1. Olivia and David are back! Molly and Hiram are back! Their Florida vacation has come to an end and the Deke and I get to kick it into a higher nana/grandpa/parent gear again. It's wonderful all being together again.
2. My ongoing mission to try every kind of DMV beverage I can continued this afternoon in a most refreshing way. I picked up a six-pack of Nellyford, Virginia's own Bold Rock Hard Cider. I enjoyed it a lot, even though it was just a little bit sweeter than my favorite ciders are. But it wasn't too sweet and I'd drink it anytime, anywhere.
3. I purchased the steaks. The Deke whipped up some sour creamed mashed pototoes and a green salad. Hiram grilled the steaks. Hiram is a pepper sauce aficionado and I joined him in pouring some pepper sauce in a little container to dip bites of steak in. (I hope Pert Woolum wasn't watching from the other side...he would have hated me doing this....I enjoyed it...[sorry Dad]). Oh my! What a great dinner!
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/08/14: Not a Lost Cause, Bringing the Dead to Life, Whole Foods BeerFest
1. Well, the Deke had some business to tend to at the Prince
George's County school district Human Resources office and arranged to
meet one of her principals at her school so she could take pictures of
her classroom. So we hit the DMV (District/Maryland/Virginia) highways
and, well, the district office was closed (strike one!) and the
principal wasn't at the school (strike two!). Ha! It's funny how this
sort of thing doesn't bother me like it might have when I was younger. I
enjoyed the drive with the Deke. I enjoyed becoming more familiar with
the area. Neither the Deke nor I considered it a wasted early
afternoon and decided the thing to do was go do some shopping at Whole
Foods and enjoy some time at their little coffee/beer bar.
2. OK. So the district office was closed. Had it been open, we would not have been flagged down by a young man whose mother had done something to run down the battery of her car. Yes! That's right! After I ran down the battery in our car on Tuesday, now here was someone on the same property with her battery run down. Fortunately, we carry jumper cables with us all the time and, ha!, fortunately we had a new battery, and so we got these people's car running again and she canceled her service call to Geico.
3. That beer at Whole Foods? Fantastic. The Deke loved her Woody Stout brewed at Lost Rhino Brewing in Ashburn, VA. I enjoyed a tasty IPA, the Corruption, from DC Brau, one of Washington DC's fine breweries. Making the transition from those excellent WaOrCaliCo beers to these DMV beers is really fun and it's working out great.
2. OK. So the district office was closed. Had it been open, we would not have been flagged down by a young man whose mother had done something to run down the battery of her car. Yes! That's right! After I ran down the battery in our car on Tuesday, now here was someone on the same property with her battery run down. Fortunately, we carry jumper cables with us all the time and, ha!, fortunately we had a new battery, and so we got these people's car running again and she canceled her service call to Geico.
3. That beer at Whole Foods? Fantastic. The Deke loved her Woody Stout brewed at Lost Rhino Brewing in Ashburn, VA. I enjoyed a tasty IPA, the Corruption, from DC Brau, one of Washington DC's fine breweries. Making the transition from those excellent WaOrCaliCo beers to these DMV beers is really fun and it's working out great.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/07/14: Tiger's Karmic Debt, Black IPA, Curry for Dinner
1. It's only because he's such a graceless athlete that I follow Tiger Woods shrinking before our eyes. He messed with karma and now karma is messing with him. Big time.
2. I drove over to Belle View to pick up some groceries and check out the beer selection there. The best news? I found a six-pack of 21st Amendment's Back in Black, a black IPA, a style of beer the Deke enjoys and that I've had trouble finding in the Alexandria area.
3. It was fun chopping up onion, potato, eggplant, red pepper, and mushrooms, sauteing them, fixing a pot of rice, and using the curry out of a jar that the Deke bought the other day to make our dinner.
2. I drove over to Belle View to pick up some groceries and check out the beer selection there. The best news? I found a six-pack of 21st Amendment's Back in Black, a black IPA, a style of beer the Deke enjoys and that I've had trouble finding in the Alexandria area.
3. It was fun chopping up onion, potato, eggplant, red pepper, and mushrooms, sauteing them, fixing a pot of rice, and using the curry out of a jar that the Deke bought the other day to make our dinner.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/06/14: I Know the Way to 9A, Pilsner Perfection, Couples Counseling
1. Alexandria's Huntington Station is cut into a hillside. It's bordered on the south by N. King's Highway and on the north by Huntington Avenue. Today I figured out at least one way of walking from the bus bays on the south side to the bus bays on the north side. It involved using a parking garage elevator. To the casual reader, this might not seem like much, but for me it was a huge breakthrough in my continuing mission to learn as many ins and outs of public transportation as possible.
2. Being able to walk from the Fairfax Connector (161) bay to the Metrobus (9A) bay at Huntington Station meant that I could take the bus into Old Town and get off a few blocks from Bilbo Baggins and meet the Deke for Happy Hour beer and 10" pizzas. I enjoyed two pints of an exquisite pilsner: Eggenberg Pilsner, brewed in Schloss Eggenberg, Austria. I thought, my Lord, had the brewers of the macrobrewed pilsners I drank from about 1972-1984 and drank again starting in 1996 cared about making really good beer, I could have grown up drinking beer this good. This afternoon, I felt like I was the drinking pilsner perfected, a feeling I last had at Novak's Hungarian Restaurant on March 8, 2013 in Albany, Oregon when I drank a pint of two of their crisp, light, and tasty house pilsner.
3. Tonight's grisly episode of Wallander ended with Kurt and his his first post-divorce girlfriend, Vanya, seeing a couples counselor. I thought, "Whoa. This relationship is over." After the session, Kurt reveals a telling detail about his past dealings with this counselor. It's all professional. It felt like that revelation would end things once and for all between Kurt and Vanya. I'll see if my instincts are worth a hill of beans next time the Deke and I watch more Wallander.
2. Being able to walk from the Fairfax Connector (161) bay to the Metrobus (9A) bay at Huntington Station meant that I could take the bus into Old Town and get off a few blocks from Bilbo Baggins and meet the Deke for Happy Hour beer and 10" pizzas. I enjoyed two pints of an exquisite pilsner: Eggenberg Pilsner, brewed in Schloss Eggenberg, Austria. I thought, my Lord, had the brewers of the macrobrewed pilsners I drank from about 1972-1984 and drank again starting in 1996 cared about making really good beer, I could have grown up drinking beer this good. This afternoon, I felt like I was the drinking pilsner perfected, a feeling I last had at Novak's Hungarian Restaurant on March 8, 2013 in Albany, Oregon when I drank a pint of two of their crisp, light, and tasty house pilsner.
