Dark Days Are Here

From the end of November until the middle of January, northern latitudes are at their darkest.  Daylight hours are greatly reduced, even in the southernmost part of Canada (Essex County).  Add to that fact that our area is at its cloudiest, and you have the makings of a depressing time of year.  It's a time of year that one really appreciates quality indoor activities, such as practicing piano, reading, watching great films, gaming, and even more writing.  The walking program is still in effect.  No more snow is forecast here in the near future, though Sudbury got walloped yesterday.

It's been nearly a week since Deb's first laser treatment.  No benefits noted yet, and she returns in 3 weeks for the second one.  The first one seems to have mostly healed, at any rate.  For my part, my right ear began plugging up just before the Sudbury trip, and is now mostly plugged once again.  It will likely remain that way until I give up all hope, then suddenly it will begin to clear again. 

We watched two movies of interest this past week.  Deb's weekly choice was "Boudu Saved From Drowning," an early film by Jean Renoir.  Michel Simon plays what might be one of the most easy to hate characters in all of film.  He plays a tramp who is saved from a suicidal drowning by a bourgeouis book seller, who lives with his wife and their maid.  Boudu proves to not only be ungrateful for the assistance they give him, but he turns all their lives upside down.  He is like a small cyclone that comes into their lives, disrupting everything, before heading back onto the street to live.  The film brings up the interesting question of how many homeless people, who, due either to mental illness or an unwillingness to conform to society's standards, do not fit in, never will fit in, and thus can never be confined to a house.  Many relatives of such people have tried many different ways to care for them, but without success.  It's a problem few people seriously talk about, but Boudu is the poster boy for this type of homeless person.  Anyway, the film cannot be said to be entertaining, as Boudu grates on everyone's nerves after a while, and needs to be punched.  But there are many amazing scenes, and several laugh out loud moments.

 Now showing on Criterion. 

My film choice was called Plucking the Daisy, and goes a long way to show why sexism is still alive and well in France today.  If people were brought up on movies such as this one, they can almost be excused their boorish behaviour towards women.  Roger Vadim scripted it, and Brigitte Bardot is the star.  She plays the part of a sweet young girl from Vichy, daughter of a strict general, who leaves town for the big city, and through one mishap and other ends up in a burlesque show stripping contest.  However, she has published a scandalous book under the name of A.D.  Yup, just the kind of plot I would have thought up.

The film turns out to be a screwball comedy, and there are some very funny moments.  Her brother left the family to become a painter in Paris, telling them he has struck it rich, but he actually works as a low paid guard in the Balzac Museum.  His quick tour with a group of tourists through the museum is quite funny.  Bardot's striptease is actually very funny, too, and done just the way this girl would have done it (in the end, she has to be pushed out onto the stage).  But overall, I do not think I have seen a picture so blatantly sexist in all my life.  The director, Marc Allegret, also directed the 2nd Marius film.  When released, it was the 20th most popular French film of all time, mostly because of Bardot, no doubt.

 Not the least bit sensationalist. 

We are home for two days, then off to Windsor on Sunday.  Deb has an appointment with a heart specialist at 1:15, and then my piano instructor, Philip Adamson, is performing the 6th concert in his Beethoven Sonata series.  Jenn may be coming from Cambridge to hear him play again, and even Amanda is in town and will meet up with us that day.

M.

Fighting November Blahs

The doldrums arrived early this year, with our first major snowstorm about two months ahead of schedule.  The snow is gone for now, but the darkness, heavy clouds, and damp chill to the air make day to day life a tad dreary.  However, I had a beautiful clear night on Friday, and it was sunny some of that day.  It was actually the 2nd clear night of this session, but the earlier time it was way too damp and foggy to consider driving into the county (actually, into the next county) to set up.  Dampness gets on the mirrors and eyepieces, causing early shut down of operations.  It was 32 F when I arrived at 6 pm, and 28 F when I left at 9:45 pm.  The autumn stars were up upon arrival, and the winter stars were up upon departure.  I hope I can steal one more good night before the moon interferes.

Last Tuesday I gave a short talk on double stars at our monthly club meeting.  However, my laptop would not connect to the WiFi, and the main projector in the hall did not work.  That was the same day as a major power failure affected a lot of people, including Windsor and us, so that may have contributed to the problem.  Luckily, a fellow member had his laptop, and his worked.  The back up projector was crappy, though.

