2018: The Good

This has been a rough year. I failed at all of my goals except one.

Let's not write about the bad. Here's a post with the good of 2018.

Jeff and I paid off our mortgage--a benefit of staying put, I guess.

Jeff and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. 

I got three raises in my tutoring, teaching, and proctoring rates.

I took a free writing class. It helped me write (deadlines!) and I enjoyed being with and listening to other writers. 

I guess that's it. Pretty pitiful.

1-3-19 Edited to add: I brought a newish car. That's another positive for the year. 

This is Why I Watch...

...Vanderpump Rules.

I spent most of Sunday wrapping presents and packing things up for our visit to relatives. After eating dinner and washing the dishes, Jeff and I watched Outlander.

The latest episode wasn't light or sentimental Christmas fare. It was a relief to turn to a special Sunday night Vanderpump Rules afterward.

After we learn that Jax and his fiancee Brittany want to start a beer cheese company, we were treated to this talking head/interview with Jax Taylor:

Jax: "I know what it takes to run a business."

Interviewer: "So what does it take to runs a business?"

Jax: "I mean, after saying that, I really don't know."

Next scene Jax googles "how to sell food."

I laughed out loud: needed that bit of humor.

Christmas Visits and Home Again

Yesterday I took Lola for a walk from Mathews to Oyster Shell Parks to get in her exercise as Jeff packed up the car. We stopped at my mother's for a brief visit before we went to see Jeff's mother for a Christmas Eve lunch.

Next we went to Jeff's sister's for a Christmas Eve dinner. We've been going there for several years, except this time it was a new location. Melissa and Karl had sold their Ridgefield house earlier this month, and we celebrated Christmas in their short term rental in Waccabuc, New York. We stayed overnight and opened gifts in the morning. Around noon we headed to meet my mother, brother, and sister-in-law for lunch.

We got home around 4 this afternoon. We were only gone a day, but I was happy to get home again. Jeff thought Lola seemed more comfortable too. We settled down to watch Christmas in Connecticut and The Man Who Came to Dinner

I wrote earlier about being a Scrooge and/or Grinch. I scrolled through some earlier Christmas posts, and well, they're not exactly full of Christmas cheer. I seem to let stress overshadow celebration.

Christmases will be changing. Melissa and Karl will be moving probably to North Carolina. Our niece is engaged. No one is sure who will be where. Jeff and I will have to make new traditions.

Happy Festivus

From Frank Costanza:

"As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way...But out of that, a new holiday was born: a Festivus for the rest of us."

Frank finds tinsel distracting. Hence the pole.

Last year I bought two Festivus kits: one for Jeff and one for my brother.

"The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people. And now you're going to hear about it."

Let's hope for the Festivus miracles!

Remembering Spike

He's been on my mind a lot lately. Probably because this day was approaching. Spike died three years ago today.

This will be my 167th post featuring Spike.

He was a huge part of our lives for 13 years.

We still miss him.

Spike was fun, social, loving. He was a great traveler: Spike visited Plymouth, Charleston, New York City, St. Simon, Hilton Head, Stuart, Florida, Sea Isle City, New Jersey, Woodstock, Vermont. and more.

He's been to a museum, art galleries, wineries, restaurants as well as parks.

We miss you. We love you Spike.

Darkest Day of the Year

Today is the Winter Solstice. I always thought of it as the shortest day of the year. That's not accurate: the darkest day is more precise. After all, the number of hours in the day don't change; the hours of daylight change.

It was a dark, dreary, rainy day. When I first took Lola out this morning, the ground was already saturated. Puddles were everywhere. Around noon I noticed that the rain had ebbed. I took Lola for a neighborhood walk.

CNN broadcasters alluded to the darkest day of the Trump administration. I'd say every day is a dark day in Trumpland.

One Week to Christmas

I'm not ready.

I have no Christmas spirit.

I'm tired.

I'm a Scrooge, Grinch, etc. (My friend Elaine said that the Grinch ended up having a pretty good Christmas. Will I? I did last year.)

Finalizing our Christmas Eve plans. Figuring what dessert we'll make.

I'm waiting for some online purchases to be delivered. Finalizing a shopping list based on finalizing our dessert choices.

I can do this.

