I am not all that familiar with the work of Anna Magnani. She never stopped talking in this film (BELLISSIMA). Nor did the other characters. I took out my hearing aids. The ultimate stage mother although Mama Rosa was worse.
Also watched Volver with Penelope Cruz.
On TV, Furious, Adults, A Brilliant Career, Ted Lasso, Trying.
Still reading JOHN OF JOHN, which I loved.
Started PT but so far I still feel unbalanced.
Saw a terrific singer at my Senior Center.
And you?
12 comments:
Keep up with the PT, Patti. It should eventually pay dividends.
Another relatively quiet week. Voted in Florida's low-turnout primary. Because the Panhandle is MAGA-Central and because it was just a Primary, I was unable to vote the bastards out, nor, I fear, was unable to note vote ne bastards kin. The results were much more pleasing in the non-MAGA parts of Florida. We'll see how everything falls out in the General.
So far the new school year is going well. Jack is an incoming Freshman at the high school. Jack dyed his hair for the occasion; it came out purple. The new school is less confusing than it could be because, for its first year, the only students are Freshmen and Sophomores. The school got off to an inglorious start because some of the people in charge didn't know what they were doing and, at the moment, clubs and activities are at a minimum. Like the upcoming election, we'll see how everything falls out later this year.
Walt spent a week traveling for work. The contract for his job expires at the end of this month and will not be renewed. He has been told that another portion of the company wants to hire him, but the process may not be in place by the time his contract ends, and when his contract ends, so does his medical insurance. Fingers are crossed because Jack's medication is super expensive.
Mark traveled to St. Augustine to visit the Alligator Farm there and meet the people in charge. He fed two of their alligators, Big Salty and Maximo; both leaped high out of the water for the food Mark was dangling. Mark was very cool during the feed but others were quite nervous. Back home, Mark has been training another (much smaller) alligator to be hand fed. Thus far, Mark has all his fingers.
Recent birthdays included Duncan, the phlegm-inducing allergen, who turned twelve; he shares a birth date (but not the year) with Kitty's weird brother. More significantly, Kaylee turned thirty this Friday; it seems like it was only yesterday that I has holding this tightly swaddled and serene newborn Bhudda. It has been a pleasure to watch her grow up and become the woman she is today. We had a birthday luncheon for her on Saturday at McGuire's Irish Pub in P:ensacola -- great food, great company, lots of laughter. Once again, I am reminded of how much I love my family. I hit the jackpot with them.
Walt Senior and Ellen will be moving in this coming Sunday. It should be interesting. Ellen's dementia (and paranoia) is getting worse and Senior is not capable of giving her the care she needs. We're hoping we can give them a couple of years before they have to into a dedicated care facility. It ill be a difficult learning experience for all, but it is the right thing for us to do at this moment. Over the next year we will be making physical changes to the house to help accommodate them. As with everything else in our lives, we will see how things fall out.
My OCD has kicked up big time this past week with 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles. I didn't realize how determined I was not to let them get the better of me. I did three very tricky ones: a Batman and the Batmobile in the dark streets of Gotham, with ten villains, a gazillion bats, and half a gazillion Joker balloons, all in the style of Thomas Kinkaid, the cheesy "Painter of Light"; a collage of rumored cryptids of the National Parks, and a stained glass holiday collage with over twenty pieces fitting in the wrong places by color, shape, and pattern, which meant going back and redoing the puzzle many times. I must be a masochist.
Because of my fixation with the puzzles, my reading dropped significantly this week. But my OCD kicked in again since the three books I read were all by thrillers Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES and VERSES FOR THE DEAD, both in their Agent A.X. L. Pendergast series, and THE SCORPION'S TALE in their related Nora Kelly series.
Hope you have a fantastic week, Patti. Take care.
There's plenty of rain falling on Western NY this morning. More rain is on its way for Tuesday and Wednesday. September will start our soggy here.
Patrick's AI conference in Germany wrapped up well. They expected 100 participant
and 260 showed up! Patrick is now vacationing in Istanbul. Katie baked a cookies & cream cake for a friend's party. Diane plans to make apple sauce today to use up the apples she had left over after she made apple crisp.
I've been writing book reviews and getting ready for the NFL season. Go Bills!
Yum, love apple crisp. Jackie hasn't made it in years.