Yesterday, Deb had her first laser treatment of three that she will need. She certainly experienced some pain afterwards and today, but things are improving as I write.  We have pills for any occasion on hand, so her suffering was mitigated.  Once this problem is fixed, then we can move on towards getting her heart problem looked after (again).  The laser treatments are not covered by the government health plan, nor our private one.  The cost was just over $2000.  Ouch.  More pain.

I just finished an epic novel by Norman Spinrad, part of my Avon/Equinox project.  The book, which took me 9 days to read, is called "He Walked Among Us," and is one of three that he wrote trying his best to put forth solutions for saving the planet from our greed and indifference.  I am now into the Tarot series by Piers Anthony, an author that continues to hold my interest.  It ties in loosely to the "Cluster" series I am reading by him.

In movie news, we continue to watch the Zatoichi series, having just seen #4.  The first four are loosely connected, and more or less set the tone for the 26-movie series.  However, last weekend we watched the 1932 "Three Penny Opera" directed by Pabst.  It was excellent!  Brecht hated it, and many of Weil's songs were cut, but the film works beautifully.  Mackie Mackie!  I am also getting mildly interested in the work of Chantal Akerman.  More to come on her.

 Now showing on Criterion. 

In gaming news, I continue to make progress in Syberia 3 on the PC.  It is a vast game, though the bugs are annoying.  I have had to download saved games a few times now and jump ahead of a bug I could not get past.  It is visually stunning and takes place in many different locations, including a very gloomy Russian asylum in winter, a seaside town, a large ferry boat, an amusement park, subway tunnels, and now in a night time wooded winter landscape.  It is, at least, visually appealing.  We are trying to improve on the Dr. Who card game we bought in Columbus, Ohio a few years ago, and will be playing this weekend.

The listening program has expanded to include the entire record collection.  Recently, we listened to a 4-record set of music by Josquin des Prez, as well as Symphony #80 by Haydn (we're getting there), and Op 79 by Brahms (two major piano works that I MUST learn!), Britten's Op 79, a short work for chorus and orchestra, and we are continuing with the complete organ works of Buxtehude.  I will no doubt be going through several needles.

Our next Detroit day is scheduled for Monday.  I have a book waiting, and Deb wants to buy a few collector coffee spoons from an antique dealer in Dearborn, for an upcoming Yorick episode.  We will stay for lunch, and it wouldn't surprise me if I managed to have a pint in there somewhere.  Detroit had its annual Christmas lights celebration on Thursday night.  Here is a photo.  Pretty fantastic city.

Wow! 

Mapman Mike

Early Start To Winter

Last Monday we received around 7" of heavy, wet snow.  Some of it is still around, which says something about the record cold temperatures we've been having.  Today if finally went safely above freezing, and it was even sunny for a time.  All kinds of records are being broken, and not the kind you want to break.

The listening program continues, with all works by Brahms and Britten being given due consideration, as well as the 104 symphonies of Haydn (#79 coming up later tonight).  In addition are the complete works for organ by Buxtehude, a composer and organist held in the highest esteem by Telemann, Handel, and Bach.  Then comes the record collection.  We are beginning at the beginning, with medieval and renaissance works.  Currently we are listening to a double album of works by Josquin des Prez.  We had forgotten how wonderful the works of this towering giant are!  Both cats are in love with just about anything we put on, and listen deeply.  It's quite amazing to watch!

 A bleak November sunset.  

Last Friday we went on a short day trip, visiting a barn full of antiques and collectibles.  Deb got a pickup truck, which will be seen in an upcoming episode of her 22 Bones series, and we got a Mr. Spock action figure for my brother.  I also found an Instamatic 104 camera, the very first camera I ever owned.  Mine died years ago, but I have the reincarnated one now, ready to shoot 126 film!  Another major find was a hardcover book from 1946 by a favourite writer, James Branch Cabell.  So it was worth the 50 minute drive each way.

 I only bought it for the coffee mug.

 The camera I received at Christmas in 1966, from my Uncle Mike Munavish!  My original camera died from overuse, but I now have a replacement! 

I am currently immersed in a 540 page epic novel by Norman Spinrad.  It is a brilliant concept, and if I know Norman, he will pull it off with elan!  "He Walked Among Us" will be discussed on my Avon/Equinox blog when it is completed.  I am currently on page 240.

