Crazy weekend

Friday I went to Amy's to watch the repeat of Flash Forward so she would be up to snuff on this show because I think it might be interesting. But Stubbs calls looking for some card fun so he comes over and we play 3-handed cribbage. While drinking and smoking.

Saturday I had to be on high alert about some software upgrade at work which turned out fine in the end. Then I did my last radio show until November. I also went to the farmers market and the optometrist. Then I made a big dinner of caprese salad and bread with dipping oil and farfalle with goat cheese, chicken and carmelized onions. And some pear dried cranberry cobbler with ginger ice cream.

Today I went to my mom's to pack for her move this Friday. At first I thought there would not be enough boxes in the world for all her stuff, but in the end, there were. But how many glass candy dishes with lids does one 80-year-old person need?? She gave me some great pictures of me as a child and of my dad and her when they were young. I'll try to scan these at work and post them.

Nobody seems to know what my sister is going to do but what I want to know is how I'm going to sell that Sears washer I bought them in June.

Now I'm drinking beer and watching the national park show on PBS. Which is on every night this week at 8. See if I can fit that into my schedule.

Haven't heard from Miss Annie although I can only assume she's in Ohio. Have tidied up the green room so I can drag up the single mattress and make it up in case she stays here tomorrow night. Or some night. The cats always like it when I bring up the mattress because they think it's for them.

Back to work tomorrow for possibly a short week if I take a day off to spend with Miss Annie.

My boy, the musician

This film for which he did the soundtrack, Sun Dogs, is in the New Orleans Film Festival.

Watch the trailer on YouTube.

Zombie Land

Excellent selection of zombie movies coming up in our small town and all for FREE!!

At BGSU's Gish Theater on Tuesdays:

October 20, 7:30 pm
White Zombie
(1932) U.S., 69 minutes
Director: Victor Halperin
Long before 28 Days Later and Night of the Living Dead, Victor Halperin introduced the walking dead to the silver screen with White Zombie. Featuring Bela Lugosi as the evil-eyed Murder Legendre, a sinister plantation owner and voodoo sorcerer, the film weaves a diabolic web of infatuation, jealousy and murder set in the rural cane fields of Haiti. Halperin’s inaugural entry into zombie cinema offers a haunting portrait of the racial anxieties that plagued the United States’ ill-fated occupation of Haiti from 1915-34.

October 27, 7:30 pm
I Walked with a Zombie
(1943) U.S., 69 minutes
Director: Jacques Tourneur
This eerie film tells the story of Betsy (Frances Dee), a young nurse sent to a Caribbean island to care for the comatose wife of plantation owner Paul Holland (Tom Conway). As Betsy settles into her assignment, she begins to uncover the bizarre world of secrecy and voodoo that permeates the island’s lush tropical environment. Is her charge really suffering from a naturally occurring illness, or is she the victim of something significantly more malevolent? Produced by legendary horror guru Val Lewton, this adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a classic tale of mystery and suspense.

And at the ClaZel on Wednesdays:

October 7, 2009
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The dead come back to life and eat the living in this legendary low budget, black and white film. Several people barricade themselves inside a rural house in an attempt to survive the night. Outside are hordes of relentless, shambling zombies who can only be killed by a blow to the head.

October 14, 2009
Horror Shorts
A series or short films that celebrate the spirit of gore.

October 21, 2009
Little Shop of Horrors (1960
Classic black comedy about young schnook who develops a bloodthirsty plant and is forced to kill in order to feed it. The basis for the later hit stage musical and 1980s remake film.

A fine relaxing weekend

Friday night I talked to Annie for a couple hours and read for a couple hours.

Saturday I did a three-hour radio show. Then mowed. Then went to Toledo with Connie and Amy and saw Crystal Bowersox at Arnie's, Johnny Reed and the Houserockers at the Flaming Pit at the Docks and then Curtis Jr. and the Midnight Rockers with Bobbie G at Fat Fish Blue. Ate a big pile of fattening appetizers at the Pit: sausage and chicken tenders and rib tips and onion rings. Remind me again why I'm fat.