What I'm Watching

New Seasons:

Outlander: I liked the first two episodes, but the next two were lackluster. I want to know more about the skull with silver filings (when will that be explained) but I don't particularly care about Jamie's son. Now I'm afraid Brianna will end up on the ship with the pirate that abused and robbed her parents.

Vanderpump Rules: This is my guilty pleasure but they didn't bring it in the first two episodes: Jax and Brittany got engaged; James is an asshole. Whatever.

Top Chef: enjoying the first two episodes though it's too early to know the individual chefs.

On Netflix: we liked the second season of Jessica Jones, and got through about half of The Last Kingdom's second season. We now have Hulu and watched a few episodes of The Handmaid's Tale. Chilling.

A new limited series we're watching is Escape from Dannemora. I had read about it beforehand and wanted to watch it particularly for Patricia Arquette. Saturday I watched a two-hour documentary on the escape--interesting to compare the two.

Saturday night we caught the film, The Death of Stalin, although we'd never heard of it before. Once I got over the idea of Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev, I enjoyed it. Simon Russell Beale, who played Lavrenti Beria, looked more like Khrushchev. It reminded me of the casting of Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII. Buscemi is more believable as Khrushchev than Rhys Meyers is as Henry. I couldn't accept Rhys Meyers' Henry.

Yesterday I half-watched The Best Years of Our Lives and It Happened One Night as I cleaned. Best Years is a classic that I never get tired of. It Happened One Night is a fun screwball comedy. Let's just forget the line, "What she needs is a guy that'd take a sock her once a day, whether it's coming to her or not," per IMDB. I like Colbert, but wonder what Bette Davis would have done with the part.

Walking with Lola

Several years ago I wrote an essay, "Walking the Dog" about walking with Spike. I included it in this book my memoir workshop produced. (That's Jeff's and my wedding picture in the middle of the cover; I also included my piece "The Limo from Hell" in the collection.)

Until six months ago, walking with Lola had been much different. From the beginning, we saw that Lola was more comfortable outside than inside. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that Lola was afraid to walk on the streets.

She was so scared that at first we had to carry her outside just to pee. After about two weeks, we started to take her to parks to get her some exercise.

I felt bad for Lola. Spike usually had three, sometimes four walks a day, including some dog park visits. Lola usually got one park visit (if she were lucky--two.) Otherwise, she didn't walk, except to the back lawn.

There were a few times when Lola walked about a block's length along the sidewalk. But these were isolated incidents, and she didn't seem to progress.

Suddenly there was a breakthrough. It may sound like melodramatic hyperbole to say this changed my life, but it did...in a way.

For one thing, Lola can get a good walk without going to a park (though we usually do take Lola to a park or trail.) I enjoy walking around the neighborhood, checking out the changes, but mostly meeting the other dogs such as Dylan and Bishop. I'm especially fond of a beagle mix named Ruby. Ruby loves Lola and pulls on her leash when she sees Lola. They look adorable as they walk down the street together.

Lola still gets spooked by loud noises: unfortunately she tries to run into the street--not a good response. Lola doesn't like to walk in the dark. But overall, I'm happy with her progress and love our neighborhood walks.

A Rewatch: Salt of the Earth

I once tried to explain to one of my nephews how different it was to watch old movies when I was young: no cable, no DVD's. As someone who loves old movies, I was frustrated that I could usually only catch them late at night. Then there was the time my mother let me stay home from school to watch The Letter, a Bette Davis movie I was dying to see. Only a good student could get away with that.

I was happy to find that my college screened several old movies. I remember a poster for a Marx Brothers movie listing Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, Karl.

I think I saw The Salt of the Earth as part of my American Studies film course. We watched films from the 30's, 40's, and 50's, including A Night at the Opera, Citizen Kane, The Best Years of Our Lives, Pillow Talk. For the record, I loved all but the last.

Tonight Jeff and I re-watched The Salt of the Earth. I loved it. The men were so reluctant to trust their strike to the women, even when it was the only way to succeed.

Maybe it wasn't realistic to think that bosses wouldn't plow through women strikers in their cars. Maybe it wasn't realistic that police officers would be cowed by women screaming for the formula.

I still loved it.

Book Eighteen: The Book of the Dead

The finale of the Diogenes trilogy is a doozy.

Plots within plots within plots (a la Dune) describe this book.

