Getting Caught Up

Summer heat blasted us until Sept. 21st, which was last Wed.  It was 87 F.  then someone literally pulled the switch to "Autumn" setting.  Boom.  Sept. 22nd it was 20 F cooler, and it has stayed that way, and will stay that way.  A really, really strange entry into fall, and exactly in tune with the calendar.  That never happens here.  Summer usually lingers into Thanksgiving weekend, the 2nd weekend in October.  We watched the house temperature drop all weekend, from 77 F Thursday afternoon (lingering heat in the house from the day before) to today, when it is 67 F inside, and a lot colder outside.

Our Equinox celebration went on for a few days, as it was a clear sky on the Thursday.  We changed our artwork around to autumn pictures, and changed the fireplace lights.  We took our final Tarot cards of the Celtic year, and finished up Wagner's Die Walkure.  It such an emotionally powerful opera, and the orchestration is among the heaviest ever written to accompany singers.  What a blast!  We also are continuing some readings from Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales 1, which contain the earliest versions of many of the stories from Silmarillion.

I share a birthday with the first day of Autumn (22nd), along with Bilbo and Frodo, so my mind always turns to Tolkien in the fall.  But for my birthday this year I bought a box set of the complete works of Haydn!  160 CDs!!  I have been gently dipping into it for the past week, and enjoying the performances immensely.  This means that I can now dispose of a huge number of LP record box sets, freeing up some space in the basement.

In the world of the mundane, I have three appointments this week, making it an unusual week for me.  Very early tomorrow morning I will bring the car to VW for some necessary work.  an hour later I have a specialist appointment regarding my injured shoulder.  I hurt it a year ago trying to pull debris from our creek, and ended up tearing a rotator cuff.  It's likely not serious enough for the surgeon to repair, but I have some questions for him.  And Friday morning it's another trip to the dentist, this time for routine cleaning and check up.

And then comes Saturday.  Philip Adamson, my occasional piano instructor, will play another all-Beethoven program, as he tries to push through to the end of performing all the sonatas.  Looking forward to my first live concert (other than my own) in years!

Meanwhile, Deb is preparing for her mother's Celebration of Life in a few weeks.  She is assembling a short film of stills that show her mom as a little girl and morphing through to recent images of her.  It's been an incredible amount of work preparing a two minute film of stills.  She will also be the main speaker.

We have been watching a lot of films (and episodes of series), I just haven't had the time the report on them.  I will list the ones I remember, with perhaps a comment or two about some of them.

Yoyo, by Pierre Etaix, is from 1965.  A funny and touching comedy of life about the son of very rich parents who suddenly lose everything and become poor.  He runs away and joins the circus.  A minor masterpiece of comedy and drama.

Milky Way, by Luis Bunuel, is from 1969.  His scathing attack on religion and dogma.

Niagara, from 1953, was directed by Henry Hathaway and stars Marilyn Monroe.  It's a tale of murder and revenge, all filmed gloriously in Niagara Falls.  Worth watching just for the scenery.

The Other Side of Hope, by Aki Kaurismaki, is from 2017.  It's a terrific minor tale of refugees in Finland trying to make a life.

Showing on Criterion. 

Swamp Water, Jean Renoir's first American picture, is from 1941.  Depraved doings in the great swamp in Georgia.  Lots of humid atmosphere.

Showing on Criterion. 

Paris Calligrammes is a film by Ulrike Ottinger, who spent the 1960s in Paris.  The film is a terrific documentary of the times and her personal experiences, and for any lovers of that great city this film is a must see.  We than looked up an early film of hers, and found Ticket of No Return from 1979.  Starring Tabea Blumenschein as the beautiful woman who goes on a holiday tour of Berlin.  She does it sumptuous evening clothes (chosen and designed by the designer/actress).  But this tour is soaked with alcohol, and mostly covers the divey bars and back streets.  Some very funny scenes and some very tragic ones, too.  Well worth gawking at.

Man of the West was directed by Anthony Mann, and is from 1958.  Gary Cooper stars as a reformed bank robber who gets caught by his old gang after a failed train robbery.  Very high drama, and many unusual scenes.

