Late summer is descending upon the Homestead, with cooler days, earlier evenings, and a feeling that the pumpkins should be ready soon. With our 46th wedding anniversary just behind us, it also feels that we should be in New Mexico. When we were still teaching, late August would often be the time of our two week camping and hiking adventures in the high country, returning just in time to set up our classrooms and begin a new year of teaching.
As to Homestead news, the driveway cement finishing project is finally going ahead. Due to a missed text message, we are nearly a month behind. The contractor texted us with an estimate, but we never received it. He thought we weren't interested. I finally called him on Saturday, having to leave a message. He called me back Monday, and the project is going ahead, to the tune of $3200. It's been a summer of expenses. On top of everything else (including two dental emergencies), the car sunroof is leaking again, due to jammed drains along the side. The car is still under warranty, so it should be fixed at no further cost to us, at least. And speaking of the car, we made our last payment last Friday! It's now officially ours.
William Hope Hodgson is a favourite fantasy writer of mine, going back to my teen years when I began reading and collecting the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. I recently reread his novel Ghost Pirates, from 1909, about a ship that gets overrun by ghosts. It builds wonderfully, with a shadowed figure being sighted, until the climax, where the ship is literally boarded and attacked by ghosts. A very chilling read, and lots of fun to rediscover, thanks to the Delphi Classics. I now have about 44 of them on my Kindle device, the complete works of those authors.
We also saw a pretty decent ghost story movie, with the very unlikely title of Personal Shopper. From 2016, the film has one main actress who holds the entire film together. Kristen Stewart (a shoe-in for our friend Amanda) is the personal shopper for a famous model, a job she does not like. But it allows her to remain in Paris until she can solve a mystery. Her twin brother died of a congenital heart defect there, and they had pledged to one another a sign from the beyond if one died first. On top of it all, Stewart (as Maureen) is a medium. She either conjures the ghosts herself, or is able to receive from them. Del Toro could learn a thing or two from this fabulous director, who knows how to scare an audience without resorting to insanely graphic violence. This is the second film by this director we have seen and really liked, both starring Stewart. There is a murder, and the scene has a lot of blood, but we do not see it happen, but rather come across it unexpectedly. Well worth seeking out! Our print from AMC had very distorted sound, and we had to use the closed captions, which were not synced with the dialogue.
Still on the them of ghost stories, we have finished watching the first 4-epeisode season of an Icelandic TV series called The Cliff. Two detectives try to solve a murder in a remote area. Though neither admits to anything, there are paranormal happenings occurring, and they both have strange experiences. There is a little boy who is a medium, and who says strange things to people. He also dreams of events to happen. Such a refreshing production compared to so many American cop dramas. This one is well written, very well acted, quite atmospheric, and is subtitled. Again, well worth seeking out. We are about to watch the start of season two.
Leaving ghosts aside for now, we also just completed a six part series called Alexander's Lost World, from 2013. The host, an Australian adventurer and photographer, does an incredibly fine job of leading viewers through Afghanistan in search of what remains of Alexander's conquest. The desert locations are unrivaled for their remoteness and freedom from tourists of any kind. Almost always he is the only white person in a town or village. There are a surprising amount of ruins left behind, many never excavated, and some only quickly. A good lesson in history and climate change, to be sure, but I mainly watched for the local scenery and colour. There are also many beautiful computer reconstructions of the ruins, giving an idea of how high the civilization reached before conquest from the west. Very engaging series.
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