Asbestos Gone

The basement work was completed Wednesday, though we could not go down until today.  The floors look strange with no tiles.  We were unable to use our AC yesterday, despite a high of 88 F.  It was a very warm house.  We clicked it back on today around noon, and should have a more comfortable night tonight.  Today a man came and took the asbestos from the water pipes in the garage.  So we are all done.  We have some flooring put back down, but will need to do more later.  Tomorrow the furniture gets carried back down from the garage.  After that, the unpacking of books can commence.

It was also up to 88 F today, with 90 coming up tomorrow.  No humidity build up yet; that should also arrive tomorrow.  We should be able to takes things easy once the furniture is back downstairs.

This week we watched two films on the holiday theme.  Tuesday night we watched Mr. Hulot's Holiday, one of the great comedy movies of all time.  Made it 1953, it pays homage to silent film greats like Buster Keaton, Charles Chaplin, and especially the great Harold Lloyd.  We have seen the movie about 6 or 7 times now, and always enjoy watching it this time of year.

 A classic French comedy film from 1953, a favourite of ours.

Tonight we watched Deb's movie selection, another comedy, though much darker.  Last Holiday stars Alec Guinness, Beatrice Campbell, and several other wonderful British actors.  Guinness is mistakenly told by his doctor that he has only weeks to live.  He quits his job, takes out his savings, and heads for a posh hotel in Pinebourne to celebrate the remaining days of his life.  From a story or play by J. B. Priestly, the humour is pretty dark, as is the ending.  It's fun watching all the great actors interacting, with everyone tied up in their own little world, and Guinness (Mr. George Bird) helping them along the way.  This is a real find, and a classic sleeper film.

 Deb's film choice, a British comedy from 1950. 

This weekend marks our third monthly film festival, with selections from the Criterion Channel.  It's my pick again (two months ago I chose the 3 Medici films by Rosselini), and I have selected three films by Wim Wenders.  More about those films later in the weekend.

Mapman Mike

What's In The Basement?

Well, at the moment not very much.  A lot of things are currently stored in the garage, as tomorrow is asbestos removal day at Lone Mtn. Homestead.  Randy G. came by to help me this morning, taking the bulkier and heavier items up the stairs into the garage.  Thursday we will put down some basic flooring in two of the four rooms, and begin to carry back some of the smaller items.  Friday Jennifer G. will slide by to help me carry the bulky items back down, and then the weekend will be spent unpacking and putting boxed items back where they go.  This is mostly books, but also Deb's stop motion set up.  At least the basement is a cool place to work in summer.

We are heading over to Detroit shortly, to pick up some mail.  We will also visit our friendly Yemeni coffee house, a Turkish candy and nut store, and finish up at Brew Detroit, a very cool taproom.  A fun afternoon lies ahead!

Deb's film choice from Criterion last week was a Japanese film from 1996 called Supermarket Woman.  It was a fluffy and pretty silly feel good comedy about a small supermarket trying to compete with Demon Dan's Discount Groceries, just opened in the neighbourhood.  It had its moments, and the two lead were perfectly suited to their roles.  We are also continuing to watch short films related to last week's The Color of Pomegranates.  We still have a few more to go.  My film choice for this week is Mr. Hulot's Holiday, a perennial favourite around here.

 A stunningly visual film, certainly worth seeing.

 Supermarket Woman, a fluffy comedy from Japan.  

Mapman Mike

Summer Solstice Outing

We took a day trip along the north shore of Lake Erie as far as Eagle, a small hamlet that features a lakeside park and hiking trail, as well as a brewery and taproom.  We met up with Jennifer and her son Aston at the pub, then followed them back towards her grandmother's house on the lake.  It went up for sale Friday.

The day was the most perfect weather day we have had so far this year, with sunshine and temps in the mid 70s.  As a result, several of the photos turned out spectacularly.  Without further discussion, I will present some of them here and now.

 Lake Erie, from Port Alma.

