tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-331103022024-03-18T23:00:36.429-04:00Patricia Abbott (pattinase)pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comBlogger6488125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-90244005015335728122024-03-18T00:00:00.001-04:002024-03-18T00:00:00.239-04:00Monday, Monday<p> Back home. Except it doesn't feel like home yet. Had a very nice time, especially enjoyed all the seafood and music we were able to take it. Had the best calamari I have ever had. Lots of walking-didn't gain any weight despite eating like crazy. We had 20/21 sunny days. It was 61 every day. Perfect walking weather. La Jolla is beautiful. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOyGRFVB0a90LiXNhAMCLcV5aTzSlY-7iCHkctQAciWAl8_NJOA78DkQsaxTtOEoyY80_Rdo_qZDPr6jpf_PC8-PX9-529vSi0DNLxSM6muavXIMS23_jk-6JkfRh2QpQm0xq8-sIBS3vD24scgb4V3rYxmG_pj4M6Q5nsNbCzm9BTN41TzCaLuQ/s120/wednesdag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="80" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOyGRFVB0a90LiXNhAMCLcV5aTzSlY-7iCHkctQAciWAl8_NJOA78DkQsaxTtOEoyY80_Rdo_qZDPr6jpf_PC8-PX9-529vSi0DNLxSM6muavXIMS23_jk-6JkfRh2QpQm0xq8-sIBS3vD24scgb4V3rYxmG_pj4M6Q5nsNbCzm9BTN41TzCaLuQ/s1600/wednesdag.jpg" width="80" /></a></div><br /><p>Reading <i>Wednesday's Child,</i> which I think I read before. It's early in his series. Watched <i>Paris Murders</i> pretty much exclusively. Awfully violent but the detectives are interesting. Also watched DOG HOUSE UK Season 5. Although I have never owned a dog, I find them fun to watch. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVm0dG03IJgnry_SEnp6iaN8WX6qD_XzfMMyg2-goAxudRW7PcGEt_Ev-J3Z4jnIRhVpT6aDJZ7PuKEh5N4vO0qF8oMy3BboO7gYJVP4nIU0Qq1rYj4eHqm77rCznCQI1niHYlaKdIYSUqzT2B4-Wy7CpgChdPVLPfN_lKHUARCkHeFeKpDS_UNw/s259/paris%20murders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVm0dG03IJgnry_SEnp6iaN8WX6qD_XzfMMyg2-goAxudRW7PcGEt_Ev-J3Z4jnIRhVpT6aDJZ7PuKEh5N4vO0qF8oMy3BboO7gYJVP4nIU0Qq1rYj4eHqm77rCznCQI1niHYlaKdIYSUqzT2B4-Wy7CpgChdPVLPfN_lKHUARCkHeFeKpDS_UNw/s1600/paris%20murders.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br />So what is new on your front? <br /><p></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-92072461661355772632024-03-13T00:00:00.004-04:002024-03-13T00:00:00.133-04:00Short Story Wednesday<p> (from 2013) (And long before the movie, PIG)<br /></p><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">"Michigan Man’s Tastes
Get Him Into Trouble"</span></span></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">by Patti Abbott </span></span></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fVKvjhb_uyk6gHtN5DbEpE5GniuTAV33YUO0mI8uS6yH9ioXhXZVAiSwhZqo_Wtw55Q2-qr9LXmofSxp2ktWzKzY-lM855DU753YsS7kLSToNJtMt-5ksinKOGMGBOQmCBNb/s1600/pig.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7fVKvjhb_uyk6gHtN5DbEpE5GniuTAV33YUO0mI8uS6yH9ioXhXZVAiSwhZqo_Wtw55Q2-qr9LXmofSxp2ktWzKzY-lM855DU753YsS7kLSToNJtMt-5ksinKOGMGBOQmCBNb/s200/pig.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Daniel was not a gastronome at birth, but it wasn’t long
before the word was applicable. Stories detailing incidents of his superior
palate as a toddler were numerous. He learned his skills at the side of the finest
cook he’d ever met—his mother. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“Too much rosemary?” she’d ask him before serving the
holiday dinner. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The aroma of roasted poultry was intoxicating to her young son,
even if the chicken was a tad over-infused with garlic. She held the fork out,
having stolen the smallest tidbit from the underside of a breast. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“More lemon. And a pinch more marjoram.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“Brilliant,” she said, after tasting it.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Daniel’s early reading matter was the work of James Beard,
and by twelve, he’d successfully replicated Beards’ recipes. He taught himself
French to study the work of Escoffier, the author of <i>Le Guide Culinaire</i>, and inventor
of the five mother sauces. Daniel aspired to the title bestowed on his mentor: <i>roi des cuisiners et cuisinier des rois.(king
of the chefs and chef of the kings). </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">This was unlikely however since he
rarely cooked for anyone other than himself. </span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Eventually Daniel came on the idea of using the finest
ingredients available to create a contemporary version of the five sauces. Quelle
drole to confine oneself to ingredients as prosaic as butter, garlic and
cheese. He would turn Escoffier’s codification on its ear. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The first four sauces were unparalleled successes. His fruit
sauce featured Dansuke watermelons and Yubari cantaloupes, the world’s most expensive
melons. A curry was composed of Devon crab, Beluga caviar, Scottish lobster,
and quail eggs. A topping composed of caviar and goji berries made his eyes
roll with pleasure, and his penultimate sauce, a dessert concoction, used 28
different imported cocoas, some formulated personally for him by chocolatiers.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">His final sauce would use white truffles, available only a
few months each year. The best were found in Italy, and especially in
Alba. Traditionally the truffles had been ferreted out by pigs that,
mysteriously, had the nose for it. But pigs also had the inclination to gobble
down the white gold, sometimes destroying the entire yield. So pigs had mostly
been replaced by dogs that were satisfied to feast on pedestrian treats rather
than the truffles. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“I should like to go along,” Daniel told the importer at the
Eastern Market in Detroit. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“To the airport to pick up your shipment?” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“To Roccafluvione.” </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">This was the town in the Le Marche region his supplier identified as a viable
source. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“You mean to the marketplace there?”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Daniel drew an impatient breath. “No. I want to hunt them
myself. I should like to smell the earth, to inhale the scent I’ve read about
since childhood.” He paused. “And I want to hunt with pigs rather than the
dogs. I have a preference for traditional methods.” </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">He’d waited a long time for this day and he’d
be damned it some mutt was going to tarnish the image of striding amidst the
oak trees, pig in hand.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“It’s mostly forbidden,” said his importer. “You’ll have to
make special arrangements.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“I’m prepared to do whatever it takes.” </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Daniel opened his
wallet. And eventually his bank account. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">And so it was on a dark October day that Daniel and his
guide, Bruno, and the Marco, the pig, set out into the hills. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“No one knows you are here?”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Daniel shook his head. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“You must never speak of this excursion to anyone. Normally I’d ask
you to wear a blindfold,” his guide said in excellent English. “But I doubt you
will make a second trip.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“No,” Daniel agreed. “This will be my only outing.
Truthfully I am not fond of fungi. They tend to disagree with me, in fact.” His
stomach was already rumbling.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“Then why this trip? We have perfected the shipment of
truffles, you know.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Daniel explained his lifelong desire to hunt for the truffles
that would complete his final sauce. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The man nodded knowingly. “I detest red wine. Yet I always drink a glass
or two at my local tavern. The owner makes a point of giving me the best red
wine in the house because of my profession,” he said, waving his arm around. “I
know it’s good, but I’d much prefer beer.”</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The pig, trudged on, only
occasionally giving a half-hearted snort. He was very large and far uglier than
Daniel had imagined. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“You will know you
are amongst the truffles when we arrive. It will remind you of locker rooms
back in school. Feet, sweat, testosterone, earth.” Bruno drew a breath and his
chest expanded. “Marco has the area’s finest sense of smell. Much better than
those damned dogs.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Daniel smiled. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“So you’re going to eat only enough to see
that this sauce is up to snuff, and then never touch them again,” Bruno said,
after a while. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">“That’s about the size of it,” Daniel said. “Just enough to
ascertain I have met my objective.” </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The
oak trees towered above them, the forest growing denser as they walked.