3. Tonight's grisly episode of Wallander ended with Kurt and his his first post-divorce girlfriend, Vanya, seeing a couples counselor. I thought, "Whoa. This relationship is over." After the session, Kurt reveals a telling detail about his past dealings with this counselor. It's all professional. It felt like that revelation would end things once and for all between Kurt and Vanya. I'll see if my instincts are worth a hill of beans next time the Deke and I watch more Wallander.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/05/14: Getting to Upper Marlboro, Gary Serviced the Dead Battery, Cider at T. J. Stone's
1. The Deke had what turned out to be a two and a half hour visit to Human Resources at the Prince Georges County School District. What was good about this? I drove the Deke to her meeting and I enjoyed getting to know the intertwining of interstates and state freeways and making our way to a place we'd never been before.
2. I can be stupid. Alert the media. I can be stupid. I ran the car battery out running the A/C and listening to the radio while waiting for the Deke. I was stupid the way I did it. But, the good news is that Gary from AAA came out and got us going again and I made a WTH purchase and had a new battery put in the car. Gary was a great guy. He gave me and the Deke a bottle of water. He and I talked about basketball and he helped make a pain in the neck situation about as good as it could be. Did I mention? I can be stupid. Ha!
3. The Deke and I wound down after I was so stupid by returning to T. J. Stone's, a pretty decent neighborhood watering hole in Alexandria. I hate to make comparisons, but just let me say it's not a Billy Mac's level joint, but it's not bad. I was pretty dried out after the dead battery incident and what sounded perfect to me was a dry hard apple cider and our server, whose name I didn't catch, recommended a Strongbow and I loved it. It was thirst quenching and pleasant tasting. It was fun having a relaxing drink and a burger with the Deke after spending over four hours at the district office thanks to the mob of other employees seeking services inside and me, stupidly, killing the car battery outside. Did I mention it was about 90 degrees and humid? And, let me see, yeah, okay, I mentioned that I can be really stupid.
2. I can be stupid. Alert the media. I can be stupid. I ran the car battery out running the A/C and listening to the radio while waiting for the Deke. I was stupid the way I did it. But, the good news is that Gary from AAA came out and got us going again and I made a WTH purchase and had a new battery put in the car. Gary was a great guy. He gave me and the Deke a bottle of water. He and I talked about basketball and he helped make a pain in the neck situation about as good as it could be. Did I mention? I can be stupid. Ha!
3. The Deke and I wound down after I was so stupid by returning to T. J. Stone's, a pretty decent neighborhood watering hole in Alexandria. I hate to make comparisons, but just let me say it's not a Billy Mac's level joint, but it's not bad. I was pretty dried out after the dead battery incident and what sounded perfect to me was a dry hard apple cider and our server, whose name I didn't catch, recommended a Strongbow and I loved it. It was thirst quenching and pleasant tasting. It was fun having a relaxing drink and a burger with the Deke after spending over four hours at the district office thanks to the mob of other employees seeking services inside and me, stupidly, killing the car battery outside. Did I mention it was about 90 degrees and humid? And, let me see, yeah, okay, I mentioned that I can be really stupid.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/04/14: Navigating Huntington Station, Potomac Promises, Wallander Comes Alive
1. I might have figured out in my head how to get from the bus stops on the north and south sides of Huntington station. I think the key is using a parking garage elevator. Soon I'll have to test this. If I got it, some new travel possibilities open up and I'll be able to travel, with some ease, using both the Fairfax County Connector and Metrobus.
2. I spent time today identifying places to walk in Alexandra to take pictures. In particular, I want to do some Potomac River strolling.
3. In tonight's episode, Kurt Wallander got himself deep into a case involving the sale of body organs and he went from being a spiritual/emotional dead man to one who came more alive -- and when faced with shooting a criminal again, made the choice that the story implies would bring a smooth, wealthy, narcissistic international criminal to justice.
2. I spent time today identifying places to walk in Alexandra to take pictures. In particular, I want to do some Potomac River strolling.
3. In tonight's episode, Kurt Wallander got himself deep into a case involving the sale of body organs and he went from being a spiritual/emotional dead man to one who came more alive -- and when faced with shooting a criminal again, made the choice that the story implies would bring a smooth, wealthy, narcissistic international criminal to justice.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/03/14: *The Moviegoer*, *Hamlet* is a Brilliant Mess, Splendid Pictures
1. I'm sticking with the novel The Moviegoer and I'm finding it boring. I wonder if I would have enjoyed this novel more when I was in my twenties or thirties, closer to the age of the protagonist. The story is told completely from his point of view and I find his point of view tedious. I'll finish it, largely out of stubbornness.
2. I hopped on the train again today and once again traveled to AFI Silver Springs to watch another movie: I watched Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. It's a bewildering play. Often I wondered, during the movie, how I ever presumed to include it in my syllabus when I taught Shakespeare. It's so dense. I kept thinking how each scene was so packed with questions and deep explorations that each scene was almost a play within itself. I have tried for over thirty years to figure out what this play is about and I've given up. It can't be summed up. It can't be fit into neat definitions of tragedy. It is about nearly everything: growing up/maturing, corruption, murder, greed, lust, love, disillusionment, betrayal, spying, paranoia, war, revenge, family, scholastic philosophy and morality and theology vis a vis the world of real politics, friendship, courage, cowardice -- feel free to add to this list. In a classroom, how can such a play be "covered"? I found myself occasionally trembling at the idea of being a director of this play and really shaking at the idea of playing any of the primary roles -- not just Hamlet, but the complicated Claudius, the conflicted and compromised Gertrude, or the confused, saddened, maddened Ophelia. Hamlet falls so far outside the neat structure of a "well-made" play. It is best experienced moment to moment, free of expecting coherence. It's wild. It reels. It portrays a world so completely usurped by corruption, both in the inward lives and the outward actions of the characters, that even an idea as fundamental to understanding order in the world as cause and effect is itself usurped and so characters try to survive in the Danish miasma of uncertainty and constant mutability. To be honest, I've read, seen, or taught this play scores of times and I was having trouble keeping up with it, despite my familiarity with it. I was glad for this. I would hate to think that I would ever settle into being comfortable with Hamlet. It's such a brilliant mess.
3. I had never seen the 1996, Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet until today and it was an overwhelming experience to see it in a 400 seat, really wide screen theater and to have it shown in 70 mm. Seeing it projected in this format made it a splendid visual experience and repeatedly I was as thrilled by the pictures I was seeing on the screen as I was the stirring language being spoken.
