Category Archives: personal

Old Movies on a Rainy Sunday

Posted on August 22, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I love a rainy Sunday.  My favorite kind is with old movies.  Imagine my delight, then, when after seeing rain in the forecast I saw that it was Bette Davis day on TCM.  I LOVE Bette Davis!  I prefer to write about cheesy movies in this space, but for Wrist to Forehead Sunday, I feel justified in giving an overview of my Bette Davis day.

We tuned in to The Letter at nine.  We’ve seen this one before.  We rented it in Augusta, GA (remember going to a video store and renting movies?).  I wrote my Mom a letter about it in which I said something along the lines of,  “We saw this Bette Davis movie where she murdered this guy and was on trial for it.  There was this letter she had written which would incriminate herself and she had to get back the letter.  It was a really good movie, but I don’t remember the title.”  Steven wrote in the margin, “It was The Letter.”  I was pretty amused by that, but sometimes I am easy to please.

After The Letter was Mr. Skeffington, which I had DVR’d once but never watched (then we got a new cable box and the chance was lost).   I found it very sad, although the ending was happy (should I have included a spoiler alert for that?)  It also stars Claude Rains, who Steven and I love.  Bette Davis loved him, too.  I like to hear about actors who like and respect one another.  Oh, I guess it is also interesting to hear about when they loathe and despise one another.

Which brings us to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?  That movie is on now, and we are watching re-reuns of Snapped.  You would think I would love that movie, but I do not.  I know, I love Bette Davis, I love Joan Crawford, I love old horror movies.  But I don’t like that movie.  Go figure.

We shall watch A Catered Affair, with Ernest Borgnine, which is on next.  I do like Ernest Borgnine.  Then we FINALLY get to some cheesy stuff with The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex.  I was thinking I had written a blog post about that one, but I was getting it mixed up with The Virgin Queen, which is a really cheesy one. I’d better watch Elizabeth and Essex again and make sure it’s as cheesy as I’m thinking. I may stay up past my bedtime for that one.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

 

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Scattered Saturday Blog Postte

Posted on August 21, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Earlier today I had thought to write a post beginning, “We interrupt these Mohawk Valley adventures to make a Scattered Saturday post…”  But I was continuing my adventures so was afraid the post would be incomplete.  So I continued my scattered gyrations and now interrupt the wine drinking portion of the evening to make my post.

Just kidding.  I’m not interrupting my wine drinking; Steven just brought me another glass.  To anybody who objects to such alcohol-related activities, sorry.  This is the way I roll.

Steven has a rare weekend off, and we slept in this morning to nearly 6:30.  I wasn’t even going to run (which I have not been doing in any case; more about that in the next Running Commentary post) but reconsidered after two cups of coffee.  I took a short run, then a good shower, put on a cute outfit and called my mother.  Then I wrote some postcards.  I have been dreadfully remiss about my postcard writing in recent weeks.  I finally wrote some last Sunday so was happy to be doing so again today.

Eventually, Steven and I made it out the door to get some breakfast.  I was quite hungry.  We first stopped by the post office (to mail the post cards) and the ATM to get some cash, then it was on to Ilion.  I wanted to eat at Farm House Restuarant, right across from The Medicine Shoppe (I always have to dash over to Facebook to check if it’s “Shop” or “Shoppe”), where I had a couple of prescriptions to pick up.  Can you believe Farm House was closed today only?  So it was.  We drove on to Frankfort for a great meal at The Knight Spot (here’s a point to ponder next Lame Post Friday: why is it always “Spot” and not “Spotte”?).

From there we went to Hummel’s Office Plus (“Plusse”?) to purchase a birthday present and card for a friend.  Their Halloween stuff was out already. Yay!  We love Halloween!  There are several things I may stop back and purchase.  What’s a few more Halloween decorations among friends?  They nicely wrapped the present for us, so we had something really nice looking to give our friend.