At last, Bruno glanced at Daniel, indicating with his
eyes that the rope had been tugged by the eager pig. Using the stout
stick, he
made Marco back away. The three of them stopped. A nice stand of oaks
towered
over a pirate’s bounty of the white gold. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The odor was overpowering, and Daniel suddenly felt
light-headed. Perhaps it was not just eating fungi that made him ill: it could
also be the smell. Without warning, he plunged headlong into the swell of
truffles. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The pig, angry at this unexpected blanketing of his greatest joy, jerked loose of the
rope, immediately gobbling away at both Daniel and the truffles. Within
seconds, a piece of Daniel and a piece of the white truffles co-mingled. A
piece of leg, a piece of thigh. And so it went. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Bruno stood dumbfounded, trying to decide what to do. There
was little choice, he thought, looking at the earth beneath him. Knowing the
trouble this affair would cause, he and his pig, beaten hard with a stick, ran all
the way home. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br /><br /></span></span>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-28621793625049813912024-03-11T00:00:00.001-04:002024-03-11T00:00:00.133-04:00Monday, Mondaypattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-57558028435124931772024-03-06T00:00:00.003-05:002024-03-06T00:00:00.131-05:00Short Story Wednesday: "Scab Painting" Yoka Ogawa<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/scab-painting"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAXRoyMMPeknY25teqXi2FLyPFRRliotn_oxeXDrd3TrOVMhFOn7355ir8to2ILeNiSf47NACXBU2s0h0-eYpflsnMFpR46J2xLerpX6tjnM2Ef9-krPcQxhdyB2l7GKJh2iQzbG_32Rt_uUqIroaY2R6j23wAaDWvdvpV2vyJIkuwHPxX7TMJA/s300/short.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdAXRoyMMPeknY25teqXi2FLyPFRRliotn_oxeXDrd3TrOVMhFOn7355ir8to2ILeNiSf47NACXBU2s0h0-eYpflsnMFpR46J2xLerpX6tjnM2Ef9-krPcQxhdyB2l7GKJh2iQzbG_32Rt_uUqIroaY2R6j23wAaDWvdvpV2vyJIkuwHPxX7TMJA/w198-h111/short.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><br /> https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/scab-painting<p></p><p> </p><p>This is one I would have expected by Murakami. Twins are born. One is initially smaller but over time becomes the larger twin. This larger twin collects newspaper articles on imposters and is an expert at removing scabs. His sibling indulges this activity until he is grown and no longer has scabs. The brother then learns how to hurt himself enough to produced scabs. Over time, he fashions artwork from his scabs and when he dies his sibling presents them to the mourners as tokens. </p><p>Perhaps the flash fiction length produces stories like this that are more an idea than a story. I am not even entirely sure of the sex of the more normal twin. The writer never says they are both boys but in fact, refers to this twin as a tomboy. Or maybe I missed the reference. An odd one indeed. <br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-60265142358791386512024-03-04T00:00:00.001-05:002024-03-04T00:00:00.161-05:00Monday, Mondaypattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-53403809621034441782024-02-28T00:00:00.012-05:002024-02-28T00:00:00.135-05:00Short Story Wednesday: "My Cheesecake-Shaped Poverty" Haroki Murakami<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/my-cheesecake-shaped-poverty-haruki-murakami"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjmlr70_VZAXy-PHQvsejUS2SllOydrV5C1hDm8-TwLP8Q1d8B0DOO6Ywi9xW4HmjSlCLHtMeryTOg2KpQqE9gtclBQkZkwcs52dW3XmdbDrteRHzJEurC__JtAUaZf6hthPhuaToIdIHAFEFyVlH52nrVhxt-8ygr2QYtVB2LA6ylEAI-Cr7Lg/s318/murakami.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="318" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjmlr70_VZAXy-PHQvsejUS2SllOydrV5C1hDm8-TwLP8Q1d8B0DOO6Ywi9xW4HmjSlCLHtMeryTOg2KpQqE9gtclBQkZkwcs52dW3XmdbDrteRHzJEurC__JtAUaZf6hthPhuaToIdIHAFEFyVlH52nrVhxt-8ygr2QYtVB2LA6ylEAI-Cr7Lg/w207-h207/murakami.webp" width="207" /></a></div><br /> https://www.newyorker.com/books/flash-fiction/my-cheesecake-shaped-poverty-haruki-murakami<p></p><p> Kevin, my grandson, has been reading Murakami in school. He even had to write a story in the style of Murakami. I would love to read it. I often wonder if they ever read the writers we read fifty years ago. It seems not. Certainly they are rarely white male authors. <br /></p><p>This is a very ordinary story for a writer known for his unusual stories. A young and very poor couple rent a house on a triangle-shaped property well outside of the city. The reason for the very low rent is that trains pass by incessantly day and night. They cannot hear each other speak. They live here for two years. This has to be a true story because I see no other reason Murakami would write it. I guess it's just to point out what poverty forces on people. Although most young couples lived a version of this. <br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-19102507444665117962024-02-26T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-26T00:00:00.240-05:00Monday, Mondaypattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-51497698167518302672024-02-23T00:00:00.012-05:002024-02-23T00:00:00.128-05:00Friday's Forgotten Books: SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN, Bill Crider<p><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "arial";"> (reviewed by Ed Gorman)</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjajEVb5BEDm0PUW_6GnNZOit3fq8ijmwxWnMrEuSdvpYpswePPgaCw8OTpzJ4nEcez0C6syLUB325QkG0ntjrodGbyD25lKAClTLM8XUwIB04fDwIwsadGU_mzvu05mJJSPCtNB-efJz1-QIR7TgfO_uK05NCf0ofE3zRjDrTSscxXpNVzNR7fw/s327/Survivors.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="216" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjajEVb5BEDm0PUW_6GnNZOit3fq8ijmwxWnMrEuSdvpYpswePPgaCw8OTpzJ4nEcez0C6syLUB325QkG0ntjrodGbyD25lKAClTLM8XUwIB04fDwIwsadGU_mzvu05mJJSPCtNB-efJz1-QIR7TgfO_uK05NCf0ofE3zRjDrTSscxXpNVzNR7fw/w164-h249/Survivors.webp" width="164" /></a></span></span></div><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Bill Crider's new Survivors Will Be Shot Again may be my favorite of all the Sheriff Dan Rhodes novels for two reasons.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial";"></span><span style="background-color: white;"></span></span><br />
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<span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"> 1 </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: arial;"> <span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">If you think Crider was funny before, wait until you read the scene
where Rhodes walks into a convenience store and goes into a mental rage
about how Dr. Pepper refuses to sell the original sugar DP online. Good thing he comes to notice that he has
walked into a robbery. Ultimately he has to take the gunman's weapon
away by throwing a loaf of bread at him. That's the first chapter.</span></div>
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<span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"> The regulars are at their best and or worst.</span></div>
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The enterprising young woman who got laid off as reporter on the local
weekly is back again with her very successful online newspaper of newish kinds of stories that she sometimes "enhanced" for the sake of
excitement. She has turned the mild mannered Rhodes into a local bad ass
of heroic stature.</span></div>
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Hawk and Lawton, the two elderly deputies who who make Rhodes' day
miserable by trying to force information out of him by withholding other
information ("in the loop") from him. </span></div>
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Seepy Benton, erstwhile community college professor and very
very amateur crime solver, is pushing what was originally a ghost
repellent spray but will also work if nudists are invading
your domicile.</span></div>
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<span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"> Wal Mart-- there are so many references you get the feeling that Wal Mart is the official church of the small Texas town.</span></div>
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<span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"> And lest I forget...the discovery of several illegal marijuana patches...guarded by junior sized alligators. </span></div>
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Then there is the A storyline. There have been break-ins on ranch and
farm buildings. Curiously one of the men whose outbuilding had been
broken into and robbed is found murdered in a building owned by another
man who had been robbed earlier. Given the material that gets taken
the robberies are peculiar indeed.</span></div>
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Bill Crider writes some the finest traditional mysteries around. He is a
first rate plotter who also knows how to pace his material. Such a
mixture of <span style="font-family: "arial";">mystery, humor and even an occasional horrific moment give his work its unique mastery.</span></span></div>
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I grew up reading the now mostly forgotten Sinclair Lewis He
frequently wrote about small towns and their social ways in the 1920s
and 1940s especially. He was both brutal and hilarious. His one novel
that is still taught in college (several famous workshops won't teach
him because he was allegedly a bad writer line by line) is <i>Babbitt.</i> The
storyline paints a portrait of a boorish "booster" who extols
American virtues that are actually <span style="font-family: "arial";">American</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial";"><span style="font-family: "arial";"> vices.
