The Visit

Last week we were paid a visit by my mother, her sister (my aunt) Pauline and my cousin Cathy (Pauline's daughter) here in A'burg.  They arrived Tuesday the 11th and stayed until Thursday morning, when they headed back to Toronto.  My mother is heading home (Sudbury) today, after her week long voyage.  Not too shabby for 96.  Pauline is 2 years younger than Mom, and Cathy is 2 years younger than me.  They stayed at a funky hotel in A'burg called Stry (spelled correctly--for the missing 'O' visit the adjoining bar), and visited here at the Homestead on all three days.  We enjoyed a day out in the county on Wednesday, visiting a market/store, a winery and our favourite off the map cafe (14th Coffee).  We ate out in downtown A'burg, enjoying food at Salty Dog one night and then at Artisan Grill next night.  Lunch in Harrow on Wednesday was at a place called George's Eatery.  All restaurants had delicious vegan options for Deb and I.  One dark and chilly night we wandered into Navy Yard Park to see the holiday light display, still being put up at that time.  It was a really fun visit.  Mom hadn't been down here for 12 years!

 

The day before they arrived we had our first taste of snow.  It was gone by the time they arrived on Tuesday. 

 

Deb, Mom, Cathy and Pauline.

 

Same as above, with me replacing Cathy.      

 

We don't get much family company where we live, so it was great to have a chance to spend time with our closest relatives.  Pauline and Mom are the lone survivors of 7 kids that my grandparents had. 

 

In shipping news there are 5 ships that I follow regularly on-line, watching for their passing from our windows.  This weekend 3 of them passed by (2 are currently with tourists in the Antarctic).  The CSL Laurentien passed southbound on Friday, likely its last voyage of the season.  Likewise the mighty Mesabi Miner.  Both ships were heavily laden and moving slowly.  The globe-trotting Federal Bering passed northbound during the night.  I took photos of the first two, and will watch for the Bering on its southbound journey later in the month.  We currently have an extra gap allowing us to see more of the river, as an old house was torn down across the street and a new one is quickly rising.

 

The 700' Laurentien passes our house southbound.  View from our veranda.  A new house is being built across the street.

 

Riding low, the 1000' ore carrier Mesabi Miner heads towards Toledo after a busy non-stop shipping season. 

 

In movie news there are two to report.  Robert Altman's 1979 A Perfect Couple is a comedy romance.  A couple meet via a video dating service and undergo a very rocky relationship.  She is a singer in a large rock band and he is the manager of an antique shop.  The movie consists of many songs by the band, though fortunately they are mostly okay.  The band is run by a patriarchal and bossy singer, while the man's family is led by a dictatorial father.  The humour is often strained, and the young actress who plays the lead obviously suffers from anorexia off screen.  It is painful to watch her when she removes some of her clothing.  She died of cancer in 2013.  It's a strange movie, with the lead actor (Paul Dooley) being quite pushy and obnoxious in getting her to date him after they have broken off.  Definitely a movie of its time.

 

Leaving Criterion Nov. 30th. 

 

Hitchcock's silent 1928film A Farmer's Wife could have been directed by almost anyone at the time, and was likely one of his pictures he was contracted to make.  From a 1916 stage play by Eden Phillpotts, it is a romantic comedy that sees a widowed farmer seek a new wife.  With the help of his young and beautiful housekeeper (try and guess who he ends up marrying) he creates a list of eligible women and tries to propose to them.  One by one he is rejected.  At first he is furious when they refuse him, but he gradually learns to expect no for an answer.  A few outdoor scenes enliven the many indoor shots.  The comedy is a bit broad for modern tastes, but there are some nuances that show that some care was taken in the filming.  A shot of several hundred hunting dogs crossing a small bridge is unexpected, especially as we see the view from an angle where only their tails show.  Overlong (107 minutes), we did make it to the end, but not in one go.

 

From a DVD that we own. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 
 

 

Winter Shows Its Face

It's coming. It seems to arrive each and every year.  We have had a rather pleasant autumn, if you discount the fact that we have had no rain.  This year our first glimpse of what is to come will begin arriving Sunday, and by Monday and Tuesday it will be cold.  The weather change coincides with the next astronomy session, so it will be too cold to stand in an open field with my telescope.  I had a rather splendid observing month in October, however, and made it out on five separate nights.  Even so I'd like to get out three more times before winter, so I hope the temps get seasonal again later next week.

