Although the temps were high, we had beautiful weather in Sarasota. We heard a lot of music at the Florida Studio Theater, the Van Wezel Auditorium and a play at a lovely theater. Our house was modest but adequate. We sampled various beaches and ate at many good restaurants. Some lovely gardens too. So much seafood.
Sarasota is the vacation spot for a large group of Mennonites so the streets are filled with them on bicycles wearing their distinctive dress. I saw my brother and his wife, and went to a Tigers preseason game with visiting friends. Who could ask for anything more? Maybe a less hectic trip home.
I enjoyed the movie TRAIN DREAMS but mostly we seemed to watch GRACE, which is on Britbox. I am not much for streaming night after night but my friends love to watch that way. Are you a streamer or do you prefer to stretch it out? I very much enjoyed reading THE CORRESPONDENT and one or two other novels.
What about you?
13 comments:
Glad you are back. Glad you had a good time.
Because I am an impatient little git I enjoy streaming in lieu of portioning a series out, but I will happily take whichever is available. Not that I watch much television; too many platforms that I do not get.
Christina is just finished her second week of training as a police dispatcher. She has discovered she often cannot see the computer screen; the fonts are way too small and certain calls are reported in colors -- red and yellow -- on the screen. She had an eye exam on Thursday and glasses which will solve the problem have been ordered. She has also been busy learning the 10- codes -- 10-4, Good Buddy.
Ellen called Thursday in a panic. Walt Sr. was lying down, unresponsive, and shaking all over. Walt told his mother to call an ambulance (she didn't) and headed over. By the time he got there, his father appeared weakened but fine and refused to go to the hospital. I suspect he was afraid that if he went into the hospital he would never come out. the following day we had booked them and us for a dolphin cruise for Ellen's birthday. Ellen and Walt decided not to come, although they made it Bingo that evening. (Ellen won.) Because the reservations had been made and there were no refunds, we set off in search for dolphins Friday morning.
The cruise was on a smallish boat that held about forty or forty-five people. The day was warm and lovely and the water was calm and clear as glass. We went out through Destin harbor into the Gulf and saw a gazillion and a half dolphins at play and doing their dolphin thing -- swimming behind boats to surf on the wake, beaching to let us know how cool they are, following us because we are so-o-o-o interesting; saw one dolphin steal a fish from a fisherman's line -- that little scamp! Christina figures she saw about sixteen dolphin and one little dolphin baby; Walt said he saw two dolphin babes; I saw three babies and heck of lot more dolphins than Christina did. there is something cathartic about being on the water, where you are suddenly at peace with the universe and to just you and those magnificent creatures and you realize just wonderful and beautiful the world actually is. After the cruie, we stopped at Fat Boys because Jack had heard stories about how wonderful their shakes were; the shakes were good and the burgers were big and juicy, if somewhat sparce on the toppings.
Saturday we went out for our annual English high tea to celebrate Kitty's birthday earlier this month. This was the fourth time in five years we have gone to the same tea room in Pensacola. (The second year we tried a tea room kin Foley, Alabama, and the less said about that experience the better, the one bright spot being it was next to a decent used book store.) The tea room also is home to very friendly cat which greets guests on the patio (it very kindly waits until the tea shop is closing before entering the building); while I was stroking the cat under its chin, it asked me where the hell I was for the past year. Anyway, a good time was had by all, with more than the requisite a mount of laughter -- and we got to take a doggie bag back home.
Speaking of cats, NewerCat Rose has moved into Walt and Cnhirstin6a's bedroom, where she is appropriately admired and cuddled. She still will not venture into the rest of the house and she still avoids me. Christina says that is because she does not like the sound my feet make when I shuffle past. **sigh**
More to come.
(Just lost this entire comment. GRRRR! Will try again.)
Mark's car died -- perhaps terminally at work on Thursday. Walt and Christina left in the very early hours of Sunday to limp it the forty miles or so back to our driveway. For the moment he is using my car to get to work and I may be driving him myself from Thursday on until something is resolved. Mark is planning on getting an apartment with a friend closer to work over the next month or so, but this will make expenses very tight.