But there are three scenes in which Lewis forces you to at least
understand Babbitt to some degree and after you read them you can't
quite find him </span>as repellent as you once did. <span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial";"> Bill Crider does the same thing here with his suspects. They are not </span>likable<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial";">. But as Crider reveals their back stories you see that in some way they are broken men.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"> Perfecto.</span></span></div>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-31304565718270869202024-02-21T00:00:00.005-05:002024-02-21T08:54:37.510-05:00"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses" Irwin Shaw<p><a href="https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/dresses.html"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEile2wg-5NRAQ4ctYP65NGeTLg0xQHGSAifE8VaF0zZWai9UOQf-cP4RvU1tqbSG9A-06K-o0S8PN5LOY8O50a2ZVYd1KOJIxGPl4_NJ5Wk8xTVukyLkiTI7dUWGgHFQR23DXc2Bnyhs92JFLAPwXED44MEtr09u_IjXRRm-0LOVNblBtq0vmKwNg/s300/short.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEile2wg-5NRAQ4ctYP65NGeTLg0xQHGSAifE8VaF0zZWai9UOQf-cP4RvU1tqbSG9A-06K-o0S8PN5LOY8O50a2ZVYd1KOJIxGPl4_NJ5Wk8xTVukyLkiTI7dUWGgHFQR23DXc2Bnyhs92JFLAPwXED44MEtr09u_IjXRRm-0LOVNblBtq0vmKwNg/s1600/short.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /> https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/dresses.html<p></p><p> </p><p>This is one of the great short stories for me. A husband and wife, walking in New York, confront the issue that he cannot stop looking at women passing them on the street . The wife admits that this is ruining their marriage, breaking her heart. She says that he will eventually, if he hasn't already, act on it. And he cannot really deny this. He claims he is helpless not to look over any woman who comes into his view. They have planned a day for just the two of them: a football game, dinner, a French movie, but by the end of their walk they change their plans and go to spend the day with friends. </p><p>I am very glad that I did not have a husband that did this. Or if he did, I never noticed. </p><p><a href="https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2024/02/short-story-wednesday-review-dark.html">Kevin Tipple</a></p><p><a href="http://georgekelley.org/wednesdays-short-stories-162-a-trio-of-tolerable-tales-by-margaret-atwood/">George Kelley </a></p><p><a href="https://casualdebris.blogspot.com/2024/02/casual-shorts-isfdb-top-short-fiction.html">Casual Debris </a></p><p><a href="https://jerryshouseofeverything.blogspot.com/2024/02/short-story-wednesday-oh-valinda.html">Jerry House </a><br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-30575233122222262512024-02-19T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-19T00:00:00.136-05:00Monday, Monday<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkhs4Ds_-K5MnKnizgGGEKx3Qo9-DhTicgyOQ94bs-oagmmavVeCgnUIQDhGOrordqCth9sAKNobN_KxMkLOD0D3yZYf1WeWFAJWltOsdHI_md7AGjTfqh-uGbEna4L5QZ7k9YKbeVJTrBtsGFS66LzhoWnIkxO0dhlG-zSoHbQyJlfk4PaX9vA/s1440/jiro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="960" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkhs4Ds_-K5MnKnizgGGEKx3Qo9-DhTicgyOQ94bs-oagmmavVeCgnUIQDhGOrordqCth9sAKNobN_KxMkLOD0D3yZYf1WeWFAJWltOsdHI_md7AGjTfqh-uGbEna4L5QZ7k9YKbeVJTrBtsGFS66LzhoWnIkxO0dhlG-zSoHbQyJlfk4PaX9vA/w127-h191/jiro.jpg" width="127" /></a></div><br /> I am pretty much moved in, but now I have to pack for CA. Sort of exhausting-I always overpack, taking everything that might be needed despite there being a CVS a block away. Have I ever used the bandaids, neosporin, list of passwords, address book, knee braces, multiple sunhats, eye glasses, etc. I take? <p></p><p>Reading COCKTAILS WITH GEORGE AND MARTHA-about the making of <i>Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe. </i>Watching the finale of MONSIEUR SPADE and TRUE DETECTIVE tonight. Enjoying MR and MRS SMITH. Rewatching FREAKS AND GEEKS after listening to a podcast on it. Still watching NORTHERN EXPOSURE, which was such an original show. The third season is terrific.</p><p>Watched JIRO-DREAMS OF SUSHI. Jiro was 85 when they made this doc and 15 years later at 100 he is still massaging fish in his restaurant. It looks like good sushi is about the quality of the fish you can get and how long you rub it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA64PsWmzw14E7hIs0p0jqD1zbVlW78ZfoghuyUsHKe-GyyN6b61RcX_wPCRLulStzoXVWvmDOa7ETpCxtQyEmbFa8MKV7gaeZMQKjuyhJ1Bw5TioNWIIAt1jDreuMctrUs5mkdx3z9JyToPAA68Gcp4mlGw-c5ZFx49Tqms-s3JkpWvRUy9odDA/s500/Cocktails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA64PsWmzw14E7hIs0p0jqD1zbVlW78ZfoghuyUsHKe-GyyN6b61RcX_wPCRLulStzoXVWvmDOa7ETpCxtQyEmbFa8MKV7gaeZMQKjuyhJ1Bw5TioNWIIAt1jDreuMctrUs5mkdx3z9JyToPAA68Gcp4mlGw-c5ZFx49Tqms-s3JkpWvRUy9odDA/s320/Cocktails.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>I will post MONDAY, MONDAY for the next three weeks although it will be empty, waiting for you. I will read it on my cellphone but I can never seem to get anything much on there. <br /></p><p><br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-3861096474506435722024-02-16T00:00:00.013-05:002024-02-16T00:00:00.148-05:00FFB: City of Nets; A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s, Otto Friedrich<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYj70xQWoVNZsWP0e7j9F-69NWEZL1on2pCnNDL7ptiP-IHN5dmB-E2T_FKBkU9XS6Pr5UqHHu57ZgXtaICThOgZAFP0VHYdo4lgr79hwDcGdO40naQKm4prLBW7tVpTxkBH2olq8joARekVyP5hDEJMF9__A1ohXFYg1hq0eW6d5y1tt21eZmg/s220/friday's%20forgotten%20books.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="220" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYj70xQWoVNZsWP0e7j9F-69NWEZL1on2pCnNDL7ptiP-IHN5dmB-E2T_FKBkU9XS6Pr5UqHHu57ZgXtaICThOgZAFP0VHYdo4lgr79hwDcGdO40naQKm4prLBW7tVpTxkBH2olq8joARekVyP5hDEJMF9__A1ohXFYg1hq0eW6d5y1tt21eZmg/s1600/friday's%20forgotten%20books.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7VQzG5WPNeevdrK7TZkHFkzFzxb-yrl1HefPPeXajsDjbI4Y_7vePhPvl6X-hSSaST5NkJAXGi5RuxOO-rvNTrfDWjOuvFusd4WoULY5tlk5xowO4KcEo7LvJhWUPYBrfX3pJp2sYkhX9yAaitVPpuz-S3HMZQ0ihGHReZjp5LGXPuKR6cvDEpw/s228/city.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="185" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7VQzG5WPNeevdrK7TZkHFkzFzxb-yrl1HefPPeXajsDjbI4Y_7vePhPvl6X-hSSaST5NkJAXGi5RuxOO-rvNTrfDWjOuvFusd4WoULY5tlk5xowO4KcEo7LvJhWUPYBrfX3pJp2sYkhX9yAaitVPpuz-S3HMZQ0ihGHReZjp5LGXPuKR6cvDEpw/w129-h159/city.webp" width="129" /></a></div>Donating books for the last five years, probably exceeding a thousand by now, it's been hard to decide what is worth keeping if I have already read it. I discarded a biography of Raymond Carver but not a collection of his stories. Same too with John Cheever. Shirley Jackson's bio went, but I still have a few of the novels. I held on to most of the short story collections but not many of the novels. I got rid of TOM LAKE (Ann Patchett) immediately after reading it only to have to hunt it down when my book group chose it for their March read. <br /><p></p><p>CITY OF NETS, one of the classics on Hollywood I kept. The first time I read this book, I found a large section of the book was missing. So in time I bought another used copy and was able to finish it. World War II makes the forties an interesting era in Hollywood. Especially the influx of talented actors, writers and directors escaping from Europe. Friedrich skillfully weaves biographical sketches with historical information. He is especially interested in the immigrants who came to dominate the film business very quickly. Also fun to read about how our new enemies (esp. Japan and German) made for the new villains in various films. <br /></p><p>This, along with ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE, by William Goldman are two of the best books about the movies although the later is a bit dated. </p><p>What I can't decide about is the many small literary and crime fiction outlets where my stories appeared over the years. Many of the stories are in my two collections but many are not. But realistically who is going to read them after I'm gone. I'm not Alice Munro or John Cheever. And they take up too much room. <br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-21876542252369715402024-02-14T00:00:00.007-05:002024-02-14T07:49:14.454-05:00"The President of the Louisiana Live Oak Society" Ellen Gilchrist<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/11/books/ellen-gilchrist-dead.html"> obituary</a> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLmaEZjwTB7EUQ9jeebURmV1DTTYq6UNPB-a-nnivkmSdpeuT6FhLIfxnTkeXEpY4t40u4KsFf0q1zutxpc_FtBDAj9D_NnHzPr8keqYDg3PD0rNnCKs5STme1dP8-UjY2q4kqxWfKyCUI33hrwsGXUVlMimPwomttuppkGf3d94gf2kRw4GdtgQ/s2048/ellen.