Westport Library Sale

As I wrote yesterday, I wanted to go to the Westport Library Book Sale today. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. The sale is usually more expansive over several tents. I was surprised today to see the sale was inside. 

I bought four books for $4. 

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: I've heard about this book for years

Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster: I used to read Jen's blog. This is her first of many memoirs.

Klee Text by Robert Fisher; Edited by Theodore Reff: I had never heard of Klee until a few years ago. This was a small book in the same series as a book I have on Van Gogh, so I picked it up.

The Audubon Society Pocket Guides Familiar Birds of North America Eastern Region Edited by Ann H. Whitman. I love birds and welcome the chance to identify different types.

Memorial Day Weekend

As I have probably written here dozens of times, I don't like to travel on holiday weekends. I can do without extra traffic and crowds. 

I understand this Memorial Day is special for many people--the first, almost post-pandemic holiday. Unfortunately the weather is extreme in parts of the country--here in the New York City area, we have record cold and rain. We didn't go to DPF and had to postpone meeting a relative, which involved an outdoor meeting. No biggie, it's not like we planned a vacation. 

Today I did some cleaning and cooking. For lunch, I made chicken soup from the broth I  made the other day. We had duck breast with fruit sauce and vegetable medley for dinner. I asked myself why I made a potentially messy dinner after thoroughly cleaning the stovetop today.

I also started on a story for my writing class. We don't meet this Monday because of the holiday, but it's nice to have an idea of what I'm writing. Our assignment is to write a one-page monologue or story about some kind of theater ghost. 

The Westport Fine Arts Festival is this weekend. The organizers seem to be cursed. Last year they changed the day from sometime in July (after a series of 90-plus degree Festival weekends) to May. Of course, Covid-19 ruined any in-person festivals last spring/summer. This year they have record cold. I'm not tempted to attend this year based on the cold, but I learned yesterday that the Westport Library book sale is also this weekend. I enjoyed the Pequot Library book sale so much. I'm willing to brave the cold for more books.

What's Been Happening

For the past three weeks, we've been dealing with household problems, specifically a leak in our bathroom ceiling. I don't want to write much about it, but it was frustrating: we had to fight with our management company to get the problem resolved. The ceiling was finally repaired this week.

Jeff's back at physical therapy, which was postponed because of issues with his insurance. I've been taking care of my own health to-do's (one item left.)

I mentioned that I've transitioned out of a job. I've been purging work-related books and papers. I'm not quite finished with the process; I had accumulated a lot of material. I've also purged my mother's old financial records. I have to take them to get shredded. 

I've been thinking about my food shopping habits and expenses. The pandemic has changed the way I shop. I'm also at least trying to be more frugal. This week for the first time I bought frozen vegetables. I wasn't crazy about some of the combos available. I got broccoli florets and a combination of greens. I had my most expensive shopping trip in a while because I stocked up on chicken and other things I needed for specific planned meals, as well as paper and cleaning products. 

I'm back in a cooking mode. I tried a new recipe with lentils, sweet potatoes, and spinach that we liked (though it was too watery and had even used one fewer cup of broth than the recipe indicated.) Today, I made a batch of bison chili. I'm also planning to make a carrot ginger soup. 

Bad news for Lola. Yesterday she was running across a field to Jeff, yelped, and stopped short. At first I thought she had stepped on a thorn or something. Unfortunately, it was more serious--a cruciate ligament. She's on pain pills and is moving slowly. Our poor baby. 

Transitions

There are certain times of year that are ripe for transition: New Year's Days, the starts of new school years, birthdays, and anniversaries.

I'm dealing with several transitions. The most shallow is the transition from winter to summer clothes. With temperatures flirting with the 90's last weekend,  I finally put my winter boots and shoes in storage under the bed. I moved summer clothes from the second to the master bedroom, and winter clothes in the reverse direction. 

I tried on several skirts and pairs of pants and bagged a few for Goodwill. I chose a skirt and blouse to wear for my birthday dinner. I even gave myself a pedicure, but I didn't have polish and my buffer didn't work well. At least my feet were improved. 

I got my car washed after (I think) a year and a half. My usual carwash still isn't offering interior cleaning, which my car really needed. The next day I went to another carwash for an interior wash. They didn't get out all of the dust and Lola's hair, but the car looked much better. By today, the car is covered in pollen and bird droppings. Maybe that's why I don't wash my car all that often. 

Onto more important transitions: Jeff and I have noticed that Lola is slowing down, becoming more lethargic, napping more frequently. We think Lola is 10, so we thought age was just slowing her down. Unfortunately, it's more serious than that. Her heart murmur is louder, and she had more toxins in her kidneys. We're dealing with the heart murmur first.

I'm officially unemployed/retired from test prep teaching/tutoring now. I haven't written about it here, but have been journaling about it, and I'm still processing it. I didn't want to tutor online because the platform didn't offer face-to-face interaction with students. I didn't think I could be effective. After a year not teaching, I would have to be retrained and rehired. I said forget it. I can go on full Social Security in a few months. It's a big change. 

One day recently, I woke up and thought about my day, and asked is this the rest of my life?

As I wrote in a recent post, I need to decide on what writing I want to focus. Figure out where I'm going to write, as well as what I'm going to write. 

This is my chance. 

Reread: Katherine by Anya Seton

I read this book long ago--about 25 or 30 years ago. I didn't remember too much about it, but I liked it. When I saw it at the Pequot Library book sale, I decided to buy and reread it especially since I've read more English history lately.

This time around my reaction is meh. I got sick of hearing how beautiful Katherine was, over and over and over. The author in her note mentioned that she was not exaggerating Katherine's beauty, but I was still stick of reading about it. 

