Another day without a hike

Cornwall Rose Garden #1

I didn't go out with the Senior Trailblazers again today. I just couldn't get myself excited about a two-hour drive to hike somewhere I've suffered through in the heat during past years. It was a trip to Watson Lakes, which I last did in 2018. You can see what the trip was like then at the link here. Once I read it and reminded myself that it's very hot and sunny today, I decided to skip it. Again. That's two Thursdays in a row, and I guess without Melanie to take me on some of our old favorites, I'm in danger of turning into a regular old person, not going out on a hike every week.

Cornwall Rose Garden #2

Instead, I just made my usual walk from the Rose Garden and took pictures of the pretty flowers. Instead of my usual step count on Thursday, I'm lucky I have garnered 9,500 for the day (about 3-5,000 less than usual for a Thursday). And here it is, late in the afternoon, and I'm already feeling tired enough to think about how nice it will feel to get horizontal.

Yesterday, I went to see Oppenheimer with my friend John. It was a disappointment, not because the movie wasn't really pretty good, but the sound was so loud that the words were all distorted and it was already a very difficult story to follow. I complained about the volume, but the theater only gave me some headphones to wear, which helped somewhat, but not enough. My hearing aides were turned all the way down, but still. And for three hours, John and I suffered through the ordeal, not happy at all about seeing the movie. I had seen Barbie in the same theater last week, and it was fine, so it was something that could have been remedied. I don't think I'll be going back to that theater any more.

That said, the second half of the movie was better, since I did begin to follow the story, and afterwards I looked up the accuracy to find out if all the events were true ones, and sure enough, it was quite true. I didn't realize that Oppenheimer had been pilloried so badly after having invented the atomic bomb and having regrets about the incredible loss of life in Japan. It was a very sad story, and here we are still living with the threat of nuclear war every day. It was well done but not uplifting at all.

Cornwall Rose Garden #3

So, on that note, I will need to find something that will raise my spirits, which looking at these pictures of pretty roses does somewhat. And I think I need to find a good quote. How about some good old brainyquotes?

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. —Helen Keller

Or this:

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us. —Joseph Campbell

I especially need to listen to Joseph, and remember that when I'm needing a lift. And yes, I'm feeling better! I hope you are finding your own path to navigate the shoals of life, and finding a way to enjoy the inevitable ups and downs.

:-)

The Oscars 2020

Voice cast of Frozen 2

Yesterday afternoon, my movie-going cohort Judy and I went to the theater to see one of the last movies nominated for Best Picture that we had missed: Jojo Rabbit. It didn't win, but I have to say I really enjoyed the movie. Neither of us had any idea what we would be seeing, but it's a mostly humorous satire set in Germany at the end of World War II. A young boy, Jojo, wants to become a Nazi and is in the Hitler youth trying to prove his mettle to the camp counselors. He is ordered to strangle a rabbit, and he couldn't do it, giving him the nickname.

The director of the movie, Taika Waititi, plays the part of the imaginary Hitler that Jojo sees as a mentor. Somehow Hitler is playful as well as menacing, but it helped to make it less scary, to me at least. The movie did get the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Anyway, once we got home from the movies, I realized I had missed the first hour of the Oscars, but I watched the rest with real interest. There were no surprises about the four actor awards; they had also won in all the previous award shows. But the Best Picture was a total surprise: Parasite, the first foreign-language movie ever to win the big prize. I saw that movie, too, and would never have picked it for the best of the year. My favorite was Little Women, but the director didn't even get a nomination, so I knew it wouldn't win.I also enjoyed seeing all the gowns and hoopla that always accompanies the Oscars. Several of the acceptance speeches resonated with me. But oh, the dresses! I especially liked Scarlett Johansson's dress. Check them all out here.

That concludes the awards season for the time being. Now I guess I'm going to have to find something else to watch, like Netflix and Hulu stuff so I can avoid most of the political drama; I can only take so much. Did you watch, and if so, what did you think?
:-)

Beavers and groundhogs

Recent beaver work

Today is Groundhog Day, and I learned that Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog who supposedly predicts whether or not we'll have an early spring didn't see his shadow today, which is supposed to mean that, yes, it WILL be early. Well, we haven't had much of a winter here in the Pacific Northwest, and the trees have been seduced into putting out buds already. We'll see what the cold weather we are predicted to have beginning tomorrow will do to those nascent buds. At least the day is the halfway mark to the first day of spring!