Deb chose some films from Prime to watch.  One was The Duke, a small but very fun film from 2021, about a man who plots to steal a painting from the National Gallery.  He plans to hold it hostage until the government agrees to pay for the TV licenses (a British thing) of seniors and veterans.  Highly entertaining, as it is whenever the little guy wins against the big guy.  Based on a true story.  The Man Who Knew Infinity is another excellent story based on a real person.  Released in 2016 it tells the mostly unhappy story of a brilliant mathematician from India who is brought to England to work.  He has to overcome incessant racism and professional ridicule, but with the help of Jeremy Irons and Stephen Fry, his short life is rewarded with several professional and mathematical victories.  Hard hitting but excellent film.

Lastly (but not leastly) is The Illusionist, a film from 2006.  It's turn of the century Vienna, and this story is about a great magician who performs there, but is soon censored by the local police and government.  He meets a young woman whom he knew as a child, who is far beyond his meager station in life.  They fall in love all over again.  This is a pretty decent film, and very easy to watch.  Can the little guy overcome the big guy?  You won't know until the very end.  Recommended.

Showing on Prime. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

Up To Date

As I write this, Puerto Rico is being obliterated (again) by a hurricane, and Japan is suffering through a monstrous typhoon.  The weather here at the Homestead remains quite hot and humid, and of course, dry.

It's been a busy weekend for Deb.  She had been spending a lot of time with her mom last week, as she went steadily and quickly downhill.  She was with her on Wednesday afternoon when she passed away.  Lois already had arrangements in place.  Thursday we had to go and empty out her room.  7 bags of garbage, 2 trips to Goodwill with small furniture and framed prints, etc., and two loads that came home with us. That second trip was courtesy of Randy G. and his large van, to carry two pieces of larger furniture.  Friday, Saturday and today, Deb is going through more stuff of her mom's that was being stored here.  She has also been dealing with the funeral home in Lindsay, arranging a Celebration of Life in a few weeks, and talking with a lawyer in Kingsville who is helping with the will and estate.  Since Deb was not named as the main executor (just secondary), it complicates things somewhat.

Meanwhile, yesterday in Sudbury my parents celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary!  Quite a milestone.  Of course it also means that my hiking days are quite numbered, since I came along one year after their marriage (one year and five days later).  There was a large crowd of family and friends.  Deb would have been unable to attend because of that reason, and I couldn't go as I would need the car.  Anyway, we should be able to visit in mid October, after the Lindsay Celebration and interment of the ashes.  Hopefully we will get to experience a splashy and colourful northern Ontario autumn.

We have been watching movies and series throughout the past week, but I will only talk briefly about some recent TV series we have watched.  A while ago we completed watching the 2nd season of an Icelandic police drama called The Cliff. Whereas season one had interesting elements of supernatural doings, season two was just the straight and very standard modern police drama, with the usual murders, drugs, kidnappings, pedophilia, and you name it thrown in the pot.  I heartily recommend season one, but not two.

As to Amazon's Lord of the Rings, we are waiting till the end of the month.  Deb will choose it as her film festival, when 5 episodes will be available.  Really looking forward to it!  In between, we are currently watching early episodes of three different Amazon produced series.  The first is a SF called Tales From The Loop, a series of loosely connected stories taking place in a town where people work underground in mysterious circumstances.  Based on artwork by Simon Stålenhag , the first episode was quite amazing; the second one one was much less intriguing.  There are 8 episodes in  all, and we will likely watch them all.  We also have the art book in our Amazon wish list.  The art is truly amazing!  Music is by Philip Glass.

A promising SF series we are watching on Amazon.

Another SF series on Amazon is called The Night Sky, starring Sissy Spacek and J K Simmons.  It's also in 8 parts, and we have seen two.  It's more soap opera than SF so far, but I'm hoping that the pace will pick up a little very soon.  The premise is that two oldsters have held a deep secret for many years, underground beneath their tool shed.  A tunnel leads to a window to another world.  And there is a door to it, as well.  So far very little has happened, and way too much time has been taken up with fairly boring every day affairs.  We may or may not make it through all episodes of this one.

Another 8 part SF series on Amazon Prime. 