Sunday we also had a delayed St. Patrick's Day feast of corned beef and cabbage. Walt used three different recipes and we had to vote which we preferred. Alas, plans gang oft aglay, because corned beef #3 took longer than anticipated to cook, so we were forced to choose between #1 and #2 ( #1 -- prepared in a slow cooker -- won by a nose); we'll devour #3 later this week. Walt Sr. (weakened, but recuperated) and Ellen joined us and a good time was had. Later, Christina and I traveled to Jessie's for the March meeting of Erin's Family Book Club. the selection for this month was Mary Stewart's MY BROTHER MICHAEL, a 1959 novel of romantic suspense set in Greece; it was one of Kitty's favorite books. I loved it; the others, not so much, reaffirming my belief that I have a family of Philistines! Much of the time was spent with them dissing the book and me valiantly defending it; the rest of the time was spend talking about bridesmaid dresses for Erin's wedding next year -- I blanked out for that part. But Jessie served cheesecake and I did not blank out for that part. April's book (the meeting will be held on May 3 because of scheduling conflicts will be THE POPPY FIELDS by Nikki Erlick, an "emotional speculative fiction novel" chosen by Erin.
Amy is scooting around on crutches like a pro. It will be another 2-3 weeks before she can put weight on the foot.
I actually watched television this week. The final half of this season's HIGH POTENTIAL and the first eleven episodes of this season's WILL TRENT -- both highly enjoyable. FATHER BROWN continues to limp along, while THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS was an unmitigated disaster, worse even than the two earlier Fantastic Four films; Marvel appears to be steadily sliding into mediocrity, albeit with slam-bang computer graphics.
Thursday will mark out 56th anniversary. Separated but never apart.
Have a great week, Patti! try not to show off your Florida bikini tan to the poor folks in Michigan. Stay safe.
I was surprised to read your comments about the heat in Florida, as we haven't found that to be true this year down here. It's been a lot of up and down, but not much of it was 80 degrees plus, my personal dividing line between jeans weather and cotton pants. Of course, a lot of Floridians (like Jerry) wear shorts every day, no matter how cool it gets.
As far as TV viewing goes, I 'm 100% pro streaming. Generally, we'll watch four hours plus most nights, though sometimes Jackie adds another hour or even two in the afternoon while I'm reading. I try and put on a variety of stuff - one rule is no foreign language shows back to back. E will watch a group of shows, then the next episode of those shows a few days later as a rule. Only when we get to the last two episodes do we watch the same show twice in a row.
Some shows are 90 minutes. These are generally self-contained, so you can go longer between episodes and not worry about losing the thread. Others are two parts (usually 45 minutes each), and those we watch in full.
Some series (not Netflix) has one episode drop each week. In general, I prefer to wait until all (or most) episodes are available to watch them.
You're talking about binge watching more than streaming per se. I do know people who watch two or more episodes in a row and race through shows, but we don't do that.
I agree with you about The Correspondent. Good book. Currently reading the highly praised BUCKEYE, set in a small town in Ohio from WWII to Vietnam. I agree for the most part that it has an "old fashioned " feel of books we used to read. It's certainly holding my attention so far.
I'm very glad you had a good visit to Florida, Patti. And it sounds as though you did some enjoyable things, too, which is great.
Amazing that one coast is so much cooler than the other. And, of course, we were far from the water. I loved BUCKEYE. I watched most of HIGH POTENTIAL on the plane trips.
While I wouldn't call it as "cool" as Jackie does, it does sound cooler than your weather. As you know, we're on the water (granted, the Intracoastal
rather than the ocean) and that might have helped. Plus, it's often just a relatively small difference. If you look at The Weather Channel vs. Accuweather is. the local forecast, you might think one or the other was in a different planet. We've had days where it was supposedly 83 where it felt positively cool when we went out. Of course, I don't know where exactly they are taking their readings.
Watching series 3 of both Slow Horses and (the French)The Bureau after finishing series 3 of The Night Agent. On series 22 of both Silent Witness and NCIS.
Western NY has bi-polar weather: hot one day, snow the next. Right now, it's 31 degrees with tiny flakes of snow falling.
If binging is watching two episodes in a row, then Diane and I binge. For a program that Diane is NOT watching with me, I may up it to watching three or four episodes in a row. I did that with WEDNESDAY on Netflix.
Diane is deep into Spring Cleaning. I've donated a 1000 books to various Libraries and Museums for their upcoming Book Sales. Still a long way to go...
