Weblog 340
August 19, 2012~ 12:00 am
This is the week of my birthday. It's so strange how birthdays feel less and less significant as we age. At least-- after 50, they're simply a stack of firewood that burns log by log.
I was surprised and delighted however, to find an early birthday card in my mailbox on Saturday. My childhood friend, 'Netto'- from way out in California sent birthday greetings and the card was a stunner.
A hand-crafted, bejeweled thing that shimmers with faux gemstones. Just lovely! It's nice to be remembered and to find such a treasure on an ordinary day when nothing is expected. INSIDE the card, she'd tucked a magnet- about 4 inches by 3 (that I know I'll have hanging on my metal file cabinet at work, to give me a daily grin) that describes just what an August 'Leo' is all about....
LOL!!! Inside the card, Annette had written, "Enjoy a chuckle or two over these Leo traits. Any ring true?" (Well, husband Wayne says it describes me to a tee. :)
We saw Holly and the grandkids on Friday night. They were set to take off on their vacation to Hilton Head, leaving at midnight. We had pizza and laughed and talked, both kiddoes brimming with excitement at not having to go to bed at all.... just a long snooze in the car. Oh, how I love to sleep while someone else drives! It's a cozy feeling, the bumping along, the song of the wheels on the road. I'm sure they enjoyed their first day of vacation, running along the sand and picking up seashells and watching the sunset, splashing in the surf.
Saturday evening Wayne and I got to watch a movie that's been sitting in its Netflix envelope for a couple of weeks. We watched
that had terrific actors in a VERY atmospheric look at 14th century England in the midst of the plague, a time rife with rumors of witchcraft and necromancy as being the cause of the horrible illness that left death and devastation as it spread like wildfire.
Central to the story is a young monk, played by the same actor who starred as the young man smitten with Marilyn Monroe in the movie 'Marilyn'. He's quite a good actor; his young face BURNS with naive certitude. (I said the movie was 'atmospheric'.... here's a shot that's quite haunting in its austerity.)
The story pits superstition against religion, the only answers people had at the time to try and wrestle with a thing as monstrous as a worldwide pandemic; without the science or the epidemiologists to contend with that sort of fast-spreading disease, they determined the sickness must be god's punishment on the wicked. The young monk becomes 'guide' to a small group of appointed soldiers armed with torture devices, intent on making their way through a marshy wilderness near where the young monk grew up, in order to find a village they'd heard had NO illness and no deaths. They become intent on rooting out the 'devil-worshipers' whose black magic must surely be protecting them.
In all, the film kept my interest but it's quite a brutal tale, unrelenting in its ugliness. Wayne framed it perfectly when he pronounced at its end, 'that was a movie about nihilism. Nothing more.' He's right. Both religion and the very REAL paganism the band of men do finally uncover are equally steeped in intolerance and murder. There is not one uplifting thing about the film. It's a heavy ride with an equally weighted message but the acting is excellent... and the fidelity to the bleakness of that time, superb.
One thing I noticed right off the bat in the beginning sequence of the film was a curious, 'birdlike costume' on one of the characters walking among the piles of corpses. Little did I know- (until I did some research on the computer afterward)- that the distinctly Hieronymous Bosch type characters were historically accurate!
They were called 'plague doctors' -and they wore those strange, leather beaks into which sweet-smelling flowers and herbs were stuffed to try and tamp down miasmic odors all around them. Clad in long robes and flat, wide-brimmed hats, and with some sort of protective 'goggles' for their eyes, they went among the plague-stricken, performing who knows what sort of primitive medicine. How odd that I'd never heard of them till now.... here's a painting of one, consoling a widow whose husband has just been 'bled', doubtless to try and draw the 'poison' out.
(Those are very creepy guys!) I remember a series of horror films made by 'Full Moon Productions', and one of their storylines featured a puppeteer whose marionettes came to life... and murderously. LOL!! One recurring little character had a costume similar to that, but with a skull-like head and a long slit of a smile. Aways gave me the willies. LOL!!!
And of course the painter Hieronymous Bosch has always been a favorite of mine-- and he does DEATH AND DESTRUCTION like no other. We may have progressed a great deal since the Middle Ages, but always..... always, there is a idea of 'death personified' who steals in to claim his own at last
and no matter how much money you've got to try and buy him off..... it's pointless. His visit is final and total, and his little minions caper with glee at the prospect of another ride across the River Styx, new passenger on board. LOL!! (Don't mind me. Dark movies play havoc with my mind. This one's gonna take a while to throw off.)