 

I've been rereading my journals from all my previous visits to London.  The first thing that strikes me is how much energy we had back in the day.  During our March Break from teaching we would have a full day of museums, walking, pubs and navigating transport, followed by an evening concert, then at least one other pub before beginning the long trek back to our abode.  And right back at it next day, six or seven days in a row.  This is while many of our colleagues were lying around on warm and sunny beaches, blinking in the sunlight.  The weather in London was frequently cold and damp.  But what fun we had, getting to know another great city in such detail (Detroit being the other one).  We hope to return soon.  Here are some pics from our 2007 visit.

 

Outside Kensington Tube Station.

 

A London tourist shop.

 

Deb climbs stairs at Bayswater Tube station.

 

British Museum.

 

One of many pub stops during our week in London.  Rather cozy, no?

 

Downtown Shere, on a day trip away from London

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Portobello Road, London.  Market day. 

 

In local travel news, my mother is coming to visit next week!  She will arrive Tuesday and stay until Thursday morning.  She will arrive with her sister, my Aunt Pauline, courtesy of Cathy, Pauline's daughter and my cousin.  They will stay at a small hotel in downtown Amherstburg, about 7 minutes from our house.  There won't be too much on the agenda, except lots of sitting and talking, with perhaps a visit to a local winery or three.  Needless to say that our house will get a good cleaning beforehand.

 

In movie news there are a few to report.  Hitchcock's 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much is well worth seeing again, and of course Criterion has a pristine and restored print.  After watching the film again about a kidnapped young girl and the parents trying to do the right thing, we were treated to a 17' discourse by Guillermo del Toro, who has done this sort of thing for a number of his favourite films showing on Criterion.  Peter Lorre is terrific as the evil mastermind, who fights to the bitter end to carry out his assassination plot.  The final scene, a shoot out between police and bad guys, goes on and on and on, but is a great ending to the film.  Often these events last very briefly, or revert to negotiations.  Not this one!  Band bang bang till the end.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Another film we hadn't seen in decades was All The President's Men, a 1976 film starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as two newspaper men who end up bringing down Nixon as a result of the Watergate break-in, an assault by Republicans to infiltrate and wire tap Democrat headquarters in Washington.  Directed by Alan J. Pakula, the film is mostly talking.  However, the pacing is fast and the tension builds as the two men get closer and closer to the truth.  The real star here is how the workings of the press are revealed, a pretty much all-boys club of reporters and editors.  This is a don't miss film, though the ending is abrupt, possibly due to cost overruns.

 

Leaving Criterion Nov. 30th. 

 

Lastly comes Hitchcock's 1926 The Lodger.  While the story is weak (everyone seems so amazingly stupid in this silent movie) the photography is quite good, evoking German Expressionism with its shadows, odd angles and claustrophobic atmosphere.  The legendary London fog is in abundance, as are the killings.  One would think that after the 8th Tuesday night killing in a row of a blonde woman that blonde women would not go out alone at night.  Alas, but they do.  Truly blonde in all things, perhaps?  Joe the detective is as thick as a brick, and super jealous besides.  The lodger of the title is nearly as dumb as everyone else, keeping his secret until it is too late.  Why was it a secret, anyway?  At least the cliche of having the blonde heroine menaced by the serial killer is avoided, and a happy ending does ensue (except for all those blonde women).  Not one of the great silent films, but watched a lot because of who made it.  Beautifully restored and showing on Criterion.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 
 

Piano Pieces Six Months In

We had a really great Sawhain party last night here at the Homestead, with two attending.  Good food, some music, a wood fire.  Can't be beat.  Then came the new Celtic year Tarot readings.  We have our new year cards, as well as selections for each cross quarter.  Readings are usually based on awareness, what might be possible to strive for, as well as guidance toward any goals selected.  I'll publish my year card shortly, but it is a Grail card and I am quite pleased with it, and it will remind me to keep to the true path again this year. 