I went to a couple of yard sales and bought a CD that is the soundtrack to the Remember the Titans movie. It has some great tunes, one of which I played on the radio yesterday because John Fogerty got a lifetime achievement award at the Americana music awards last week. Up Around the Bend.

I had an Absolut and tonic at each place and the best one was the cheapest one at Arnie's: $4. $5 at the Pit and $6.75 at FFB and it was so bad I only drank half of it. Like the tonic was flat or something.

Today I finished yet another fat book, the third one in 2 weeks. Amy came over and we took down the tent top thing. Then I planted some grass seed in the shady parts of the yard. Waiting for rain, although I watered it in some. Then I dug out more of the grass in the northwest corner of the yard and put in some iris and some more lilies. Went to the yard waste twice. Cleaned up the garage. Now I'm waiting for Amy to pick me up so we can go see Inglourious Basterds at Levis. Today so far I've had coffee, pie and ice cream, and two beers. Remind me again why I'm fat.

Yesterday I bought 2 tickets to see Mark Knopfler at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor next April.

Who knows what I did last week? Went to the wine tasting at SamB's on Thursday for one glass. Not many people there and no snackies. So we got Jimmy John's sammiches and had a bottle of wine on the deck. Probably there was other wine drinking other nights. It was kind of chilly all week. Should be warmer this week.

This week Little Cow is at GFT. Hmmmm. Seen 'em. Several times.

Annie is coming next week, starting to drive on Sept. 26. My daughter is coming the weekend of Oct. 24.
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At Flaming Pit watching Johnny Reed and the Houserockers

Watching Crystal Bowersox at Arnies
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Multimedia mess

Here's a pic of the card and sugar bowl thing my daughter sent me for my birthday. The sugar bowl glows in the dark.



Various Swamp pics



Monkey in a stroller



Dog in a stroller











I had thought my hair looked really nice but in these pics it looks flat. Damn.

I've got video and stills on my camera, pictures on my phone, pictures in my email and CDs to burn to share. I'll never get all this organized.

I booked Anne's ticket for Austin for too much money, part of which she says she will reimburse me when she's here for a visit the end of October. The rest will be her Xmas gift.

I got 2 books out of the library tonight: Mailman and another Jeffrey Lent. Picked up a few things at Kroger and came home and did a Pilates DVD off Netflix. Ripped 6 CDs. Made some edits to a web page so the Toledo election results would show up. Had to call in and have some setting in a transmit file changed so everything worked right.

My mom says she's moving Oct. 2 so I will be going down there two Sundays in a row, once to help her pack and once to help her unpack.

It's tough being back at work. I could do a three-day week but this five crap is nuts. So this is all you're getting tonight.
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Parno Graszt at BSAF

John Nemeth at black swamp festival
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What I did on my end of summer vacation

I read A Peculiar Grace in 24 hours. Not one of Lent's better works. Way more life examination than any human needs, capped by vigorous sex and lots of it on the last 5 pages. Although he continually uses the verb "love" for "got it on" which, considering the locations and fervor, would have been more apt.

Yesterday I dug out a big hunk of grass back by the northwest corner of the yard and transplanted lilies which I still have about 800 bulbs of. Want some? They're not all orange ditch lilies, but maybe 450 are.

Then I drank some wine on the deck and continued tidying up which is still not totally complete but I hope will be by EOB today.

These last two days have been perfect weather.

Today I had my annual visit to the wimmens doc and then got a haircut from Carol Hahler which I am really pleased with. When's the last time you heard me say that??

I also went to Churchill's and got some wine and beer and a case of Perrier and some fresh mozzarella and celery and potatoes. I intend to make potato salad and some broccoli soup to have around this weekend in case I'm home and need a bite. Or maybe I should make that broccoli salad. Hmmmmm. Although then they're both mayonnaise-y.