We put in an appearance at the party, enjoying a little coffee and short visit with our friend, then went on to New Hartford, where we wanted to catch Florence Foster Jenkins, starring one of my favorites, Meryl Streep.  We got there early so stopped in at Uno Pizzeria and Grill (Steven thought it was “Grille” not “Grill”, but I checked on Facebook and it’s “Grill”) for a drink.  We were so pleased by the service and ambience that we came back for snacks after the movie.

The movie, by the way, is WONDERFUL.  Meryl Streep is such a goddess. Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg are quite delightful as well.  I don’t usually do good movie reviews (preferring to stick with the cheesy variety), but I may reconsider the policy.

I believe that bring us up to the present moment.  We are back home, enjoying a little more wine and deciding between sitting on the deck and popping a movie into the DVD.  Or looking for a true crime show on cable television.  After all, anything can happen on Scattered Saturday (“Saturdayye”?).

 

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Questioning Lame Post Friday

Posted on August 20, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Points to ponder on Lame Post Friday:  Why are pickled cucumbers called pickles, but pickled everything else is called pickled whatever it is?

No, don’t answer.  It is a point to PONDER, not a topic for discussion.  Here’s another:  which kind of person is more annoying: the kind who ask questions they do not want answered or the kind who invariably answer a question with another question?  You can answer that one, as long as you do not answer it with another question.

Oh all right, you can answer the first question too.  You can even answer that one with another question if you’d like.

As you may guess, my fogginess of brain continues, with a little headache added to it, but you’ll have that during allergy season.  At least I’ll have that.  And complain about it, but that’s something you can find all year long from any number of people.  Another point to ponder:  Do you suppose it is true that the more you complain the longer God lets you live?  It is what my sister says. One of the things she says.  She says a lot (I come from a talkative family).

Tomorrow I have several Mohawk Valley adventures planned, which I hope to write blog posts about.  Maybe I can even have enough adventures that I will have a real post a week from today instead of another Lame Post Friday.  And this leads us to a final point to ponder:  Will my dear readers get tired of my silliness and impatient with my ridiculous posts?  You can answer that one, too.  It might be useful information for me to know.

 

 

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Whatever Happened to Finish That Novel May?

Posted on August 19, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I wrote part of a blog post at work today, not a Mohawk Valley adventure but a silly commentary, and I did not think it was contemptible.  Unfortunately I did not finish it.  I wrote till one break was over, then on the next break I found I could not continue.  I turned to another page and started to write another lament about my writing woes.  I got a sentence and a half before it started to bore me.  No other blog topics presenting themselves, I turned to a completely fresh page and started writing notes on yet another new novel.

I have a very bad habit of continually starting new novels but never finishing them.  On the other hand, my rule for myself is to Just Write.  Do you suppose I ought to make up some more rules for myself?  If my new rule is Finish What You Start, I am going to be writing for a LONG time.  If I can even find all the novels I have started.  Now I am reminding myself that I also have to finish the banana play.  As well as another play that I had written almost all of (and I think the plot is pretty damn good on that one) (but perhaps I flatter myself).

It is not the least bit surprising that I am so good at writing interactive murder mysteries.  They play to all my strengths.  And they are short.

Ah, I can just hear somebody taking a breath to say, “Write short stories!”  Well, I won’t, because I don’t like short stories. Oh, I know, many people adore them and they are a highly respected art form.  I just don’t like them.   I could write a whole blog post on why, but what does it matter?  There is no accounting for tastes.

So this is my Non-Sequitur Thursday post.  If only I could think of a punchy headline, I would be reasonably content.  And if I can’t think of a good headline, at least I made a blog post.  I’ll work on that silly commentary more tomorrow.

 

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Too Foggy to Focus

Posted on August 18, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

It’s not fall yet.  We are just barely half way through August.  Could somebody please explain to me, then, why my fall allergies have suddenly kicked in?  On second thought, never mind.  I don’t want to know why.  I don’t care why.  I’m just sorry that.