We have a Detroit day planned for this week, along with getting a new set of winter tires installed for the Golf (in Windsor).  The Tiguan goes back to the dealer on Dec. 10th, and we will have just the one vehicle.  Tuesday evening I am giving a short talk about double stars at our astronomy club meeting.  Friday is the first of three laser surgeries for Deb.  We continue to live life of the edge.

Mapman Mike

Home Sweet Home

Aside from a grocery run on Monday, for us and the cats, we've been home and leading quiet lives all week.  I've been practicing, reading, and listening to my LP collection, along with the Haydn/Brahms/Britten project.  Now that my records are organized again, I've decided to play them all.  I've heard considerably less than half of the collection, so this is a pretty major project.  Deb has been making films, winning awards, and we've both been doing some gaming.  I lost a very close game of MECCG last night.

Monday was an all-day snowstorm, setting a record for that date, and for the month of November.  We received about 7".  It was pretty as it fell, but by the next day the leaves had resumed falling, and so it now looks totally surreal outside, with the snow mostly covered by dead leaves.  Tuesday was a record cold temperature day, shattering records everywhere.  It would have been cold for January, never mind November.  Today we made it up to 0 C, and tomorrow it's supposed to go above.  We have a small trip planned to Leamington tomorrow, to visit an antique mall, and then go out for lunch.  We should be home early in the day.  Deb hasn't been anywhere lately, choosing to stay home even when I was in Sudbury for four days.  We were supposed to go to Ann Arbor by train on Tuesday.  However, Ann Arbor received 11" of snow Monday, and Tuesday, as I said, was record cold.  So our tickets lapsed, and the trip is postponed.  Trains were running quite late that day, anyway.

 Taken on Monday during the snow storm, using my Fuji Instax, before falling leaves covered the snow.

 Taken with Polaroid 600 camera, Monday afternoon.  

Philip Adamson has announced the 6th recital in his Beethoven Sonata series, for Sunday, December 1st.  Deb has a medical appointment at 1:30 that afternoon, and the concert begins at 2:30.  We will likely be late.  She also has a laser procedure coming up Nov. 22nd, and likely two more after that one.  Then we can start the process of getting her heart problem refixed.  Someday she will be perfect once again, and will be known as the 6 million dollar woman.

Mapman Mike

A Funeral and a Birthday

I am just returned from a short visit to family in Sudbury.  I flew Porter Airlines from Windsor, arriving Thursday evening, and returned home on Sunday evening.  All flights go through Toronto, so I had an overlay each way.  Lynne, my brother's wife, picked me up in Sudbury Thursday night.  Friday morning was the funeral of my aunt, so I was able to see and talk with a number of family.  It was a Catholic mass, my least favourite kind of funeral.  I've been fortunate lately to have attended some very well prepared send-offs, involving talks by friends about the deceased, often including photo and slide displays.  It was great to see so many family members all in one place; however, it tends mostly to be at funerals.  Last May's celebration of Mom's 90th birthday was a happy exception.

 My aunt, sister to my mother. 

 Typical Sudbury landscape, this one right behind the church where the funeral was held. 

Sunday was my younger brother's birthday, but the party was Saturday night.  Whenever I call him on his birthday, there is always the loud din of a wild party going on in the background/foreground.  This year I finally got to find out what goes on at these bacchanals.  The party started a bit early, with Steve, Dad and I going to a new cafe downtown.  It is housed in the former showroom of a downtown car dealership, and features art deco design and floor to ceiling windows overlooking the main street.  The owner was once a newspaper photographer, and the theme is definitely photographic.  Called Cafe Obscura, he also sells film and film cameras.  Pretty cool!  After coffee, the three of us went to a brewpub called Spacecraft, where we sampled the wares.  Again, it is a very cool interior, and the beer on offer was varied and of high quality.  Three beers were made in house, and there was a large guest tap list.

 Me, Dad, and brother Steve (alias Captain James T. Kirk) at Spacecraft Brewery, Sudbury.

 Dad and Steve had a Tractor Beam Kolsch.  I was a bit more experimental, trying their IPA, the Lazerhosen Dunkel, the Black Hand Stout, and a pumpkin ale.  All good, and vegan food was on offer.  Vegan food is very popular in Sudbury. 