 The beach near Big Creek.  Most of Lake Erie's beaches are gone, submerged by record high water.

 Beach spine.

 We visited a few cemeteries along the route, which was Highway #3.

 Morpeth Cemetery.

 Morpeth Cemetery.  This couple was born in 1759.  That's three years after Mozart...

 Another cemetery, just a bit further along.  This one has a memorial to Canadian poet Archibald Lampman, who grew up near here.

 Deb (in sling) explores the cemetery grounds.  Lake Erie is behind me--see next photo.

Sometimes Highway 3 cruises right beside the lake; at other times it is a miles or so away.

 Roadside attraction.

 The bluffs, seen from Clearville Park

 An overwhelmed boat launch, Clearville Park.

 The hiking trail at Eagle.

 Eagle Beach is gone, and the lake cannot be accessed any longer.  The cliffs are also eroding and falling into the lake.

Summer Solstice sunset, from the park across from our house, showing the Detroit River at about 9:30 pm.

Mapman Mike

More Fascinating Discussion

Two more days until Summer Solstice!!  It is supposed to be dry and sunny.  We are planning a day-long drive along the north shore of Lake Erie, at least as far as Eagle, which has a lovely park with a bluff overlooking the lake, and stairs leading down to the water.  The lake is at record high water level, so we may find the beach gone.  There are several small towns to explore along the way, which we have not visited in many years.  There is also a small brewery and taproom in Eagle, if we get there around 4 pm, when it opens.

Deb has two more weeks in the arm sling, which is really becoming a pain.  She gets out of it 4x each day, but only for a few minutes.  I know she is not missing the cooking, nor the dishwasher loading!

I was expecting four students today; one showed up!  The lessons are paid for, so I gained some practice time and easy money.  Teaching is now done until the summer session begins.  It will be a very light summer for that, with only one full time student.

My movie choice for this week brought us into the 1960s avant-garde.  "The Colour of Pomegranates," a Russian film from the 1960s.  Meant to illuminate historical Armenian culture, the movie is not really a movie at all, but rather a series of tableaux, sometimes static and sometimes moving.  There is virtually no dialogue.  There is music, lots of colourful costume,s and pomegranate juice flowing.  It is supposed to be a symbolic biography of Sayat-Nova, an Armenian poet.  With virtually no background, we were impressed by the visuals, but left rather empty by it all otherwise.  The occasional lines of poetry are uninspired at best, and largely not very moving or original.  A number of short films accompany the main feature, and I will report back after watching these.  There is also a full-length feature with added commentary, from 2017.  However, in my opinion, if the film requires overlaid commentary, then it has not succeeded in its mission.

We also began watching a series of short nature films by French director Jean Painleve, mostly underwater.  Kind of an early Jacques Cousteau.  The earliest is from 1928, and they go on into the 1970s.  Criterion has a lot, if not most, of his short features.  We watched a Sea Urchins one from the 1950s, in colour and narrated.

Before turning to some amazing landscape paintings in the collection of the DIA, I wish to indulge my readers with one more eccentric depiction of landscape art.  It also gives a nod to a favourite city, Vienna.

Tea and Coffee Service, c. 1804.  Vienna Porcelain Factory.

Views are of Pavlovsk Palace and Park, near St. Petersburg.

 Detail of the tray.

The teapot!!

Coffee can and saucer.

Detail of coffee pot.

Milk jug detail.  

Of course a highlight of any visit to Vienna is to take coffee at one of many fine, historic places.  However, I would be just as happy to stay home and use this service set!

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

A Sunday Outing

For the 2nd Sunday in a row, we have ventured to Windsor to visit a pub.  Sandwich Town Brewing Co. brews 7 ales, and I had a sampler of 4.  I also bought a flight log passport, my key to visiting 13 city and county brewpubs and distilleries.  For $25 you get a flight at each location, and a passport stamp.  Today's flight would have cost me $9, so I will soon have come out ahead in this deal.  In addition, I get a $20 beer mat once my passport is full.  A new summer project!