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1391" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLmaEZjwTB7EUQ9jeebURmV1DTTYq6UNPB-a-nnivkmSdpeuT6FhLIfxnTkeXEpY4t40u4KsFf0q1zutxpc_FtBDAj9D_NnHzPr8keqYDg3PD0rNnCKs5STme1dP8-UjY2q4kqxWfKyCUI33hrwsGXUVlMimPwomttuppkGf3d94gf2kRw4GdtgQ/w158-h233/ellen.webp" width="158" /></a></div>Ellen Gilchrist was one of those writers who I read as soon as her book turned up in the library years ago. She wrote short stories, novels, and memoirs. They were set in the romantic South of the 70s-2000. And I had forgotten all about the pleasure she gave me until I saw her death notice today. I was able to download IN THE LAND OF THE DREAMY DREAM for $3 on Amazon. She is often funny. "He put up with a lot from Leila because she had been named to the list of Beautiful Activists two years in a row." (This is her hair dresser)<p></p><p>In this story, which is surprising, funny and sad, in turns, Robert, a teenager, has made friends with Gus, a boy who spends most of his time sitting under the town's huge live oak tree. Gus is black and Robert's white mother secretly disapproves of this friendship but considers herself too liberal to act on her fear. And they are up to no good, selling dope and using it themselves. This makes it sound like it's a cautionary or scary story. But mostly it is not either and it ends quite dramatically or oddly depending on how much latitude you give Ms. Gilchrist. </p><p>HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY<br /></p><p><a href="https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2024/02/ssw-ellen-gilchrist-black-winter.html">Todd Mason</a></p><p><a href="https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/">Kevin Tipple </a></p><p><a href="http://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2024/02/short-story-wednesday-books-on-kindle.html">TracyK </a></p><p><a href="http://jerryshouseofeverything.blogspot.com/2024/02/short-story-wednesday-wild-wullie-waster.html">Jerry House </a><br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-88525305400426734012024-02-13T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-13T00:00:00.130-05:00THE UNLIKELY ESCAPE OF URIAH HEEP<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXxaYT2i_YEaOiDq7kRXcHJ-cxS0hewTFED7ipWquNEYqz8HjlK8fXC26qbQVrtgnXURwuAG1sxLIYFfLoNSiDHiEVz5FNf84h03xmjskxEnJ3IHjN9HWzlq-0nPzXgybCxqUz4eQBbH3z7j9GyW5sabJejE3rmgzsSuK0dcp5PmULxEMOQc3Rw/s327/Unlikely.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="218" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXxaYT2i_YEaOiDq7kRXcHJ-cxS0hewTFED7ipWquNEYqz8HjlK8fXC26qbQVrtgnXURwuAG1sxLIYFfLoNSiDHiEVz5FNf84h03xmjskxEnJ3IHjN9HWzlq-0nPzXgybCxqUz4eQBbH3z7j9GyW5sabJejE3rmgzsSuK0dcp5PmULxEMOQc3Rw/s320/Unlikely.webp" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">Jane, a woman in my exercise group, was looking for an Ann Patchett book at the library. Because she is tiny, she couldn't reach the shelf Patchett was on and no step stool was nearby. But another book was eye level: THE UNLIKELY ESCAPE OF URIAH HEEP, by H.G. Parry. She can hardly put this found book down. Has a book you never meant to read, never heard of even, become a real favorite.?</div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: start;">I have this on my kindle already. The story of her find is worth the price</div>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-38569800042707101022024-02-12T00:00:00.010-05:002024-02-12T00:00:00.131-05:00Monday, Monday<p>Finally moved in and it went well. Lots of pluses and only a minor negative-my fridge is smaller. Cost me a bit and it was hard work but I think it's worth it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWuKiSksfdtvFsj0rSX1C-tRhhJiXIPv10YqAkCvIZbRXRa9cED_GxTSNTcV4X5385LH7ZH2Tr2y079aBH3gqvg-2DJrGcy4TOsSZ1xLLKZ3PGxGe8e0DrLbzhKJ_zswnfxRzGXdo6fo6bFmB7RudgJwx6biYFzIBXN1Eh1ScC5hh2hX1t8T2NQ/s1763/Portrait%20Artist%20of%20the%20Year.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1763" data-original-width="1175" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWuKiSksfdtvFsj0rSX1C-tRhhJiXIPv10YqAkCvIZbRXRa9cED_GxTSNTcV4X5385LH7ZH2Tr2y079aBH3gqvg-2DJrGcy4TOsSZ1xLLKZ3PGxGe8e0DrLbzhKJ_zswnfxRzGXdo6fo6bFmB7RudgJwx6biYFzIBXN1Eh1ScC5hh2hX1t8T2NQ/w112-h168/Portrait%20Artist%20of%20the%20Year.jpg" width="112" /></a></div><br /><p>Watching PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Amazon), Season 10. Love this show. As someone who has zero talent in that area, I am always amazed. Plus I enjoy that they use British celebrities as models. Also watching a bizarre show about someone named Natalia Grace who is either 6 or 30 and is either evil or her parents are evil. Also <i>Monsieur Spade </i>and <i>True Detective. </i>I finished <i>Loudermilk</i> and would like another season, Netflix. <i>All Creatures Great and Small</i>-will Dr. Farnum and Mrs. Hall eventually get together. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzPMfZE814PHFM41w-8nOnUiLOdsp5arUT7td7gYYvBft6dY06no4Nt6IBOn9dW0ULiJbuPUkvJ0wrehDtQ8UgR1kZ3iRTvN_yZhIR77Eg8-ub06ENsdDdO0TfsXetj4TESTkRMhZYBBs7Lvd2EsYF1DZdfENG4pPahW7wCkvx9WPCR9YE5sj2Q/s1763/Natalia.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1763" data-original-width="1175" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzPMfZE814PHFM41w-8nOnUiLOdsp5arUT7td7gYYvBft6dY06no4Nt6IBOn9dW0ULiJbuPUkvJ0wrehDtQ8UgR1kZ3iRTvN_yZhIR77Eg8-ub06ENsdDdO0TfsXetj4TESTkRMhZYBBs7Lvd2EsYF1DZdfENG4pPahW7wCkvx9WPCR9YE5sj2Q/w154-h231/Natalia.jpg" width="154" /></a></div><p><br />Trying hard to read the Ann Cleves book but so far I fall asleep after a few pages every night. It is not the book, it's me. </p><p>Saw<i> Teacher's Lounge</i>, the German film nominated for Best International Film. It was a knockout. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVu87tm1wg_-nCEH29Uz7VzAfMZHrTIh1uGLg86kfmm6MTTbWHm0r3UcPMw-TGOcrpunMHj2qonV0VZsLn3Ob7Ik3ay2xr5z_6AZD6NVci0g3Sxfb3EJMAJ-5PLWaf0nvF4tGQA75Hw7_N59_ynJmBZ4ehoeUUeRZTdMREYjJxRapmrBa5R0ZYIQ/s150/Teacher's%20Lounge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="150" data-original-width="150" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVu87tm1wg_-nCEH29Uz7VzAfMZHrTIh1uGLg86kfmm6MTTbWHm0r3UcPMw-TGOcrpunMHj2qonV0VZsLn3Ob7Ik3ay2xr5z_6AZD6NVci0g3Sxfb3EJMAJ-5PLWaf0nvF4tGQA75Hw7_N59_ynJmBZ4ehoeUUeRZTdMREYjJxRapmrBa5R0ZYIQ/s1600/Teacher's%20Lounge.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p></p><p>So what's up with you guys. <br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-91271115605262863022024-02-11T08:40:00.001-05:002024-02-11T08:41:59.502-05:00Letitia Morrison Carter RIP<p>This is my cousin, Letty, whose memorial service I attended via Zoom yesterday. It is humbling to think of what I have done with my life compared to she with hers. She was a rich woman due to an invention of her husband's for epoxying jewelry. But she was a poor child and a poor young mother. She wasn't born into wealth at all. She was a excellent cook, gardener, pianist and mother of four. At the service, the director of the RI Philharmonic extolled about the things she had done for her state. I am proud to have known and been related to her although I saw her only twice in my life. And oh, yes, they were fervent Democrats!<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNS2jgrD6fzozBFGz49rwQzJc5oj-5hI3l_CmuZ-lz98HoEdFk7H_D9mDrSHEHWu3vlihSjQwdIj3yCawwV-qcitl1sznwG1yQ2eBMTQ7qKgZHRlZcGB4C7MLHK1-n5X5KcLECestACEWp6axfEDffuuYfrFwYpHmiRL4AZpNKwRJ57-ij_ilzA/s360/Letty.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="360" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNS2jgrD6fzozBFGz49rwQzJc5oj-5hI3l_CmuZ-lz98HoEdFk7H_D9mDrSHEHWu3vlihSjQwdIj3yCawwV-qcitl1sznwG1yQ2eBMTQ7qKgZHRlZcGB4C7MLHK1-n5X5KcLECestACEWp6axfEDffuuYfrFwYpHmiRL4AZpNKwRJ57-ij_ilzA/s320/Letty.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 css-1yzfdrp css-9l3uo3">Letty Carter, age
89, passed away peacefully at her home in Little Compton, RI, on
September 29, 2023. Letitia gave tirelessly to her family, community,
and philanthropic endeavors. She was a leader, teacher, creator who
touched and impacted many people. In her own words:</p><p class="MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-body1 css-1yzfdrp css-9l3uo3">"My
advice to you is not hard advice, but rather soft advice: Learn
everything you can about what is going on around you. Volunteer, you'll
meet some interesting new people. Attend some events and programs in
Rhode Island. Be generous, not necessarily with money, but with your
time and spirit. Read as much as you can. Catch up with your friends and
family. Listen carefully. Say yes and thank you at appropriate times.