The third series we have just started watching on Prime (only one episode seen of eight) is called The Wheel of Time.  It's one of those overly serious epics completely ripped off from Tolkien and Robert E Howard, but the effects and budget for this one seem quite impressive.  It's based on books by Robert Jordan, whom I have not read.  Based on what I have seen so far, I am not likely to read them, either.  There is as second season already in the can, and a third has been promised.  We'll be lucky to make it through episode two.  More later.

Now showing on Prime (Season 1 of 3). 

Also on Prime was Deb's film choice for this week.  The Duke (2021) stars Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren in a very fun movie about an older man from Newcastle who steals a newly acquired portrait from the National Gallery in London.  He wants to hold it ransom so that money can be donated to the elderly to pay their TV licenses (it's a British tax on owning a TV).  Wonderfully acted, and quite delightful to watch.  The courtroom scenes are the highlight.

Mapman Mike

 

Deb's Mom

 

Lois Blanche Magahay

August 6^th, 1928 - September 14^th, 2022

Lois Blanche Magahay passed away at the age of 94 in Kingsville, Ontario on September 14^th, 2022. Lois was born on August 6^th, 1928 to Marshall Stephens and Blanche Stephens (nee Sisson) in Lindsay, Ontario where she grew up and went to school.

On December 26^th, 1946 she married Joseph Edwin (Ted) Magahay, also of Lindsay. Together they had three daughters, Sharon Jane, Stephanie Sue and Deborah Joy. Ted’s employment took the family to Parry Sound and then on to Sudbury where Lois was employed by the CIBC, working in Garson and Capreol as a Branch Manager. When Ted retired they moved back to their home town of Lindsay. Ted predeceased her in January 2002.

Lois was active in genealogy as a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and held the Professional Learning Certificate from the National Institute of Genealogical Studies and the University of Toronto. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Lindsay Branch Library serving as Fund Raising Coordinator, Speaker Coordinator and Chair (for four years). In 2007 she was designated as a Life Member. She published several books and articles on local and provincial history and her research archives now reside at the Lindsay Branch Library.

She will be sadly missed by daughters Sharon Gauthier (Raymond, predeceased), Stephanie Wright (Clifford, predeceased) and Deborah Ethier (Michael), five grandchildren, several great-grandchildren and many friends and relatives. Lois’ family would like to thank the wonderful and caring staff at Chartwell Royal Oak in Kingsville.

Cremation with a Celebration of Life will follow at a later date.

 

Mapman Mike

Routine Existence

It's been two and a half years now of mostly indoor living, the longest period of daily routine I have ever imagined possible for me.  Now I know that I would have been a good candidate for a Mars journey.  A typical day includes two hours of piano practice, at a pretty intense level.  Then there is about 3 hours of reading, half an hour of exercise (more on yard work days), some map gazing, and of course movie watching.  But I did something this week that I haven't done in quite a while; I prepped some astronomy work, as observations will resume next weekend, weather permitting.  I am very excited about getting back to dark night skies, and since last night was a full moon (complete with party and opera!), it will take about a week for dark skies to return for a sufficient length of time to make my 50 minute journey worthwhile.

This month's opera was Die Walkure, the 2nd of Wagner's Ring trilogy, and certainly one of the most powerful and finest operas ever written.  I possess the complete set (4 actually, with the prelude opera) conducted by George Solti, with the Vienna Philharmonic, seen as pretty much the finest recordings of the Ring ever made.  We heard five sides of records (of ten), and will finish the opera on Equinox, the 22nd of September.  At that time we'll also read some more of Tolkien's Lost Tales aloud.  And perhaps, but not likely, have our first wood fire of the season.  So there are enough pagan holidays in the year to break up the routines a little bit.

But last week we really blew a hole in our routines.  We went on a picnic!  I'm certain National Geographic Magazine will be interested once I send them the details.  Each year since retiring we have headed out on the first or second day of school resuming to the shore of Lake Erie and had a picnic.  It's usually a sunny, warm day, with plenty of bees in attendance.  This year was no different.  For Deb, who hasn't been to Sudbury with me since before the Pandemic, or to Detroit, it was a big outing!  We enjoyed a walk near the lake, then afterwards went downtown Amherstburg to a real, actual cafe.

Lake Erie, with distant freighter and duck.

Lake Erie and geese.

Walking the greenway near Amherstburg. 