All this by way of introduction to, alas, another Wuss-out Wednesday.  I’m sorry, but my brain is just too foggy to focus (Too Foggy to Focus might be a good title for this post).  Could it be that my allergies are combining with menopausal brain freeze? I’m doomed!

The funny thing is, and I was talking about this earlier in a letter to my sister (ooh, must remember to mail that letter), when I first feel the twinges of sinus distress there is almost something exciting about it.  Autumn has always been my favorite season.  I enjoy the cooler weather, I drink in the colors of the changing leaves, and I adore Halloween.  Additionally, fall has always felt like new beginnings to me.

This, of course, is a holdover from school years.  Every September I looked forward to the new academic year.  Because THIS year was going to be different.  This year I was going to have my act together.  I was not going to wait till the last minute to write papers and study.  More importantly, I was going to wear the right clothes, say the right things, and have lots of friends.  Maybe even… a BOYFRIEND.  I don’t think I need to tell you that one of that ever happened.  But I felt the possibilities, and it was usually a good couple of weeks before I realized I was the same geeky, awkward oddball that I have since learned to embrace.

But we’re not talking about me.  Oh, wait a minute, we are.  It is my blog.  Brain fog, remember?  “But we’re not talking about me,” is a phrase I sometimes use when I want to change the subject.  I would change the subject now, but I am too foggy to think of one to change it to.  Then again, I see I have blathered on for over 300 words.  I’m going to go lay my spinny head down and wait for winter.  Or at least for tomorrow’s blog post.  Happy Wednesday, everyone.

 

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Chopping for the Blog on Tasty Tuesday

Posted on August 17, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Just because I no longer have a lot of rehearsals to go to does not mean I have had any blog-worthy Mohawk Valley adventures to write about.  So my difficulties continue.  I could not think of anything to write about while on breaks at work today, but I remembered that I once instituted a feature called Tasty Tuesday or some such nonsense.  Since I did plan to do some, well, fixing not cooking (still too hot to slave over the stove), I thought I might be able to get a blog post out of that.

A few factors were at play here.  My lovely friend, Kim, gave me some cucumbers from her garden.  I had neufchatel (that is a fancy word for light cream cheese, I think) and flat bread.  I could make cucumber sandwiches, a recipe I stole from my sister Diane (in my defense, it was not a secret recipe, especially since she recruited me to make said sandwiches before one wine-tasting tour).  Additionally, I have had a craving for real, old-fashioned macaroni salad, with tomatoes and lots of mayonnaise.  MMmmmmmm….

I stopped at Hannaford on the way home yesterday.  The main thing I wanted was hot dog buns (that’s a whole other delicious story), but why just buy one thing when you have a whole grocery store?  I went to the cart labeled Local Produce and got some tomatoes and green peppers from Juliano’s Produce in Schuyler. I also got some envelopes of Italian salad dressing mix, which I needed for the sandwiches.

I had no energy for any chopping and mixing last night, but I was determined to do some tonight.  For one reason, I needed a blog post.  For another reason, I needed some low fat, diet type stuff to eat.  I have not completely given up hope of reaching my weight-loss goals.  Accordingly, the first thing I wanted to do was to chop some radishes to put in my lunch.  Steven had nicely gotten the radishes for me when he picked up groceries last week.  You see how prompt I am about these things.  Judge me if you’d like.

Before I actually started chopping, I put some water on to boil for the macaroni (shells) (which were not easy to find, because the new canisters I got at a rummage sale are opaque) and put out the neufchatel to soften.  The box on the cheese said it was so easy to soften, just 30 to 45 seconds in the microwave.  I decided to use patience instead.

To make the cucumber sandwiches, I mixed an envelope of the Italian salad dressing into the neufchatel and spread the mixture on two pieces flat bread.  Then I put slices of cucumber on one piece of bread, topped it with the other and cut it into pieces. It makes a very delicious sandwich.  I already ate about four pieces.