We walked along the river afterwards.  It was cool, misty and foggy, a very unusual day for mid-June.  We had heavy rain on Thursday but I managed to get the grass cut on Friday.  It rained 1/2" today, so we are quite water-logged.  Some of the roads are in the early stages of flooding, and many houses in our area are at risk.  All of the ditches are full, and getting worse.  The Detroit River is so high that the major rivers flowing into it are backing up.  That includes the small creek (which would be called a river in New Mexico) that cuts through our back yard.

 A Great Lakes steel freighter heads up the Detroit River.

 Ambassador Bridge leading to Detroit.

 The freighter begins to pass a foggy downtown Detroit.

 The local geese don't seem to mind the high water.  This is usually a beach.

Foggy view towards Detroit.  

Being Fathers' Day, I received an e-mail card from a one-armed Deb.  Don't know how she did it!  I have been father to five cats, three turtles, and assorted birds, mice, and lizards.  I deserve a card.

My card references my new skills at using an air fryer.  It's not

rocket science, but I can still do it.

Deb's movie selection for this week was an older English charmer called "Green Grow The Rushes," named after a famous folk song.  It features great performances from Richard Burton, Honor Blackman (appearing especially vivacious) and Roger Livesey, along with other British actors easily recognizable from other movies and even a TV series.  The plot is similar to "Whiskey Galore," another favourite old film of mine.  The film contains the only melancholy version of Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" that I have ever heard!

A light film from 1951, but certainly worth a look.

Deb also selected a short film from Criterion, called Kaiju Bunraku, a 13 minute film in traditional bunraku style about a couple living under the threat of Mothra!  Certainly a bit different.

Mapman Mike 

 

2 Weeks for Deb

Time is flying past--Deb is now two weeks into her healing from shoulder surgery.  She has to wear the sling for three more weeks, and then begin her physio therapy program.  So I need to cook for three more weeks!  Actually, Deb is able to do quite a few things now all on her own, such as get dressed and undressed.  Progress!  Her medical check up on Wednesday was routine, and we were in and out of the hospital in 75 minutes (time spent with doctor about 5 minutes).  She will see her surgeon once more in three months, at his office.

Yesterday Randy G. stopped by with his power saw, to cut a board beneath our basement workbench.  This will give the asbestos removal folks better access to the floor in that area.  Randy also stayed for coffee.  On Sunday he is heading to Toronto for the national meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society.  He is being presented with an award for his years of service to the Windsor club, especially for his public outreach efforts.  This is a very well deserved reward, and Deb and I would be there if it wasn't for the surgery thing.  Congratulations to Randy!!

And now back to landscape art at the DIA.  I have been examining many types of media, including tapestries, paintings, prints, and drawings.  I turn now to a couple of wonderful and very colourful enamel plates from the mid-1500s, from Italy.  These are amazing, and as they do not seem to tell a story, they appear to have been created just for the pleasure of showing two beautiful landscapes.

 Plate, between 1555-1575.  Italian.  9" diameter.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

 Detail of above. 

  Plate, between 1555-1575.  Italian.  9" diameter.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

 Detail of above.  

These plates make me happy, and I would love to own a pair like this.  I would eat every bite of my dinner so that I could enjoy the scenes afterwards!  Beautiful work!

In other news, I am reading J. G. Ballard's Crash: A Novel.  I feel that badges or award stickers should be given out to readers who complete this work.  Very strange stuff, and not for those who like their novels light and fluffy.  Books like this can give pornography a bad name.  Seriously.

Mapman Mike

Japanese New Wave

Tomorrow is Deb's 2nd post-surgical milestone, when she sees her surgeon for a follow-up at a Windsor hospital.  It will have been 12 days by that time.  Today she came out with me on the weekly grocery and pet food expedition, and she has been walking as much as I have lately.  Good signs.

With all of the rain we have had (it has tapered off, finally), the yard is quickly turning into jungle once again.  I went out today and weeded the front half of the house.  Thursday I will attempt the much worse rear half, and then Friday I will be cutting all three lawns once again.  Only once we get into a weeks long drought will it all stop.

