It was a brutal end to a warm and sunny and lovely late autumn. But Saturday, Nov. 12th brought the dreaded reality to life. Winter is never far away in November. We had plunging temps and high winds, lasting through Sunday, Nov. 20th. What we did not receive was the 5' to 6' of snow some lucky places did during that hellish time. Mostly New York state, but also a good part of Ontario near Niagara Falls. We did get one blast of snow one night, which sent the noisy snow plows out to do their thing. But it has warmed up again, and it's sunny once more, and the winds have dropped, and our snow is gone. Thanks be given.
Needless to say we did not do very much during the winter blast. Amanda visited twice, and we had one outing by car to a nearby cafe and a few shops (and a distillery). But we cancelled our bus trip to Windsor, not having much ambition to be at a bus stop when it's cold and windy. Amanda has been promoted to Head of Publishing at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Best of all, she gets to work from home 90 % of the time, permanently. So she was able to work at her mom's house in the mornings, and hang out in the afternoon and evenings.
I did catch up on my reading during the cold spell, and am now reading a book off my shelf. More on that topic at the end of the month.
In viewing news, we have continued to watch, in rotation, three Wondrium courses, and three series on Prime. We have another series in the waiting room, called English, when we finish one of our Prime series. We also have a stack of courses in the Wondrium queue, too. So we limit ourselves to three TV series at a time, and three courses. The current courses are a history of piano literature from Bach onwards, a series called Science Fiction as Philosophy, and another about ancient astronomy, with a worldwide scope. The prime series are Tales From the Loop, Night Sky, and The Wheel of Time. There is another series of interest showing on AMC+, Interview With A Vampire,which we will likely watch soon, too.
In movie news, we watched Prater, Ulrike Ottinger's 2007 documentary on the bizarre Viennese amusement park. It is quite good, and it follows the history from its founding to the present day. The entire park was destroyed by bombing by the Nazis in WW II, as foreigners worked there, and Jewish people. There never seems to be any good news that comes out of the devastation wrought by the Nazis (yet still people follow and idolize them).
Lastly came Neon Bible, a Terrence Davies film from 1995. Set in America's south, it is the story of a young boy growing up in a small town in the 50s. Based on a novel written by a 16 year old boy, but withheld from publication by his mother for many years, the movie to me was a total failure. The character of the young boy was so bland, and the film so saturated with terrible music (played and sung loudly and for lengthy periods) that we nearly quit watching it. The last half hour was a bit better, with less music and more story, and the boy began to finally show some emotion. But many of the scenes go on far too long, and they don't seem to advance the plot or deepen it. There are, however, a few fine moments, mostly dealing with the relationship between the boy and his outgoing aunt. Overall, though, it was not enjoyable to watch.
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In lieu of an astronomy night grumbling, I present a painting now in Detroit at the Van Gogh exhibit. We are hoping to visit once more in early to med December, before the holiday rush.
Mapman Mike
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