Patricia Abbott (pattinase): Monday, Monday

Monday, March 16, 2026

Monday, Monday

13 comments:

Todd Mason said...: Some things are harder to achieve than others, for fewer reasons than should be.; 4:46 AM
Jerry House said...: Hope you are feeling better.

My sister-in-law Carmen's operations went well Monday (she had done severe damage to her left arm, shoulder, and rotator cuff in a fall). She will be out of commission for at least six weeks and will then begin extensive physical therapy. Eldest daughter Lizzie had arrived from Arizona the day before the operation to help out.

In other medical news, granddaughter Amy had her stitches taken out and has graduated from a cast to a boot. She will not be able to put any pressure on her foot for six to eight weeks. The pain pills seem to be working for the most part.

Christina is the jelly bean aficionado of the family and it is now peak jelly bean season with all the jelly bean bushes festooned with fruit. In her considered opinion, the very best jelly beans come from Mike and Ike, but sadly their distribution is spotty. They issued no jelly beans in 2023, and Christina feared they were gone forever, but while we were in Massachusetts, Julia noticed some for sale in a local CVS. So the ight before we left for home, Christina bought FOURTEEN POUNDS of jelly beans and we then had to figure how to get them home without going over the luggage weight requirement -- we ended up with jelly beans in every pocket and carry-on. Then on Wednesday, Christina was eating a jelly bean and a tooth fell out; actually, it was a crown; actually, it was just part of a crown. She went to the dentist the next day and had to have the rest of the tooth extracted to make room for a temporary bridge. It was painful and now she can only eat soft food like mashed potatoes for a week. She was overjoyed when we took her to a Thai restaurant on Saturday where she was able actually eat glass noodles cut up very fine. It was real food, almost.

I had an eye appointment last week, realizing I needed a much stronger prescription for glasses. Turns out I did not need a new prescription because Stupid Cataracts! Have an appointment to schedule the operations in a few weeks. I am not a happy camper. I am extremely phobic about my eyes, having come thi-i-is close to losing my right eye at least three times in the past. They will knock me out for the procedures; they had better, or I will be participating in annual Florida Panhandle Doctor Toss.

Jessie and Amy spent part of Friday the 13th stuck in an elevator at work. (They work in the same building, but in different department.) The elevator has been known to trap people indiscriminately and at odd times, but no one has ever bother to get it fixed. It's interesting to note that the building houses the County Engineering Department.

Christina has started training for her new job as a police dispatcher. Some of the procedures she has to learn are 30 to 50 pages long, and we won't even go into the 10-codes she has to memorize. The City of Gulf Breeze is part of Santa Rosa County and they have different dispatchers. Gulf Breeze also dispatches to various parts of Escambia County across the bay that Escambia County does not dispatch to. Go figure.

More to come.; 6:17 AM
Jerry House said...: Back again.

Walt Senior and Ellen have been hitting Bingo Friday nights and have been dragging Christina an=d Walt (and sometimes Erin) along with them. I have been informed that, beginning this Friday, I will be joining them because I, too, am an old fart. Walt Senior has told me that all the widows and spinsters there will set their caps on me -- something that scares me beyond belief. I explained that I am a one-and-done person with women and I was told that they will still try to go after me. Brrrr! I am now officially with Bingo in my sights. Please put me out of my misery if they try to make me like pickleball.

Amy will be moving in May and taking one dog and three cats, leaving Jessie with just one dog and two cats. I believe Jessie is looking forward to it.

The beach on Saturday was beautiful and relaxing with calm green waters, white sugar sand, and a gentle breeze. Thai food afterwards, then Christina and Jessie went shopping for work clothes for Christina while i sat in front of Old Navy reading a book and watching the various people pass by. Good times.

God bless AT&T (not!). They decided to have my phone spring forward two hours instead of one for the time change. Jessie tried to fix it and it fell back two hours. Either I move to Tallahassee whenever I want to check the time, or I completely ignore Daylight Savings Time. **sigh**

Saturday we will be going out for our annual high tea to celebrate Kitty's birthday month. Then, on Sunday, Walt will be cooking a delayed St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage early in the day; later Erin's family Book Club will met to discuss MY BROTHER MICHAEL by Mary Stewart

No television this week. Reading this week included the Mary Stewart book, which I greatly enjoyed and used as my FFB. I also read John Scalzi's latest entry into his science fiction Old Man's War series, THE SHATTERING PEACE; recommended for fans of the old ASTOUNDING magazine and early Robert A. Heinlein. For short stories, I read four horror anthologies: Peter Haining's THE WILD NIGHT COMPANY: IRISH TALES OF TERROR and Haining's THE CLNS OF DARKNESS: SCOTTISH STORIES OF FANTASY AND HORROR, MYSTERIOUS CAT SORIES, edited by John Robert Stephens & Kim Smith, and ROBERT BLOCH'S PSYCHOS, a Horror Writers Association anthology edited by Block (and completed by Martin h. Greenberg after Bloch's death). Stephen King's HANSEL AND GRETEL retold the fairy tale based on paintings that Maurice Sendak created for the opera by Humperdinck.