I figure that I should show the only other work in the DIA by Cibo, an Italian amateur botanist that I talked a bit about last time.  I'm sure he is completely unknown by most gallery visitors.  His prints and drawings intrigue me, and I wish we had a better sampling of his work.  I would especially love to see some of his works that relate him a bit more to Durer.  Anyway, here is another work by him, perhaps even a bit stranger than the last one.

Study of a Building and Tall Tree, Gherardo Cibo, Italian.

ca. 1568-70.  Pen and brown ink, heightened with white, on blue paper.

5" x 8".  Detroit Institute of Arts.

 Detail of above.

2nd detail of Cibo drawing. 

And now on to the Japanese New Wave, in cinema.  My Criterion choice for this week was called "Everything Goes Wrong," a very tense and unrelenting b & w movie about a teenage boy rebelling against his widowed mother for having accepted money from a man who has become her mistress.  Jiro is so filled with anger than he cannot think properly, and lashes out at everyone.  His portrayal of a teenage delinquent boy in the process of boiling over and melting down is perfect in every way.  There is extreme realism at work here, along with superb photography and fine performances by everyone.  All of the urban settings are gritty and filmed on location.  At first these kinds of movies were met with moral outrage in Japan, and took a bit of time before they were allowed to be shown.  With angst like this on display, you can understand the problem.  Anyway, it was a really good movie, and quite short, at only 71 minutes.  Well worth seeking out. 

Criterion poster.

 Original poster from 1960.  

I'll report back tomorrow on Deb's meeting with her surgeon.

Mapman Mike

 

More Deb, and More Harold Lloyd

Deb had her first big outing today.  We went downtown Windsor this afternoon for coffee, and a long walk along the riverfront.  We followed up with a visit to Fred's Farm Fresh Market, and came home.  She was pretty tired, but she survived.  Her next outing will be Wednesday, when we see her surgeon for a post-op check-up.  I'm sure he will be happy with her progress.  She is off the pain meds now, and we are keeping up the ice and light arm exercises 4x each day.  The sling only comes off for a few minutes each time.

Deb's Criterion movie choice this week was a Harold Lloyd feature called "Movie Crazy."  Though I prefer him and his style of humour in the shorter films, this one is pretty funny.

 A talking feature film from 1931.  

Harold Hall is from small town Kansas, and he heads to Hollywood to become an actor.  He has sent his photo in and received a positive response from Planet Pictures, asking him to come out for a screen test.  Of course the wrong photo was sent; the studio is expecting a good looking hunk of man, and instead they get Harold.  Like the shorter films, this one has a continuous series of sight gags, pratfalls, and misfortunes.  In this case, running jokes can be kept going longer, such as the one that has to do with a straw hat.  Constance Cummings is completely amazing, playing two roles to keep Harold confused.  He falls in love with her Spanish movie star persona.  She has befriended Harold in her normal persona, but uses her other self to test his love and loyalty to her.  Anyway, it's a recommended pic to see, as are all of his shorter films.

And now I finally get to resume my DIA studies.  Today's artist is Gherardo Cibo (Italian, 1512-1600).  He was not a professional artist, but an amateur botanist.  His minor drawing in the museum's collection (one of two) reminds us of nature studies by Leonardo and Durer.  There is no background, just the oddly shaped shrubs and trees, very delicately depicted in pen and ink.

 Cibo's "Study of Trees," 1568-1570, 5" x 8".  Brush and red ink with white highlights, on blue paper.  The inscription reads "trees beneath the woods Cesane Dalla Civita."  

  I'm sure there aren't too many blogs out there with Harold Lloyd and Cibo in the same entry.  One never knows in these pages.  In other news, some farmers are finally out in their fields.  It hasn't rained in three days now!  However, it is supposed to rain a lot tonight and tomorrow.  Hoping they can get a lot done before then.