Be kind. Know that a positive outlook often precedes a positive
conclusion. Have passion for what you do."</p>Her
children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have a groundwork for
each of their lives built from Letitia's wisdom, kindness and guidance.
Letitia was a visionary. She could see what had to be done, how to do it
and then did it, enlisting and assisting others to completion. She was
relentless when she took on or assisted in a project that enhanced her
community and the state of RI. Letitia was one of the volunteers who
opened Coggeshall Farm Museum in Bristol and served as its president.
She is a founder of the Fiber Co-op at Slater Mill Historic Site,
Pawtucket. As president of the board of Veterans Memorial Auditorium,
she secured financing for major remodeling in 1990 and for the return of
the Rhode Island Philharmonic's performances. She was a commissioner of
the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority with special
responsibility as chair of the Vets Foundation. She has been a board
member of the Community Preparatory School for 10 years, three years as
chair, and also has served as a director for WRNI Public Radio, Planned
Parenthood, the Philharmonic, Rhode Island Mayoral Academies, the RI
Philharmonic Music School and more. The philanthropic endeavors of
Letitia and her husband John Carter have touched many lives,
organizations and institutions in Rhode Island. Letitia's family extends
heartfelt gratitude, thanks and love to each and every companion who
lovingly dedicated themselves to caring for Letty. Letitia was preceded
in death by her husband John S. Carter, Jr. She is survived by her four
children: Kathy Martinez and her husband Alex of Colorado; John S.
Carter and Nicole Peckham of Little Compton; Pamela Carter of Ringoes,
NJ; Elisabeth Carter of Waltham, MA. Four grandchildren: Julia Martinez
and her husband David Moskowitz; Maggie Foote and her husband Eric;
Johnny Carter; Liam Rowe; as well as four great-grandchildren: Cash and
Falcon Foote; Jonah and Zoe Moskowitz. pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-3689277313228587332024-02-09T00:00:00.002-05:002024-02-09T00:00:00.131-05:00FFB: POIROT INVESTIGATES, Agatha Christie<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oMBybMPqKuZsyXuBZI3nc_kfooLdCRAufzthbvuO50r9frTclslABbd7NKfmQH_0oNpwPfsd9r7_rfi9VSiU4_9HpIsGxj4e4zgqiajbMKefoCTUX5wRPpz3L4oMJYGN-KQuvfnXhYW8r2C_pUAzk-ykf0pGhc3y5coZRdEYt8CZVi21M1OJnw/s220/friday's%20forgotten%20books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="220" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oMBybMPqKuZsyXuBZI3nc_kfooLdCRAufzthbvuO50r9frTclslABbd7NKfmQH_0oNpwPfsd9r7_rfi9VSiU4_9HpIsGxj4e4zgqiajbMKefoCTUX5wRPpz3L4oMJYGN-KQuvfnXhYW8r2C_pUAzk-ykf0pGhc3y5coZRdEYt8CZVi21M1OJnw/s1600/friday's%20forgotten%20books.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br />(From Rick Robinson's blog TIP THE WINK.)<br /><p></p><p><em><strong>Poirot Investigates </strong></em>by Agatha Christie, Delhi Open Books. Kindle ebook edition</p>
<p><a href="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-01.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignright wp-image-7937" data-attachment-id="7937" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="poirot inv 01" data-large-file="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-01.jpg?w=250" data-medium-file="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-01.jpg?w=188" data-orig-file="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-01.jpg" data-orig-size="250,400" data-permalink="https://tipthewink.net/2022/03/15/short-stories-read-poirot-investigates/poirot-inv-01/" height="429" src="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-01.jpg?w=268&h=429" width="268" /></a>This
is a short story collection written by Christie and first published in
the UK by The Bodley Head in March 1924. In the eleven stories, famed
eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a variety of mysteries
involving greed, jealousy, and revenge. The American version of this
book, published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1925, <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-US_2-0"></sup>featured a further three stories. Those stories are included in this ebook.</p>
<p><strong>Contents:</strong></p>
<p>1. THE ADVENTURE OF “THE WESTERN STAR”<br />
2. THE TRAGEDY AT MARSDON MANOR<br />
3. THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHEAP FLAT<br />
4. THE MYSTERY OF HUNTER’S LODGE<br />
5. THE MILLION DOLLAR BOND ROBBERY<br />
6. THE ADVENTURE OF THE EGYPTIAN TOMB<br />
7. THE JEWEL ROBBERY AT THE GRAND METROPOLITAN<br />
8. THE KIDNAPPED PRIME MINISTER<br />
9. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MR DAVENHEIM<br />
10. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ITALIAN NOBLEMAN<a href="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-02.jpg"><img alt="" class="alignright wp-image-7936" data-attachment-id="7936" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="poirot inv 02" data-large-file="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-02.jpg?w=332" data-medium-file="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-02.jpg?w=199" data-orig-file="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-02.jpg" data-orig-size="332,500" data-permalink="https://tipthewink.net/2022/03/15/short-stories-read-poirot-investigates/poirot-inv-02/" height="408" src="https://tipwink.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/poirot-inv-02.jpg?w=271&h=408" width="271" /></a><br />
11. THE CASE OF THE MISSING WILL<br />
12. THE VEILED LADY<br />
13. THE LOST MINE<br />
14. THE CHOCOLATE BOX</p>
<p><strong>My Take:<br />
</strong>In the mood for something simple, light, a little
old-fashioned, I picked this ebook of fourteen Poirot stories. As
expected, Poirot’s friend and companion Captain Hastings appears in each
of the stories, relating the story to the reader in all but one of
them, the other told by Poirot himself in flashback.</p>
<p>In a group of stories like this, especially as I read them one after
the other, the bumbling ineptitude and various foibles of Hastings are
on full, brightly lit display, and time after time his theories and
guessed-at solutions are proved wrong, oft to his chagrin. Poirot, of
course, is his usual intelligent and insightful self, his little grey
cells leading him to the correct solution to each puzzle.</p>
<p>I read this on a pair of rainy afternoons, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
One caution, however: the editing and especially the paragraph
formatting are full of errors, so that it often appears as if one
character has said something when it is actually another.</p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-45658746931837956202024-02-07T00:00:00.005-05:002024-02-07T06:53:05.065-05:00Short Story Wednesday: "Challenge the Impossible: The Final Problem" Edward D. Hoch<p> (Review by Jeff Meyerson, a few years back)<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafT-c1F8fNRiqSmYsR2R-IMNp0UvDGJCYLVYyCJDApV-6yGAZnAiEE60rs0Ai4XBrEwJ9iBPsp9-Dg3eMO6VvOxhdMHZXZ58yGFWuXQOGywhJgpNEwbmn9lMESrFnWFi34Nvslw/s425/challenge-the-impossible-e1536353048889.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="284" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgafT-c1F8fNRiqSmYsR2R-IMNp0UvDGJCYLVYyCJDApV-6yGAZnAiEE60rs0Ai4XBrEwJ9iBPsp9-Dg3eMO6VvOxhdMHZXZ58yGFWuXQOGywhJgpNEwbmn9lMESrFnWFi34Nvslw/w134-h200/challenge-the-impossible-e1536353048889.jpg" width="134" /></a></div><p></p><div><span face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Edward D. Hoch, <b>Challenge the Impossible: The Final Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne</b> (Crippen & Landru 2018).</span><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: black; font-family: verdana; font-size: 12pt;">When
I thought of which book to choose for the first of these short story
collections to review, the choice was fairly easy. Why not go with
possibly the most prolific short story writer ever, a man who published
over 950 stories, including one or more in <i>every</i> issue of <i>Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine</i> for <b>35 years</b>?