2. I hopped on the train again today and once again traveled to AFI Silver Springs to watch another movie: I watched Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. It's a bewildering play. Often I wondered, during the movie, how I ever presumed to include it in my syllabus when I taught Shakespeare. It's so dense. I kept thinking how each scene was so packed with questions and deep explorations that each scene was almost a play within itself. I have tried for over thirty years to figure out what this play is about and I've given up. It can't be summed up. It can't be fit into neat definitions of tragedy. It is about nearly everything: growing up/maturing, corruption, murder, greed, lust, love, disillusionment, betrayal, spying, paranoia, war, revenge, family, scholastic philosophy and morality and theology vis a vis the world of real politics, friendship, courage, cowardice -- feel free to add to this list. In a classroom, how can such a play be "covered"? I found myself occasionally trembling at the idea of being a director of this play and really shaking at the idea of playing any of the primary roles -- not just Hamlet, but the complicated Claudius, the conflicted and compromised Gertrude, or the confused, saddened, maddened Ophelia. Hamlet falls so far outside the neat structure of a "well-made" play. It is best experienced moment to moment, free of expecting coherence. It's wild. It reels. It portrays a world so completely usurped by corruption, both in the inward lives and the outward actions of the characters, that even an idea as fundamental to understanding order in the world as cause and effect is itself usurped and so characters try to survive in the Danish miasma of uncertainty and constant mutability. To be honest, I've read, seen, or taught this play scores of times and I was having trouble keeping up with it, despite my familiarity with it. I was glad for this. I would hate to think that I would ever settle into being comfortable with Hamlet. It's such a brilliant mess.
3. I had never seen the 1996, Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet until today and it was an overwhelming experience to see it in a 400 seat, really wide screen theater and to have it shown in 70 mm. Seeing it projected in this format made it a splendid visual experience and repeatedly I was as thrilled by the pictures I was seeing on the screen as I was the stirring language being spoken.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/02/14: Found the Car, Dead to Alive in *Atlantic City*, Joanna Lancaster
1. It's a minor triumph, but a triumph all the same for me: it was no problem driving Hiram's Camry to the Huntington station, but the parking structure there is big and I have a long and sad history of parking in such places and not being able to find my car. I parked near an elevator. I took out the notebook I carry and made a note about the car's location. I all but dropped bread crumbs as I walked to the entry to the train, noting ways to remember my stroll from Camry to train. It all worked. It's a minor triumph, but a triumph all the same: I returned about seven hours after parking the car and found it immediately.
2. I loved going to the AFI Silver Theater and seeing Atlantic City again. I hadn't seen in since about 1984 when I had a copy of it recorded from the Spotlight movie channel by my BetaMax videocassette recorder. I experienced Atlantic City as a dead to alive movie. Lou (Burt Lancaster) comes alive, rises to the occasion, overcomes his cowardice, inspired by his love for Sally (Susan Sarandon) when he defends her, and himself, against two thugs looking to kill them. The violence was cathartic. It reminded me, if I remember correctly (Did what I'm about to say happen in Mona Lisa?) (help anyone?), of when George (Bob Hoskins) killed Mortwell (Michael Cane) in the movie Mona Lisa -- and, come to think of it, of Louise shooting Harlan to protect Thelma. In Atlantic City, Lou helps set Sally free. He loves her by happily letting her rob him of most of his money, take the car they had stolen ("don't forget to ditch the car"), and drive to wherever her dreams for a better life can come true, listening on the radio to a program about French wines. She is alive. She didn't simply let Lou protect her, she took matters into her own hands by stealing the money and the car and, ultimately, took charge of her own liberation. I loved seeing this Susan Sarandon character driving a car to freedom without it going over a cliff.
3. Atlantic City was the second to the last film in AFI Silver Theater's tribute to Burt Lancaster. His daughter, Joanna, took the stage to briefly introduce the movie and then talk about her father and the movie after the screening. She was gracious, thoughtful, appreciative of the questions people asked, and forthcoming with stories and insights about her father's career and his excitement about having made Atlantic City. I was particularly happy when she told us that Burt Lancaster loved, absolutely loved, making the movie Local Hero. I wish I could have seen it in this series, but I didn't move to Northern Virginia in time. It's among my favorite movies ever made.
2. I loved going to the AFI Silver Theater and seeing Atlantic City again. I hadn't seen in since about 1984 when I had a copy of it recorded from the Spotlight movie channel by my BetaMax videocassette recorder. I experienced Atlantic City as a dead to alive movie. Lou (Burt Lancaster) comes alive, rises to the occasion, overcomes his cowardice, inspired by his love for Sally (Susan Sarandon) when he defends her, and himself, against two thugs looking to kill them. The violence was cathartic. It reminded me, if I remember correctly (Did what I'm about to say happen in Mona Lisa?) (help anyone?), of when George (Bob Hoskins) killed Mortwell (Michael Cane) in the movie Mona Lisa -- and, come to think of it, of Louise shooting Harlan to protect Thelma. In Atlantic City, Lou helps set Sally free. He loves her by happily letting her rob him of most of his money, take the car they had stolen ("don't forget to ditch the car"), and drive to wherever her dreams for a better life can come true, listening on the radio to a program about French wines. She is alive. She didn't simply let Lou protect her, she took matters into her own hands by stealing the money and the car and, ultimately, took charge of her own liberation. I loved seeing this Susan Sarandon character driving a car to freedom without it going over a cliff.
3. Atlantic City was the second to the last film in AFI Silver Theater's tribute to Burt Lancaster. His daughter, Joanna, took the stage to briefly introduce the movie and then talk about her father and the movie after the screening. She was gracious, thoughtful, appreciative of the questions people asked, and forthcoming with stories and insights about her father's career and his excitement about having made Atlantic City. I was particularly happy when she told us that Burt Lancaster loved, absolutely loved, making the movie Local Hero. I wish I could have seen it in this series, but I didn't move to Northern Virginia in time. It's among my favorite movies ever made.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 08/01/14: *Double Indemnity*, Party at Bilbo Baggins, Kurt Wallander's Life is Dark
1. Do I ever enjoy black and white movies -- and today I watched, for the first time in my life -- Billy Wilder's great exploration of the psychological impact of murder, Double Indemnity (1944). The story is solid. I thoroughly enjoyed the guilt-stricken Fred MacMurray (anyone else think that in this movie he looks kind of like Warren Beatty?), the bulldogged determination of Edward G. Robinson, and Barbara Stanwyck's portrayal cold-hearted greed. Most of all, however, I enjoyed the way the movie was shot, the low light, the beautiful shadows, whether of human figures or of inanimate objects like Venetian blinds. Often I enjoyed the movie as a series of photographs, gorgeous black and white pictures, portraying the shadowy nature of the world of this movie. Who knows? Maybe I'll luck out and the nearby AFI Silver Theater will have a film noir series one of these days -- or maybe another movie theater around here will -- or a university. I'd love that.
