Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Noble County Courthouse - Monday 7/3/2006
Just a few miles from home, now! This is the courthouse in Albion, the town where I went to middle school and high school. Indiana has wonderful county courthouses.
In the evening, we went to Columbia City to see my cousin DF and his friend play at an open mike night. D & I and my sister ended up getting up and doing a short set. Sis and I sang Sentimental Journey accapella, in harmony. Then D accompanied us on Teenager In Love. Then sis and I sat down and D did Those Were the Days and I Won’t Sing Bob Dylan while wandering through the cafe with his guitar. Fun!
Party in Waiting - Saturday 7/1/2006
The chairs are ready, at TT’s place outside of East Lansing. Beautiful spot for a party that lasted from early afternoon till late at night. What time did we go home?
This innocent looking setting, though, was the scene of the attack of the mosquitoes. I counted 53 bites on my ankles and legs, in spite of spraying myself with Cutter. Torment!
Old Faceful - Friday 7/30/2006
The waterfountain inside Elderly Instruments. No visit to East Lansing is complete without a pilgrimmage to this house of music.
D & I went there with the G sisters around midday. I got tired and went to lie in the shade under a tree outside. We spent the evening in the family home of the G sisters, talking and singing with the others. We now hail from Acton, Berkeley, New York City, and North Carolina.
What tha'?? - Thursday, 6/29/2006
Okay, I’m probably dating myself here, but… does anyone else remember when the planes seemed shiney and new? When they fed you and gave you pillows, and replaced broken parts so you wouldn’t start wondering what the heck else is cracked and shaking apart in the important parts of the plane?
Actually, maybe this is just a ploy to sell more nerve-numbing hard liquor.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Lone Boot - Monday 6/26/2006
I cannot believe I got this shot at all. I pulled up to the stoplight at the corner of Sierra Highway and—I think it’s The Old Road—and there was this boot staring at me. I grabbed my camera out of the bag on the front seat and just had time to snap this over my left arm as the light turned green.
Something about this. Who’s missing this boot?
I have been listening to Reading Lolita in Tehran on my commute, and I have to think that this boot would mean something very obvious and grim to the author. I feel grateful that this boot probably just fell off a truck.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
#56 Now, Voyager (1942)
Huh! I can’t beleive I’d never seen this one before. It’s very melodramatic, and deals with psychological issues in kind of amusing ways, but I couldn’t quite stop watching. As the TCM host said, it’s an ugly duckling story.
Bette Davis is really wonderful in it, especially during the scenes on the cruise and just after, as she is sort of coming into herself. Interesting to see Paul Henreid as a romantic lead instead of the cuckold to Bogart’s Rick in Casablanca. He does all right. Claude Rains is always delightful, in my book. And Mary Wickes… I wish they’d developed the relationship between her and Davis’s character more, but you can’t have everything.
SPOILERSI didn’t realize the famous scene in which Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes at once and then hands one to Bette Davis was in this movie. I have to say that it was probably a lot hotter back then, and that honestly, by the third time he did it and I was supposed to be all moved, I actually giggled. Aw, darn it.
See more progress on: Keep Track of All the Movies I Watch in 2006
#55 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
So much astonishing fun. Wow, two movies in a row that succeed largely by breaking all the rules and doing it with amazing skill. An amazing balance of comedy and almost-too-much violence.
It brought to mind half a dozen other films, none of which I can think of now, except for Get Shorty, and that mostly because of the guy who comes to L.A. from elsewhere and gets involved with the industry.
Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer are a whole lot of fun. I think Val’s truly underrated. I think Spartan (2004) really turned my thinking around on him. Good grief, I see on IMDB that he is in 10 movies this year! Is he in some sort of workathon death-match with Christopher Walken!??
See more progress on: Keep Track of All the Movies I Watch in 2006
Outside Looking In - Sunday 6/25/2006
...at the plants, etc, behind my kitchen sink.
I was outside scrubbing out the bird bath, washing down the outside table and bench, washing Dodger’s playset. Early in the day, before the heat set in.
See more progress on: Take a photo every day
Penguin on my wall - Saturday 6/24/2006
I found it at a thrift shop. It’s ceramic. It’s probably a spoon rest or a soap dish, but I like it on my wall.
Is that so wrong?
See more progress on: Take a photo every day
Just before falling asleep.... Friday 6/23/2006
I took the train because I had one more round trip on the 10-trip ticket that will expire on June 27th. On the ride home, I was reading my paper, but I fell asleep and only woke up when the train came to a stop in Acton! Jumped up, skittered down the stairs.