I took the picture last Thursday of the tree felled by beavers at Lizard Lake. Those guys are busy as, well, beavers. Did you know that they must gnaw on trees or their teeth just keep growing and then they cannot even eat properly? All rodents, apparently, have teeth that continue to grow during their lifetimes. But beavers are special: beaver teeth have really extreme growth, up to 4 feet a year! Because they're not worried about wearing their teeth down, beavers are free to chew on as many hard objects as they can. Learn more about them here.

I watched the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards, and I decided to check out a couple of shows that interested me: The Kominsky Method on Netflix (I really loved it) and Killing Eve on BBC America. Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin star in the comedy series about getting old, and it's just been renewed for a second season. Sandra Oh stars in Killing Eve, and I guess I should have realized it would be bloody and suspenseful, but I got hooked anyway and watched all eight episodes. It's also been renewed for a second season.

And I've seen all the performances and movies nominated for the Oscars, except for Glenn Close in The Wife. I'll try to see that one beforehand, since she has garnered accolades from those two events as well. It's an amazing eclectic mix of shows this year; we are really lucky to have such talent working today.
:-)

Another rainy Saturday

Some of the ladies taking in the roaring water

I woke this morning feeling great, pretty much recovered from my respiratory bug, so I decided it would be all right to join the ladies for a nice five-mile walk before the real rain hits us in the afternoon. We had some misty moments, but it was mostly dry. It was nice to get out again before heading to sunny Florida on Monday. Afterwards, we enjoyed some coffee and scones before we left to go our own ways.

Then my friend Judy and I headed over to the Pickford to see Phantom Thread, which has been nominated for several awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis. We left the theater a little confused by the story line, which is best understood by the rating difference between the critics and the audience on Rotten Tomatoes (92% for the critics and 70% for the audience). Apparently this is typical for the director, Paul Thomas Anderson, judging from the reviews I read. In any event, the movie is beautiful, and although the story line is a little... strange, it was the performances by Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps that made the movie for me. If you saw it, please let me know what you think.

Only a few more movies before I'll have seen all the Oscar-nominated movies. I downloaded Mudbound on my iPad so I can watch it while I'm traveling. The day after tomorrow I'll be out of the incessant rain and in Florida!
:-)

Autumn begins

Pumpkins and mums

Sure signs of fall: pumpkins nice and fat, and chrysanthemums everywhere, the fall flower (along with beautiful dahlias) that bloom late in the year. There's a crispness to the air, which in our part of the world is clear and brisk with some white puffy high clouds beginning to form.

Chris, my walking partner this morning

We walked at Lake Padden today, and I liked this picture showing the long morning shadows and Chris having already removed her coat and wrapped it around her waist. We only had ten women show up this morning, but it was still a lot of fun to visit with everybody. Chris and her husband Richard have just returned from England, where they did the coast to coast 200-mile-long trek. They have done the entire Camino de Santiago in Spain (500 miles) and the arduous Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier, but Chris said this one was by far the hardest. Partly because of mud and boggy trails that just wouldn't quit. Hardy hikers, those two.

And I just returned from seeing an interesting movie at our local theater: Menasch, about a Hasidic Jew who had recently lost his wife and was forced to give up his son to be raised by his brother. The entire film is in Yiddish and introduced me to some of the curious customs of this reclusive segment of Jewish society. It was hard to follow sometimes and not exactly uplifting, but I'm glad I saw it. The link takes you to a review by The Atlantic.
:-)

Clouds cleared and it turned gorgeous

From our beautiful green walk this morning

It was on the chilly side with a chance of rain when Lily and I set out for our walk with the ladies today. Since it was the grueling walk up Taylor Street and down the 104 stairs, we didn't have much of a turnout, just ten of us. I was glad it was cool and overcast while toiling up that street. Then down the stairs and a quick walk over to the Interurban trail, somewhere around 4-ish miles.

A private garden

I was so delighted to see this wonderful front-yard garden on the way back, showing that (dare I say it) June is busting out all over, everything in full bloom, including that pretty ground cover on the left, little star-shaped lavender flowers.