2. The Deke and I had a great party at a most enjoyable Old Town Alexandria haunt called Bilbo Baggins. If this joint had any kind of thing related to The Hobbit going on, I missed it, but what I did not miss was eating and drinking my very favorite way. The Deke and I went for tapas. I love tapas. We had two different cheese plates, a plate of oxymoronic jumbo shrimp, and a plate of Thai calamari. I could have sat there and eaten more tapas all night long. I enjoyed my beer selections, too. I opened with a black and tan made with Victory Irish Stout (Nitro) from Victory Brewing in Downingtown, PA and Bilbo Baggin's Lager of Lancaster Brewery, PA. Then, on the recommendation of Statesboro, GA beer lover Scott Garner, I drank a bottle of delicious Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA from Athens, GA and closed out our party with the incomparably delicious Sofie from Goose Island in Chicago. Since leaving Eugene and our great parties at Billy Mac's, Cornucopia, and 16 Tons, this was our best party yet and encouraged us that we have many great parties to come in this area where we have moved.
3. The Deke and I closed out our fine evening by joining Kurt Wallander as he faced the murder of an elderly couple, local xenophobia, betrayal within his work place, killing a menacing neo-Nazi, his father's increasing Alzheimer's, his own diabetes, and his own inward discomfort when he meets his daughter's new Syrian boyfriend. It wasn't that fluffy of a way to end the evening. It was terrific. Things are never simple or easy for Kurt Wallander.
2. The Deke and I had a great party at a most enjoyable Old Town Alexandria haunt called Bilbo Baggins. If this joint had any kind of thing related to The Hobbit going on, I missed it, but what I did not miss was eating and drinking my very favorite way. The Deke and I went for tapas. I love tapas. We had two different cheese plates, a plate of oxymoronic jumbo shrimp, and a plate of Thai calamari. I could have sat there and eaten more tapas all night long. I enjoyed my beer selections, too. I opened with a black and tan made with Victory Irish Stout (Nitro) from Victory Brewing in Downingtown, PA and Bilbo Baggin's Lager of Lancaster Brewery, PA. Then, on the recommendation of Statesboro, GA beer lover Scott Garner, I drank a bottle of delicious Terrapin Hopsecutioner IPA from Athens, GA and closed out our party with the incomparably delicious Sofie from Goose Island in Chicago. Since leaving Eugene and our great parties at Billy Mac's, Cornucopia, and 16 Tons, this was our best party yet and encouraged us that we have many great parties to come in this area where we have moved.
3. The Deke and I closed out our fine evening by joining Kurt Wallander as he faced the murder of an elderly couple, local xenophobia, betrayal within his work place, killing a menacing neo-Nazi, his father's increasing Alzheimer's, his own diabetes, and his own inward discomfort when he meets his daughter's new Syrian boyfriend. It wasn't that fluffy of a way to end the evening. It was terrific. Things are never simple or easy for Kurt Wallander.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/31/14: AFI Movie Tickets Purchased, "Five Broken Cameras", "Midsomer Murders"
1. I bought my tickets today, and on both Saturday and Sunday I'll be heading up to Silver Spring to the AFI Silver Theater to see, on Saturday, Atlantic City, with Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon. I recorded this movie on my BetaMax back in 1982 off the Spotlight movie channel and it became a favorite with MQ and me (and Susan, too?) when we lived together in '84. Lancaster's daughter will be at the screening to answer questions after the movie. On Sunday, for the first time in my life (I can't believe it), I'll see Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. Back in the spring of 1997, when things like this bothered me a lot more, I wanted to see this movie with someone who went without me and it bothered me so much, I never went to see it. I don't know why I didn't show any of it in my Shakespeare classes around the turn of the century. Oh, well. I'm over having felt snubbed now (ha!) and my too easily hurt feelings from seventeen years ago turn out to be sort of a good thing. I'll see Hamlet Sunday afternoon on a huge screen, presented in 70 mm, a better and more thrilling format than I would have seen had I watched it on DVD.
2. Eugene chef Ibrahim Hamide was born and raised in the occupied territory of the West Bank and was a contributor to our two year film festival at Lane Community College, showing movies made in the Islamic world. Back in April of 2013, he introduced the festival's screening of the Academy Award nominated documentary, Five Broken Cameras. I missed that showing. Today, I watched the movie. Using five different cameras, because Israeli soldiers either break or shoot his cameras, Palestinian Emad Burnat filmed five years worth of Palestinian protests against Israeli settlements in the West Bank being constructed, along with barriers. These protests occurred near the West Bank village of Bil'in. The barrier crossed through West Bank agricultural land, about half of which the Israelis were confiscating. The movie's footage is raw. Israeli soldiers use tear gas to disperse Palestinians armed with rocks, banners, and flags. They shoot at them with high powered rifles as well. The film documents several Palestinians being shot and killed. Emad Burnat collaborated with Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi to make the movie -- and whether it is a Palestinian or Israeli movie has been the source of controversy. It's a powerful story told from the village's point of view as they stand up against the expansion of Israeli settlements, the intrusion of the wall/barrier, and the destruction and confiscation of their land. It was painful, but there is great beauty in the movie's structure, narration, courage, and intimacy, particularly as it explores how the Israeli's building of settlements in the West Bank affects Emad Burnat's family. Along with being nominated for a US Academy award, in 2013 the film was nominated for the Israeli Film Academy's award (Ophir Award) for Best Documentary (Wikipedia).
3. To wind down this evening, the Deke and I watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. As the story developed, I thought it was going to be a welcome break from the grisly content of Wallander. But, I was wrong as this episode of Midsomer Murders involved terrible, increasingly gory murders that grew out of an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister. The backdrop for the show is Midsomer, a pastoral and apparently placid English county, but underneath its lovely surface, in this episode, swirled the darkness of incest, betrayal, secrets, lying, adultery, blackmail, and murder. I enjoyed how the show's lead character, Inspector Barnaby, looked into the crimes so unflappably, almost serenely, and with remarkably good humor. He's not like the tortured Kurt Wallander, that's for sure.
I guess it's becoming obvious that I'm enjoying access to Molly and Hiram's Roku setup and watching stuff from Netflix and Amazon on their television...