Ed Hoch created a dozen or more series characters of varying types, but
my favorite remains the impossible crime specialist, small town
Connecticut doctor Sam Hawthorne, who had some 72 recorded cases,
published between 1974 and 2008, of a remarkably high quality. Hoch did
something interesting here, besides the ingenuity of the stories
themselves, by setting them in a specific time and place, a smallish
town in Connecticut between the doctor's arrival in 1922 and his final
story, in 1944. You always get a feel for what was going on in the
world then, from the Depression to the Second World War. Crippen &
Landru has done fans a favor by publishing all 72 stories in five
volumes (of which this is, clearly, the last), all with "Impossible" in
the title. From the first story, "The Problem of the Covered Bridge,"
in which a man drives into a covered bridge and seems to vanish off the
face of the Earth, Hoch was a master at coming up with truly
impossible-seeming crimes and then providing mostly brilliant
solutions. I'd recommend starting at the beginning and reading all five
volumes, but you can't go wrong with any of them.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></div><div><span face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Jeff Meyerson</span></div><div><span face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div><div><span face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://georgekelley.org/sherlock-holmes-the-sign-of-seven-edited-by-martin-rosenstock/">George Kelley </a></span></div><div><span face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2024/02/short-story-wednesday-wave-me-goodbye.html">TracyK </a></span></div><div><span face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://jerryshouseofeverything.blogspot.com/2024/02/short-story-wednesday-month-almonds.html">Jerry House </a></span></div>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-72094142748943151442024-02-05T00:00:00.001-05:002024-02-05T00:00:00.129-05:00Monday, Monday<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPW_iZRd1wZURiYAhARXx6Dk2Znoa3BUczYA3QiTE_kUHthgaWdolMI5fR0_n6M0whRBsXNpzHvkDRtZZJWb6almyRJ4SBsNi2meav3SMFqW99t5g4egrohQB6VTYgAZ-vmWXkLyENoYmo0kcEcTH77YBR3_KMLhY-wzQSDTPm6vM6htsiF2F0bg/s348/Monday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="145" data-original-width="348" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPW_iZRd1wZURiYAhARXx6Dk2Znoa3BUczYA3QiTE_kUHthgaWdolMI5fR0_n6M0whRBsXNpzHvkDRtZZJWb6almyRJ4SBsNi2meav3SMFqW99t5g4egrohQB6VTYgAZ-vmWXkLyENoYmo0kcEcTH77YBR3_KMLhY-wzQSDTPm6vM6htsiF2F0bg/s320/Monday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15IJqzk2lctI2e9Wy9KS7XTTmy3wAsTSJ3AEybhE3rD7G3268Y-XpOw0ebLl4aBKRDwNrltxytryUTdLBIuZQnICcMTRNjSq-lPrEjXP10f8j1XhsuYy4cpw-8giN2YbQ3lwoXZR8EC61oN6VxaYQqdATzyh_yXejJQoFXEhXrLmGJEAGICrwrA/s1763/self%20reliance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1763" data-original-width="1175" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15IJqzk2lctI2e9Wy9KS7XTTmy3wAsTSJ3AEybhE3rD7G3268Y-XpOw0ebLl4aBKRDwNrltxytryUTdLBIuZQnICcMTRNjSq-lPrEjXP10f8j1XhsuYy4cpw-8giN2YbQ3lwoXZR8EC61oN6VxaYQqdATzyh_yXejJQoFXEhXrLmGJEAGICrwrA/s320/self%20reliance.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Well, I might be trading noise for light upstairs. My floor to ceiling windows facing west showcase a blinding light at sunset. We have finally had a few sunny days to make this evident. I guess I will be lowering those shades a lot of the time. I have made about two dozen trips upstairs with my shopping cart filled with various things. There is one of those flat bed carts that carries more but I twisted my ankle the first (and last) time I used it. When you don't drive your skills in negotiating doorways in not great. Come Friday, this will hopefully end. The worst thing is the 25 (at least) address changes I have had to do despite only an apartment # change. Some of them are quite tricky. If I had it to do over....no, I probably still would. A worrisome thing is going to CA before it is clear that my USPS has made the change. Yikes!<p></p><p>Watched SELF RELIANCE on Hulu , a C+ movie. I am tracking the movies I see on Letterbxd, a website now. A handy place, where you can also get reviews of friends who have seen it. Watching MR and MRS SMITH (or is it Jones) on Amazon. EXPATS, which is strange but the critics tell me to hang in so I will. Enjoying MONSIEUR SPADE and TRUE DETECTIVE sort of. When I need to feel relaxed I watch ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, where the problems of a lamb are tolerable. I enjoyed BARGAIN BLOCK on MAX, a show where they redo houses in Detroit. I never thought I would be watching redecorating shows again, especially since I will never do that again, but the Detroit aspect won me over. <br /></p><p>Reading Ann Cleves RAVEN BLACK and Sigrid Nunez, THE VULNERABLES. </p><p>Going to see a play (FORTUNE) in Ann Arbor today. I don't have high hopes because it's never been performed before.</p><p>Not sure how much I will be around or have Internet access this week. It's all up to the Gods. <br /></p><p><br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-55561605390947588172024-02-02T00:00:00.015-05:002024-02-02T06:23:44.502-05:00FFB: LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER, Stewart O'Nan<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDOEhr-n95XdDkL8VdZP7XIHMUE16qcC6qw_7s3DipqYgYbI-dETgpFPq_seKwVo2VlXKqyBsJEP0Eep8QfawqiImhHkrQt1JtIQSVLYiHjFy4wy-WqaCMWKdK5J9qXjQCwW__conBoySbjN9e9TvbMjY4dPG1tpcmpreCwXjT0JhcZuVarImPg/s349/Last%20Night.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="248" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDOEhr-n95XdDkL8VdZP7XIHMUE16qcC6qw_7s3DipqYgYbI-dETgpFPq_seKwVo2VlXKqyBsJEP0Eep8QfawqiImhHkrQt1JtIQSVLYiHjFy4wy-WqaCMWKdK5J9qXjQCwW__conBoySbjN9e9TvbMjY4dPG1tpcmpreCwXjT0JhcZuVarImPg/w152-h214/Last%20Night.jpeg" width="152" /></a></div><br /> I have read this novel many times and it never gets old. I hope my book group likes it. I have never read a novel that so completely puts you in a setting as this one does. And the setting is the last night of a Red Lobster restaurant in Connecticut. O'Nan perfectly captures how a chain like this one works, what the employees are like, the regular customers too. What a failing mall that surrounds it feels like on a very snow night a few days before Christmas. Manny is the manager and he is presiding over the death sentence dealt to his beloved place. He will still have a job--at the Olive Garden--and he can take five people with him. He considers this during the long day too. I love O'Nan and this is my favorite. You can read it in a few hours. <br /><p></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-4966551092930858472024-01-31T00:00:00.003-05:002024-01-31T15:58:54.053-05:00Short Story Wednesday: "The Year of the Rabbit" Alice Mcdermott<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTuR00f7Zu-TdijAXKkE6OC_Prhg79MZl71KwT0krJMzenmW65UP93rgWDmWd4vlu8UCjrucDxvnsY3yimPutEatJ7ZqxM2a46WeBjMAG5WonWDpfVudKDwgCnKfHuvNMmb3w0VtMkpgLeJdmHThA7k4bD7K8z72zmdh0EeVDccPCkxC1h0bYSg/s300/short.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTuR00f7Zu-TdijAXKkE6OC_Prhg79MZl71KwT0krJMzenmW65UP93rgWDmWd4vlu8UCjrucDxvnsY3yimPutEatJ7ZqxM2a46WeBjMAG5WonWDpfVudKDwgCnKfHuvNMmb3w0VtMkpgLeJdmHThA7k4bD7K8z72zmdh0EeVDccPCkxC1h0bYSg/s1600/short.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /> (This story is an excerpt from McDermott's novel, ABSOLUTION. <p></p><p>A young wife is in Vietnam in 1962 with her husband who is in the Navy. She discovers she is pregnant and comes under the care of a Navy doctor. One night, three months into her pregnancy, she feels cramps and sees a small amount of blood. Although she shares this information with her husband and he does summon the doctor, it is her Vietnamese housekeeper and her army wife friend who help her through this trauma of the miscarriage. Her new friend also shares the night terrors that are haunting her. The three women fashion a burial and ceremony for the fetus. There are other details about the US in Vietnam but they are really extraneous to this story but I am sure are relevant to the novel. I have always enjoyed McDermott's writing especially her novel CHARMING BILLY. You do feel in this excerpt that her marriage will not survive her husband's behavior during this incident. I will have to get the book and find out. </p><p><a href="http://georgekelley.org/wednesdays-short-stories-160-deadly-sins/">George Kelley</a></p><p><a href="https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2024/01/ssw-fred-chappells-2-earliest-published.html">Todd Mason</a><br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-48826489967078880522024-01-29T00:00:00.047-05:002024-01-29T00:00:00.364-05:00Monday, Monday<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbgNdVoLXgM84gvtTbz4HiIyawNds7vFVGKRp7TsZh-lzH_ROvgj1lS1HynRW_bPrjsbc1K74BfsdkoDVEOlU6gcYiFqHBniNPBuAakr6H3DghLX8kBd-AodjKciC-HFsel8zWMCacAWsiKid6-zJA9Gl9s1OGEC5lrWxXEnsWCaiMMmg5S4HjsQ/s1763/All%20of%20Us.