First strawberries from my garden

Once I got home, I went out to check the condition of my own garden, and figured I'd better pick the ripe strawberries before they catch the eye of our local slug population. Sweet and bite free, they were a wonderful treat before I headed to the movie theater to see Wonder Woman with my friend Judy. It has gotten great reviews, and it takes a lot to get me to see a superhero movie, but I was curious about this one. I enjoyed it very much, although it was a tad long and, as one of the reviewers from the Atlantic said, (Christopher Orr),

The final big action sequence, as now seems always to be the case, is a messy and overwrought CGI extravaganza. But at least the movie that precedes it involves actual characters—likeable ones, even!—exhibiting recognizable human emotions.

And I have to say that it deserves its 93% freshness rating from Rotten Tomatoes (the link above). It made me feel very good when I walked out of the theater to have seen a good strong woman kicking some serious butt!
:-)

Truncated walk with the ladies

Post-walk coffee at Adagio's

I decided to try to walk with the ladies this morning, since we were to meet at Adagio's Coffee Shop and walk to Zuanich Park at the bay and back, a short five-mile walk. I felt pretty good as we started out, but after less than a mile, I could feel that now familiar pain returning to my right hip. Since I don't yet have an I-T strap to see if it helps, I decided to turn around and wait for them to return. Why mess up what I hope is a slow recovery?

The morning started out sunny (yay!) but by the time they had returned to the coffee shop, it was snowing! We had a little bit of everything. I also noticed that Cindy's pretty red hat gave a very nice display of our snowflakes.

Red jewels

No, not real jewels, but melted snowflakes on her delightful Icelandic hat! I had just told her about a Netflix movie I watched, "Rams," about a couple of Icelandic brothers. The movie is beautifully filmed and written but I'm not sure I could recommend it, since it doesn't have exactly a happy ending. I learned a lot about sheep diseases, though.
:-)

The Eagle Huntress

Aisholpan Nurgaiv and her eagle

I just got home from my morning adventures. No, not with an eagle, but a nice walk with the ladies and then a documentary playing at our local independent theater: The Eagle Huntress. It's about this 13-year-old Kazakh who was raised in a family of eagle hunters. It's not something that girls are usually allowed to do, but her father and grandfather were one hundred percent behind her and helped her capture and train her own eagle. The documentary is wonderful, for many reasons, but the photography (with the use of drones and GoPro cameras) shows the amazing Mongolian countryside, as well as the trials and tribulations she faced to become a true eagle huntress. Here's the video:

I enjoyed it for many reasons, but the best part is watching this young girl who decided that nothing was going to make her happy except this pursuit, and her family's support of her efforts. Not to mention having to do it in -40°F conditions! If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.
:-)

Moving into the fall harvest

Blue skies and sunflower

I took this picture yesterday when it was very hot here in Bellingham. We broke a temperature record Thursday as well as Friday. Yesterday was the hottest of the two: it got up to 88°F, which might not seem like much to those used to scorching hot temperature all summer, but we are fragile Pacific Northwestern flowers!

From my front porch just now

But look at it now! Grey skies, lots of clouds, a cool breeze, and it's twenty degrees cooler out there. I went walking with the ladies this morning, and we were all feeling the chill but enjoying it, too. Nobody was complaining.

Volunteer vine taking over the garden gate

I went out to the garden just now to check things out, and I noticed that this volunteer squash vine is spilling out across the fence and snaking its way up the gate as well. It's sort of pretty, but I suspect we'll be cutting it back soon.

Keith's pumpkins and other goodies

I noticed also that my garden neighbor Keith has grown some pretty good looking pumpkins, along with some yellow squash I don't recognize and other unidentified veggies. I just peeked over and didn't wander around. You can see that the vines are beginning to wither, exposing the fruits. It's that time in the garden when we are getting close to harvesting these plants.

