Catching Up Again

 We continue to try and put up railings on our new outside staircase.  We have half of the job done; the other half requires some ingenuity.  Deb thinks she is up for the challenge.  More later.  Still nothing to report on our garage foundation.  There it sits, in all its unfixed glory.  The car sits outside, which won't work well in the winter.  Speaking of winter, I finally had my winter dream, which usually occurs on or about Summer Solstice.  In this dream, there was no snow on the ground.  But everyone was talking about the big winter storm that was immanent, and would soon bury us in the white stuff.  So there; that part of my life is done with.  I remember worrying about how to get the car into the garage before the storm.

In weather news, we have had no measurable rain here at the homestead since June 14th.  The grass is brown and the earth is cracked.  We've had two close calls, but no rain here.  Next chance is tomorrow night, when storms are predicted.  We need a good inch of rain at least.  In June we had five days at over 90 F, including a 99, 97, and 94 F.

In music news, my newest piano program is up and mostly ready for performance.  I've played the Bach and Beethoven for my piano friend Paula, and they went really well on her grand piano!  I was happy, and she was amazed.  So far so good.  Now I need to play for a few people, and get on with a newer program. We continue to listen to the complete works of Beethoven here at home, as well as our entire classical record collection, over a thousand records.  We need to knock back an opera soon.  We just finished our Bach records, as well as all the Schubert string quartets.  Next up are the Schubert symphonies.  As for Beethoven, we are in the opus 70s right now, heading well into his middle period compositions.

In gaming news, I am playing Myst 5, which will complete the 8-game series, 5 Mysts and 3 Urus, most of them being played for my 2nd time.  I continue to play Botanicula, but am currently stuck trying to rescue a 3rd tyke, with two already safe with mama.  We are ready for our 2nd game of Middle Earth The Wizards card game in our new series.  And tonight we played Scrabble for the first time.  It's supposed to be a game that's good for old folks to play.  We didn't keep score, but tried to learn the rules.  We should be ready next time for the real thing.

Turning to film, there are two to report.  I chose Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, a 2021 Japanese film by the director of Happy Hour, the 5+ hour film we watched last month.  This one featured 3 short tales, the last two being quite good, and the first just so-so.  Hamaguchi is a director to keep an eye on; we still haven't seen Drive My Car.  In the 2nd story, which is filled with irony and several risque moments, a married female adult student is enlisted by her young boyfriend to try and seduce a professor and get him fired.  She heads to his office prepared for the job, but the two of them of them hit it off rather well.  The ending is a surprise, and tragic and funny at the same time.  In the 3rd film, two women meet on the street, each thinking they know one another from high school, and strike up a conversation.  One invites the other to her house for tea, where they come to realize that they don't really know each other at all, both succumbing to mistaken identity.  Funny and touching, this is the best of the three.

Now showing on Criterion. 

My going away choice was 'Round Midnight, from 1986 and directed by Bertrand Tavernier.  From the description on Criterion....."’ROUND MIDNIGHT is a love letter from director Bertrand Tavernier to the heyday of bebop and the Black American musicians who found refuge in the smoky underground jazz clubs of 1950s Paris. In a sui generis, Oscar-nominated fusion of performer and character, legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon plays Dale Turner, a brilliant New York jazz veteran whose music aches with beauty but whose personal life is ravaged by addiction. Searching for a fresh start in Paris, Turner strikes up an unlikely friendship with a struggling single father and ardent jazz fan (François Cluzet) who finds his life transformed as he attempts to help the self-destructive musician. Herbie Hancock’s evocative, Oscar-winning score sets the mood for this definitive jazz film, a bittersweet opus that glows with lived-in, soulful authenticity."

It's a very engaging film, with great acting and fabulous blues music.  Highly recommended.

Leaving Criterion July 31st. 