I remembered I wanted to put chives in my macaroni salad so went out to my backyard and got some.  Chives are a most excellent thing to plant in your yard.  They come up every year with no further effort on your part beyond planting them the first time, and you can put them in all kinds of things.  I washed the chives and as they dried, I chopped a tomato and a cucumber, and put them in the bowl with the macaroni.  After adding the chives, I added mayonnaise and stirred.  Then I tasted.  Yum!

So that is my story of chopping and mixing.  I’m wondering if my readers find it better or worse than my more foolish posts.  No matter.  I can only write what comes out of my fingers at the time and hope somebody likes to read it.  Happy Tuesday, everyone.

 

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Can I Manage some Mental Meandering?

Posted on August 16, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I may have made some misguided remarks about getting back to “real” posts today, now that Much Ado About Nothing is over, but I just don’t imagine anybody believed them.  For heavens’ sake, I had a brutally busy weekend including two performances and a cast party, I worked ten hours today, I did some other stuff after work, I’m TIRED.  And it isn’t Tired Tuesday yet.  I think I might manage a Monday Mental Meanderings.  Let’s see what comes of the keyboard.

A side note:  Much Ado isn’t completely over yet.  We may have one more performance.  I’ll write a blog post about it if we do.

I promised myself that I would write more when I wasn’t running around to rehearsals and performances so much.  I was really looking forward to it.  Who knew I was going to feel so brain dead today.  Oh, who am I kidding? Everybody knew it.  Still, I brought a notebook to work and did not bring any cryptogram puzzles or other reading material.  I would write SOMETHING. Sometime turned out to be a letter to my sister.  I didn’t finish it.

The notebook I had brought was not one I had written in recently.  While flipping through to a blank page, I discovered a novel I started last year which I had been thinking about lately but did not know where it was.  Now I know!  I re-read what I had written.  Sometimes when I am reading something I wrote I think, I am a very good writer. No doubt I flatter myself.  I really must start finishing my novels.  Then they might be published and other people could judge what kind of a writer I am (although I will probably say to them, “Don’t judge”).

In the meantime, I declare this foolish blog post done and I will see if I can come up with something better for tomorrow.  Happy Monday, everyone.

 

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Toto, I’ve a Feeling We’re Not in Hamlet Anymore

Posted on August 14, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

To post or not to post, that is the question.

See what I did there?  See, I’m in a Shakespeare play, and I took a well-known Shakespeare quote and modified it to fit the situation at hand.  And if you say, “But you’re not in Hamlet,” I shall say, “Don’t be so didactic.”

I guess the question is not so much “to post or not to post?” as “to post now or later?”  Obviously I am GOING to post.  I post every day.  It’s in my nature, it’s what I do (that’s a family quote; long story and possibly not as cute as we think it is).  I am sitting here in the increasing warmth and humidity, waiting for time to pass till my ride picks me up for the closing performance of Much Ado About Nothing.  I have a few things I must do before that happens, but not many and I’m stalling.

So do something useful, I can see you gearing up to suggest.  Who, me?  Be useful?  Excuse me, have we met?  In fact I did one marginally useful thing:  I ironed Hawaiian shirts for Steven and me to wear to the cast party later today.  I do love a nicely pressed Hawaiian shirt, and I  only recently obtained an ironing board to replace the one that perished in the flood of 2013. I’ve been making do with a towel on the table.  As you may imagine, under those circumstances I only iron what I absolutely must.

As I ironed the shirts, I pondered the appropriateness of it.  After all, Hawaiian shirts are synonymous with leisure, relaxing and parties.  Is it appropriate to labor over them with a  hot steam iron?  But the question was not “To iron or not to iron” (see what I did there?).  The shirts needed ironing.  They will now look awesome at the cast party.

I see that I have babbled on for over 300 words.  I call that quite respectable for a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  Then again, is a Wrist to Forehead Sunday ever quite respectable?  I must leave these questions to ponder another time.  Right now I’m going to look over my lines and check if my costume needs ironing as well.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

Oh and once again, Much Ado About Nothing, Sterzinar Park, Canal Place, Little Falls, 3 p.m.  Be there, aloha!