May the luck of the Irish be with you tomorrow, Patti, and for all the days that follow. Stay safe.; 6:50 AM
Todd Mason said...: I remember PSYCHOS as a good example of legacy-protection (better than Bloch's own last novel in the eventual sequence, PSYCHO HOUSE, which had all the hallmarks of something Not What Its Author Actually Wanted to Write at All), though a sad fact that Bloch died before the anthology project was wrapped up. I've finally watched the initial episodes of the TV series BATES MOTEL and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, noting that the liberties taken with the Bloch and Jackson narratives were at least somewhat more respectful than the miserable "remakes" of both initial film adaptations of the source novels, if still not optimal.; 7:22 AM
Jerry House said...: BTW, Patti, today is St. Urho's Day! Can the world possibly get any better?

https://www.neatorama.com/2026/03/13/Its-Time-to-Prepare-for-the-Saint-Urhos-Day-Celebrations/; 7:44 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...: Hope you're (not your) enjoying Florida. We've had some hotter weather, but this week looks cooler, though most of the rain will be behind us after today.

Started the new (third) series of Hidden Assets (Acorn). The first was Ireland and Belgium, the second Ireland and Canada, this one Ireland and Spain, the Bilbao area of the north. Frankly, so far it is impossible to follow.

The third series of The Night Agent (Netflix) is pretty good action. Finally back to series 3 of the French The Bureau (MHz Choice), and it's pretty harrowing, with the protagonist (I won't say 'hero') a prisoner of ISIS in Syria.

Shrinking continues to be excellent fun. Harrison Ford is a hoot. We haven't warmed up to anyone yet on The Great British Baking Show (series 11 UK, 8 here) yet, definitely including the new co-host. They were confined together during the pandemic.

Loved Judi Dench's book, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent. She's a force of nature.; 8:28 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...: Jerry, sorry about the jelly bean disaster (weren't they a late 60s band?), but then, I've never liked the things.

As for the cataracts, I had both eyes done a week apart last September, and except for a minor anesthesia issue, it went great. Jackie says you'll feel like you're seeing in 3-D when you're done. And you can probably get rid of the glasses altogether.; 8:37 AM
George said...: Today, it's 60 degrees in Western NY, tomorrow-St. Patrick's Day--we'll wake up to -2 degrees and snow. Another hunker down day...

Diane has booked her flights and hotel room for Mother's Day. Diane and her sister Carol will travel from Buffalo to NYC to visit, see some Broadway shows, eat at some swanky restaurants. Patrick and Katie will show them around.

I'll be safe and sound in North Tonawanda reading away. Travel holds no appeal to me any more. Stay safe!; 10:52 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...: Yikes. I thought this...stuff was over. We've got possibly as warm as 85 today, then back to the 60s tomorrow, before settling in for low to mid-70s this week.

Works for me.; 11:39 AM
Anonymous said...: WI is in SNOW-MAGEDDO-POCAYPSE. Both my wife's and my library are shut down for the day. Snow is supposed to cease within the hour and I'll get the snowblower out. Interstates were closed across the state.

I've been watching TASK on HBO and just finished episode two. I skipped a y Oscar viewing. Several or most of the Best Picture fil.s are on streaming g and I've not gotten to any of them

Been listening to Jane Harper's EXILES. She loves stories on missing people, small-town Australia, and family conflict.; 2:51 PM
TracyK said...: We have been getting out and doing a lot of yard work out in the front in the mornings. We have a condo, so the area is small in both front and back but there is plenty to work on since it has been neglected for a while. Here we have heat advisory warnings for temps between 85 and 95, but they never seem to happen.

Glen recently finished reading PRE-CODE ESSENTIALS: MUST-SEE CINEMA FROM HOLLYWOOD'S UNTAMED ERA, 1930-1934, by Kim Luperi and Danny Reid. It is a TCM book that covers 60 movies. He is still reading THE UNSETTLED DUST, short stories by Robert Aickman, and only has two left ... but that leaves about 120 pages total to read. He has read other books by Aickman, and likes his writing. These stories are mostly mood pieces and the writing is beautiful.

In the last week I finished reading DO ADMIT!: THE MITFORD SISTERS AND ME, a graphic novel by Mimi Pond. It is a heavy, fat book (450 pages about, not numbered). I loved it and it will be fun to reread. It is sort of like an overview of the lives of the Mitford sisters and it does a better job of covering what was going on with all of them at different periods of time than other things I have read about them. The oldest child, Nancy, was 16 when Deborah, the youngest, was born. Since the author is from the US, she spends more time on Jessica than the other two biographies I read. I liked that too.

I also read A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L'Engle, in record time for me... two days. I was surprised that I liked it so much; once I had started reading it I could hardly put it down, even though it is basically a children's book and stretched my ability to suspend disbelief at times.

The only new series we have started watching is GRANTCHESTER. We have watched 2 episodes and will watch the third tonight. So far we are liking it. I am also reading the second book of novellas that the series is based on, SIDNEY CHAMBERS AND THE PERILS OF THE NIGHT by James Runcie. I have read two of the stories and liked them.; 3:18 PM
Todd Mason said...: You probably wouldn't be surprised, Tracy, by how much more popular L'Engle was than anyone (though Barney Frank and a few other national politicians came close) else who came to speak at the Borders I was the office manager for, years back in Northern Virginia/the DC burbs. I liked A WIND IN THE DOOR even better, as a kid, but by the time A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET arrived, either it simply wasn't as good, or I had aged out, or both. I am as impressed as I was when it was new over the last couple of days by a rewatch of THIRD WATCH, however (on Roku, with no ads so far, which might bode poorly for it sticking around).; 7:19 PM
Todd Mason said...: Liked TASK a lot. Am enjoying HBO's ROOSTER (and ABC's revival of SCRUBS) and DTF as well.; 7:23 PM

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