I watched hockey with Steve, played cribbage with Dad, and talked with Mom.  Lynne, Steve's wife, wasn't feeling too well.  I saw Emma Lee sometimes, but like most kids, she is addicted to screens of all variety.  It snowed Saturday night, and it is snowing all day Monday in Amherstburg as I write this.  On the flights and in Sudbury, I managed to read a fairly large SF novel by Sherri Tepper, which was pretty fascinating.  Called After Long Silence, and also The Enigma Score, it kept me glued to the pages for many an hour.  I am now back to reading authors related to the Avon/Equinox series, currently being involved with a very funny novel by Barry Malzberg.

I managed to practice some piano pieces this morning, but there is also some shovelling of snow in my near future.

Mapman Mike

Detroit Day

This year's exhibit of offrendas at the DIA was a really good one.  Around a dozen of the over-decorated altars were there, dedicated to relatives and others who had died. This year featured several devoted to those killed trying to escape their homeland for greener pastures, including children.  The exhibit was really crowded, it being a Sunday, but I am glad we made to the effort to go again this year.

 Offrenda to a local doctor, DIA.

A family tree offrenda, DIA.  The exibit ends next week. 

There were two other reasons for visiting Detroit yesterday.  At the Detroit Film Theatre (also located at the DIA) we saw a mesmerizing 1984 film called Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme's film showing a 1983 concert by the Talking Heads.  It's 90 minutes of live concert footage, 16 songs one after another.  This is a no nonsense documentary showing David Byrne at his best.  Of the 9 musicians, 5 are black and three are female.  The songs are fabulous, as are the musicians, and Demme's editing and viewpoints are virtually perfect.  I'm still vibrating today from the music and the film!

A great film, and a great concert.  We saw it at the Detroit Film Theatre.  

After the film, we made our way to a new inner city brewery, one of four that are opening this fall/winter.  Brewery Faisan is not far from the river, but located in a real no man's land.  These are true urban pioneers, and I tip my hat to them for their endeavour.  A full review of the brewery and taproom will appear soon on my Midwest America blog (link in top left, above).  Faisan is French for pheasant, which can be seen wandering near and around the brewery at times.

 Brewery Faisan, Detroit's newest micro brewery, on a late Sunday afternoon.

One of 7 ales currently on offer.  

In other movie news, we watched another Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur minor masterpiece last night, called I Walked With a Zombie.  A silly title, but an amazingly good little film.  The atmosphere is among the best I have ever seen (and felt), and the mix of science and voodoo works perfectly.  The drumming in the background, and the sound of wind in the sugar cane stalks, will stay with you awhile afterwards.

Now showing on Criterion.

The nurse leads her patient to the old fort, where the local voodoo doctor practices.  This is an awesome little film, atmospheric and with a good story.  The plot is strongly related to Jane Eyre! 

We also began watching the full Zatoichi series, also showing on Criterion.  We have the first 8 on DVD, but are starting over again because it's been awhile.  The first one is called The Tale of Zatoichi, and introduces the character and many of the tropes of the series.  Unique to this one is that Zatoichi gets a full massage!  He usually gives them.  We also learn a bit about his past, and why he took up sword training.  This series is so good that I actually took up Iaido training myself.  My wife soon joined in, and we both hold the rank of 2nd degree black belt.  We, too, are bad ass!

The Tale of Zatoichi, the first of a 27 movie series starring the blind swordsman.  

Moving on to literature, it is time to encapsulate my October reading.  I made it through 14 books, though some were quite short.  Still, there was a 400+ pager in there, and a few in the 200s.  The first book finished was by James Blish, who comes at the end of my reading cycle, currently based around the authors from the Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series, published in the 1970s.  Blish's book Black Easter was the last one published before the series was retired.  This month I read his very early novel called Jack of Eagles, about a man gifted with psionic powers, and the strange and uncompromising people he mixes with.  Though I loved the story, especially the part where he must climb stairs to other dimensions, I really minded the fact that all the psi people were male.  There is no strong female lead character in most of the story.  The lone woman who is there fades out of the picture after a time.  Though this isn't always a problem in 1950s SF, it happens often enough to be annoying.