We'll be heading to Ohio for Easter. Diane booked flights on JetBlue for New York City for Mother's Day. Patrick used some of his points to book a room for Diane and her sister Carol at a Marriott near Times Square. Diane wants to see CHESS and maybe RAGTIME on Broadway.
I'm managed to whittle down my Library books from 15 to 5. But, now I have review books arriving from various publishers. No rest for the wicked... Stay safe!
George, we saw CHESS years ago. Didn't like it at all. The original RAGTIME was a lot better.
The weather has continued to be unseasonably hot in Santa Barbara and Goleta, but it seems we might have cooler temperatures for a few days, and we have recently had some mornings that have been foggy and overcast, which helps with the continuing yard work. We went out this morning to get more plants for the front area, and some pots, etc.
I am glad to hear that your trip was mostly good. You did a lot while you were there.
We prefer to stretch out watching a show, not binge watching. Sometimes we don't have a choice, but we do it that way even when we have all the episodes on disc. We have been watching lots COLUMBO. And we did start watching the GRANTCHESTER series. We have watched the first three episodes. And I have been reading the novellas in the second book, SIDNEY CHAMBERS AND THE PERILS OF THE NIGHT. It isn't too confusing to be doing both at the same time, since they have a different tone in the TV series and some (all?) of the relationships progress differently.
Glen is still reading THE UNSETTLED DUST by Robert Aickman. He is about halfway through a nonfiction book: GERMANY 1923: HYPERINFLATION, HITLER'S PUTSCH, AND DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS by Volker Ullrich. He is not liking that one so well, although he and I both read an earlier book by Ullrich (EIGHT DAYS IN MAY) that we liked.
I finished reading THE CORRESPONDENT two days ago and I loved it. Before that I read A BRUSH WITH DEATH by Sheila Pim, an Irish crime novelist and horticulturist, who published four mysteries set in Ireland and with a focus on gardening in the 1940s and 1950s. This one was set more in the art world but still had a focus on gardening. This one was the second I read and it was cozy and humorous and a very good picture of Ireland in 1950.
Have a fondness for books set in Ireland: William Trevor, Claire Keegan, etc.
Late winter weather is back to normal in Southern Wisconsin after some wild swings of blizzard warnings and 70 degree weather.
Anytime I read or hear Goleta I think of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avO0LW1jhbI I might have mentioned that before.
I don't consider myself a binger. I think of bingeing being where a personsits ofr 8-20 hours and runs through a season or more of a TV show. I do watch episode after episode of a show but never for more than an hour. May two.
Speaking of TV, I've been watching TED on Peacock. I thought I would never watch that show but two comedians I follow on social media separately mentioned there were writers on this latest season. I've been mostly enjoying it. The series is set in the mid-90s and so far each episode has had a Jeffrey Dahmer reference.
I read A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE VAMPIRE UPRISING by Raymond A. Villareal because I liked the title and the cover. A WORLD WAR Z type book with different narrators telling about how vampires tried to take over.
Quit reading LAMB by Lucy Rose. Cannibals in the North of England live in the woods and eat lost hikers.
Been listening to RED EMPIRE by Jonathan Maberry. I've read a lot of his books over the years. I'm starting to wear out on his work. Too schmaltzy and sentimental and the over-the-top super duper commando espionage stuff. The main series character is JOE LEDGER who complains about the behavior of others and then does the same exact thing to other people. It's a type of "I'm right, you're wrong, how DARE you question me?!" and constant wishing to punch people in the face or throw them out a window.
And the book is bloated. Run time of the audio is about 20 hours.
Meanwhile, I head to a conference in Minneapolis next week and will likely bring along Boy #2 over his Spring Break. He will visit museums, I will attend meetings, the two of his will meet Boy #1's new cat.
Of late, some nagging heath concerns and attempts at ordering and spring-cleaning the house have left me more likely to watch than read in the off-hours...and I've been running through the series THIRD WATCH (the Other series from the ER unit on NBC at that time, involving swing-shift emergency medics, firefighters and police) at a fairly steady clip, while watching newer items as they pop up on broadcast and streaming as well. The cats do not love soundtracks from these, but they marginally prefer them to Alice's videogames.
I'll add further notes of Gladness that the vacation wasn't all-trying, despite the best efforts of our travesty of a government and some of the weather (also in part the responsiblity of the slightly lesser travesties of the previous admins).
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