I should probably be out there while it's nice and cool to weed my own patch, but instead I'm going off to the movies with my friend Judy. We will see Hell or High Water, a modern Western shoot-em-up, with Jeff Bridges in the lead role. It's gotten great reviews, so my expectations are high, although it's not my usual movie cup of tea. I'll let you know if it's worth seeing. (NB: Yes, go see it; it's wonderful!)
:-)

Some movies and the Saturday walk

Whatcom Creek 7 August 2016

We had a very large group this morning when we ladies met for our walk (21). We kept up our usual brisk pace and went a little more than five miles and then enjoyed coffee together. Or at least a few of us did; others went off on their own pursuits. When we crossed over Whatcom Creek on the walk, I noticed that a few of the leaves are already beginning to turn colors. And the water level is way down, too. We are well into our normal drought period, with the lawns turned brown and summer more than half gone already.

Some people really hate to see summer go, especially up here where we rarely deal with really hot temperatures, but I don't mind a bit. We are fortunate to have such moderate weather, year round, that winter doesn't bother me, and fall is my favorite time of the year.

Tima's gift of a a glass sculpture

One of the Saturday women brought this by while I was out having coffee, a beautiful glass sculpture that she created. Several of my blogging friends also make these, but I have only see them in pictures before now. I'm not sure whether I'll use it as a plant stand, put some pretty pebbles in it, or even put water in it for the birds. I sure do love it, though!

I have seen two movies at our local independent theater in the last few days, both of which I enjoyed very much. The first one, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, as you can see from this Rotten Tomatoes link, has a 99% freshness rating. It's a delightful offbeat New Zealand comedy that kept me laughing and entertained.

Then yesterday I went to see Captain Fantastic, a completely different kind of movie. It's about a man who decides to raise his kids completely off the grid and teach them survivalist techniques. Their mother is in a hospital when the movie begins, and I won't tell you exactly what happens, but Viggo Mortensen is just incredible as Ben, the father. (He played Aragorn in Lord of the Rings.) Warning: there is one moment of full frontal nudity.

This movie was my favorite of the two, because it really made me think about what is happening to our society. A friend told me, who works as a volunteer at the Pickford Theater, that everybody has come out loving the movie, except for a few who walked out after a few minutes, declaring that this is no way to raise children! They missed a really good movie because of their prejudice, I believe.

If you see either of them, I'd love to know what you think.
:-)

A soaker of a Saturday

Staying out of the rain, waiting for the others to arrive

When I woke this morning to the sound of rain drumming on the roof, I took a quick look at the weather app and discovered that there was nothing but green covering the entire area. A wet one, for sure. I put on my rain clothes and lamented the loss of my Seattle Sombrero (I lost two hats last week!) but took a visor to help keep the rain off my glasses under the rain hood. It worked fine, except that it wasn't very cold and I ended up taking it off and just getting wet. Most of us did the same. Even with the rain, fifteen women showed up!

Sprawling tomato plant

It was still raining hours later when I got home after seeing a movie (more on that in a minute), so I headed out to the garden to see how it's faring in all the rain. Yesterday I put in some new plants, but what really surprised me this week is the way my tomato plant has taken off. When I first put that little guy into the ground, it was only a few leaves, and now I'm thinking I need to stake it.

Tender starts surrounded by copper tape

We have been enjoying the Russian kale so much that I decided to plant a variant of it, along with some more black kale, so that's what you're seeing in the picture. I decided to surround the tender little starts with that copper tape I bought recently. So far (it's been three days now), no nibbles. Here's the link, for those of you who might also be fighting slugs.

Strawberries and raspberries

I always stop to pick a few strawberries and raspberries while I'm out in the garden, and boy were these tasty! It was still raining lightly while I was out, so I didn't stay long but managed to get this picture before consuming these.

About the movie: I just saw The Lobster, a dark dystopian comedy. The protagonist, David, played by Colin Farrell, lives in a society where single people have 45 days to find true love, or else they are turned into the animal of their choice and released into the woods. One reviewer said it was what would happen if Wes Anderson decided to do Franz Kafka. It was truly bizarre and unsettling. I can't say I enjoyed it exactly, but I didn't hate it, either. I'll have to think about it some more.
:-)

Rainy Saturday

Lynn's crocus beginning to emerge

I woke last night to the sound of immense rainstorms pounding on our roof. I learned we had more than a half-inch total rainfall yesterday, but most of the day was sunny, meaning it really did pour last night. It was pretty amazing to hear it. We usually get light but persistent rain, nothing like last night's deluge.