I also went to the bank and once again had them stop using my line of credit as my overdraft protection because it makes my balance when I go to the ATM some odd number so I never know what my balance is. Although I carry a running balance in my head, pretty much.

Plus I shopped at the Goodwill where there was a Tigger costume in the window like the one I sold on eBay for $63. It was $10 and some old folks bought it for their grandchild who must be a big kid because the costume was an adult XL. I told them they could sell it on eBay for $60 later and they just looked at me. I bought a black and while check shirt by Jones New York and 2 candles and a pack of coffee filters. Cost: $6.66. The cashier said that when a purchase comes to that amount, many people go find something else to buy.

It's been really relaxing, this week. Swamp the rest of the weekend....
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Watermelon anyone?

Well it was a helluva party, if I do say so myself. At 1:30, the skies OPEN and drench the canvas chairs Connie Z has brought over a half hour earlier. I sit under the patio roof, thinking, Well at least the house is clean and commodius. And then Amy shows up with the tent top thing and we erect that and move stuff around and string up some lights and move the grill to the garage.

It was a great turnout despite the weather, 28 in all, I think. And the food! OMG, macaroni salad that everybody loved, taco salad, coleslaw, corn casserole, potato casserole, chips of every variety, veggies, dip, peach cobbler, walnut pie, cheesecake, fruit in liqueurs, fresh tomato cucumber salad, and homemade ice cream. I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff. Sorry. And of course, meat.

The rain held off enough for grilling and some eating in the yard but people were raucous and partying on down til after dark in spite of erratic rain.

I had put a watermelon in a softside cooler but it was not eaten. Let me know if you want a big chunk.

Here are some pictures thanks to Chip.











I planted 31 hosta along the east fence on Thurs., Fri., Sat. It looks lovely.

The forecast for my week off is kinda crappy, showers and thunderstorms off and on until Friday when it will clear up and be 80 and sunny everyday for the Swamp. As a matter of fact, now, at 3:20, another wave of rain approacheth from the southeast.

Today I picked up bottles and cans and emptied ashtrays and sorted the last of the garbage from the deck and have all chairs except the wood set up on the deck under the tent top. I have many leftovers. Thank you. The bottles are ready for the recycling. The grill needs to be cleaned. Connie's towels are washed and dried. Many many big spoons and serving platters are clean.

And it's raining. One minute after I got the last few chairs onto the deck.

Amy called today at 11:30 to see if I wanted to eat at the Grill which of course I did, having just drunk coffee and eaten Jo's raspberry chocolate bars while finishing In The Fall by Jeffrey Lent which was fabulous: love, passion, death, slavery, thievery, a sweeping family saga across three generations. So I went to the library and got another one by him: A Peculiar Grace, which of course I started right in on but made myself stop to continue cleaning up. I didn't read that review I linked to in case there were spoilers.

Just now, I spy an old man on a bicycle under the tree on the corner, dodging what he could of the downpour. I got my umbrella from my car trunk, soaking myself, and ran over to tell him he could put his bike and himself on my deck, but politely, smilingly although lacking his two front teeth, he told me he thought he would just wait it out, how he'd just come from his office at the university and thought he could outride the rain coming in but he guessed he'd just go on now, wet through his thin cotton shirt. Back inside, my shirt changed to a dry one, mopping my hair, I look out to see he has indeed gone on, even though the thunder would have driven a more fearful man to take any shelter.

That's how that Jeffrey Lent writes, all strung together phrases and feelings, only much better. Although this really did happen to me. Just now. Really.

On Friday, I got a text message through work about the final score of the BG-Fostoria HS football game. But I got this text at 7:43 am, some 13 hours before the game was over. I need to get this straightened out this week but I am not calling in to work today. Maybe tomorrow.

I have pictures from my mom's 80th birthday luncheon and from Vera's 60th at Cinco de Mayo which I will post soon. But not now. Gotta read.

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