The GOOD NEWS is that Wayne is almost ready to move in here! He's been diligently cleaning out rooms and closets and drawers, separating what he's keeping, getting rid of anything which has no use- and soon, very soon, he'll tell his housing organization to do a 'walk-through', and perhaps disperse any remaining furniture and large household items to other folks in his plan who may want them for their own... then it's 'haul stuff over here'. I'll take a week off to help paint and get us settled in as a 'two person household'-- the two of us working at it together. We're MOVING ALONG..... by fall, in the crisp, ripe, BEST TIME OF YEAR, we'll be snuggled in. Hooray!! No more 'solo flying' .... for EITHER of us. :)
August 21, 2012~ 11:00 pm
One hour left on this 'happy birthday to me'. I took the day off and Wayne and I drove to Kenny Ross to have my 2012 Ford Focus' yearly inspection, an oil change and two 'recall' notices taken care of that I've received in the past couple of months. One was for the passenger side windshield wiper mechanism that could possibly become 'contaminated' from a bad seal and cease functioning... the other was something called a 'recalibration of the Power Train'- which I understood not at all, but thought it wise to have that done as well after getting the letter.
We left the car there at 8:00 a.m.-- had breakfast out, visited the Game Preserve in South Park and watched turtles, ducks, geese, deer, BUFFALO... and even a groundhog who quickly disappeared into a hole in ground, like Houdini. We drove to an old cemetery dating back to the Revolutionary War in Bethel Park, and strolled around reading the old engraved stones, which was a lovely, peaceful way to spend a few hours and one we both enjoy. I hadn't received a call from the dealership, so next we visited the 'Blue Horse Cafe' for a coffee, only to find out it was a very sad day for them: they were closing their doors for good later in the day, victims of the crappy economy.
Finally around 3:00 p.m., we headed back and I picked up the car after a short wait. Then the bottom fell out of my day..... I suddenly had warning lights, icons and messages come on the intrument panel I'd never seen before, and the damn 'replacement' windshield wiper was WAY TOO LONG and kept THWACKING the rubber seal around the windshield edge and shooting BEYOND it about an inch or so, right OFF THE GODDAMNED WINDOW edge. WHAT THE......????
I drove it the short distance home with Wayne following, but as soon as we pulled into the carport and I told him, he insisted we take it right back. The mechanic who'd worked on the computer system in my car was, yes....."gone for the day". So now I have to take it back TOMORROW MORNING. Disheartened, we at least had a good meal at Calabria's after we left, and chose a movie for the evening. (Thank God I took TWO days off.... but man o man, tomorrow was the day I was going to sleep IN and do nuthin' other than watch a movie with Wayne and have dinner out. I am NOT happy.)
Wayne was very sweet the whole day though. He got me a lovely gold necklace, some pretty chocolates wrapped like tiny presents, and an enlarged, framed picture from our wedding day. (He wrapped them himself, which always touches me, though his left-handed knots always present a challenge. LOL!!)
We rented 'The Bridesmaids', which made us HOWL with laughter... a truly funny, funny film, but now, typing all this before bed, I'm still really pissed about that car. What gets me is there was NOTHING WRONG WITH IT when I took it in! Now it's lit up like the Las Vegas strip with warning lights and symbols! (You know, without BAD luck I'd have no luck at all) but I do leave you with this --because it's remarkably beautiful.
That butterfly is made entirely of people. The artist does incredible things with the naked human form, fashioning them into flowers and butterflies... even a peacock. To see MORE of her work, the best way is to pop into Google images to soak up image after image, arranged by Cecelia Webber. You'll be astounded by her creativity.
August 22, 2012~ 5:00 pm
Day 2: Car Repair
Once again, due to a 'recall' on a new model automobile, General Motors has succeeded in fixing something
that DIDN'T APPEAR TO BE BROKEN TO BEGIN WITH ... LOL!!! (Yes, the recalibration machine that hooks directly into the lifeblood of Ford Central didn't complete its job yesterday- and THAT'S why my instument panel had gone all 'exorcist' on me.) When they hooked it up today, it DID complete-- AND they realigned my new passenger side windshield wiper, so all is well. (At least Wayne and I had another lovely breakfast out and a second trip to the Game Preserve in which geese ate DIRECTLY FROM OUR HANDS, AND.. we watched a second movie. More on that in next week's blog. This one's pretty filled up so I'll save my movie comments till the weekend. Don't want to lose folks with too much text that drags on and on and on.) Have a good week and weekend. Tomorrow.....it's back to work for me. Oh...... BLECH!!!
