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
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