I also thought Katherine was whiny and John angry and jealous: not good traits for the principals of "the classic love story of medieval England" as the cover proclaims. 

Maybe I'll read Alison Weir's history of the couple.

On Writing Goals

Yesterday a friend asked me if I was writing. I wish I could have answered yes, without a "but" or a "well." 

My writing class is continuing. I thought Monday might have been the last class but I was wrong. Homework for next Monday is a story up to 850 words about auditions for a community theater production. I got an idea for the main character almost immediately. I wrote 386 words so far (most of them yesterday.) Today I got the idea to have three or four point-of-view characters. It will be hard to do in 850 words. But I'll see what I can do. I haven't tried multiple POV's in years except for one specific assignment.

I had an idea this month to review all of my story ideas/partial stories/memoirs, etc. to decide what I should work on. Now's the time for me to make a serious effort to write. Well, I haven't gotten around to that. 

I need to stop fooling around and procrastinating. I remember this from the last episode of  Roseanne (otherwise a bad episode) "Dreams don't work without action." 

The Godfather Films

Last month I watched the three Godfather movies. I recorded The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, unsure of what it was (Godfather III reedited on its 30th anniversary.) I saw part of the original, then watched Coda, then the rest of the original, and finally Godfather II. Wish I had watched them in sequence. At least  I'll write about them in sequence.

The Godfather

It's currently Number Two on the American Film Institute's (AFI) list of the greatest American films of all time. It's an excellent movie, though it's never been one of my favorites. Rewatching made me appreciate the film more: it's really well structured. The opening scenes show how the undertaker feels betrayed by the American justice system despite his allegiance to American ideals. The juxtaposition between the wedding celebration and the requests to the Don is excellent. The set up is copied in the later films, but they lack the tradition that no Sicilian can ever refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day. The setting also gives a good introduction to all the characters. 

Juxtaposition is also important to the scenes of the baptism of Connie and Carlo's baby cut with acts of the Corleone family's revenge. 

The final shot of the film is beautiful as Michael's wife Kay is shut out of his life as the new Godfather.

The Godfather Part Two

I enjoyed how the focus changed from the internal workings of the family in the first film to the family's relations with exterior entities in the sequel, especially the US and Cuban governments. In comparison to the first film, which reinforces the cohesion of the family, this film shows the disintegration.

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

This movie is unfairly maligned. Yes, it's weaker than the first two films. Michael's involvement with the Vatican is an interesting angle, especially as he finds corruption in the Vatican. Remember in The Godfather he implied that Kay was naive when she said Presidents and Senators don't have men killed. 

The weakness in this film can be attributed to two characters: B.J. Harrison and Mary Corleone. B.J., played by George Hamilton, is Michael's lawyer.  He doesn't make much of an impression; he's just there. Apparently the studio wouldn't meet Robert Duvall's salary demands, and he was written out of the script. Duvall's Tom Hagen is sorely missed. He is not just another lawyer; he's a part of the Corleone family.

Moving on to Sofia Coppola and Mary Corleone, I have an unpopular opinion. The problem isn't the actress, it's the character. She serves no purpose in the film other than to create conflict between her father Michael and her cousin Vincent. She awkwardly flirts with Vincent, then--poof-- they're suddenly in love. I could buy she has a crush on her older cousin, but what does he see in her? At one point, Michael tells Mary she has a big heart. We never see that on the screen. It's also unbelievable that she is so nonchalant about a romance with her first cousin. I'm glad she died in case they do a Godfather IV. 

A Photo Post

 Here are some good things to help me forget my last post.  I took these photos of an egret on Lola's (designated) birthday on Wednesday.

On Tuesday on the NRVT from Sharp Hill Road to Skunk Lane, I saw this plant growing through a space in a bench. 

We returned to Oyster Shell today and saw a boy beagle, a bunny, ground hogs, egrets, swans, and cormorants. Once again, I missed getting a photo of an egret in flight. I also tried to get a photo of an egret and two cormorants,  and a pic of the bunny, but no luck. 

Moods

On Thursday, I realized that something had changed for me: I was feeling pretty good. The things that usually annoy me (e.g. Lola trying to roll in something unsavory) didn't. I didn't let those little things bother me. It felt like a breakthrough of sorts. 

The good feelings extended into yesterday, then evaporated with another water problem relating to the neighbor above us. Jeff first noticed a problem Wednesday and reported it to the super. I went to see the super yesterday because the problem got worse. Last night I realized we have rusty water leaking into our tub. 

I need to think of good things. 

Uppity Women of Medieval Times by Vicki Leon

I ended up reading this book--a Christmas present--in bits and pieces between other books. It's a series of thumbnail sketches about medieval women. I previously read two of the Uppity Women books. I feel the same way about this one. While I find some of the subjects interesting, I don't like the author's style. She seems to think she is funny and clever: I don't agree. 

I ultimately decided not to include this book in my list of books read--it's more like a series of short magazine articles. 

Thoughts on Oyster Shell Park

Last Thursday as Lola and I walked around Oyster Shell Park, I realized that I have come to think of Oyster Shell as my park. I guess I should say our park. The last time I remember going to Oyster Shell without Lola was two years ago: Jeff and I went to a craft beer tasting. 

I like that Oyster Shell is within walking distance, though I usually don't walk there. I love that the lower path is along the Norwalk River. I like to watch the rowers on the river. I like to look for the various animals at Oyster Shell: groundhogs, rabbits, the many birds (seagulls, swans, red-winged blackbirds, egrets, and hawks.)

Here are some recent photos from Oyster Shell: 

The only downside is one side borders I-95, and the hum or roar of traffic is always present. Yet the park, for the most part, remains a relaxing place for a stroll.