Supposed to be 100 degrees here on Tuesday. It must have reached that before but I don't remember it.
Saw TOY STORY 5 and enjoyed but did not love it. Seems like the are using story lines from earlier films in the series and it is also a lot like INSIDE OUT.
Reading YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke, which is very funny and original.
Watching, MY FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, THE BEAR, PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR, SUGAR.
Megan is in Hollywood, serving as the consulting producer for a new Netflix show called NEXT DOOR. She will be back and forth from LA To New York for five months. She just finished her next book so it came up at the right time.
What's new in your backyard?
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It's pretty warm here, too, but I did not go out much this week so it did not bother me.
Had the cataract surgery on my left (good) eye this week. All went well but, as I have mentioned I have a thing about my eyes, so I was not a happy camper and they had to knock me out for the surgery. The good thing is that I can see better. The bad thing is that it was MY EYE! The surgeon is rated as one of the best in the Florida Panhandle and he is all happy and smiling and friendly but underneath it all he is a doctor and has the doctor ego, where you just know he is superior and and in reality is sooo much better than his lowly patients. But I will put up with his ego as long as he gets the job done. The proof of the pudding will be when he does my other eye -- the bad one.
It looks like Ellen and Walt will be moving in with us sooner than later. Ellen is getting much worse and is falling constantly. The other night she passed out at Walmart and rather than call for medical assistance, store employees had to carry her out to Walt Senior's truck. (Yeah. Anything to avoid possible legal liability.) We found out about it only the following day. Senior has a ticky heart and severe arthritis and had to maneuver her up the stairs to their apartment. This week, Christina and Walt took them to view several assisted living places they were interested in; after several tours, Senior and Ellen vetoed the idea of moving into any of them. So we will to do some shifting and maneuvering here. Walt and Ellen cannot live in the same bedroom (don't ask), so Jack will moving into the dining room and the new pool table will be moving into the living room. Walt's will move all of his work computers from his study and the front room into their bedroom; Walt will be starting his new job with the TSA in a week or so -- the work is 100% remote and will occupy his time fully from 7 AM to 4 PM. which means that Christina, whose current hours at the police department are from 4 PM to 2 AM, will be using my room for daytime sleeping. We will also have to convert one of the bathrooms to handicapped friendly and insert a walk-in shower. Sometime this summer, Walt and Christina plan to add a sun room onto the back patio to give everyone a bit more breathing space. And did i mention that the contract for Walt's new job ends in September and there is a possibility it may not be renewed? Interesting times, indeed.
Jack starts high school in mid-August. The high school is brand new and is a huge complex. For the first year it will house only Freshmen and Sophomores, supposedly to everyone time to work out any kinks. Freshman orientation ( where they get their class schedule and have a chance to find where their rooms will be) is scheduled for later in July. In a scam worthy of the current Administration, student will have to pay for orientation -- $25 if they have preregistered, $30 otherwise. Student orientation is openly advertised as a fund raiser. Students who do not got to the 2-hour orientation will be able to go online 2 days before school starts and try to get their schedules then. There are many problems with this scheme. If the schedules are ready in July. why not put them online then? And since school schedules are invariably subject to change, these will not be set in concrete. And shouldn't school orientation be free? This fundraiser is being operated by "the student council." What!? There is no student council because there are no students and will not be until the doors open in August. And $25-$30? you've got be kidding me. Where is this "fund raising" money going, anyway? Gulf Breeze is an affluent community, but not everybody is affluent; many family are struggling greatly, and as the economy worsens, so do their prospects. So that's my little new high school rant, which I am laying directly at the feet of mindless, Trump-influenced acolytes until I am convinced otherwise.
More to come, once I shake off my rage.
The last 100 degree day in New York was July 18, 2012, though we came close last year (and local thermometers showed over 100 in some places). The hottest days look to be Thursday and Friday, just when we have another concert - outdoors - at Jones Beach (Santana and the Doobie Brothers).
