl (pre-Nero Wolfe) romantic Balkan Intrigue novel, A PRIZE FOR PRINCES. Waiting for me at the library is Stephen King's latst Holly Gibney novel, NEVER FLINCH.; 9:19 AM
Jerry House said...: I accidently pressed Publish while checking for the many, many obvious typos I have made. Oops!

Stay happy. Stay healthy. Stay involved. And ask yourself, why isn't there a multi-zillion dollar military parade to celebrate one Patricia Abbott, who clearly deserves one as much as TACO Don?; 9:23 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Congrats to Jessie. What an achievement. Your family is filled with amazing, productive members. And that doesn't even include the animals.; 12:15 PM
TracyK said...: I am so excited to get here right after Jerry, even though it is about 3:00 there. Very glad to hear that you are over COVID, Patti.

Not much going on here. Our only ills seem to be allergies. I do get very stiff if I do much ourside in the yard.

I got my hair cut in the last week, always exciting for me. Sometimes I go for months with no cut and let my hair grow and grow, but am keeping it a bit shorter now.

Back later with more about shows we are watching and books we are reading.; 2:57 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: I have not had long (or even longish) hair since my twenties. When it grows, it gets curly and I have no idea what to do with it.; 3:17 PM
TracyK said...: I would love it if my hair got curly. During the pandemic when I did not get my hair cut at all, it did get curly, and I enjoyed that, but lately it doesn't do that. It does at least have some waviness, which is nice.; 4:07 PM
TracyK said...: We are rewatching a lot of stuff. ELEMENTARY, MENTALIST, and CSI: NEW YORK, plus BURN NOTICE and DEATH IN PARADISE. We are in Season 4 of DEATH IN PARADISE with Humphrey as detective.

New shows we are watching: HARRY WILD Season 2. NCIS: SYDNEY Season 2. And we just finished ELSBETH Season 2.

Last week Glen read THE SIBERIA JOB by Josh Haven. Set in Russia, following the demise of the Soviet Union. He thought it was very good, and it was a fast read.

Now he is reading DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY by P.D. James. That one he is not enjoying so much. It is a sequel to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE with a murder mystery. He says it reads like a 19th century novel, which I would not have expected, although I guess it makes sense. We did watch the TV miniseries, which we liked.

I read OONA OUT OF ORDER by Margarita Montimore, a time travel / time-loop book where Oona jumps from one year in her life forward or backward to another year of her life at the end of every year. The first jump is from her eighteenth year to her 51st year, which is a huge gap and hard to accept. I liked the premise and it was fun and the writing was well done, but I was confused at times. It was 340 pages long and it was the rare book that I wish was much longer.

I am now reading TABLE FOR TWO by Amor Towles. I have read 5 of the 6 short stories, and liked three of them very much.; 4:15 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Towes is such a good writer. At some point, I lost my fondness for P.D. James. OONA sounds like fun-love time travel books. LIFE AFTER LIFE is somewhere on that spectrum. Have you read THE THIRD LEVEL by Jack Finney. I am sure I have mentioned this before. I keep going back to books I read years ago. I should be seeking out new ones.; 4:37 PM
Jeff Meyerson said...: Sorry I'm late, but I wasn't feeling well this morning and ended up napping much of the day.

We watched the Tonys and, while it was mostly an entertaining show, I was still appalled that Audra McDonald was passed over for GYPSY, for Nicole Scherzinger, horribly miscast in the awful SUNSET BOULEVARD. Only in the Emperor's New Clothes era of Trump could this be seen as the Best show.

We recorded GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK on Saturday on CNN and watched it before the Tonys. It was OK, not great, though the politics was more than relevant today. We are reliving the past, only it is even worse now.

Thanks for recommending MORNINGSTAR on Friday. I downloaded it from the Cloud Library and read more than half of it yesterday. I really liked it. She is eight years younger than me, but we had a lot of similar experiences, especially the library stuff. Good book.

Yes, plenty of television. We watched PRIME SUSPECT 2 on Saturday (two parts, 3 1/2 hours total). I was again appalled, as I was watching the Murrow show, at everyone chain smoking. At least Jane Tennison quite between the first two series.

Jackie is watching THE OLD GUARD (2020), Charlize Theron in Afghanistan, now. She says a sequel is coming next month.