One of Deb's films is showing at a festival in Cleveland, only 3 hours drive from Detroit.  She would like to go, but it's the same old story.  Most people likely won't be wearing masks, and will be sitting too close together for a long period of time.  So we almost had a major overnight trip, but probably not.  As a consolation prize we will spend a long day in Ann Arbor, visiting their museums (art and archeology), book and record stores, etc.  Hopefully Tuesday.

Glancing at the news lately, it would appear that the Queen has passed away.  In fact, I see nothing but this news.  In the same week the UK gets a new Prime Minister and a new King.  I saw the Queen once, on her visit to Sudbury in 1957 (?).  I was four years old, but remember it quite clearly.  She did look up at our balcony and wave to our party as she drove past.  So I guess you could say that we were pretty close, if not best friends.  Why she was visiting such a dreary northern mining town is beyond me, but I know that our mines worked flat out during the war, greatly aiding the ally cause (after we stopped selling our goods to Germany, that is--gotta love capitalism).

It's still super dry around here, but still the weeds grow (if not much else).  The corn near us in the county is quite short and sickly looking, probably not a good thing.  70% chance of rain again this weekend.  When it does come, there is very little of it, enough to wet the surface.  The trees must be getting thirsty.  And the heat is still around, though the nights are cooler now, at least.

Coming next: viewing news update.

Mapman Mike

 

Some Worthwhile Viewing

I have been away from astronomy for many months now, but am hoping to resume operations beginning around Sept 17th.  A run of clear nights can seriously hamper reading, practicing piano, and TV viewing, not to mention my own biological clock.  At least with the darker nights as we speed towards Equinox, I am able to be in bed at a not too terrible hour.  This is one of the reasons I didn't observe at all this summer.

Lots of interesting viewing to report, beginning with our monthly film festival.  It was my turn, and I chose a program of short features from Criterion called Oscar-Nominated Shorts.  Even though the poster said there were 17 films, there were only 14.  All had been either Oscar winners or nominees.  I'll mention a few of the better ones.  

Return To Gennascaul is from 1953, and is 23 minutes long.  It features Orson Welles, on a break from Othello while in Ireland.  He picks up a hitchhiker on a dark and gloomy night, who proceeds to tell him a ghost story that happened to him once, beginning on the same lonely road.  A pretty traditional story, but quite well done.  A Chairy Tale, a Canadian film from 1957 and lasting for 10 minutes, is still great fun to watch, and still a classic of stop motion cinema.  Who knew that a simple wooden chair had so much personality?  We have seen Moonbird before, a film by the Hubleys from 1959, and lasting for ten minutes.  Two young boys try to capture a moonbird in the dark of night.  Quite priceless.  Skyscraper is from 1960, and is 21 minutes long.  It details the amount of planning and work that goes into building a very tall building.  The music for the film is quite bad, but the film itself is quite eye opening.

Windy Day is another Hubley family animated film, this time starring their two young daughters, playing make-believe outside on a windy day.  Just as funny and charming as the film about the boys, this one is 9 1/2 minutes long and is from 1968.  Christo's Valley Curtain is a 1974 film that details the hanging of a vast curtain between two mountains, and is 26 minutes long.  Though a ridiculous idea, and rather silly looking when all is said and done, the project is a remarkable feat of pure engineering, if not great art.  Paul Robeson: Tribute To An Artist is from 1979, and is 29 1/2 minutes long.  It is a decent biography of the actor/singer/political activist, and quite compelling to watch.  Weekends is a totally brilliant animated feature from 2017, lasting nearly 15 minutes.  A very young boy lives with his mother, and is shuffled off to visit his dad on weekends.  His concept of his surroundings and what is happening to him is realized with near perfection.  A really terrific little film.

There were others we had already seen and decided not to rewatch, including yet another one by the Hubleys (The Hole), and The Anniversary by Pierre Etaix, and a very bad one by Richard Lester.  And there are a few not being mentioned here, for the sake of space.  All in all, it is a worthwhile collection to view if you have Criterion.  

We watched a pretty amazing documentary called Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice-Guy Blache.  She was a French film director at Gaumont Studios in Paris from the very beginning, and was the first female film director, with many one reel films to her credit.  Except that she was quickly forgotten and left out of the history books.  This fascinating documentary, which uses a detective format to get at the truth, goes a long way to setting the record straight.  Alice never received the credit due to her in her lifetime, but things seem to be realigned at last.  the film is directed by Pamela Green, is from 2019, and is narrated by Jodie Foster, also one of the executive directors.  This is a don't miss film.  We saw it on AMC+.