Whatever happens, it has to be better than last week's concert. It was the first time we've seen James Taylor in 10 years, and not to mince words, his voice is shot. He couldn't sing at all, he couldn't hit the notes or stay on key. Trust me, if you're a fan, save your money and listen to his CDs. We left at intermission.
Back again, and in a better mood.
We went Bingo-ing with Senior this Tuesday and did not win a blessed thing. Some people take this whole Bingo thing seriously and spend up to $60 or more on cards; those who win seldom make more than they spend and it is interesting for me to watch a minor gambling addiction at play.
Sunday, five of us went to a pottery workshop, and made some sort of clay pencil holder. It was surprisingly fun and my piece ended up looking nothing like it was supposed to. Erin and Amy (as usual) knocked it out of the park. the pieces will be fired after the owner gets back from vacation and we will then get to see how well, or poorly, we did. Christina enjoyed it so much that she will probably beginning taking pottery lessons on a regular basis. Later that day we had Erin's Family Book Club; the book this month was VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS, which everyone enjoyed but the consensus was that the audio version was far better than the ;print version. Next month's book will be JURASSIC PARK, an oldie but a goodie.
Gingerbread, the very, very aged cat is on her last legs, has lost a lot of weight and is going bald, but was extremely friendly and active during book club. quite often with elderly cats they have a surge of activity for a few days before they die and we suspect this is the case with Ginger. If so, we will miss her greatly but are glad that her last days were happy ones where she could love and be loved. Also this week, Erin's hedgehog Potato was not doing well; he was listless and not eating -- something that was very un-Potato-like. She put off taking him to the vet for a day, and the next day he was back to his old Potato self, so --fingers crossed -- he is okay. Also in animal news, Mark is thinking of getting scorpion because Mark is Mark and why not?
Erin and Gavyn and Kaylee and Ivory have got a large apartment and will be moving in this week, animals and all. This will leave Jessie alone with four cats and a neurotic dog, so the place still won't be quiet. With Amy moving out, Jessie will not be needing her storage shed, so she will be clearing it out at the end of July. Since I have about 125 banker's boxes of book in her shed, I will be getting a storage unit for myself; a new storage company opened up about a mile from the house, which will be far more convenient and will allow to organize my books better. With the chaos of Walt and Ellen moving in and what will be huge excess of furniture, Christina and Walt will also getting a unit in the same place.
Easter is next Sunday. Traffic will be horrific and we will all be hunkering down in our respective homes until the excitement is over.
Still even more to come.
It changed Bruni to Bruins.
Western NY will be baking all week long. We have 90s in the forecast with high humidity. I plan to stay in the A/C most of the time.
The International Bridges have heavy traffic in both directions. Plenty of tourists so the fact that Toronto is hosting some World Cup games must be luring people in.
Diane and I are adjusting to driving the Subaru Crosstrek. All the touch-screen stuff is still a bit confusing. I miss knobs and buttons...
Stay safe...and cool!
Easter?
Easter?Is it another religion's Easter?
Just a little bit more, I promise.