I'm reading the new Michael Connelly, which might become another series, NIGHTFALL, set on Catalina Island off LA. Also read HEARTWOOD (Amity Gaige) and THE SUMMER GUESTS (Tess Gerritsen) this week, plus short stories.

Friday we saw HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD on Broadway, for $51.50 a ticket (TDF members). Very well done but kind of mediocre story, though the effects were good.; 4:45 PM
Todd Mason said...: Because Patti isn't a malignant narcissist with fantasies of becoming dictator for life, and destroying a number of key streets in DC while throwing a birthday party for himself, while simultaneously trying to turn California into a prison camp.; 4:55 PM
Todd Mason said...: I let my hair (always with thin strands, and in need of daily shampooing) grow out once, when I lived in a dorm for a semester at U Hawaii, and it looked even more sad than it does otherwise...lesson taken.So, glad you have better hair, Tracy, and all sympathies, Patti!; 4:59 PM
Todd Mason said...: Tend to agree about the no more than Not-Badness of the Broadway version of GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (and the Ben Mankiewicz and Paul Giamatti discussion of CARNIVAL OF SOULS and ROSEMARY'S BABY wrapped around their presentation, at overlapping times with CNN's live feeds, as an episode of TCM's package TWO FOR ONE, was also less than I'd hoped for, if worth seeing/taking in). https://conskipper.com/turner-classic-movies-two-for-one-returns-new-double-features/; 5:14 PM
TracyK said...: Patti, I have not read THE THIRD LEVEL by Finney. Glen has a good collection of Finney's books and that is one he has, so I will read that, soon I hope. Back in 2020 I read Glen's copy of I LOVE GALESBURG IN THE SPRINGTIME, and I enjoyed all of those stories. Thanks for mentioning that.; 5:34 PM
Todd Mason said...: Have been taking in episodes of the UK/BBC original of HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU while awaiting the return of the US spinoff, and last night caught some of the early episodes of CHINA BEACH on the annoyingly balky DailyMotion, as there is no more-legitimate feed for the series at the moment...will probably bite the bullet and finally buy the DVDs, throwback style. A fine series, to say the least, beginning in 1988, which is ridiculously 37 years ago now...longer ago than the VietNam War had been when the series, set initially in the latter '60s, began. I don't think I'd ever seen the pilot before. Caught up with the series not long after as it initially played on ABC. Have been reading a couple/few books off of Archive.org, because watching various sorts of tv and other video and corresponding via laptop computer isn't putting enough strain on my eyes (and I haven't even yet picked up the new issues of EQMM, AHMM, ASIMOV'S SF and ANALOG the new publisher has finally rolled out...still awaiting their first issue of F&SF)...and the cats are always glad when I put it aside for a while. Medical fun remains, though I'm glad to hear than most of the medical news for the rest of you is on as much of an upswing as anything else, as older friends and acquaintances, mostly, have been fending off strokes (so far), or worse, as (for example) poet, fictioneer, reviewer and puppeteer Mattie Brahen (http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/n01/n01204.htm#A47) , married to Darrell Schweitzer, just died suddenly, to join such recently departed I haven't met as Sly Stone and Frederick Forsyth...and, certainly, Drumpf and his too-populous ilk are hoping to kill many more of us...meanwhile, a very young (toddling) neighbor is practicing her singing at nearly the top of her lungs, as Ninja the cat goes to the window momentarily, to see what That's about, before returning to her dinner and water. Very glad you are all still here, and, indeed, Patti, that your Covid has left the building. Everyone keep on, at least as happily as you can, indefinitely, as you wish and can...; 5:56 PM
Todd Mason said...: And among the others who have played similarly deftly with time travel and related matter over the decades include Damon Knight (particularly with such stories as "You're Another" and "I See You"), Joanna Russ (THE FEMALE MAN, "My Boat"). and their mutual partial inspiration Fritz Leiber (THE BIG TIME, "Try and Change the Past"), and Robert Bloch ("The Movie People"--which, aside from its wit and crisp prose, is not very much like PSYCHO...though PSYCHO the novel is rather like its contemporary short novel THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, and Shirley Jackson tried her hand at time travel a bit, as certainly did Octavia Butler (KINDRED),; 6:10 PM
Todd Mason said...: Like or love all those tv series, Tracy...can rec CBS's WATSON and CW's SHERLOCK AND DAUGHTER if you're looking for more decent Holmesian variations.; 6:15 PM