Now showing on AMC+. 

After watching the doc, we checked out Criterion.  Sure enough, they had six of her short films, which were quickly added to our watch list.  We saw films from 1902-12, including the very funny Miss Dundee And Her Performing Dogs (1902); the experimental A Story Well Spun (1906), about a man rolling down a hill in a barrel; On The Barricade (1907), about a bloody skirmish in the street during a revolution; The Girl In The Arm Chair (1912), a melodrama featuring foreground and background action, and a disturbed dream from a card player who lost a small fortune and can't pay the debt; Making An American Citizen (1912), about a male immigrant learning the ways of America, the hard way (he is a wife beater who learns to change his ways); and Falling Leaves, a sentimental but decent story about a young girl dying of consumption, saved by a doctor with a miraculous serum when he meets her younger sister.  The films range in length from 3 to 12 minutes.

Mapman Mike

 

August Reading Summary

First, a note about the weather, and cutting grass.  It's been a dry summer, with very occasional rain that doesn't really soak into the ground.  While areas around us received an occasional deluge, we never did.  The last time I cut our grass was June 25th.  It finally got cut again yesterday, August 31st.  It was mostly straggly weeds that I cut, but things do look better today.  Our last rain was Monday, when again giant storms just missed us.  We still got some healthy, badly needed rain, though.  And a rainbow--a double one, actually.

Last Monday evening's double rainbow, as seen from our back deck. 

And it's been almost a week since our driveway cement was laid down.  Tomorrow night the car can finally return to the garage!  The final big project for this year is the large poplar tree in the far backyard, across the creek.  First, the leaves need to come off, and the bank account return to the black.  Hopefully early October, as that tree tends to lose its leaves early.

In reading news, I managed to finish 15 books, very assorted.  As usual, I continued my Avon/Equinox reading project, where I still have 8 authors works to complete.  And I dove into my Delphi Classics Kindle library, where I have now collected over 40 authors' complete works.  Of course I won't live long enough to get through most of those, but I will die trying.

It seems more than a month ago that I read Star of Gypsies by Robert Silverberg, an intriguing SF novel that takes the Roma and their culture into the far future.  Though the premise is worthwhile, the execution falls short, in my opinion.  The story is a very simple one, and it's a good thing, as it gets constantly interrupted by the main character's reminiscences and dream journeys.  Some of the best planet descriptions in SF are to found in these pages, as well as some fun adventures.  But after a while it gets to be a bit much, and we just want the main story to progress.  But it barely creeps along. And at 467 pages, it is a long creep.

Piers Anthony's And Eternity was meant to be his final book in his Incarnations of Immortality series, but he eventually wrote one more (which I will read in October).  It would be impossible to read this book without having read most of the others.  Even having read most of the others, it's still a pretty difficult road to follow as so many threads are tied together at last. Things that happened way back in the first book (this is Book 7) now finally come to fruition.  Though the series is pretty silly overall, it does have many moments that show the author's genius for plot, setting, and character.  Even so, this is a weak book overall, and not a little confusing.  Anthony is one of those writers who does not believe anything an editor tells him, so his books essentially are published as written, or sent to a different publisher.  Must be nice.

Next came Galactic Dreams, a short story collection by Harry Harrison.  However, there were only 4 of the 12 stories I had not read and reviewed already.  "Famous First Words" is a very funny tale about a professor who manages to find words once spoken by famous people that would eventually become prophetic.  "The Pad" is a sexist but very funny story about a rich man attempting to seduce an unwilling young woman.  Think of a Pepe Le Pew cartoon, only much funnier.  And a newly written (for the collection) story about Bill, the Galactic Hero, is also quite hilarious.

Fox 6 by Kenneth Bulmer, continues the saga of Abernathy Fox, a ship's officer in the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars.  Even though this one is just another pot boiler, it's still great fun to read.  I can easily handled on of these per month.  This adventure is enlivened by the appearance of a group of Turkish warriors and a horde of harem girls brought aboard, with their eunuch.  The girls add humour to the proceedings, and end up surprising Mr. Fox with their ability to help out his short handed crew on deck.