2. Eugene chef Ibrahim Hamide was born and raised in the occupied territory of the West Bank and was a contributor to our two year film festival at Lane Community College, showing movies made in the Islamic world. Back in April of 2013, he introduced the festival's screening of the Academy Award nominated documentary, Five Broken Cameras. I missed that showing. Today, I watched the movie. Using five different cameras, because Israeli soldiers either break or shoot his cameras, Palestinian Emad Burnat filmed five years worth of Palestinian protests against Israeli settlements in the West Bank being constructed, along with barriers. These protests occurred near the West Bank village of Bil'in. The barrier crossed through West Bank agricultural land, about half of which the Israelis were confiscating. The movie's footage is raw. Israeli soldiers use tear gas to disperse Palestinians armed with rocks, banners, and flags. They shoot at them with high powered rifles as well. The film documents several Palestinians being shot and killed. Emad Burnat collaborated with Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi to make the movie -- and whether it is a Palestinian or Israeli movie has been the source of controversy. It's a powerful story told from the village's point of view as they stand up against the expansion of Israeli settlements, the intrusion of the wall/barrier, and the destruction and confiscation of their land. It was painful, but there is great beauty in the movie's structure, narration, courage, and intimacy, particularly as it explores how the Israeli's building of settlements in the West Bank affects Emad Burnat's family. Along with being nominated for a US Academy award, in 2013 the film was nominated for the Israeli Film Academy's award (Ophir Award) for Best Documentary (Wikipedia).
3. To wind down this evening, the Deke and I watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. As the story developed, I thought it was going to be a welcome break from the grisly content of Wallander. But, I was wrong as this episode of Midsomer Murders involved terrible, increasingly gory murders that grew out of an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister. The backdrop for the show is Midsomer, a pastoral and apparently placid English county, but underneath its lovely surface, in this episode, swirled the darkness of incest, betrayal, secrets, lying, adultery, blackmail, and murder. I enjoyed how the show's lead character, Inspector Barnaby, looked into the crimes so unflappably, almost serenely, and with remarkably good humor. He's not like the tortured Kurt Wallander, that's for sure.
I guess it's becoming obvious that I'm enjoying access to Molly and Hiram's Roku setup and watching stuff from Netflix and Amazon on their television...
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/30/14: My Love of Public Transportation, American Cool at the National Portrait Gallery, The Deke's Workout
1. An ideal day for me is to board public transportation and go see something I really enjoy -- like a movie or a museum. It might be what I enjoy most about living in a metropolitan area. Much of the time, I can leave the car at home and leave the transporting to the bus and the train. Today I boarded the Fairfax Connector, got off at the Huntington Metro Station, and took the train to Chinatown/Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. so I could go to one of my favorite galleries, the National Portrait Gallery -- and the museum that it shares a building with, the American Art Museum.
2. At the National Portrait Gallery, I focused my attention on an exhibit entitled "American Cool", a collection of photographs from the 19th century to the present, exploring the idea of "cool" in American theater, music, movies, and writing. Are you wondering just what the National Portrait Gallery people mean by "cool"? Go here and you can read all about it and see some pictures, too. Who was I most drawn to? Chrissie Hynde. Patti Smith. Lou Reid. Paul Newman -- I watched a great clip from Cool Hand Luke -- from the "cool hand" poker scene. Here's the whole scene. The gallery's clip started at about 1:50. Man. How cool is Paul Newman here? And how cool is Chrissie Hynde singing "Brass in Pocket" with The Pretenders? It was a cool couple of hours looking at these photos, reading about America and the idea of "cool" and thinking about what a great time I've lived in when it comes to "cool": David Byrne, Susan Sarandon, Jon Stewart, Johnny Depp, Bonnie Raitt, and the many others featured from 1950 until now.
3. For the Deke, today was the second day of a three-day workshop on French immersion instruction and it was fun listening to her talk about it when she got home. She's experiencing French immersion herself, having listened to a French-Canadian guy give a presentation and how different his French was from the faculty from Cameroon and how different their French was from the Deke's and the French she heard spoken at school in Eugene. It was a mental workout for the Deke and she told me how much she enjoyed every minute of it. This is really good news!
2. At the National Portrait Gallery, I focused my attention on an exhibit entitled "American Cool", a collection of photographs from the 19th century to the present, exploring the idea of "cool" in American theater, music, movies, and writing. Are you wondering just what the National Portrait Gallery people mean by "cool"? Go here and you can read all about it and see some pictures, too. Who was I most drawn to? Chrissie Hynde. Patti Smith. Lou Reid. Paul Newman -- I watched a great clip from Cool Hand Luke -- from the "cool hand" poker scene. Here's the whole scene. The gallery's clip started at about 1:50. Man. How cool is Paul Newman here? And how cool is Chrissie Hynde singing "Brass in Pocket" with The Pretenders? It was a cool couple of hours looking at these photos, reading about America and the idea of "cool" and thinking about what a great time I've lived in when it comes to "cool": David Byrne, Susan Sarandon, Jon Stewart, Johnny Depp, Bonnie Raitt, and the many others featured from 1950 until now.
3. For the Deke, today was the second day of a three-day workshop on French immersion instruction and it was fun listening to her talk about it when she got home. She's experiencing French immersion herself, having listened to a French-Canadian guy give a presentation and how different his French was from the faculty from Cameroon and how different their French was from the Deke's and the French she heard spoken at school in Eugene. It was a mental workout for the Deke and she told me how much she enjoyed every minute of it. This is really good news!
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/29/14: Learning More About D.C., No Shopping Dinner, Branagh and Bergman
1. I decided not to go into Washington, D. C. today and, instead, did more reading about D.C. breweries and taplists to better prepare for future visits.
2. The Deke, in a sense, started work today. She attended the first of a three day workshop on immersion instruction. I wanted to have dinner ready for her when she arrived home and decided I would make due with whatever was available here at home: ground beef, onions, potatoes, bacon, all fried, topped with slices of tomato and grated cheese. It worked.
3. We watched another Wallander episode and it moved even more deeply into detective Kurt Wallander's existential struggles. In fact, there were moments when I thought I was watching an Igmar Bergman movie, not a television detective series, as the weight of fatigue and the pain of existing burden Kurt Wallander and move him to ponder the absurdity of his life and work and question the meaning of his existence.
2. The Deke, in a sense, started work today. She attended the first of a three day workshop on immersion instruction. I wanted to have dinner ready for her when she arrived home and decided I would make due with whatever was available here at home: ground beef, onions, potatoes, bacon, all fried, topped with slices of tomato and grated cheese. It worked.
3. We watched another Wallander episode and it moved even more deeply into detective Kurt Wallander's existential struggles. In fact, there were moments when I thought I was watching an Igmar Bergman movie, not a television detective series, as the weight of fatigue and the pain of existing burden Kurt Wallander and move him to ponder the absurdity of his life and work and question the meaning of his existence.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/28/14: Bread and Water, Scrips Transferred, Intro to "Wallander"
1. The Deke and I took a short drive to Belle View Blvd. and had a tasty pastry and cup of coffee at a bakery called Bread & Water. I don't remember the last time we went out for coffee in the morning. It was fun to finally do so again.
2. Moving means an nearly endless string of things to take care of, like the Deke having her prescriptions transferred to Target this morning.