Mapman Mike

Mapman Mike

 

Update on Deb, and Other News Fit to Print

Things are looking up for Deb!  Her bandages are off, and she is able to shower.  The pain is lessening, too.  She's not quite ready to play hockey, but she is improving.

Yesterday we bought some doors for our main front entrance.  They will be completely weatherproof, and we will no longer be bothered there by a polar vortex.  Doors, installed, of a high quality, are very, very expensive.  $5,000.00 expensive, for one main door and one storm door, with screen/glass.  Also adding to our June expenses is a fallen tree, which is being removed later today, to the tune of $800.00.  And then, at the end of the month the basement floor tiles come out, to the tune of $4600.00.  Where is this money coming from?  The travel fund, of course.  That's about a year's worth of travelling for us, and it was time to take a year off.  When travel resumes, it will likely be to San Diego for a few days.  NYC is also near the top of the wish list.

My Criterion Channel movie choice for this week was Fellini's "8 1/2."  There is not much I can say about this film that hasn't been said a thousand times already.  It is one of the greatest films ever made, and nothing in cinema illustrates better the immense difficulty artists face in creating something memorable and vital, especially once they are expected to do so by an adoring public.  Whatever wavelength Fellini was on, I know I am virtually on the same one.  Sitting down to watch one of his movies is like getting into a pair of comfortable slippers and pajamas.  Somewhat strange looking pajamas.  Wherever Fellini takes you, it is going to be an amazing and worthwhile trip.  Though I have seen the film several times, it had been a while, and, like rereading the best books, it's always fun to discover things you never saw before, or have totally forgotten about until suddenly rediscovered.

We have had many unusual visitors to the bird feeding station this year.  Some of them have actually been birds, including a very large wild turkey.  Of course there are the ducks, too.  But we have also had rabbits, deer, the local ground hog, and even Rocky Raccoon has recently paid us a visit.

Mapman Mike

3 Day Update

Deb has just started her 4th day of recovery from shoulder surgery.  She is managing the pain with pills and ice, and doing pretty well.  The pills make her drowsy, and she slept well last night.  She is currently sitting in her reclining chair watching "The File on Thelma Jordon," a late 40s movie with Barbara Stanwyck, one of her favourite actresses.  It is 6 pm and very chilly today, though sunny.  We had hoped to go outside for awhile, but it is too cold.

Last night we finished up our Harold Lloyd film festival with the remaining Hal Roach shorts now playing on the Criterion Channel.  We had five more to watch, and they were just about perfect for Deb's mood.  She is really looking forward to Wednesday, when we can take off her bandages and she can have a shower!  For her the countdown has begun!

I am finding my days rather full but manageable.  I am still getting in most of my piano practice, and my reading program is continuing, too.  In fact, I have now completed three years of reading on my Avon/Equinox project!  During the first year I read 100 books by the authors represented in the series.  During the second year I managed to read 120.  This past year I made it 125 books from the series, but an additional 25 books not related to those authors.  So it was my first ever 150-book year!!  How much longer will this project last, you ask?  I would guess it will go on at least another 2 1/2 years, if I am able to maintain my current level of reading. 

May highlights from my reading program include the conclusion to James Blish's unforgettable and terrifying series, called "After Such Knowledge."  Only the last two books are directly linked, and I have yet to (re)read the first two.  Black Easter is the 3rd book, and the one chosen by Avon for its series.  The Day After Judgement completes the series, in a big way.  Also outstanding was Norman Spinrad's novella called "Vampire Junkies," a very funny spoof on Dracula, and the adventures he has when he arrives suddenly in NYC.  I also liked the first book of a young person's trilogy by John Christopher.  The Fireball Trilogy takes a boy from England into alternate histories.  His first adventure is in 20th C. England, but one still ruled by the Romans.  Pretty fun material.