We'll think of Patrick when we eat at Istanbul Bay this week. They have amazing bread.
Jackie survived 4 doctor visits. The numbing shot in the knee (Iovera) worked like a charm and left her feeling more balanced and better able to walk, and she passed the echo heart test.
Not watching any of the shows you mentioned, though My Brilliant Career is on her list. New series of Professor T and the silly Good Ship Murder. Finished the final (to date) For All Mankind and the French Elite Force. Jackie (a big Sean Bean fan, though he's nasty here) is watching the new Robin Hood.
Reading am entertaining time travel mystery, Time To Burn by Ellery Lloyd (pseudonym for an English couple). Also suspense story anthology edited by Otto Penzler.
Still plenty of rain here.
I need a cortisone shot so I can walk. THE PT never fixes it. Balance is a thing of the long past. Some rain but not enough. Patrick is seeing the world. It feels like there's a birthday party at the House house every week.
My mother was supposed to call me at 11.40 this morning to listen in on a Doctor consult. I never got a call. She is 84 which causes concern when I don't hear back in a timely, especially on a scheduled call. Turns out the Doctor came in and the conversation started and she did not have a chance to call.
I finished listening to SOPHIE, STANDING THERE by Meg Mason and enjoyed it quite a bit. Freshly divorced woman in England is struggling after her sudden divorce and she develops a para-social obsession with an author. Woman also works as a sound systems tech for literary festivals and meets the Author. Things don't go great or bad, just with some embarrassment and despair on Woman's part. Solidly done and Mason had seem really neat observations and insights delivered through her characters.
Starting watching GREEN LANTERN series on HBO and enjoying it. The series has been more about the characters than the action. The action scenes so far are not CGI, over-the-top, punch-ups with loud music.
Watched BLOODS on Hulu. Two seasons of comedy set among paramedics in London. Started YEAR OF THE RABBIT on Tubi. Victorian Era black comedy with Matt Berry. Also stars Susan Wokoma. 10 years ago Wokoma co-starred in CRAZYHEAD which I thought was very good and only had one season.
Meanwhile, my wife and I continue to work on clearing out our kitchen, and laundry, and mud rooms in preparation for our remodel.
Patti, sorry to hear about your problems with PT and your balance. What you are experiencing sounds very frustrating.
I had some balance problems when we went out this morning, to breakfast and Target and the grocery store. I asked Glen to stick close to me to make sure he could help me if I had serious problems. I used to have knee problems but that corrected itself over time (I guess) and I am hoping it doesn't come back.
The last week here was very hot and we were tired all the time and did not do anything that was not necessary. Today is much cooler and it looks like that might continue for a week. It can be very hot here in September, October, and even November sometimes.
We too have been watching the latest season available for PROFESSOR T, but haven't tried the new season of GOOD SHIP MURDER. We did try MURDER IN A SMALL TOWN and RIDE OR DIE and liked both. Last night we watched THE MUMMY with Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser, and and bunch of other actors we like.
Last week Glen read THE SECRET LIFE OF A CEMETERY by Benoit Gallot, which is about the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. It is broken up into chapters about his experiences as the curator of the cemetery and the one Glen liked best was about the birds there. Now he is reading THE ELIZABETHANS AT HOME by Elizabeth Burton. It is part of a series of book, now out of print, and he owns four of them. He read another one a couple of years ago: THE EARLY TUDORS AT HOME, 1485-1558.
I read two books this week. The first was FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley, which I did not particularly enjoy; the second was THE DEATH OF A DUDE by Rex Stout, one of his later books, and, of course, I loved that one. Archie and Wolfe were in Montana, staying at a ranch owned by Lily Rowan.
Glen finds the most interesting books. I was at Pere-Lachaise after a snowfall and it closed down. Megan is out there working on a series and the heat is getting to her.
Very upsetting about your mother, Gerald. Does she have anyone who can go with her to appts? My son has gone with me once or twice when I thought I might need a second pair of ears.
I've been wondering about Volver, Patti. I hope you enjoyed it. Here's hoping the PT ends up working for you.
Thanks, Margot.
Fortunately she does have someone that went along to that appointment.
She will have a procedure in October I'll plan to attend. The surgery is one of those that used to be a 4-day hospital visit and is now done and patient sent home in a day.
Stick with the PT and it should be worth it.
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