There's a plot within the FBI/prison authorities to break Aloysius Pendergast in his high security prison.

There's a plot to break Aloysius out of that prison.

There's Diogenes' revenge plot that is intricate, long term, and ultimately lethal. Of course, Diogenes also has subplots and back-up plans.

The gala opening of a new exhibit at the museum mirrors a similar plot line of Relic. As you're reading, you know it will be a disaster, even worse than the Relic disaster, because Diogenes is behind it. You also know that Aloysius will somehow come through again with the help of Vincent D'Agosta, Laura Hayward, and Bill Smithback.

More on Dance of Death

Can't believe I forgot to mention the return of  Eli Glinn from The Ice Limit in my post about Dance of Death the other night.

Pendergast hires Eli and Effective Engineering Solutions to find his brother. Glinn's office is somber and impersonal, except for a photograph of a woman who has to be Sally Britton (also from The Ice Limit.) Oh, what could have been. Glinn also appears in the epilogue to Dance of Death with a plan to break Pendergast out of prison.

I was intrigued by a brief mention of Corrie Swanson from Still Life with Crows. I hope she's safe.

Book 17: Dance of Death

My brother lent me three more Preston and Child books: Brimstone, Dance of Death, and Book of the Dead. I didn't realize it, but these books make up the Diogenes Trilogy. FYI, eleven of the books I read this year are by Preston and Child.

Last night around eight, I realized that I had about 120 pages left in Dance of Death. I wanted to finish the book and settled down with a cup of tea on the couch. When I got into bed later, I still had about 40 pages left.I tried to keep reading, but kept dozing off. I decided to finish the chapter, but couldn't even finish the page and gave up. I finished the book this morning. Almost immediately, I was compelled to start the last in the trilogy--The Book of the Dead .

Brimstone had ended with most of its characters believing that FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast was dead. But who was the mysterious man with two different colored eyes who took a brick from the wall that imprisoned Pendergast in an Italian castle?

Spoiler alert: it was Pendergast's brother Diogenes, as revealed in Dance of Death. Diogenes is driven by intense hatred of his brother. Diogenes saved Aloysius only to crush him later. He didn't fully succeed in killing all of those close to Aloysius, but it's Aloysius who ends up in FBI custody for a murder that Diogenes committed at the end of Dance of Death. 

Second spoiler alert: I was bummed about the supposed death of Margo Green from Relic and Reliquary. Luckily Margo survived; Aloysius got her to a private clinic to recover: a fake-out reminiscent of George RR Martin.

November Review

November was a rough month for me.

It started well; I joked that I started the month one-for-one with gym visits. Actually I made it two-for-two. And then I made one more visit the next week. That was it for working out. I actually thought I was getting back on track.

Trying to recreate the month by this blog, my appointment book, and my journal. I had a few tutoring appointments, work getting my mother's apartment in order. My cousins visited.

On the 12th, I started to get sick.That lasted for two weeks. After the first week, I found out I had bronchitis. I stayed in for almost a week. Bronchitis overshadowed the whole month.

When I finally went out, I found that it was exhausting. I remember my first walk with Jeff and Lola. It was on the Norwalk River Valley Trail: an easy walk. I was tired after 20 minutes. On the full hour walk I sat on benches along the trail several times. I took a 15-minute nap when I got home. This taught me that I had to take it easy. And I still am.

November wasn't a complete loss. We released my mother's apartment back to the company (even if I wasn't present at the official surrender.) I also managed to post here every day in November. I ended the month on a good note. I got a referral for a tutorial with six hours this week and another 12 in the next eight weeks. Otherwise, it would have been a bad cash-flow month.

Nice to have something unexpected turn out to be good,

Book 16: Brimstone

Back to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child books: Brimstone.

 Brimstone starts with a mysterious death on a Long Island estate: a scorched body, the smell of sulfur, a hoof print singed into the floor. More deaths follow. Can it be true that men made a pact with the devil and he's come to extract his payment?

Luckily FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast is on the case with an assist from Vincent D'Agosta and Laura Hayward.

Another page-turner. Preston and Child books normally have short chapters--that makes it easy to keep reading. Chapters alternate between several points-of-view. I enjoy the different perspectives, but damn, there are times I want to get back to someone in danger. Suspense!