Two things of importance have happened so far today: I just got home from seeing Michael Moore's new movie, called Where To Invade Next?. I've seen most of his movies, and I have to say that this one is probably one of the most hopeful and moving that I've seen. He's older now and has learned from his past mistakes. I would recommend anybody to see it, no matter what your political stripe.

And just a few minutes ago, I see that Antonin Scalia has died. This is a huge event in our country's history. He was a staunch conservative, but a good friend of someone I really admire: Ruth Bader Ginsberg. He had a wicked sense of humor, according to his admirers. The pundits are now arguing whether or not Obama will have a chance to appoint a successor. A day I won't forget any time soon.
:-{

An alfalfa model and a movie

My mama in 1941

My brother was going through some old boxes of papers and found this page from the Kern County local newspaper. My mom wasn't married to my dad yet; that would happen later in the same year, and I was born in December 1942. So I wasn't even a gleam in my dad's eye when this picture was taken.

The caption underneath the picture says: "It Pays to Publicize: Constant efforts by the Kern County Chamber of Commerce and farm organizations placed Kern hay in a topnotch position where it netted highest prices in Southern California markets. Featuring extra-leafy quality, Kern alfalfa brought returns as high as $20 a ton."

Things haven't changed much. Pretty models are still used in much the same way to advertise products. I guess you could say my mom was a hayseed, huh? I simply love this picture.

Yesterday I went to see The Revenant. I'm glad I saw it because now I understand the reason it will garner so many Oscars at the Academy Awards. There are some amazingly beautiful scenes in the movie, but the acting by Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy (he truly deserves to win for this performance) made it an unforgettable experience. I wouldn't call this movie wonderful, but it's definitely unforgettable. I'm glad I didn't live through that period of our country's history.

I've got an all-day training session ahead for the Washington Alliance for Health Advancement (WAHA) volunteer work I will be doing, so I'll cut this short so I can get out the door for my 8:00am session. Until later, then.
:-)

A Saturday in January

My morning coffee, ornamented by Zack the barista

Today started out very well, and here it is mid-afternoon and I can safely say it's been a wonderful day. My friend Lynn and I set out from the coffee shop before the sunrise to meet the ladies for our morning walk. The rain was supposed to stay away until around 10:30am, and when we started out it was only overcast. It didn't stop more than a dozen of us from enjoying a lovely five-mile walk with hills, puddles, and eventually rain. Nobody minded all that much.

Whatcom Falls in full roar

We walked up some steep hills I was pleased to see that even if I couldn't keep up with the fastest walkers, I was able to power up the hills without too much huffing and puffing. Usually it's my rear end that gives out first, and today was no exception. My lungs were just fine.

All downhill from here

And then from the high point, we walked back down the hills to the parking lot next to the lake. It was raining by this time, so once we made it back to the cars, we separated to our various homes. I'm not sure anybody stayed for coffee. Once Lynn and I got home (since she lives just a few doors down from me), we changed into dry clothes and headed to the movie theater for the matinee.

We saw Carol, with Best Actress (Cate Blanchett) and Best Supporting Actress (Rooney Mara) nominees for the Oscars, and boy, what a movie it is! I'm really surprised it wasn't nominated for Best Picture, because it's just wonderful. We both sat there stunned at the very moving ending. It's set in the early 1950s and the costumes and period were perfect. Alex Doenau in his review of the movie, summed it up for me:

Carol is a snow globe of a movie: an ornate and delicate piece, frozen in time. Lavishly designed and performed with precision, it’s a love story that deserves to endure.

I hope that everyone has a chance to see it. I'd love to hear what my readers think of it. Now it's time to read this over, review, and hit publish.
:-)

It's a brand new year

Frosty trees from our New Years Day walk

I was sitting in my chair, dozing, when I suddenly realized that I hadn't yet written my Saturday post. It's been quite an interesting day, with me saturated from having seen the new Star Wars movie in 3-D, and a little tired from having had two wonderful walks with the ladies, one yesterday for New Years and one today for our usual Saturday walk.

I really enjoyed the movie, but I won't spoil it for anybody other than to say it was just about what I expected, what with all the hype that has been roiling around about it. The old friends I hadn't seen in a long time, Han Solo and Princess Leia, have been busy aging right along with me, and they were good to see again. The new faces were really well done, Rey and Finn, and I look forward to seeing them in the next installment in a couple of years. If you're a Star Wars fan, I don't see how you could  be disappointed. I LOVED the bar scene; that was one of my favorite parts of the original series. Let me know what you thought about the movie, if you don't mind.