TracyK said...: Jerry, congratulations to Jessie for graduating from college and achieving that while working at a fulltime job. I am sorry Amy has to contend with a work tyrant. I hope she can move on to a new job.; 6:40 PM
TracyK said...: Todd, thanks for all those time travel suggestions. I will look into all of them. Especially Damon Knight, who I keep meaning to read something by... I have only read the short story "Stranger Station" in BUG-EYED MONSTERS.; 6:45 PM
Todd Mason said...: Second time THE BARON has come up in discussion in two widely-separated places within a week...the television series, based on one of John Creasey's several fictional series (haven't ever checked if they were solely novels, probably should), was one I would dip into in repeats in the '70s on the Kaiser Broadcasting station in Boston on a rainy or snowy Saturday. Stately theme song. (Same station with the CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE and THE OUTER LIMITS and THE CHAMPIONS and other similar programming.) Or is there a newer series you're looking at?; 6:59 PM
Todd Mason said...: Frequently brilliant fiction by Knight, up through novella length, along with his critical writing, though oddly he didn't quite reach the same level with his novels till the last years of his career/life, with the novels in the CV sequence. Impressive editor, as well. His writer wife (his second), Kate Wilhelm, had no such impediments in writing fiction at all lengths (and did impressive editing, too, if less of it).; 7:04 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Hope you mend quickly, Jeff. Lots of various illnesses going around. More and more masks turning up. I really need a book devoted for recs I find on here. I would love CHINA BEACH again. Can't understand why no one streams it. Is it a music issue? I think you will enjoy THE THIRD LEVEL.; 7:54 PM
Todd Mason said...: I suspect most of the streamers would not want to run it shorn of the original music, and they also see it, I suspect, as Too Old. And running it with the music is from their POV too expensive, since I believe the series bought only limited rights to that music...and even the studio's DVD set apparently replaces at least some of the music. Also..."DUDE...it's [at least 55%] about Chicks". "And, Shaa...these women don't even Care about fashions except goofy "60s fashion and the show acts as if fashion is SHALLOW--sooo Sus."; 9:28 PM
Todd Mason said...: One of the first five episodes involves a Geator with a Heater-style Philly DJ who has gone thousand-yard-stare with most of his draftee squad after their CO dies...that was something I'd forgotten, or didn't see, from when I was watching the episodes when they were first broadcast...of course, before I moved to the Phil area I wasn't aware of Jerry Blavat, or at best glancingly that he was the most popular radio DJ in the city in the '60s and he'd mention his gun in his patter...his "heater"...; 9:35 PM
Todd Mason said...: "Maybe as much as 56%! DUDE!"; 9:40 PM
Gerard Saylor said...: Congratulations to Jessie. I'm impressed when people are able to go back to school when juggling children, work, and daily life.; 11:20 AM
Gerard Saylor said...: I've not done much television. Started watching DUSTER on MAX. It's pretty much a network style TV show but with some nudity and more gore. Fun enough, though.
Not much reading done. Tried the audio of WITH A VENGEANCE by Riley Sanger. It was very middling and I quit. Did finish V.E. Schwab's vampire BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL. It was decent but went on way too long for me. More a riff on female independence and lesbian romance than vampire shenanigans.
Started reading Trevor Ferguson's THE RIVER BURNS (2014) and need to get back to it. Ferguson has been doing substack entries about his path to becoming a writer. He followed what always, to me anyway, seemed the traditional writer's path: drop out of school, leave home, work many jobs, move around the country, get published.
Author bios no longer try to list all the many working class jobs a writer claimed to have. Logger. Bartender. Trashman. Taxi Driver. Then mixed in with a more technical job. Mapmaker. Surveyor. Perfume laboratory technician.; 11:46 AM
Todd Mason said...: Gerard--there was something about the smugness of the star's headshot and the nothing-interesting about DUSTER's blurbs that hasn't lured me into trying it yet. Indeed, I often think it's that writers take a lot of jobs that are easy to get since they (we?) don't want to commit to a career, but are usually clever enough to get snagged for something like surveying when they get tired of not getting paid in the day job while also not getting paid for their art.

Patti--I forgot to ask...it's not surprising that a play about Borges would be odd, but I gather it wasn't compelling...what was the hook? What's it called. and who wrote it?; 3:13 PM
Kevin R. Tipple said...: Big time congrats to Jessie.

Glad you are all well, Patti.; 11:32 AM