In series news, we finished up Amazon's amazing 16 part one called Undone.  A very fun and original animated series to watch, and perhaps rewatch.  And tonight we saw part 5 of 6 of Dark Winds.  The final part comes out next weekend.  And we are halfway through Name of the Rose, an 8-part series.  A newer version of The Prisoner is on deck.

In writing news, my children's vampire novel has been translated into French, and is ready to send off to Paris this week!  Fingers crossed on that one.  Thank you, Celeste!!

I'll finish up with a summer time painting from the DIA.  Western Landscape by John Mix Stanley shows me where I would love to be right now.  And if not floating down a river or crossing a lake, then at least I'd like to be sitting where the painter is, and just watching what happens.

Western Landscape, 1847-1849.  John Mix Stanley, American, 1814-1872.  Oil on canvas, mounted on Masonite.  18 1/2" x 30".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts. 

                                                                        Detail of above.

Detail of above. 

Mapman Mike

 

 

The Longest Day

Today, Sunday, was the final day of Spring.  However, we have already had more than a month of summer and summer temps.  There is no shortage of rain here, but hot temps have been persistent.  A week of cool weather is forecast, however, and we are looking forward to it.  The weeds are taller than we are, and all gardens need attention badly.  In a 15 minute blitz yesterday we filled two huge lawn waste bags.  We need a few hours of that to get the yard back to where we can say we are in control.

We are celebrating Solstice on Monday, the first full day of summer.  Not much planned in the way of special activities.  We might take a drive, but probably won't.  The garage needs a bit of paint, and a door salesman is coming tomorrow morning at 10 am.

Last Thursday I went to Kingsville, dropping Deb off at her mom's LTC home, and then going to Lakeside Park again to read for a few hours.  It was a beautiful day, with a cool breeze off Lake Erie.  That has been my only non-essential outing of late.

 

Lake Erie, on a very pleasant late spring afternoon.  The baby geese were all gone.

Looking south across Lake Erie from Lakeside Park, Kingsville.

 In movie news, I am behind again in my exclusive reporting.  Deb's going away pick from last weekend was Shaft's Big Score, from 1972.  Richard Roundtree is back, but the Isaac Hayes score and song are not, nor is the white police lieutenant.  Nowhere near as engaging as the first Shaft film, this one does have a pretty exciting finale, with a helicopter kamikaze pilot chasing Shaft through some docklands scenery that is rather death-defying.  However, it isn't really worth the time to watch it.

Showing on Criterion until June 30th.    

Next came my choices from last week.  From the main list I chose Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, from 1970.  With a title like that, and Toshiro Mifune reprising his role, what could go wrong?  A masterpiece, right?  The first thing to go wrong was the very lame script, one of the worst of any samurai film ever seen.  It plodded along as if it had all the time in the world, and as if it didn't matter what was in the script, because with the two lead actors, what could go wrong?  Well, those two great actors had absolutely no chemistry in this movie.  Their scenes together are among the least memorable of the film.  A huge disappointment!

Now showing on Criterion.

 My going away film was Bertrand Tavernier's A Sunday In The Country, from 1984.  A sweet film, it can be added to the list of decent films that have virtually nothing earth-shattering that happens in them.  These almost Zen-like films are among my favourite kind.  In this one, an elderly painter in turn-of-the-century France welcomes his son and his wife and their three children for their weekly Sunday visit.  The younger daughter also arrives, but unexpectedly.  She visits her father less often, but she is his favourite.  A lovely film.

Leaving Criterion June 30th. 

Last Friday Jenn G. visited.  We got caught up during her nice long outdoor visit, and we shared 5 different ales.  There was food all day, too!  She is off to B.C. for six weeks at the end of June, returning mid-August.  That was our first social event since last autumn!  We are in constant touch on Messenger, and she watches Criterion!  I'm hoping to get her subscribed to the upcoming DSO season, too, where we could meet several times next year for ale, food, and music.  However, it was just announced that the border with the US will remained closed at least through July 22nd.  I'd say it's just about time to reopen.

Mapman Mike