 

 

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Much Ado Before the Deluge

Posted on August 14, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

This afternoon was the penultimate performance of LiFT’s production of Much Ado About Nothing (as you see, I take every opportunity to use the word “penultimate” in a sentence).  The weather was even hotter than on Thursday, and thunderstorms threatened.  However, as they say, the show must go on!

I had heard some thunder as I took Spunky out for a business meeting before leaving for Little Falls, but the skies were blue with fluffy white clouds.  What was that all about?  The heat and humidity were formidable, but my friend Kim, who was picking me up, has a good A/C in her vehicle.  We arrived in Little Falls early so were able to walk around Chicks on the Canal, a vendor fair that is part of the Canal Days festivities.

A delightful band was playing on the stage that we were to occupy in about an hour (I stupidly did not find out who they were).  They get the best musical acts for Little Falls events.  I couldn’t help dancing.  I figured, I was already sweating, how much worse could it get?  Additionally, dancing would pep me up, loosen me up and cheer me up.  It did all three, but the sweat did get rather bothersome.  I found a spot in the shade to sit and study my lines while I waited for my entrance.

At last the play began!  And I still had to wait for two acts and two scenes of a third before my entrance.  We had a pretty good audience, about 60 somebody said.  We could hear appreciative applause and laughter.  Yes!  Let’s hear it for live theatre!  I was happy to finally get on stage and even happier when the scenes I was in got laughs, too.

It was not until Act IV that the sky began to darken.  Our energy level was still high and we did not flag through Act V.  After curtain call it was downright dark and the wind started to whip.

“Where’s my Bible?” I asked (I’m the Friar, remember?).  “Where’s my green bag?”  A couple of cast members had gathered things up and put them inside as the rain threatened.

Then it hit.  It was a deluge!  I helped carry the last of the stuff into the building, pausing to do a Shawshank Redemption pose in the rain, because it felt damn good on my sweaty body.  I was laughing heartily, as I usually do at inclement weather.  I also helped carry stuff out to our director’s car.  We took a slower drive home than usual, trying to avoid hydroplaning.  We were so happy we had gotten through the whole performance before the storm.

We have one more performance, tomorrow at Sterzinar Park, Canal Place, Little Falls at 3 p.m.  I hope we get another good audience and the weather once gain cooperates!

 

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We’ll Always Have Lame Post Friday

Posted on August 13, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I really did try to write while I was at work today (YES, on a break, don’t go speed-dialing my boss!).  For one reason, I ran out of cryptogram puzzles from the newspaper and I didn’t bring a book or magazine nor yet my script to study (that last would have been a good idea; missed a bet).  Well, the brain dead thing continues, I guess. Anyways, it’s Lame Post Friday.  I can’t get too exercised on Lame Post Friday (exercise!  That would be another good idea!  Oh well).

It isn’t even a “real” Friday for me, because I work tomorrow.  Oh, don’t sneer at me, all you non-Monday-to-Friday people.  I know, you all work harder and longer than me at more challenging, important jobs.  Blah, blah, blah.  I wasn’t complaining.  Much.

My plan had been to write about LiFT’s performance of Much Ado About Nothing last night at Benton’s Landing in Little Falls.  It went very well.  Actors and audience both endured high temperatures and humidity.  We were rewarded with a live Shakespeare experience.  Oh, I do love theatre.  I love writing too; I just don’t seem to be capable of doing much of that lately.  As I often say, one must persevere.

Tomorrow afternoon we have another performance, this one on the stage where we have rehearsed the most, Sterzinar Park, Canal Place, Little Falls.  Saturday’s show is at 4 p.m., then Sunday we have one at 3.  For more information, you can visit LiFT’s Facebook page.  You can also see some fun pictures of our other performances.

And in case anybody was wondering, Sunday will conclude All Much Ado All The Time and we return to our regularly scheduled blog posts (you know, a few “real” posts surrounded by foolishness about How I Can’t Write a Post Today).  I do hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

 

 

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