Harry Harrison came through again with a pretty fantastic story about the first transatlantic train tunnel being built.  Also set in an alternate history, this world seems to be a direct descendant of Jules Verne's England, which is building the tunnel along with America, which is still a colony of Britain!  Washington was killed as a traitor back in the day, and Benedict Arnold is remembered as a hero.  Tunnel Through the Deeps is worth a read for fans of Verne.  Another great read was a story by E. C. Tubb, who, when he is good, is very good.  Death Is A Dream is the story of a man who is placed in suspended animation in the late 1960s.  He has cancer, and hopes there will be a cure when he awakens.  338 years later he awakens, finding himself to be in remission.  The world he arrives in is a really fascinating version of the future, one unique to me, and I've read a lot of books about the future.  This one sees him owing a huge medical bill to the Institute where he awakens, and he must find a way to pay for it.  His adventures are somewhat in the pulp vein, but more sophisticated than usually found in a pulp novel.

The final really good book was another odd one by S. B. Hough, who wrote SF under the pen name of Rex Gordon.  In Frontier Incident (1950) a group of people are kidnapped in the Iraqi desert, and taken to a prison cell in a small mud village in the middle of the desert.  It is a very tense book, as his always are.  I think it was his first published novel, so it is not as good as some of his later ones.  But any Hough is good enough for me.  I am currently reading an undersea adventure by Hal Clement, another favourite author I discovered by getting interested in this series of books.  An on I go, into Year Four of my reading epic adventures!

With all the spring rain and cool weather we have had, it has been a banner year for flowers and flowering shrubs.  Our lilacs (and elsewhere) were the finest I have seen in many years.  Our front yard has a banner display of spirea (bridal veil), and our recently reclaimed south rock garden shows the most flowers there, too (azaleas, I think).  Earlier we had an incredible performance of our Lilies of the Valley display in our east rock garden, along with some enormous Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

 Our bridal veil hedge.

 That's a lot of flowers.

 Not so long ago, this south garden was a jungle of vines, thistles, burdock,

small trees, and other assorted weeds.  It is now filling in with flowering shrubs. 

 Note the jack-in-the-pulpit in left center. 

Mapman Mike

Post-Surgery Update

Deb's first full day at home with her full-time sling passed a bit better than expected.  The pain arrived mid-morning and continued to grow all day.  So far it is manageable with half dosage of the pain meds.  Tonight we will increase the dosage in the hope of getting a bit more sleep than last night.  We removed the sling several times today so that she can excercise her fingers, wrist, and elbow.  We also began using the new, fancy ice machine.  It works really well, but her bandages are so thick on her shoulder than the cold doesn't fully penetrate.  Those bandages don't come off until Wednesday.  On that happy day she can also have a shower!

Speaking of showers, it really hasn't stopped raining since about 2:15 pm (it is currently 10:30 pm).  We've also had some wicked lightning and a bit of wind.  But mostly it is just rain, which is just adding insult to injury.  Over 1" so far today.  The only day this week it didn't rain was Friday.

It's Deb's month to choose a film festival theme for the weekend (we do a festival each month, in addition to the usual two movies per week).  She choose the Hal Roach/Harold Lloyd shorts.  Criterion has nine of them, lasting anywhere from 13 minutes to 27 minutes.  We watched Billy Blazes, Esq., Captain Kidd's Kids, Ask Father, and the terrifying but very funny High and Dizzy.  His female costar is often Bebe Daniels, who plays the lead in the 1930s film 42nd Street.  There are amazing sight gags, incredible stunts (no doubles, no nets), very funny situations, and a racist gag as well.  Considering the films date from 1919 and 1920, I suppose this is to be expected.  Nothing is mean spirited in Lloyd films, and these racist jokes are probably ones that are still being perpetuated today in many cro magnon circles.  It's interesting to note that High and Dizzy was made in 1920, three years before his more famous "Safety Last," on the same theme.

 A still from High and Dizzy.  You get the idea.  

Though I liked all four films so far, my favourites were Billy Blazes, Esq., in which Harold (always called "The Boy" tames a western town and wins "The Girl;" and Ask Father, filmed with several classic, fast paced sight gags.

Mapman Mike