Tomorrow is Sunday, the last day of the first weekend of the new year, and I'm feeling glad to be alive and looking forward to 2016 with anticipation and happiness.
:-)

Leaving on a jet plane

Taken from my front porch this weekend with my iPhone 6

This time tomorrow I'll be just about ready to arrive in Tampa, Florida, for a week-long vacation with my sister and her family. I'll meet my little grand-niece Alicia for the first time, and get reacquainted with Lexie, since it's been almost two years since I saw her last. She's now in kindergarten and learning to read, I hear. And Peter and Allison, Norma Jean's son and daughter.

I took that photo on Sunday afternoon as I was getting ready to meet Judy at the movie theater. We had the time change the previous night, and so although the movie was starting at 3:00pm, it was already getting late in the afternoon for me. By the time we left the theater, it was pitch dark, and it was only a little after 5:00pm!

What movie did we see? We saw Steve Jobs, a rather controversial movie about the co-founder of Apple, who died in 2011. I am an Apple fan, typing this post on my second MacBook Air (I got a new version after my first one turned three, with a hard drive twice the size of my first). And I own an iPhone 6, which has turned into my main camera, since it takes such great pictures. If you click on the link above, you'll go to a Hollywood Reporter article about some of the controversy. When I returned home from the theater, I immediately got on the internet to see how much of the movie is true to life.

First of all, the movie is mostly about Jobs' relationship to his first daughter, Lisa, who was born out of wedlock. He initially denied paternity. The movie makes it seem like he's a really unpleasant person in many ways that were highlighted with little to no redeeming qualities. He had a sister, Mona Simpson, who wrote a very moving eulogy about her brother who sounds nothing like the person portrayed in the movie. I read more than one piece that called the movie a "character assassination." His wife (not even mentioned in the movie) tried everything she could to keep it from being made, because she feared something like this would happen.

If you go, remember that. He was a great man who died before his time, in my opinion. And I'll get the biography of Jobs that was written by Walter Isaacson. It looks really tempting, and I might even spring for the $13 Kindle version and bury myself in it while I'm traveling tomorrow.

Leaves, taken with my iPhone 6 this morning

Until we meet again on Thursday, I'll be traveling from one end of the country to the other, but I'll be with my sister tomorrow! I am excited, not for the travel, but for the end result.
:-)

Our weather is back to normal

Taken this morning from the front porch

Although this last year we had a terribly hot and dry summer, our weather now has returned to its normal temperatures, and I hope it will be a long time before we have another summer like this past one. Take a look at this picture taken in July and compare it to the one above; you'll see what I mean. We don't usually have day after day of sizzling temperatures and no rain. Although it's normal for our lawns to turn brown in the summer, it usually doesn't start until mid-August. This year our lawns were crispy brown by the end of June! But they have once again returned to their normal lush green. Those trees are only now beginning to turn color: I do hope they'll have lots of nice red and yellows for me to enjoy.

I saw another wonderful movie this past Sunday, Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks playing the part of James Donovan, who negotiated the exchange of prisoners during the U-2 spy plane scandal in 1960. After I saw the movie, I read about the incident and found that everything, or almost everything, in the movie was based on fact. Tom Hanks is obviously going to be nominated for another Oscar, so that means that he and Matt Damon (from The Martian) will take of two of the coveted five spots for Best Actor. They are both outstanding and I highly recommend both movies.

This week I also ordered the book on which The Martian is based, read it already, and enjoyed it thoroughly as well. I learned where the movie and book deviated, but I can understand the changes they made in the movie; it did stay true to the spirit of the book in any event. They don't always, you know. Now I'm off to the library to pick up a book I put on hold. Life is pretty full right now.
:-)

A great movie and an OK play

Matt Damon in The Martian

Judy and I have been busy the past few days. We saw the play Forever Plaid at the Mt. Baker Repertory Theater this past weekend and enjoyed it very much. The only real problem we had with it, actually, is that one of the four young men in the singing quartet didn't have much of a voice. The entire play revolves around four young men who were just about ready to perform in front of an audience when tragedy strikes. They come back from the dead to perform their show, with lots of hits from the 1950s and 1960s, which I loved, and it did have quite a few real laughs.