I hate technology and I hate computers and technology and computers hate me in return. I will be a proud Luddite until the day I die. This week, my computer locked up on me and refused to allow me to do anything on it. (Picture a toddler with his lips tightly sealed, saying, "Nope. Nope. Nope. I'm not eating that, and there ain't nothing you can do to make me!" After two days of this, Jessie and Amy came and saved me. I don't what they di, but I suspect it involved sacrificing a goat. And then they left. And I went to work on my blog. Btu Jessie and Amy had to reset the entire computer to fix it and my blog demanded a password for me to access it. About passwords: Kitty (whom I loved with all of my being) had this little notebook where she would log in out passwords. But Kitty also despised having different passwords for different things. so she same up with a universal password for everything, but some passwords demanded alphanumeric passwords and some demanded you include a symbol and some demanded a certain number of uppercase letter and some forbade you to use an exclamation point and so on and so on. So Kitty's little notebook of passwords became a jumble of things crossed out and things added, and some passwords she added she just forget to copy down. It took me four different passwords to find the correct one to get onto my blog. But then my blog, being on a computer and hating me, said I don't trust you to be you so I am sending a code to your e-mail so you can access me. Okay, fine. So I go to my e-mail and it asks me for a password and not a single password in Kitty's little book worked. So I turn to Plan B: I ask the computer to send me the code via text on my phone. And what do you know? The computer has only my old phone number and lot the one I have been using for the past year. Oh, and I tried so many different passwords, the computer told me if I wanted to try anymore, I would have to reboot the system. And when I rebooted the system, the computer told me I had tried too many passwords and I would have to reboot the system, and I found myself on an infinite loop. Jessie and Amy kindly turned wound last last night and came to my rescue again. It's going to take me a week to get all the goat blood stains off my floor. Now all is well; otherwise, you never would have been able to read my constant blathering this morning.
Only television this week was BACK TO PARADISE, watched mainly because I really like Kelby and Martha, Esther, and Zoe are cute. As for book, I read two in Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child's Pendergast series : PENDERGAST: THE BEGINNING and ANGEL OF VENGEANCE. I also finished the last two book in Terry Pratchett's BROMELIAD trilogy: DIGGERS and WINGS; they have the same wondrous vibe of the author's DISCWORLD series; the first book in the series, TRUCKERS, was my FFB this past week. I also finished the Stark House Press edition of Michael Fessier's FULLY DRESSED INAND IN HIS RIGHT MIND, completing the stories added to that edition. I also red the 2003 Mystery Writers of America anthology, BLOOD ON THEI HANDS, edited by Lawrence Block -- some pretty good stories there, but nothing truly outstanding. My graphic novel this week was David Hasteda's FRANK LEE: AFTER ALCATRAZ, an imagining of what happened to one of the three people who tried to escape from the Rock the year before the prison closed. In real life, there bodies were never discovered but they were presumed drowned; the escape formed the basis of the Clint Eastwood film ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ; and the graphic novel was the result of five years' worth of research. This week, I'll probably move on to some of the gazillion anthologies that are cluttering up Mount TBR.
I'm sure the Easter Bunny will be hiding a lot of eggs and candy for you this week, Patti. Be sure to find them all. Stay safe, stay well, stay happy.
I meant the Fourth of July. Blame it on my dotage.
Jerry--potential password: Easter Fourth. Best of luck with surgeries and the tumult of living arrangements. Now I have a better idea why your blog always wants me to present four forms of ID before not allowing me to post anyway.
Alice, an MD in Psychiatry, just fired one ophthalmologist for that kind of arrogance (and worse), and contracted one she trusts more for her upcoming cataract surgery...I had mine in both eyes twenty years ago, at Wills Eye in Philadelphia, when I had my TV GUIDE insurance.
Finally getting past the initial episodes of my decades-delayed viewing of BATES MOTEL and THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE. The latter is way the hell too devoted to half-assed jump-scares as it goes along. Will be looking at more of the PSYCHO sequel-series this week, most likely (The CW network offers BATES MOTEL episodes on their free with ads streaming arm, The HILL HOUSE series is still up on Netflix). Moving furniture, etc. around the house, while awaiting various literal and figurative shoes to drop...cats do not love this, though sometimes find more access to new perches useful.
I figured that, Jerry but you never know with different denominations. I just listened to the NYT BOOK PODCAST and they read YESTERYEAR and basically panned it, Jeff.
MY friend just doesn't use any of the new features, George so that kind of scares me. She should at least use the camera to back up.
True. The backup camera is a great feature. We drove a new Crosstrek for a week in Florida while Subaru was fixing my air conditioning. It was OK, but after three Foresters it was a little small for us. But you can't go wrong with a Subaru.
Why doesn't someone tell the poor man? He can't need the money.