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
This is the week of my birthday. It's so strange how birthdays feel less and less significant as we age. At least-- after 50, they're simply a stack of firewood that burns log by log.
I was surprised and delighted however, to find an early birthday card in my mailbox on Saturday. My childhood friend, 'Netto'- from way out in California sent birthday greetings and the card was a stunner.
A hand-crafted, bejeweled thing that shimmers with faux gemstones. Just lovely! It's nice to be remembered and to find such a treasure on an ordinary day when nothing is expected. INSIDE the card, she'd tucked a magnet- about 4 inches by 3 (that I know I'll have hanging on my metal file cabinet at work, to give me a daily grin) that describes just what an August 'Leo' is all about....
LOL!!! Inside the card, Annette had written, "Enjoy a chuckle or two over these Leo traits. Any ring true?" (Well, husband Wayne says it describes me to a tee. :)
We saw Holly and the grandkids on Friday night. They were set to take off on their vacation to Hilton Head, leaving at midnight. We had pizza and laughed and talked, both kiddoes brimming with excitement at not having to go to bed at all.... just a long snooze in the car. Oh, how I love to sleep while someone else drives! It's a cozy feeling, the bumping along, the song of the wheels on the road. I'm sure they enjoyed their first day of vacation, running along the sand and picking up seashells and watching the sunset, splashing in the surf.
Saturday evening Wayne and I got to watch a movie that's been sitting in its Netflix envelope for a couple of weeks. We watched
that had terrific actors in a VERY atmospheric look at 14th century England in the midst of the plague, a time rife with rumors of witchcraft and necromancy as being the cause of the horrible illness that left death and devastation as it spread like wildfire.
Central to the story is a young monk, played by the same actor who starred as the young man smitten with Marilyn Monroe in the movie 'Marilyn'. He's quite a good actor; his young face BURNS with naive certitude. (I said the movie was 'atmospheric'.... here's a shot that's quite haunting in its austerity.)
The story pits superstition against religion, the only answers people had at the time to try and wrestle with a thing as monstrous as a worldwide pandemic; without the science or the epidemiologists to contend with that sort of fast-spreading disease, they determined the sickness must be god's punishment on the wicked. The young monk becomes 'guide' to a small group of appointed soldiers armed with torture devices, intent on making their way through a marshy wilderness near where the young monk grew up, in order to find a village they'd heard had NO illness and no deaths. They become intent on rooting out the 'devil-worshipers' whose black magic must surely be protecting them.
In all, the film kept my interest but it's quite a brutal tale, unrelenting in its ugliness. Wayne framed it perfectly when he pronounced at its end, 'that was a movie about nihilism. Nothing more.' He's right. Both religion and the very REAL paganism the band of men do finally uncover are equally steeped in intolerance and murder. There is not one uplifting thing about the film. It's a heavy ride with an equally weighted message but the acting is excellent... and the fidelity to the bleakness of that time, superb.
One thing I noticed right off the bat in the beginning sequence of the film was a curious, 'birdlike costume' on one of the characters walking among the piles of corpses. Little did I know- (until I did some research on the computer afterward)- that the distinctly Hieronymous Bosch type characters were historically accurate!
They were called 'plague doctors' -and they wore those strange, leather beaks into which sweet-smelling flowers and herbs were stuffed to try and tamp down miasmic odors all around them. Clad in long robes and flat, wide-brimmed hats, and with some sort of protective 'goggles' for their eyes, they went among the plague-stricken, performing who knows what sort of primitive medicine. How odd that I'd never heard of them till now.... here's a painting of one, consoling a widow whose husband has just been 'bled', doubtless to try and draw the 'poison' out.
(Those are very creepy guys!) I remember a series of horror films made by 'Full Moon Productions', and one of their storylines featured a puppeteer whose marionettes came to life... and murderously. LOL!! One recurring little character had a costume similar to that, but with a skull-like head and a long slit of a smile. Aways gave me the willies. LOL!!!
And of course the painter Hieronymous Bosch has always been a favorite of mine-- and he does DEATH AND DESTRUCTION like no other. We may have progressed a great deal since the Middle Ages, but always..... always, there is a idea of 'death personified' who steals in to claim his own at last
and no matter how much money you've got to try and buy him off..... it's pointless. His visit is final and total, and his little minions caper with glee at the prospect of another ride across the River Styx, new passenger on board. LOL!! (Don't mind me. Dark movies play havoc with my mind. This one's gonna take a while to throw off.)