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1763" data-original-width="1175" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbgNdVoLXgM84gvtTbz4HiIyawNds7vFVGKRp7TsZh-lzH_ROvgj1lS1HynRW_bPrjsbc1K74BfsdkoDVEOlU6gcYiFqHBniNPBuAakr6H3DghLX8kBd-AodjKciC-HFsel8zWMCacAWsiKid6-zJA9Gl9s1OGEC5lrWxXEnsWCaiMMmg5S4HjsQ/w117-h176/All%20of%20Us.jpg" width="117" /></a></div>Really liked ALL OF US STRANGERS although I must admit I had to go home and google the ending. It's a bit tricky. THE BOYS IN THE BOAT was easy to understand but pretty much a routine production. Clooney used to be a better director, I think. And this was a book that I really admired. Could another director made a better picture with this material. I think yes. Somehow he emphasized the wrong things. <br /><p></p><p>Reading: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8On_v_-8JoHIy0nKm8GloHsV6q4bz0yGJ1BS3MftInAS_YhsjAq5ZzsQk5Xe-VmNkFvhlLeRn0bKPKCfm3HzMKFcd4EAIxDB6dXoW6MMGWga9rVXuXQLvU1JHTnULD1JjR4gbZEKG3zfeC9r4GhevGm4D7yUhB6rDPN95NfUdxdEVyqLPLjaFA/s2531/YiYun%20Li.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2531" data-original-width="1650" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp8On_v_-8JoHIy0nKm8GloHsV6q4bz0yGJ1BS3MftInAS_YhsjAq5ZzsQk5Xe-VmNkFvhlLeRn0bKPKCfm3HzMKFcd4EAIxDB6dXoW6MMGWga9rVXuXQLvU1JHTnULD1JjR4gbZEKG3zfeC9r4GhevGm4D7yUhB6rDPN95NfUdxdEVyqLPLjaFA/w131-h201/YiYun%20Li.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><br />About to begin <u><i>Wednesday's Child</i></u> and also reading <i>Last Night at the Lobster </i>(O'Nan) Lots of podcasts. I listened to a two-hour discussion of a one-hour episode of <i>True Detective</i>, for instance. Is that crazy? <br /><p></p><p>About to begin <i>Expats</i> (Prime)(First episode was terrific)</p><p> Not sure about <i>Woman in the Wall</i> but I really got into on <i>Funny Woman </i>(PBS) and hope they do another season. <br /></p><p>Mostly I am trying to organize my move three flights up and across the hall. </p><p>How about you? <br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-23523242850385544732024-01-26T00:00:00.005-05:002024-01-26T00:00:00.242-05:00FFB: BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, Leonard Cohen (from 2011 reviewed by Deb)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq51tPkeLPPlDhXy06xIRqfqjw8rexQhh3Z-2J8Gz0Zy9FGk3L9n8gamYfuXh0_DBmXMO_rc62RXJhDq8vgZjkQsW7rHUOhR5QGa4GTyo9IjCG9mqxi3KQ1-5CZIuuArfh1f3hGtQnZadZ2oMdFK1fKl3xYSOxaWVRieTpomoJhjhRk2iqJVcKBA/s220/friday's%20forgotten%20books.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="220" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq51tPkeLPPlDhXy06xIRqfqjw8rexQhh3Z-2J8Gz0Zy9FGk3L9n8gamYfuXh0_DBmXMO_rc62RXJhDq8vgZjkQsW7rHUOhR5QGa4GTyo9IjCG9mqxi3KQ1-5CZIuuArfh1f3hGtQnZadZ2oMdFK1fKl3xYSOxaWVRieTpomoJhjhRk2iqJVcKBA/w144-h112/friday's%20forgotten%20books.jpg" width="144" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #330099; font-weight: bold; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Leonard Cohen’s BEAUTIFUL LOSERS</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #330099; font-weight: bold; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMw39z37CYWA0C41GZe7eSC7zeydiMsZzz5j9jmjfN6VPByCD2osQeUb0TcxnnV82Ca0p4Vb0n2DqwD0njuwVkDpLfZmDv6EedUKfcBMVMQ6D1ew8A3FbPoJEeK7dqYu4LGXq-HdrfrsYoaO5oeytiKPwlDBGAGBC_LLT47ZFbV0I-uCTO1mKZA/s228/BL.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="145" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMw39z37CYWA0C41GZe7eSC7zeydiMsZzz5j9jmjfN6VPByCD2osQeUb0TcxnnV82Ca0p4Vb0n2DqwD0njuwVkDpLfZmDv6EedUKfcBMVMQ6D1ew8A3FbPoJEeK7dqYu4LGXq-HdrfrsYoaO5oeytiKPwlDBGAGBC_LLT47ZFbV0I-uCTO1mKZA/w90-h142/BL.webp" width="90" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #330099; font-weight: bold; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Leonard Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934, which makes him the same age as my mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t quite know how that happened, because he always seemed so much
younger than my parents when I was a teenager obsessively listening to
“The Songs of Leonard Cohen” LP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT185">Today</span> Cohen is </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">best
known for his vast catalog of music, including “Suzanne,” “Joan of
Arc,” “First We Take Manhattan,” and the beautiful “Hallelujah,” which
seems to have been covered by every singer with a recording contract.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
in the 1960s (after graduating from McGill University in 1955 and
trying law school and some other career paths), Cohen published several
volumes of poetry and two novels:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>THE FAVOURITE GAME (1963) and BEAUTIFUL LOSERS (1966).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
discovered these books in the 1970s; I enjoyed THE FAVOURITE GAME, but
it was BEAUTIFUL LOSERS I read repeatedly during my teen years.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">BEAUTIFUL
LOSERS begins with an unnamed (and undoubtedly unreliable) narrator
who is living in utter squalor, unwashed and filthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite
his living conditions, the narrator is a scholar, a historian whose
major field of study is a luckless Indian tribe whose name has
historically been translated as “loser.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
narrator tells the story of a love triangle involving himself, his
late wife Edith (one of the last members of the aforementioned tribe),
and F, the domineering man loved by both the narrato</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">r and Edith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the novel begins, F, like Edith, is already dead—although a “Long Letter from F” forms the middle portion of the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Intertwined
with the hallucinatory story of spiritual and sexual love, betrayal,
drug abuse, mind games, religion, philosophy, politics (especially the
Quebec independence movement), mental illness, and suicide, is the
story of Catherine Tekakwitha, a 17th century Mohawk who converted to
Catholicism, lived a post-conversion life of intense self-denial (one
would be tempted to say masochism), died at a young age, and became a
saint.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This
brief summary does not do justice to the profound depth of the novel,
the various voices within it (comic, tragic, learned, foolish,
yearning, interrogatory), the richness of its language, the rapid
shifts in perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, it is a sixties time-capsule: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>veering
wildly in tone, leaving so much ambiguously half-said, containing
simultaneously so much intellectual heft and so many intensely-</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">detailed descriptions of sex and torture; it seems to epitomize a certain sixties outlook and attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is not a novel for the weak of heart, but if you know Leonard Cohen
only from his music and you’re in the mood for a real change of pace, I