3. For the first time in a long time, the Deke and I were alone in the presence of a television set and could watch a program together and we decided to give Wallander a shot. I enjoyed Kenneth Branaugh a lot and the two episodes we watched were not only grisly detective stories, but had a visual existential quality -- many shots of emptiness whether in fields, at sea, or parking lots -- and Kurt Wallander himself is a detective doing his work in the face of his existential crises, not the least of which is his sense of malaise, both professional and personal, which Branagh brilliantly makes physical in his character's gestures and the writers have brought to life in the script.
2. Moving means an nearly endless string of things to take care of, like the Deke having her prescriptions transferred to Target this morning.
3. For the first time in a long time, the Deke and I were alone in the presence of a television set and could watch a program together and we decided to give Wallander a shot. I enjoyed Kenneth Branaugh a lot and the two episodes we watched were not only grisly detective stories, but had a visual existential quality -- many shots of emptiness whether in fields, at sea, or parking lots -- and Kurt Wallander himself is a detective doing his work in the face of his existential crises, not the least of which is his sense of malaise, both professional and personal, which Branagh brilliantly makes physical in his character's gestures and the writers have brought to life in the script.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/27/14: Love and Quiet, My First Yuengling Lager, Everyday Junglist Pale Ale
1. Yes, there's is nothing wrong with deeply loving grandchildren
and being grateful in their absence for the quiet and calm that has
settled into Molly and Hiram's home since the family left for a visit in
Miami.
2. The Deke and I went out by ourselves for beers this afternoon for the first time since we left Eugene on June 19th. For me, it was an historic visit to Shooter McGee's on Duke Street: I drank my first pint of Pottsville, Pennsylvania's own Yuengling Lager, made by the oldest brewery in the USA. Our server, Rob, delivered the Yuengling to the table in a chilled glass, perfect for a lager, and the beer was perfectly satisfying. I'll definitely drink it again.
3. The Deke and I made our way over to T. J. Stone's and there, too, I experienced another historic beer moment! My reading about beer in the D. C. area acquainted me with DC Brau, a D.C. brewery, and I drank my first DC Brau beer this evening: the Everyday Junglist Pale Ale. The brewery's description of the beer says I should have tasted "juicy notes of ruby red grapefruit and plump Clementine oranges", but I didn't quite get that far in thinking about what I was drinking. I just thought it tasted really good.
2. The Deke and I went out by ourselves for beers this afternoon for the first time since we left Eugene on June 19th. For me, it was an historic visit to Shooter McGee's on Duke Street: I drank my first pint of Pottsville, Pennsylvania's own Yuengling Lager, made by the oldest brewery in the USA. Our server, Rob, delivered the Yuengling to the table in a chilled glass, perfect for a lager, and the beer was perfectly satisfying. I'll definitely drink it again.
3. The Deke and I made our way over to T. J. Stone's and there, too, I experienced another historic beer moment! My reading about beer in the D. C. area acquainted me with DC Brau, a D.C. brewery, and I drank my first DC Brau beer this evening: the Everyday Junglist Pale Ale. The brewery's description of the beer says I should have tasted "juicy notes of ruby red grapefruit and plump Clementine oranges", but I didn't quite get that far in thinking about what I was drinking. I just thought it tasted really good.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
American Film Institute Silver Theater and Cultural Center
I visited the American Film Institute Silver Theater and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD for the first time yesterday. Until I was connected to it via a Twitter recommendation in the last week or so, I had no idea this place existed.
I am ecstatic that I found it.
I'll tell you what made me so happy in this post, but first, let me invite you to check out the Silver Spring Theater's website, here, so you can see how the place presents itself, and, if you'd like to read about the history of the Silver Theater itself, you can read it, here.
I love movies and I often don't pursue my love of movies as forcefully as I might. Part of what gets in the way of my pursuit of this love is that it's not my sole love. I'm often enjoying other things in life I love and sometimes watching a movie gets lost in the shuffle of taking pictures, cooking, trying out different beers, spending time in Kellogg, and doing other things. While I enjoy watching movies at home, sadly, on my small computer screen, I really love going to movie theaters.
I especially love movie theaters that show independent, foreign, and documentary movies -- I loved the Cinema 7 in Eugene until it closed in 1987, and loved the Bijou in Eugene, too, especially the downtown Bijou Metro.
Living, for now, in the Northern Virginia (NoVa) suburbs of Washington, D.C., I realized immediately that it would be no problem to find any number of mall-anchored multi-screen movie emporia showing the latest box office smashes here in the suburbs.
In searching for other movie venues, I was pleased to find the West End Cinema near Foggy Bottom in D. C. as well as the E Street Cinema, The Avalon, and The Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse (The Arlington features all kinds of movies, ranging from Godzilla to The Grand Budapest Hotel to single night showings of MASH and Plan 9 from Outer Space. The Arlington also features live entertainment some nights).
I look forward to going to all of these theaters, but I want to live at the AFI Silver Theater.
It's place devoted to movies in a way I've never seen before.
Let me explain by example, by telling you what is happening at the AFI Silver Theater right now.
For starters, three current independent movies are showing (Snowpiercer, Belle, and Boyhood). My sense is that the theater is always showing contemporary movies of this sort.
For me, the real fun is found in the multiple film series the Silver Theater runs. Here's a list of the series currently underway:
When we decided to move to the D.C. area, I was excited to be closer to Molly and Adrienne and I knew from my six day stay with Molly and Hiram back in 2012 that there was a lot I wanted to see and do.
What's really fun now is making new discoveries, like Huntley Meadows Park, right down the street, and, as you can see, the AFI Silver Spring Theater and Culture Center.
When I retired in June, 2012, I never saw this coming.
How could I?
I am ecstatic that I found it.
I'll tell you what made me so happy in this post, but first, let me invite you to check out the Silver Spring Theater's website, here, so you can see how the place presents itself, and, if you'd like to read about the history of the Silver Theater itself, you can read it, here.
I love movies and I often don't pursue my love of movies as forcefully as I might. Part of what gets in the way of my pursuit of this love is that it's not my sole love. I'm often enjoying other things in life I love and sometimes watching a movie gets lost in the shuffle of taking pictures, cooking, trying out different beers, spending time in Kellogg, and doing other things. While I enjoy watching movies at home, sadly, on my small computer screen, I really love going to movie theaters.
I especially love movie theaters that show independent, foreign, and documentary movies -- I loved the Cinema 7 in Eugene until it closed in 1987, and loved the Bijou in Eugene, too, especially the downtown Bijou Metro.
Living, for now, in the Northern Virginia (NoVa) suburbs of Washington, D.C., I realized immediately that it would be no problem to find any number of mall-anchored multi-screen movie emporia showing the latest box office smashes here in the suburbs.