The GOOD NEWS is that Wayne is almost ready to move in here! He's been diligently cleaning out rooms and closets and drawers, separating what he's keeping, getting rid of anything which has no use- and soon, very soon, he'll tell his housing organization to do a 'walk-through', and perhaps disperse any remaining furniture and large household items to other folks in his plan who may want them for their own... then it's 'haul stuff over here'. I'll take a week off to help paint and get us settled in as a 'two person household'-- the two of us working at it together. We're MOVING ALONG..... by fall, in the crisp, ripe, BEST TIME OF YEAR, we'll be snuggled in. Hooray!! No more 'solo flying' .... for EITHER of us. :)
August 21, 2012~ 11:00 pm
One hour left on this 'happy birthday to me'. I took the day off and Wayne and I drove to Kenny Ross to have my 2012 Ford Focus' yearly inspection, an oil change and two 'recall' notices taken care of that I've received in the past couple of months. One was for the passenger side windshield wiper mechanism that could possibly become 'contaminated' from a bad seal and cease functioning... the other was something called a 'recalibration of the Power Train'- which I understood not at all, but thought it wise to have that done as well after getting the letter.
We left the car there at 8:00 a.m.-- had breakfast out, visited the Game Preserve in South Park and watched turtles, ducks, geese, deer, BUFFALO... and even a groundhog who quickly disappeared into a hole in ground, like Houdini. We drove to an old cemetery dating back to the Revolutionary War in Bethel Park, and strolled around reading the old engraved stones, which was a lovely, peaceful way to spend a few hours and one we both enjoy. I hadn't received a call from the dealership, so next we visited the 'Blue Horse Cafe' for a coffee, only to find out it was a very sad day for them: they were closing their doors for good later in the day, victims of the crappy economy.
Finally around 3:00 p.m., we headed back and I picked up the car after a short wait. Then the bottom fell out of my day..... I suddenly had warning lights, icons and messages come on the intrument panel I'd never seen before, and the damn 'replacement' windshield wiper was WAY TOO LONG and kept THWACKING the rubber seal around the windshield edge and shooting BEYOND it about an inch or so, right OFF THE GODDAMNED WINDOW edge. WHAT THE......????
I drove it the short distance home with Wayne following, but as soon as we pulled into the carport and I told him, he insisted we take it right back. The mechanic who'd worked on the computer system in my car was, yes....."gone for the day". So now I have to take it back TOMORROW MORNING. Disheartened, we at least had a good meal at Calabria's after we left, and chose a movie for the evening. (Thank God I took TWO days off.... but man o man, tomorrow was the day I was going to sleep IN and do nuthin' other than watch a movie with Wayne and have dinner out. I am NOT happy.)
Wayne was very sweet the whole day though. He got me a lovely gold necklace, some pretty chocolates wrapped like tiny presents, and an enlarged, framed picture from our wedding day. (He wrapped them himself, which always touches me, though his left-handed knots always present a challenge. LOL!!)
We rented 'The Bridesmaids', which made us HOWL with laughter... a truly funny, funny film, but now, typing all this before bed, I'm still really pissed about that car. What gets me is there was NOTHING WRONG WITH IT when I took it in! Now it's lit up like the Las Vegas strip with warning lights and symbols! (You know, without BAD luck I'd have no luck at all) but I do leave you with this --because it's remarkably beautiful.
That butterfly is made entirely of people. The artist does incredible things with the naked human form, fashioning them into flowers and butterflies... even a peacock. To see MORE of her work, the best way is to pop into Google images to soak up image after image, arranged by Cecelia Webber. You'll be astounded by her creativity.
August 22, 2012~ 5:00 pm
Once again, due to a 'recall' on a new model automobile, General Motors has succeeded in fixing something
that DIDN'T APPEAR TO BE BROKEN TO BEGIN WITH ... LOL!!! (Yes, the recalibration machine that hooks directly into the lifeblood of Ford Central didn't complete its job yesterday- and THAT'S why my instument panel had gone all 'exorcist' on me.) When they hooked it up today, it DID complete-- AND they realigned my new passenger side windshield wiper, so all is well. (At least Wayne and I had another lovely breakfast out and a second trip to the Game Preserve in which geese ate DIRECTLY FROM OUR HANDS, AND.. we watched a second movie. More on that in next week's blog. This one's pretty filled up so I'll save my movie comments till the weekend. Don't want to lose folks with too much text that drags on and on and on.) Have a good week and weekend. Tomorrow.....it's back to work for me. Oh...... BLECH!!!
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