But then we went to see The Martian, with Matt Damon as the main character. Wow! It's not often that I see a movie that makes me want to go see it again almost immediately. Even though it's a long movie (2:20 hours), I never once felt I wanted it to be over. It's incredibly well done, and even though it's available in 3-D, we saw it in standard view, and it was still very exciting. The premise of the movie is that sometime in the future the US sends a manned ship to Mars, which leaves early because of a huge storm. It also causes them to leave one astronaut behind, believing he is dead. The movie hangs on what happens after that. Obviously he didn't die, but he's got to find a way to stay alive with limited food, oxygen, and water, the sole occupant on the planet.

I won't say any more than that, but I have thought about scenes from the movie many times since I saw it, and I guess I'll be forced to buy the book it's based on so I can get more details. And I will see the movie again, at least once more! If you go, let me know what you think of it. Did you love it too?
:-)

We got a little rain

The sunrise yesterday morning

We were all excited around here yesterday, when we finally got a forecast of rain. After so many days (weeks, months) of dry weather, nobody minded much. When I opened the front door, right at sunrise, I saw the above scene. Although the sky was cloudy, there was a small opening between the clouds, and within a minute or two after this picture was taken, it was dark again. This was one of the first pictures I've taken with my camera lately, because I needed to use the zoom and my cellphone was not going to capture this. Maybe I should carry the camera around with me; who knows when another wonderful shot like this one might be missed?

Anyway, we only received a bit more than a tenth of an inch of rain here in Bellingham, although it was cloudy all day and spit some rain now and then. Only once all day did it really rain, and that was when I was getting ready to head out to the movies with my friend Judy. We saw Tangerine, an art type movie filmed completely on the iPhone5s. It has gotten great reviews and is billed as a comedy, but it's not. It's about the rather tragic lives of transgender women of color, pimps and prostitution. That is not to say I'm sorry I saw the movie, but it definitely left me feeling sad for these people I ended up liking and caring about. Afterwards, I read several articles on the internet about the dangerous and precarious lives of these women.

Today or tomorrow we'll go see Ricki and the Flash with Meryl Streep. Although the reviews are not good for this one, I suspect I'll leave the theater with a smile. After all, who can resist thinking of Meryl as a rock star guitarist? Her real-life daughter also stars in the movie. Now I'm off to the library to pick up some books I put on hold. They always seem to show up at the same time.
:-)

The problem with sequels

Scene from The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

As anyone who saw the first movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, can see, most of the characters who are in the sequel returned three years later to make this second movie. Judy and I anxiously awaited its arrival in the theater so we could see it. Last weekend we were two of the mostly white-haired ladies who comprised the audience.

The link under the picture takes you to the Rotten Tomatoes site that confirms what we both felt when we saw it: it's nowhere near as good as the first one. But still... it was lovely to see some of my favorite actors again. Maggie Smith, who is also in Downton Abbey, had some great zingers in this as well. Maybe it's a problem with all sequels. But wait...

Last year I read a book that I truly enjoyed, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. It is a lighthearted romantic comedy written from the point of view of a man who obviously falls somewhere on the Asperger's Syndrome curve. Don Tillman (the protagonist) was someone who delighted me, and not only me, but Bill Gates as well. He says he gave the book to at least fifty people in this article on his blog. He also refers in the post to another book, which I just finished yesterday.

The book is entitled The Rosie Effect and is the sequel to the first book, and I really loved it. I was wary that it wouldn't be as good. I was wrong; I enjoyed this book every bit as much as the first one, maybe even more. In the first book, Don is looking for a wife and designs a 16-page questionnaire to filter out undesirable candidates for the position. Somehow he runs into Rosie, who doesn't even pass the first question. But in hilarious fashion, they end up falling in love and getting married. In this sequel, Rosie becomes pregnant, and Don must take up the Baby Project. So just because a book or a movie is a sequel to an enjoyed first edition does not mean it's not good. But it's not necessarily what you might have expected. If you read the Rosie Project and enjoyed it, I think you will enjoy this one, too.
:-)