highly recommend BEAUTIFUL LOSERS.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Incidentally, this is the novel which contains the passage that begins, “God is alive; magic is afoot,”famously used in a chant/song by Buffy Ste. Marie.</span></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-1994315147179550242024-01-24T00:00:00.018-05:002024-01-24T08:37:42.933-05:00Short Story Wednesday: Louise's Ghost, Kelly Link<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2A5OHwL5BJst_yo112zkWFLsS-C_MgIPkoE_4i62x8KBnXvYuVIisVcLPAJvg3EbvmvJYacmsfKfHpEODWmhSXoaH0Xvb6J5sJ1gH7JW5KBBLkMjWQZOBK0qAi6h_ql4K6H_6MroP9MYfB5KwnLWy-5X4r0mzW2SybMnlL7ByVIvNQhdCTaI6w/s300/short.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2A5OHwL5BJst_yo112zkWFLsS-C_MgIPkoE_4i62x8KBnXvYuVIisVcLPAJvg3EbvmvJYacmsfKfHpEODWmhSXoaH0Xvb6J5sJ1gH7JW5KBBLkMjWQZOBK0qAi6h_ql4K6H_6MroP9MYfB5KwnLWy-5X4r0mzW2SybMnlL7ByVIvNQhdCTaI6w/w187-h105/short.jpg" width="187" /></a></div><p></p><p>This was a bit of a slog story for me bit it may well be my failing. I always think I will enjoy a less conventional story but I often don't. Link was mentioned as publishing her first novel (after many stories) this year on the <i>New York Times</i> <i>Book Review</i> Podcast so I looked online for a sample of her stories and the title appealed to me so I read this one. <br />Two women, both named Louise, are having lunch. They are accompanied by one of their children, Anna, who only eats green food, dresses in green and plays with green toys. You get the idea-although that idea gets tiring quickly. As does sorting which Louise is which. One of the Louises' confesses to having affairs with multiple cellists and the other confesses she has a male ghost living with her. He is naked and hairy and she never knows where she will find him curled up. </p><p>Louises' friends give her ideas on how to get rid of him, none very effective. So the story goes on with the annoying green child, the affairs with cellists, and attempts to get rid of the ghost. Naming both women Louise was a gimmick to me and tiring. I will try another of her stories because she is well-thought of and this one was too long and bereft of any ideas beyond this. </p><p>Anyone else read her? I bet Todd knows her and recommend a story. </p><p><a href="https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2024/01/short-story-wednesday-review-mystery.html">Kevin Tipple</a></p><p><a href="http://bitterteaandmystery.blogspot.com/2024/01/short-story-wednesday-chin-yong-yun.html">TracyK </a></p><p><a href="http://georgekelley.org/wednesdays-short-stories-159-everywhre-an-oink-oink-an-embittered-dyspeptic-and-accurate-report-of-forty-years-in-hollywood-by-david-mamet/">George Kelley </a></p><p><a href="http://jerryshouseofeverything.blogspot.com/2024/01/short-story-wednesday-beckwiths-case.html">Jerry House </a></p><p><a href="https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=86804">Steve Lewis </a><br /></p><p><br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-52250667567732734772024-01-22T00:00:00.001-05:002024-01-22T00:00:00.136-05:00Monday, Monday<p> Hoping there's a smile on my face because the Lions won. And maybe the Bills too.</p><p>Probably bad luck to even write that.</p><p>Have hardly been out of the apartment all week (cold & snow) although that has given me time to get another couple of hundred books ready to donate and several bags of clothes. And shoes. Some of these shoes haven't been worn in 20 years. Moving again gives me the chance to go over what to keep yet again. And I am not keeping books I haven't read in over thirty years or big books or books I have read several times. So mostly I am keeping the books the family has written and collections of short stories and recent purchases. Oh and the 30 or so journals I have stories in. Would like to pitch them but maybe someday Kevin might read them. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuq6Ca8sHPkxwtc34MHymRwj0IVRbPAYtxrsPLvQFsm9vzDw0me6EEOT0KIqa7QbPHGmehxxPh-5-TcmCXTcxXetNNWE7ZYO4kitR1zLeeKn1pEKyk3MXdpTHtg_ejbJCzL2l5AGNcqk5slVbHEQCbaOCVLea8ACLup9ncjQUW7SYAnuDbsGmQA/s275/american%20fiction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="183" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuq6Ca8sHPkxwtc34MHymRwj0IVRbPAYtxrsPLvQFsm9vzDw0me6EEOT0KIqa7QbPHGmehxxPh-5-TcmCXTcxXetNNWE7ZYO4kitR1zLeeKn1pEKyk3MXdpTHtg_ejbJCzL2l5AGNcqk5slVbHEQCbaOCVLea8ACLup9ncjQUW7SYAnuDbsGmQA/w132-h199/american%20fiction.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><br /><p>Liked AMERICAN FICTION although it was more a story about family than one about writing to me. Wright and Sterling K Brown were terrific. I am tired of the dementia elements though. If there is an older person, you know that is going to happen. As it also did in the last season of BREEDERS. Great show but finished now. FARGO finished up too. So too REACHER although I haven't watched the last episode yet. <br /></p><p>Started TRUE DETECTIVE (Max) and MONSIEUR SPADE (AMC). Watching NORTHERN EXPOSURE (PRIME), which was very creative for its day and had more sex in it than most shows today. </p><p>Reading LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER for my book group and A HAUNTING ON THE HILL (Hand) for me. Also listening to THE GIRL WHO DIED (Ragnar Jonasson) via Libby. And a million podcasts as I fill bags with the things I should have gotten rid of two years ago. </p><p>So what are you up to? <br /></p>pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33110302.post-44667485666058968282024-01-21T00:00:00.003-05:002024-01-23T18:59:54.203-05:00On what would have been the 57th. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2WvRsea3L_sJ5Z7SZL9Baz4DNBJFov6mRc-9UTZSBoWHhdq9AUgKUB-qMhyphenhyphenx4M_TYJBDOrX9haA_zHnaGkkLZ0mhYrtuBAwD4GldJlWGBaiRm4Ag9-ZbFzMRpLGz4tdm9-dllXyl_AIArgwW8fj588hvGAqH6T53-SUqTC08tAiCRO8jWK4TmA/s1332/leaving%20wedding%20001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2WvRsea3L_sJ5Z7SZL9Baz4DNBJFov6mRc-9UTZSBoWHhdq9AUgKUB-qMhyphenhyphenx4M_TYJBDOrX9haA_zHnaGkkLZ0mhYrtuBAwD4GldJlWGBaiRm4Ag9-ZbFzMRpLGz4tdm9-dllXyl_AIArgwW8fj588hvGAqH6T53-SUqTC08tAiCRO8jWK4TmA/s1332/leaving%20wedding%20001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzui4JyYrtrgl4BmbVXqQcoHnXC54ZP18RvuW4Q7ogCaxA5WEYpFzrIUUnvdrdj7s0rcV46GEja1PPLYkRxznMUEUAQjTQ5kzJroX3o34axnm-3Rn7__5171luSqeb3wN_SF5VIYAkd0aTFou4nTa-NIrIFXV1F0ubZGCDNO6YI-3gf86eUaCQw/s884/cutting%20cake.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="884" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZzui4JyYrtrgl4BmbVXqQcoHnXC54ZP18RvuW4Q7ogCaxA5WEYpFzrIUUnvdrdj7s0rcV46GEja1PPLYkRxznMUEUAQjTQ5kzJroX3o34axnm-3Rn7__5171luSqeb3wN_SF5VIYAkd0aTFou4nTa-NIrIFXV1F0ubZGCDNO6YI-3gf86eUaCQw/s320/cutting%20cake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><img border="0" data-original-height="1172" data-original-width="1332" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT2WvRsea3L_sJ5Z7SZL9Baz4DNBJFov6mRc-9UTZSBoWHhdq9AUgKUB-qMhyphenhyphenx4M_TYJBDOrX9haA_zHnaGkkLZ0mhYrtuBAwD4GldJlWGBaiRm4Ag9-ZbFzMRpLGz4tdm9-dllXyl_AIArgwW8fj588hvGAqH6T53-SUqTC08tAiCRO8jWK4TmA/s320/leaving%20wedding%20001.jpg" width="320" /><br /></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MSNcx2g-_Hcz_PDAknvRHfcJKa8oTxSDhBmdJ7RmbXVqpFrVbZISyWM9g7RILI72IQjr1tcmAfgfmZmaoiN1PAUyYiEGYSlbcBndcEU90dy2cWUw3HjtMExY2PKd8mWR6OrK3plTobqfKWlK6miuSacDVO_pKNlGsdlzoEQenq2QWFCpsf3zSg/s2084/wedding%20outside%20001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2084" data-original-width="1296" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MSNcx2g-_Hcz_PDAknvRHfcJKa8oTxSDhBmdJ7RmbXVqpFrVbZISyWM9g7RILI72IQjr1tcmAfgfmZmaoiN1PAUyYiEGYSlbcBndcEU90dy2cWUw3HjtMExY2PKd8mWR6OrK3plTobqfKWlK6miuSacDVO_pKNlGsdlzoEQenq2QWFCpsf3zSg/s320/wedding%20outside%20001.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg35968tnKphYUNocjVE_N_RYNckyng8afZW-evZwW4CYCqirpNNU_0EP5G341bYnVLMqIjBSy0OMpA76XPnjQYQ0vW6AQOR3MRJscdUrGoJ4FvIs4S60mUyrpUYK5PqU106jPRj2F4gTYkNg6-Pbu54FhiV3Q1-90cD7z1MrL57wnlgHeygOEDA/s1244/wedding%20001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="1244" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg35968tnKphYUNocjVE_N_RYNckyng8afZW-evZwW4CYCqirpNNU_0EP5G341bYnVLMqIjBSy0OMpA76XPnjQYQ0vW6AQOR3MRJscdUrGoJ4FvIs4S60mUyrpUYK5PqU106jPRj2F4gTYkNg6-Pbu54FhiV3Q1-90cD7z1MrL57wnlgHeygOEDA/s320/wedding%20001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYgXk4gHiEJHnR2xla3lZiKcnQqBLT98wxWEZcmDmgy2jxsa4PHOQkRxLrb1QhBArqTmHeQPD9UXqcRexEk29nWR5DlGR89T44glQ_ZpV2IUI92I9ibCeMcT2EC0LVNWTJrilndmGaNBb1NbC1GHJs73eiTM2EXQJpEOS1BCcydaqdEfjoZSD4w/s1316/001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1192" data-original-width="1316" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYgXk4gHiEJHnR2xla3lZiKcnQqBLT98wxWEZcmDmgy2jxsa4PHOQkRxLrb1QhBArqTmHeQPD9UXqcRexEk29nWR5DlGR89T44glQ_ZpV2IUI92I9ibCeMcT2EC0LVNWTJrilndmGaNBb1NbC1GHJs73eiTM2EXQJpEOS1BCcydaqdEfjoZSD4w/s320/001.jpg" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbj3V3jZEL6h05sqh-wfb8V1GpeZHDyJvhe8vLrk-hEmMml8EhvYyE1RwUksFp7wTEwz7ywPBpTBI9TGa70d_j1uObV9jqD2VzYeRbQk9IcPqwOFPs8jZJwWz-Qfie9x10a2aAhyHGNHEspzt_YWfuf9FHi9RcfYoc8925g6RboeL6DAzrCkLFXA/s1348/001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1148" data-original-width="1348" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbj3V3jZEL6h05sqh-wfb8V1GpeZHDyJvhe8vLrk-hEmMml8EhvYyE1RwUksFp7wTEwz7ywPBpTBI9TGa70d_j1uObV9jqD2VzYeRbQk9IcPqwOFPs8jZJwWz-Qfie9x10a2aAhyHGNHEspzt_YWfuf9FHi9RcfYoc8925g6RboeL6DAzrCkLFXA/s320/001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div>The photographer didn't show up so thank goodness someone had a Browie camera. <br />pattinase (abbott)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.com8