Only One Winner is an interesting collection of minor works by Tubb, including the novella of the title.  There is a long speech that Tubb gave at a SF convention in 1970, and though a bit rambling, it brings up some interesting points from one of the greatest pulp masters of the genre.  The three short stories it contains have already been read and reviewed.  Philip Harbottle also contributes a short essay.  The novella itself is standard pulp fare, and not Tubb's best.  4 losers attempt to take over a space liner filled with rich people on a cruise.  One of them is an alcoholic, and one is a female.  They are thieves and murderers of the worst sort, and they all come to their expected end, after causing much mayhem and death.

Wolves of Darkness is the 2nd of 8 or 9 hardcover books containing most of the shorter fiction of Jack Williamson.  Published in suburban Detroit, these are collectors editions, now long out of print.  I managed to get Vols. 2, 3, and 4 at somewhat decent prices, but the remaining volumes, when available, are way out of price range.  This volume is a 549 page collection of stories from 1931 and 1932.  There is a 23 page preface, followed by 509 pages of stories, and then an afterword of 40 pages.  The preface contains images of old pulp magazine covers, and an essay by Harlan Ellison.  The afterward contains some essays by the author about some of the works in this collection, as well as a short modern piece for this edition.  This volume also wins Cover of The Month, depicting an original magazine cover from back in the day, illustrating one of Jack's tales contained herein.  The cover story is very much in the Lovecraft tradition, and rather spooky at times.  Another story, "The Lake of Light", seems also influenced by Lovecraft, namely his Antarctic tale "Mountains of Madness."

Cover of the month, by pulp artist H. W. Wesso, from 1932.

It took Michael Moorcock 7 years to get around to publishing the third Captain Bastable story, called The Steel Tsar.  I enjoyed my stay on Rowe Island, discovering traces of Ballard in the writing setting, and some of the lost characters.  Most of the action and dialogue take place in the island hospital and in the lone remaining hotel.  Eventually, the Japanese arrive and capture the whites.  More adventures ensue, but the writing becomes more philosophical, as the author and his characters ponder the purpose of the multiverse and their place in it.  The Steel Tsar is a ruthless socialist, based on Stalin, and is also named after a giant creation that Harryhausen would have happily animated: a giant, scimitar-wielding robot created by one of the oddest characters to ever appear in a novel.  My edition is amply illustrated, and I enjoyed this third and final Bastable novel as much as the others in the series.  Recommended for the adventure, and the philosophical discussions.  Here is a quote from near the end which I particularly liked: Mrs. Persson is speaking.... "We have only institutions and a crude, fragile kind of democracy standing between us and absolute Chaos.  That is why we must value and protect those institutions.  And be forever re-examining them."  Well said!

Malzberg At Large is a story collection of his from 1979, containing a previously read short novel and 5 stories.  I had also read two of the five stories.  And one of the stories eventually became the first chapter of his brilliant novel, Overlay.  There is also an essay by the author, offering insights into his life that really brings a lot of his writing into much clearer focus.  The short story "Gaheena is From 1971" has been called Malzberg's Rashomon.  A very brief and tragic love story is told from 3 different perspectives, with a coda.  Interesting story telling.  And A Soul Song to the Sad, Silly, Soaring Sixties sums up so much of Malzberg's writing.  Very powerful.  If you have no time or patience to read any of his assassination novels, this story would be a good substitute.

And now we turn to books off the shelf, and from Kindle.  First up was another Anne Hillerman mystery, set in New Mexico's lava fields called El Malpais. Deb and I are very familiar with the area through hiking and exploring, and it is one of many unique and highly memorable landscapes in the state.  Cave Of Bones is perhaps her finest novel to date, getting very close to her father's love of the land, and his ability to transfer that to writing.  Like any modern mystery story, it is perhaps a bit too complex, filled as it is with characters.  But it was a fun read, and it is now off my shelf.