After Blish, it was time to start the cycle of authors over again.  Having finished with the first four (Farmer, Kornbluth, Budrys, and Sladek, I read the next Silverberg short story collection, Vol 3, which contained his stories from 1969-1972.  At over 400 pages it took me awhile, but it was a very enjoyable while.  "Thomas the Proclaimer" is a novella worth seeking, as is one of the short stories, called "Caught in the Organ Draught."  Norman Spinrad was next, and I tackled some of his short stories.  I really enjoyed the title story to the volume, "No Direction Home," based on Bob Dylan's poem.  I have read this one in another collection of his, and still enjoyed rereading it.  "The Weed of Time" was new to me, and very fun to read.  A baby is born with the ability to speak perfectly, and to predict the future.  Highly original story, and very well handled.  Also worth seeking out is his "In The Eye Of The Storm," a story of a lone biker, in the Twilight Zone tradition.

Next came Kilian Quest, Piers Anthony's 3rd and concluding volume of his Cluster series.  I enjoyed the first book a lot; not so much the 2nd one; the third one is completely awesome!  This is a really fun series to read, though it can be confusing at times, especially vol. 2.  Even though this completes the overall story arc, he wrote two other Cluster books not directly related to the original three.  I am looking forward to those.   Next up was Dusk of Demons, a stand-alone novel by John Christopher, for young adults.  Christopher continues to obsess about post-apocalyptic scenarios, and this is a decent entry in that mode.  I wish this one had a sequel.

Harry Harrison can always be relied upon for, at the very least, an entertaining read.  His hilarious Montezuma's Revenge is a pretty good spoof of the spy story genre, written in 1972.  The author has obviously spent some time in Mexico, on a low budget.  

Another reliable author is Kenneth Bulmer.  To Outrun Doomsday is an action-packed planetary adventure from 1967 from one of the greats.  This one is unusual because it contains a good deal of humour mixed in with the more serious plot.  To quote myself from my Avon/Equinox page (which contains all the cover art for these books, and full reviews),  "This is a very good SF pulp novel, and if you like wandering across a strange planet and meeting strange people, critters, and sights, then you will likely enjoy this book."

Next in line comes E. C. Tubb, who, as a SF writer is more on than off.  I have really come to like and enjoy his writing.  Often we read above humans after they have spread to the stars, but we don't often find a book that tells about the very first interstellar voyage, and some of the prep work required.  In Tubb's Escape Into Space, we follow this privately funded expedition as it seeks out a new planet for humans to inhabit.  Surprisingly good, despite a few weak plot points.

Jack Williamson's two-volume series "Seetee" is one I've been waiting to read for a long time, as I work my way chronologically through his many novels.  The first volume is Seetee Ship, and hails from 1942.  Jack writes some of the best plots, and this is one of his really good ones.  However, his characters are pure cardboard.  At least he includes some cardboard women with his cardboard men.  Both women are pretty amazing in this story, and I look forward next month to part 2 of the series. 

I have read all the SF novels by Rex Gordon, whose real name is S. B. Hough.  But I still have a few of his early non-SF novels left to read.  This time it was a creaky story from 1954 called The Primitives.  Twin brother and sister grow up raised by a totally inept and emotionally unstable mother, and a father who seldom intervenes.  The result is two very warped kids, but through Hough's amazing ability to bring insight and understanding to his characters, we learn exactly why things turn out as they do.  Like most of Hough's work, this is a pretty amazing read.

The Lunar Lichen is an engrossing novella by Hal Clement (which I counted as a book), part of a double novel volume.  An exploring team uncovers some lunar life, perhaps, but this is mostly a human dram after one of the nine (male) astronauts has a mental breakdown during the mission.  Clement is such a good writer of SF, and I am reminded yet again how lucky I am to have discovered him.  The flip side of this volume contained The Time Trap, a fantasy adventure in the tradition of A. Merritt, by Henry Kuttner.  It dates from 1938, and marks the only non-Avon/Equinox story I read in October.

Next came The English Assassin by Michael Moorcock, volume 3 in his Jerry Cornelius series.  This entry disappointed me for several reasons, the main once being that Jerry hardly makes an appearance, and the story is held together by groups of minor characters.  I must say that Jerry's mother, one of the most hideous women in fiction, is certainly well constructed by the author.  Is she a key to the ending of the series, being most of the reason that Jerry is insane and happily creating worlds as he sits at home on his little balcony?  Next month will tell.