Irritated a woman who was sauntering down the stairs talking on her cell phone. She really went off on me for saying, “Excuse me, I need to get off the train.” I was still groggy, but I could see that she wasn’t listening to my explanation or apology. Sigh. I think it was really just a big show of her moxie for whomever was on the other end of the call. So ridiculous.
On the other hand, a really wonderful thing happened the same mornig. I’d been making notes on the first 154 pages of a friend’s rewrite of her novel, and when I got up to get off the train I left the notebook on the table! I didn’t even realize it until the woman who’d been sitting across from me came all the way downstairs to the door area and gave it to me! She said she’d nodded off, but she woke and saw I’d left without it, and she came down. It didn’t have any ID in it, so it just would have been lost, along with about 8 hours worth of my focused attention on the writing. Whew! I thanked her so much that she thanked me back and said, “Bless you!”
So, you know, there really are all kinds. It’s going to be a while before I’m on the train again, but I hope I remember to carry a thank you card with me for that kind lady. She really made my day.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Highland and Melrose - Thursday 6/22/2006
Anyway, I think that's where I saw this billboard. Seemed very odd to me that ST and I were just talking about religious extremism over breakfast this morning. There’s an article in the Los Angeles Times today about religious groups trying to bring on The End Times of Biblical prophecy, and then I saw this sign!
And shortly after that, this license plate.
Franklin Canyon - Wednesday 6/21/2006
G called in the morning and asked if I wanted to go for an hour hike before our writing group. I said yes! We drove up to Franklin Canyon and had a really nice time. It was amazingly cool up there, with all the trees to shade us and little streams running along the roads and paths. A really nice break from the regular week!
Up close and personal with G's favorite tree.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Herbilicious! - Tuesday 6/21/2006
My writing group is going to take note of the Summer Solstice tonight, and I suggested that we share a communal cup of sage tea as part of our little celbration. So I went out and harvested some from my herb garden.
As soon as I saw the little plot of land outside the back door of our house, I knew I wanted an herb garden there. This abundance lies just a few steps from the stove. In this shot you can see summer savory, varigated sage, oregano and rosemary. There’s also thyme a little further down, and mint around the corner. Mmm!
I love fresh herbs, and I love that I have made this small wonderful thing happen.
Bagged herbs, ready to share with my friends....
Monday, June 19, 2006
My Crocs Rock! - Monday 6/19/2006
I am still learning the many valuable aspects of wearing outrageously comfortable, brilliantly pink shoes.
1) They are outrageously comfortable. Did I mention that? Little foot-massaging ridges inside. Light! Airy!
2) Pink shoes don’t go with anything—so they go with everything! Unless you are one of those ladies who gets herself up in a monochromatic outfit every day…which requires too much focus for people like me.
3) No one will ever, ever suspect you of hiding a WMD in the soles
4) You can assume that the department store dressing room staff holds you in disdain because of your shoes, not your hair, clothes, bag, waistline or age.
5) If you drop a big container of watermelon at your feet, the juice will splash right in through the holes! This may not exactly be a selling point, but it is one of the features I discovered this morning!
Get yourself some! Seriously, you won’t regret it.
They come in other colors and styles, and you can find them at Whole Foods Markets as well as their website. I bought mine at a funky little tee shirt / smoke shop in Ventura.
The photo below is from their website. They're for women, men, kids.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Home for the Holiday? - Sunday 6/18/2006
I saw all these trucks parked along a street where you don’t usually see them and I had to wonder if they were dads stopping over for Father’s Day.
Mine died in 1990, but he was…
A farmer’s son, who worked hard while going to high school. A high school basketball star. An Army-Airforce football player right after WWII. A Golden Gloves Heavy Weight regional champion.
A friend to strangers. A factory worker. A mechanic who owned his own service station. A great dancer, with my mom in his arms. A traveler who took us on great camping vacations and eventually went to Europe—even lived there for two years—which no one else in his peer group was doing.
A guy who prefaced advice to his kids with phrases like, “I don’t want to tell you what to do, but…” and really meant it. A man who acheived his dream of paying off his house.
A regular at the breakfast counter in the town of 150 where he’d owned his service station…so much so that his coffee cup stayed empty in front of his usual stool while the waitress and his friends began to worry, on the morning that he died.
I still miss him sometimes.
Who's your daddy? I love to hear about him.
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