I managed to finish a large art book which I have been perusing for many months.  Towards A Modern Identity is the 3rd book dealing with the Detroit Institute of Arts' American painting collection.  This one has 129 paintings, each one discussed in detail and illustrated in colour.  It has been a multi-year journey reading all three volumes.  This one features many of my favourite artists, including Thomas Dewing, James McNeil Whistler, along with many American impressionists and tonalists.  I have now read all the published catalogues of paintings from the museum.  Others include Flemish and German Paintings from the 17th, Dutch paintings from the 17th Century, and Italian baroque art.  I'm still awaiting publication of early Flemish and early Italian catalogues.

I read 5 books from the Delphi Classics series.  First up was a reread that I first came across in paperback at least 40 years ago, probably more.  I don't know what ever became of my copy, but I have it now on Kindle, along with William Hope Hodgson's Ghost Pirates.  This is one of the better early ghost stories, written in 1909.  It was the 3rd book of a loose trilogy of terror by the author, which also included The Boats of the Glen Carrig, and The House on the Borderland.  All three are remarkable books, and a must read for lovers of early fantasy and horror.  The present novel builds nicely from corner of the eye sightings to a full fledged attack on a ship by ghost pirates.  Good late night reading, if you are all alone in a creaky house (or boat).

Fergus Hume's first novel, and the one he is still most famous for writing, is called Mystery of a Hansom Cab, and was first published in 1886.  Delphi has the 1898 corrected edition by the author, as well as his original intro to the updated version.  Hume was a new Zealander, though he lived mostly in Australia, where this novel takes place (Melbourne).  He had studied many different mystery stories before he wrote this, and it shows.  He has all the necessary ingredients for a good murder mystery, and then some.  With the success of this novel, he eventually went on to write about 130 books.  Highly readable, and though the Victorian morals do dominate the mystery and the story, they are not nearly as hard to take as in works by other authors of the time.  Well worth a read for mystery fans.

Next came a real treat, M. R. James' first collection of ghost stories, called Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, from 1904.  My Delphi edition contains 8 stories, each one chilling and quite scary.  If some of his stories were ever literally transferred to screen, they would prove as violent and hard to watch as something by Stephen King, or directed by Del Toro (he would actually be a perfect director for these stories).  For example, in "Lost Hearts", children are murdered by a madman trying to follow an ancient formula to help him live forever.  Their beating hearts are cut out while they are still alive. Imagine what Del Toro could do with that!  And in "The Ash Tree," your worst nightmare regarding giant spiders will haunt you for many days after.  Ohter storeis are just plain scary, without too much violence.  In "The Mezzotint", an old architecture print without any people in it gradually acquires a frightening entity that is seen to move slowly across the print and into an open window.  This story reminded me of the Doctor Who episode called "Blink."  "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come To You" is yet another example of good, old fashioned pure blood curling horror.  Great stuff!!

Next came Jerome Jerome's sequel to Three Men In A Boat, called Three Men on the Bummel.  The same characters (minus the dog) go on a bicycle tour of parts of Germany.  Published nearly 10 years after the first book, this one is also rich with side splitting humour.  Even though there are many parts where things don't really come off too well, there is enough entertainment in these pages to keep me reading passages to Deb for the entire winter.  His observations on marriage are priceless, and still give me pains in the chest when I think of them.  At one point I simply could not read any further; I was hurting too much from laughing.  The best parts are in the first three chapters, which are among the funniest things ever to be written down.  There are stories about sailing holidays, too, as well as many walking and bicycling tales.  Very rich reading.

With one day to spare before resuming my Avon/Equinox SF books, I turned to the next story by Frank Baum, entitled The Road To Oz.  Dorothy sets out from Kansas one day, as she agrees to show the wandering Shaggy Man the correct road to take.  They meet up with Button-Bright, and with Toto following along, are soon lost in another strange world.  The first half of the book details the usual scary adventures one seems to have in trying to reach Oz safely.  Along the way they meet the lost Poly Chrome, daughter to the Rainbow Man.  They are also helped out by Johnny Do-It at one point, in trying to cross that impenetrable desert.  He builds them a sand sleigh to sail across it!  The second half of the book has the group safely in Oz, and soon meeting up with old friends.  By the end of the book, virtually every character we have met so far in the entire series is present, for it's Ozma's grand birthday party, and everyone is coming to help celebrate.  While there is very little adventure in the 2nd half of the book, there is spectacle.  A good addition to the series.

I'll be back soon with film updates. Stay tuned.

Mapman Mike