That wraps up the October reading highlights.  I am currently more than halfway through another book by J. G. Ballard, which should get reported soon on my blog page dedicated to that writer, and I will likely be mentioning it here next month.

Mapman Mike



 

Day Of The Dead

We paid our annual visit to some local cemeteries.  Usually we go to Woodlawn in Detroit (see last year's post), but this year we visited a few we had last seen on June 21st (see that post), as well as two new (for us) ones along the same Highway #3.  The highway is pretty scenic, as it follows the north shore of Lake Erie.  With a mixture of sun and clouds yesterday the lake looked very dramatic.  However, our mission was cemeteries, so we stayed away from the lake.

First up was the New Glasgow Pioneer Cemetery, which we have driven past many times without stopping.  Virtually all the headstones have Scottish names, with many of the settlers dying in their 30s.  Of course there are always a number of children, between 0 and ten years, also in these old cemeteries.  It was a very cold day, with temperatures averaging what they normally do in early December.  It was also quite breezy, making our stops brief, though very atmospheric. 

 New Glasgow Pioneer Cemetery, along Hwy #3 in Elgin County.

 A broken tomb pinnacle sits under a tree at New Glasgow Pioneer Cemetery.

A second new cemetery for us was the Ford Cemetery.

 Ford Cemetery.

 Abandoned house, autumn.

 Morpeth Cemetery, a personal favourite of ours for many years.

 The Morpeth Cemetery overlooks a steep ravine and creek. 

We also stopped at the Archibald Lampman cemetery, but I didn't use my digital camera there.  The film I was using finally got used up, so I will someday soon have a photo of that cemetery, too.

Back at home we had an evening visit from our young next door neighbours.  They brought over a freshly baked apple crisp.  We supplied beer and coffee!  Amanda was once a music student of mine, both at school and privately.  She was a very decent trombone player.  They also attended my last solo recital here in March.  With everyone leading busy lives, we don't see them all that often, except to wave to out in the yard.

Last weekend was my choice of films for our monthly festival.  I focused on producer Val Lewton.  We watched two of his films, as well as a TCM documentary about him, narrated by Martin Scorsese, as well as one other horror film.  First up was The Leopard Man, directed by Jacques Tourneur in 1943.  An escaped black leopard terrorizes a small New Mexican village, killing young girls.  Or it is really the leopard?  Does the title give anything away?  A suitably creepy tale, with an early, very horrifying scene of a young girl being killed as she bangs on the door of her house, with her mother slow to open it.

This film from 1943 was first up in our mini-festival last weekend. 

Next up was a French film from 1943, and directed by Maurice Tourneur, Jacques son. La Main Du Diable turned out to be an amazing little film, which neither of us had previously seen.  A painter sells his soul to become successful, but ends up fighting against the evil one, played by an amiable (at first) little man in a black suit.  The story is told in flashback, as the desperate man arrives at a secluded hotel in the Alps, searching for a ruined abbey and the grave of the man who started the chain of events in which he now finds him ensnared.  The movie is really quite good, with lots of humourous touches, some very cool surreal scenes, and movie art that isn't too bad to look at.  A sleeper gem.

Also from 1943.  

The 3rd film was called The Curse Of The Cat People, a favourite of ours not seen in a very long while.  All of the prints were pristine that we watched, thanks to the Criterion Channel, which is showing them all.  This movie is a very, very loose sequel to Lewton's Cat People, but is actually based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Aimee and Her Friend.  Lewton wanted to call it that, but the studio forced the current title upon him.  Aimee is in kindergarten and going through some childhood issues.  She invents a friend to be with her and to play with her.  A fascinating look inside the mind of a child, and an overall wonderful picture to view.

A really decent movie about childhood, at least for those of us that never really fit in.

Aimee (right) and her friend.  

Last up was a documentary about Val Lewton, who made some of the greatest b & w films ever.  He never shows the monster, but uses the viewer's imagination to help create suspense and horror.  All of his films are worth watching, and another festival of his works will likely be forthcoming.

 Lastly, we watched this TCM documentary, narrated by Martin Scorsese.  It showed

clips and talked about every film Lewton produced.

We have scheduled a long overdue Detroit day tomorrow, including a visit to the DIA to see the Day of the Dead exhibit.  So I should be reporting again, hopefully Monday evening.  Until then, signing off.

Mapman Mike