In searching for other movie venues, I was pleased to find the West End Cinema near Foggy Bottom in D. C. as well as the E Street Cinema, The Avalon, and The Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse (The Arlington features all kinds of movies, ranging from Godzilla to The Grand Budapest Hotel to single night showings of MASH and Plan 9 from Outer Space. The Arlington also features live entertainment some nights).
I look forward to going to all of these theaters, but I want to live at the AFI Silver Theater.
It's place devoted to movies in a way I've never seen before.
Let me explain by example, by telling you what is happening at the AFI Silver Theater right now.
For starters, three current independent movies are showing (Snowpiercer, Belle, and Boyhood). My sense is that the theater is always showing contemporary movies of this sort.
For me, the real fun is found in the multiple film series the Silver Theater runs. Here's a list of the series currently underway:
- A fifteen-movie Burt Lancaster series has run since April and ends on August 2 with a screening of Atlantic City, featuring a talk by his daughter, Joanna.
- An Alec Guinness Centennial has been running since July 3 and will end September 15. It features twenty-seven movies from all across Guinness' film career.
- Ha! July through September features a retrospective of thirty-four films from the 80s entitled: Totally Awesome 8: Great Films of the 1980s.
- Cinema and the Great War features thirty-four movies, including several silent films with live musical accompaniment, with WWI as their subject matter. Again, July through September.
- A five movie Sergio Leone series wraps up today.
- Fourteen Mario Bava films will show from July through August.
- Enjoy Raoul Walsh movies? Come to Silver Spring in July through September. Eight of his movies are showing.
- Starting Saturday, you can see six Harold Ramis movies, screened in his memory.
- And, starting Sunday, six movies will be shown in 70mm, including, to my delight, a movie I've never seen (I can't believe it!), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.
When we decided to move to the D.C. area, I was excited to be closer to Molly and Adrienne and I knew from my six day stay with Molly and Hiram back in 2012 that there was a lot I wanted to see and do.
What's really fun now is making new discoveries, like Huntley Meadows Park, right down the street, and, as you can see, the AFI Silver Spring Theater and Culture Center.
When I retired in June, 2012, I never saw this coming.
How could I?
Three Beautiful Things 07/26/14: Alec Guinness at AFI SIlver Spring, Perfect Timing, Pizza Farewell
1. I hopped on the Metro Train and made my way to Silver Spring, MD and to the American Film Institute Silver Theater and Cultural Center. One of their several film series right now is a two month long Alec Guinness retrospective and I reveled in seeing two of his 1951 Ealing Studio masterpieces: The Man in the White Suit and The Lavender Hill Mob. The movies were purely delightful. I ached with pleasure thanks to Alec Guinness' genius, the riotous farcical scenes in each movie, each film's gorgeous black and white cinematography, and the beauty of the movie theaters I saw these shows in. I have always dreamed of living where I could go to movie retrospectives and series any day of the week and this AFI facility far exceeds my dreams. Right now, six different film series are running concurrently at AFI Silver Springs. I'll write a full blog post about it later.
2. When I get off the train at Huntington Station on the weekends, the bus I take to get back to Molly and Hiram's only runs once an hour and today, for once, the timing of my train arrival and the bus' departure coincided perfectly. This happens rarely.
3. Molly, Hiram, the Deke, David, and Olivia and I ate Z Pizza pizzas together before the Diaz family climbed into their family vehicle and headed off for a visit to Hiram's family in Miami that will last about ten days. The Deke and I are house/dog/cat sitting while they are gone.
2. When I get off the train at Huntington Station on the weekends, the bus I take to get back to Molly and Hiram's only runs once an hour and today, for once, the timing of my train arrival and the bus' departure coincided perfectly. This happens rarely.
3. Molly, Hiram, the Deke, David, and Olivia and I ate Z Pizza pizzas together before the Diaz family climbed into their family vehicle and headed off for a visit to Hiram's family in Miami that will last about ten days. The Deke and I are house/dog/cat sitting while they are gone.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/25/14: Huntley Meadows Wetlands, Suburban Labyrinth, The Lords of Beer Smile on Me
1. I went for a stroll in Huntley Meadows Park and walked deeper into the park than I had before and gawked at the gorgeous wetlands, stunned that I was in world that contrasts so mightily from the suburban sprawl it rests it the midst of -- and, as if I haven't mentioned this 10000 times already, the park is only a ten minute walk from Molly and Hiram's home. Here are some pictures of what I enjoyed:
2. Upon the recommendation of Kathy Williams Harper and Molly and Hiram and after some research showing me that they had both Yeti Imperial Stout and Beckenridge 471 Double IPA, I drove out to Total Wine out in Lincolnia. I mapped out my route and then, once I got going, confused this destination with another, and took a lousy route to get to Total Wine. I could have so easily become lost, but, I had enough local knowledge that I recovered. Coming back home was another story. It took me about an hour and a half to make wrong turns and get confused and make my way through rush hour traffic, but I saw parts of Alexandria I hadn't seen before and I put enough of my local knowledge to work that I figured out how, eventually, to get home. A GPS would have helped, but what fun would that have been?
3. After my hilarious winding through the suburban labyrinth, I arrived home and thought how nice a light, crisp, refreshing summery lager would taste and I knew that last week I had bought two bottles of Sierra Nevada's Summerfest. I knew I'd drunk one of them and wondered if it were possible that the other bottle had survived nearly a week of sitting in the cooler and the fridge, not to mention Olivia's birthday party and beer lovers who attended it. Keeping my expectations and hopes low, I looked in the fridge, and there it was! The Summerfest survived! It was mine! It was perfect! Light. Crisp. A little citrusy, which I liked a lot, and not at all boozy: light alcohol content and the epitome of refreshing. The eternal Lords of Beer certainly smiled on me this afternoon.
2. Upon the recommendation of Kathy Williams Harper and Molly and Hiram and after some research showing me that they had both Yeti Imperial Stout and Beckenridge 471 Double IPA, I drove out to Total Wine out in Lincolnia. I mapped out my route and then, once I got going, confused this destination with another, and took a lousy route to get to Total Wine. I could have so easily become lost, but, I had enough local knowledge that I recovered. Coming back home was another story. It took me about an hour and a half to make wrong turns and get confused and make my way through rush hour traffic, but I saw parts of Alexandria I hadn't seen before and I put enough of my local knowledge to work that I figured out how, eventually, to get home. A GPS would have helped, but what fun would that have been?