Our power was out for a good part of today, so no internet either.
Patti, I was glad to hear that you are liking YESTERYEAR. I have read good, bad and mediocre reviews of it but Glen and I have been planning to get a copy later in the year, and I will be reading it for sure.
I am going to see my doctor tomorrow, as a follow up to my Urgent Care visit related to my fatigue and digestion problems. Fatigue is still there, digestion is mostly better, sort of. No results yet for the cardiac monitor.
Glen is reading CAT PICTURES PLEASE AND OTHER STORIES by Naomi Kritzer. He has enjoyed the majority of the stories he has read so far.
Last week I said I was not doing so well with A GRAVEYARD FOR LUNATICS by Ray Bradbury, the 2nd novel in the Crumley Mysteries series. It started out being way more fantastic than mysterious, but later I decided I enjoyed it for the most part. I still want to read the third book in the series.
Right now I am reading LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney. I am liking it.
I read Lillian with my book club. After listening to TNYT discussion of YESTERYEAR I am going into the second half a lot more skeptical. I'll let you know.
Both Diane and Katie have read WHISTLER and loved it!
I am reading it with my Senior Center Book Group next month. We get free copies (although we return them).
The National Weather Service now suggests that in the Phiadelphia area of New Jersey where we live, today will top out at a mere 97 F, but the next four days including the 4th will top 100 by a degree or three. I'm sure this will enourage Drumpf to fire another few thousand of the NWS employees, and have him buy into coal plants and as much other greenhouse gas generators as possible, while having solar and wind equipment manufacturers shot for treason. Our wealthiest nearby neighbor had his groundskeepers mow the lawn today, presumably so he can re-sod the entire lawn next week after it all dies. That or run his whatever irrigation he has full blast for the next week day and night.
The author of YESTERYEAR was in Madison for a book talk within the last couple weeks but I was unable or unwilling to driver over. The book has certainly hit the promotional jackpot.
3/4 of the NUCLEAR family visited OTHER family in KS last week. The missing 1/4 was planning to join us until he found unidentified animal blood in his apartment the night before he was due to depart. Both cats were reluctant to be examined. The likely culprit was taken to the vet whose examination found nothing. My guess is that maybe the cats caught an animal and missed cleaning up evidence before body disposal.
I made the entire 11-hour drive back from KS. On the way to KS my wife and I both drove. Her portion of the drive to KS was instigated by my drowsiness at about 1PM. I ended up zonked out in the front passenger seat. When I woke up I was groggy for another hour or more.
Heat wave here is the same as elsewhere. City Band is scheduled to play tonight and Boy #2 told his mom he is not looking forward to performing in the heat. My wife said, "Imagine what all the older musicians think about it."
I read HEAT 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner and enjoyed it. A prequel/sequel to the film. I then decided to try out a Meg Gardiner novel and quit about 10 minutes into the audio version. Newer novels I heard were:
LOVERS XXX by Allie Rowbottom. I enjoyed it. Young women in working in Porn Valley of the 1980s.
HEATHER by Caitlin Mullen. NJ State Cop changes jobs to be Police Chief at her hometown.
BLUNT INSTRUMENT by Amy Bloom was ok. Former academic turned P.I. investigates a campus murder at a college in CT.
LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe. 19-year-old falls to his death off a London apartment balcony. He mixed himself up with some very dicey people and his family struggles to find out what happened.
MARION by Leah Rowan. Altered and updated telling of PSYCHO from the would be murder victim's POV where she wins out over Norman and goes on to wreak revenge on other men. A fun story.
Pondering our drive to KS has me remembering where we ate. Dubuque, IA and Lindsborg, KS are not tourism hotspots. But, if you're in Lindsborg the Blacksmith Coffee Shop has nice coffee, as does White Peacock. Oolong Asian Cuisine in Dubuque is good and a nice driving break. Devour Cafe in Dubuque had good cafe and breakfast.
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