 

We took our annual pilgrimage to a cemetery this afternoon.  We started out at a new cafe for us in beautiful downtown Harrow, a small farming town several miles southeast of the Homestead.  From there we moved on to Colchester, pretty much the most southerly mainland community in Canada.  There is a small cemetery there atop a bluff overlooking Lake Erie, and they have some pretty old tombstones, as well as plenty of trees and a very lovely small chapel.  Here are some recent pics, including some from today's walk.

 

 Mural on a cafe wall, downtown Amherstburg, from the previous Sunday.  Deb orders some caffeine. The sun glass images refer to an amusement park that once dominated the summer scene in Amherstburg, but is now long gone and replaced by.... an exclusive housing project.

  King's Navy Yard Park, downtown Amherstburg, facing the Detroit River as it opens into Lake Erie.

Navy Yard Park.  All three above images were taken last weekend. 

 Colchester Beach and Harbour, overlooking Lake Erie today. 

 A lonely looking Colchester Beach.

 

 A pair of birch trees in full autumn splendour. 

 

 

 Umbrella in hand, Deb walks towards a bench overlooking the lake. 

 

 Lake Erie with small light to guide boats into the harbour. 

 

 The Colchester Cemetery and small on-site chapel. 

 

 

 Colchester cemetery, with Lake Erie in the background. 

 

In piano news, as reported in today's title I have been chopping away at my newest repertoire now for six months.  There have been interruptions in the practice routine, of course, with two trips to Sudbury, one to Toronto, and various medical days.  But things are chugging along, and I hope to be ready in six weeks.  I played through the whole program this morning and it went rather well.  Soon I will take it on the road and place the pieces on the beloved Fazioli piano of Dr. Seski, if he is kind enough to once again allow me to do so.  After tweaking that a bit I will move on to play in for Jim P. in Chatham, on his 9' Steinway.  After that it should be time to invite some friends over to hear the program.  I have cut way back on the memorization this time, and will use music for the entire first half (all harpsichord) and for the final two pieces on the second half (Philip Glass pieces).

 

In movie news there are two to report.  Invention is a film that defines the term "quirky", and thus attracts our attention and interest.  From 2024 and directed by Courtney Stephens we watch a young woman come to terms with her father's death.  He was a doctor who was heavily into quack medicine, and the only thing he left her was the patent to his invention.  The invention is an enigma, and is supposed to induce a type of trance healing that calms the mind and soothes the body.  She hardly knew her father, but comes to learn things about him as she navigates life after his death.  It's a very personal film, but manages to express a lot through its often narrow focus.  The daughter meets with people who knew her father, and very few of them have flattering views to report, other than he was very smart.  His progress with his machine was hampered by his conspiracy beliefs, as he trusted no one to help him get it to market.  As a result the entire project crashed and burned.  Is the patent a valuable thing?  Should she pursue it further, for her father's sake and her own?  Though she is quite stoic throughout much of the movie, her emotions finally get the better of her, helping her in her decision of what to do with this thing.  The film is as odd as they come, a good enough reason to recommend it.  But it's quite transfixing to watch, too, as we explore the background of this near genius man who attempted, and failed, to get rich while helping others.

 

 A quirky but fascinating film now showing on Mubi. 

 

We also watched Ken Russell's 1980 filming of Altered States, from a novel by Paddy Chayefsky (Deb is currently reading the novel; I will, too).  Though we have seen the film many times, it's one we like to return to every few years.  Both the novel and the film are loosely based on actual experiments done on people in isolation tanks, though things carry a bit further than those experiments ever did.  With effects trying to compete with 2001: A Space Odyssey (they don't), and a story that more or less goes wildly off the rails, it's still a film that we are drawn to, mostly because William Hurt's character is willing to sacrifice everything for his search for what's out there.  Despite being a complete fool, one has to admire the guy for pushing things to the absolute limit.  An intellectual science fiction film is still a very rare thing, and though this film goes well beyond what is even remotely possible in the physical sense, we still know so little about what is inside our minds that all of the evolutionary retrograding that happens physically and emotionally to Hurt could possibly happen, at least within our own minds.  Always an experience to watch, this is a film I recommend highly to SF fans.

 

 

 The film has recently left the Criterion Channel.

 

 

Mapman Mike