3. After my hilarious winding through the suburban labyrinth, I arrived home and thought how nice a light, crisp, refreshing summery lager would taste and I knew that last week I had bought two bottles of Sierra Nevada's Summerfest. I knew I'd drunk one of them and wondered if it were possible that the other bottle had survived nearly a week of sitting in the cooler and the fridge, not to mention Olivia's birthday party and beer lovers who attended it. Keeping my expectations and hopes low, I looked in the fridge, and there it was! The Summerfest survived! It was mine! It was perfect! Light. Crisp. A little citrusy, which I liked a lot, and not at all boozy: light alcohol content and the epitome of refreshing. The eternal Lords of Beer certainly smiled on me this afternoon.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/24/14: Day Trip to Maryland, Tasty Shawarma Platter, 471 in the 703
1. The Deke had some paperwork to submit to the principal she'll be working for, so we took a morning drive, first to Lanham, MD, where Robert Goddard French Immersion school used to be housed, and then a drive to Greenbelt, MD where the school has moved. We drove around Greenbelt a bit, asking ourselves what it might be like to live in Greenbelt and we think it would be good.
2. We enjoyed lunch at The New Deal Cafe, a Mediterranean restaurant and cultural hub, in Roosevelt Center in the old part of Greenbelt. I very much enjoyed my Shawarma Platter, marinated roasted beef, served with tahini sauce, lettuce & tomato wrapped in pita with a green salad and really flavorful white rice on the side.
3. So far, the best place I've found to sit and have a beer is the Whole Foods store on Duke Street in Alexandria (area code 703) and after our trip to Maryland, the Deke and I sat at the horseshoe counter of the little pub and I enjoyed a 10 oz. 471 Double IPA from Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado. The 471 weighs in at 9.8 ABV and so I sipped on my snifter very slowly and enjoyed 471's wide range of flavors and its warm booziness seemed to make me glow.
2. We enjoyed lunch at The New Deal Cafe, a Mediterranean restaurant and cultural hub, in Roosevelt Center in the old part of Greenbelt. I very much enjoyed my Shawarma Platter, marinated roasted beef, served with tahini sauce, lettuce & tomato wrapped in pita with a green salad and really flavorful white rice on the side.
3. So far, the best place I've found to sit and have a beer is the Whole Foods store on Duke Street in Alexandria (area code 703) and after our trip to Maryland, the Deke and I sat at the horseshoe counter of the little pub and I enjoyed a 10 oz. 471 Double IPA from Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado. The 471 weighs in at 9.8 ABV and so I sipped on my snifter very slowly and enjoyed 471's wide range of flavors and its warm booziness seemed to make me glow.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/23/14: Accident Anniversary, Modem Gone, Learning to Read
1. On July 23, 1973, forty-one years ago today, at the Bunker Hill Zinc Plant in Kellogg, Idaho, I fell to the bottom of a flash roaster filled with sulfur dioxide gas and dust from zinc and other minerals and survived the accident. I posted on Facebook that today was the anniversary of this accident and asked anyone who read the post that I would be raising a toast today to my good fortune that I'm still here
and have lived so many years after coming so close to losing it all. For anyone reading this blog post, if this anniversary is news to you and if
you happen to be having a drink today, whether it's water, an excellent
beer, or anything else, please raise your glass toward where I live in Virginia, raise it to the sky, and say, "Cheers!"
I'll love that.
2. I got a few more things taken care of involving our move from Eugene. Ha! Century Link doesn't want their old crappy modem/router back and I don't have to box it up and so I can get rid of it. I don't know why that pleased me so much -- I guess getting rid of it is less hassle.
3. I drove north to Potomac Yards today and bought three novels: The Moviegoer, Great Expectations, and Crime and Punishment. I haven't been reading much and I have quite a bit of time to read these days and these are novels that I've always wanted to read, especially because I won't be reading them for professional reasons: no thoughts about "how to teach them" or about literary criticism or theory or any of those m natters I've retired from. I really want to learn how to read all over again, in a way, for its own sake, not for the sake of the profession I retired from.
I'll love that.
2. I got a few more things taken care of involving our move from Eugene. Ha! Century Link doesn't want their old crappy modem/router back and I don't have to box it up and so I can get rid of it. I don't know why that pleased me so much -- I guess getting rid of it is less hassle.
3. I drove north to Potomac Yards today and bought three novels: The Moviegoer, Great Expectations, and Crime and Punishment. I haven't been reading much and I have quite a bit of time to read these days and these are novels that I've always wanted to read, especially because I won't be reading them for professional reasons: no thoughts about "how to teach them" or about literary criticism or theory or any of those m natters I've retired from. I really want to learn how to read all over again, in a way, for its own sake, not for the sake of the profession I retired from.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Three Beautiful Things 07/22/14: No GPS, Rare Hair Day, Chefs Hiram and The Deke
1. I don't use GPS (yet). I still read maps, write myself out directions on little memo pads I carry. I don't sweat getting lost and with memory and a developing sense of where I am, work to find my way to where I'm going. It's inefficient. But it sticks. I "wasted" some time today going to a branch of the United States Senate Federal Credit Union to do some banking, but the payoff was pretty good. I wandered around, learned more about Alexandria, and I (eventually) got to where I wanted to go, both coming and going.
2. On my GPS-free meandering around Alexandria, just for the hell of it, I drove to Kingstowne Center and discovered a Safeway, which was convenient since we needed some groceries for dinner. I bought one round of groceries, took them to the car, and realized I didn't buy chicken, my primary reason for going to Safeway in the first place. When I bought the chicken, something very rare happened. The cashier was momentarily struck dumb and then she said, "You have such beautiful hair!" It was my turn to be struck dumb. I blushed and thanked her. I didn't know I could enjoy such a compliment so much.
3. The Deke marinated the chicken and Hiram took over the cooking chores and we had a crazy delicious simple dinner of chicken breast, the tastiest mashed potatoes I've ever eaten, and a green salad. I could get used to this: bring home food, it gets cooked, and Hiram, Molly, the Deke, and I enjoy a splendid dinner. (Olivia and David eat their own things, dictated by their much narrower tastes....)
2. On my GPS-free meandering around Alexandria, just for the hell of it, I drove to Kingstowne Center and discovered a Safeway, which was convenient since we needed some groceries for dinner. I bought one round of groceries, took them to the car, and realized I didn't buy chicken, my primary reason for going to Safeway in the first place. When I bought the chicken, something very rare happened. The cashier was momentarily struck dumb and then she said, "You have such beautiful hair!" It was my turn to be struck dumb. I blushed and thanked her. I didn't know I could enjoy such a compliment so much.
3. The Deke marinated the chicken and Hiram took over the cooking chores and we had a crazy delicious simple dinner of chicken breast, the tastiest mashed potatoes I've ever eaten, and a green salad. I could get used to this: bring home food, it gets cooked, and Hiram, Molly, the Deke, and I enjoy a splendid dinner. (Olivia and David eat their own things, dictated by their much narrower tastes....)
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