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.
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.
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.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment