Category Archives: personal

Saturday Afternoon Interlude

Posted on October 15, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was delighted to see the Belly Up Pub going into the space that once held the late, lamented Albany Street Cafe. Saturday afternoon, Steven and I had a chance to check it out.

We arrived around four. I wanted to go at a time when it was not likely to be crowded. We easily got seats at the bar, our favorite place to sit, and ordered drinks.

The menu features a number of appetizer-type foods. Deep-fried is one of my favorite flavors. I suggested we order chicken tenders, which Steven loves, then, after considering deep-fried pickles or raviolis, decided on eggplant fries. We got to pick four dips — two per basket. We selected Ranch, Bleu Cheese, Wasabi Cucumber and Cheddar. Yum!

The Pub only occupies one room, where Albany Street Cafe spread over two with a patio, since it was a full service restaurant as well as a beloved watering hole. The remodeled space is more open. The raised booths were taken out, allowing the late afternoon light to come in the picture window. A couple of tables and two dart machines are in that area now. A few people were playing darts while we were there.

We watched the college football game on one of the wide-screened TVs and fell into a conversation with some other patrons of the sizes of our respective screens at home. I ordered a second glass of Pinot Noir and sat back, appreciating the scene.

Steven and I greatly enjoyed our interlude at the Belly Up. We have tentative plans to meet there again on Friday for Happy Hour. Might rate another blog post. For more information on the Belly Up Pub, visit their Facebook page.

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Saturday Evening Post

Posted on October 14, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

OK, I don’t have anything today except for that (I think) fabulous title, and it took me all day to come up with that.

As regular readers (I sure hope I still have some) know, I am hesitant to start running again, due to recent back problems, so Saturday Running Commentary was out. Fine, I thought, I’ll go for a walk. Tabby will like that.

And at first, she certainly seemed to. But two blocks in, she did her business and clearly indicated she was done walking, she wanted to go home.

I had some library books I had to return. We drove in the truck (no, there weren’t that many books that it needed a truck; I drive a truck). The library wasn’t open yet, so I put the books in the depository while Tabby waited for me in the truck. Nothing blogworthy there.

Back home, I started cleaning my house. That is, of course, startling and incredible news to those who know me. Blogworthy? Well, I did threaten to do a cleaning post, after several cooking posts once. Funny how cooking is so much more fun and creative than cleaning when they often get mentioned together as chores that couples ought to share (just a little half-baked philosophy; I don’t think my Friday Lame Post included any of that).

In desperation, I took a nap. Ever try to sleep when you’re desperate? OK, neither did I. I took a nap because I got up with Steven at 3:30, because he had to be in to work at 6, much like he often gets up with me at 3:30, because my overtime day starts at 5.

I thought, sleep, coffee, then I’ll write the blog post. Uh, and it looks like I did. Wait a minute, I’ve done this post before. “I had to write a post. But first I did this, then I did this, then I did this, then I wrote the post, and here it is.” That hoary fictional cliche, where the writer’s adventure turns out to be the movie or book we’ve just been watching or reading. I believe I even mentioned that cliche. I think it was last Friday’s Lame Post.

Oh well, what the hell, as a wise woman once said (it was my mother). At least this, this, and this that I did was different. Let’s call it a template for when I just can’t come up with anything. At any rate, Steven is home now. I’ll see if I can drag him on a Mohawk Valley adventure so I’ll have something better to blog about.

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Walk, Don’t Run

Posted on October 13, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was going to go running yesterday, because halfway through work I realized my back felt much better. I miss running! For one thing, I go further away from the house, so I see different scenery than when I take a walk with Tabby. For another thing, I’m gaining weight again. Say it ain’t so! If any more motivation is needed, it’s a built-in blog post.

On the other hand, for the past week my back has been really paining me. I mean, more so that your common or garden over-40 aches. I seriously considered going to the doctor and embarking upon a long struggle with addiction to prescription painkillers. Of course, there was no guarantee I could get in to see the doctor right away, and even less guarantee that he would prescribe anything beyond physical therapy and weight loss (say it ain’t so!).

While I dithered, I did some stretches I found in a Women’s Day magazine (April 2012) as well as a couple shown me by my mother and a woman at work. I know, this is not the same thing as working with a trained physical therapist who can ensure I am doing the appropriate moves with the proper form. Well, it fit my schedule and my budget for now.

And IT HELPED!!! I felt joyous. I knew I had sports bras clean. It had only been a week and one day since my last run. I could rock this! Then I thought, don’t be stupid. Your back just this minute stopped hurting, don’t instantly do something known to cause back strain. Still, running helps with the weight loss thing. I dithered a little more (I always say, go with your strengths).

Perhaps it was fortunate that my back started twinging again on the drive home. I thought a nice walk with Tabby would be more my speed. Tabby was agreeable. She didn’t want to go very far, either. Two blocks was all we did. I stretched some more later on.

Today at work, my friend who had shown me the one stretch brought me a copy of the physical therapy exercises she did when she was out for a month with back pain. I showed them to another co-worker and assured him I intended to do these exercises faithfully, “So you won’t have to listen to me complain about my aching back ANY MORE!”

He expressed skepticism. I explained that he would still have to listen to me complain about other things, and he believed that much.

I had actually meant to write a blog post about my two block walk with Tabby. When I sat down and put pen to paper, all this garbage about my back came out. I originally thought I might segue into an amusing description of the walk and edit out the back garbage later, but for some reason I never quite got to the amusing description. Then I thought, it’s Lame Post Friday! What could be more lame than two Fridays in a row complaining about my aches and pains? Stay tuned for more posts about Why I Can’t Write a Decent Post. Happy Friday, everyone!

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Wine at the Farmer’s Market

Posted on October 12, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

As we wend through October, the summer farmers’ markets are coming to an end. Since Steven was off on Wednesday, I suggested he and Tabby pick me up at work and we visit the Mohawk, NY Farmer’s Market while we still could.

That is, if the weather cooperated. The morning forecast (granted that was at four in the morning) said rain after 7 p.m. Perfect! Well, that didn’t happen. When I spoke to Steven at lunch time, he told me about all the indoor Halloween decorating he had been doing.

“Because it’s been raining ALL DAY!”

The rain had fortunately stopped by 3:30, when I get done work. It is always exciting to have a rendezvous with my favorite husband and the world’s cutest dog (oh, I know, you feel your dog is cuter, as you should).

“When I drove by the place,” Steven told me, “I saw 1000 Islands Winery and one other tent.”

That was OK with me; I particularly wanted to patronize the winery. The last time we went to the Mohawk Farmer’s Market, I tasted but did not buy. This time I intended to taste and buy.

The market is located in Weller Park, next to Weller Library on Main Street in Mohawk. There were actually three or four tents, but I made a beeline for the winery’s, because it looked like the guy was picking up.

“Oh, no, just putting away some of these extra bottles,” he said. “What would you like to sample?”

First I tried the Merlot and the Cabernet Sauvignon, because I like dry red. I seemed to remember preferring their Cab over their Merlot (real oenophiles call it “cab”), but I had forgotten how tasty the Merlot is.

Then I tried a semi-dry Riesling. Not as dry as I like, but it tasted like a good summer wine to me. I asked if the Pinot Grigio was sweet. I learned from my friends at Vintage Spirits that Italian Pinot Grigio tends to be drier than the California version. I wondered where New York fell on the scale. The winery guy said it was drier than the Riesling, so I tried it. Yum!

I decided to purchase the Merlot and asked could he take a credit card (you never know at farmers’ markets). He had one of those little square things on his phone that I’ve seen advertised on TV. Oh, technology! It took a few tries for my card to swipe. Then I had to type my e-mail address on his touch screen to receive my receipt. Yikes! I don’t text. I don’t work with touch screens. I live in the 20th century, for heavens’ sake!

First it totally would not accept my serious e-mail address (the one I use when I apply for a job or for business purposes), I think because there are periods in it (note to self: get a new serious e-mail address). Then it just took me forever to type in my silly e-mail address (the one my friends and family use), because my fingers are fat and clumsy.

While I futzed around with that, Steven and Tabby checked out the rest of the market. Steven purchased a little pumpkin and a variety pack of Amish cookies. Tabby made a few new friends.

The Mohawk Farmers’ Market runs from May through October from 2 to 5 p.m. in Weller Park. I don’t know, though, but what this was the last week, because when I drove by Weller Library the sign about the market was gone. Oh well, something to look forward to in the spring!

For more information about 1000 Islands Winery, check out their website at http://www.thousandislandswinery.com/

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Interlude at Little Falls

Posted on October 11, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Our plans for Sunday included a trip to Little Falls, NY, where we hoped to take in a show at the Black Box Theatre at Canal Place.

Little Falls is a mere six miles from Herkimer. You can get there by State Route 5 or by Route 5S. We went 5S this time, another scenic country road. We noted what seemed like a lot of cars at Herkimer County Humane Society and hoped that meant lots of people adopting dogs and cats. We also noticed the scaffolding at the Historic Fort Herkimer Church where they are doing some renovating. I’m hoping they have some event celebrating when the repairs are finished. It would make an awesome blog post.

The play we had hoped to see at the Block Box was sold out. That was disappointing, but we made the best of it by checking out the shops. Two re-purposed factories, Canal Place and the Shops at 25 West, host a variety of antique and specialty shops. We browsed vintage clothing, books and toys I remember from my childhood (I believe I’ve mentioned I’m old).

We took our time wandering around. Steven found a ceramic witch he couldn’t resist. I admired a few Santa Clauses on our way out, but I figured one holiday was enough for now.

I picked up a brochure about Little Falls and discovered a number of other attractions I would like to check out for future blog posts. If you’d like more information about Little Falls, visit cityoflittlefalls.net

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Cider Mill Sunday

Posted on October 10, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Because Steven had a rare Sunday off, I suggested we make our annual trip to Fly Creek Cider Mill. I had made the suggestion before suffering the back pain that’s been plaguing me and cluttering up my blog posts, but I was determined to let nothing interfere with a fun day with my favorite husband.

I love the drive out towards Cooperstown. Twisty — not too twisty — country roads through the mountains with incredible views. There was still plenty of color in the trees, although some areas were what they call past peak.

We listened to our Halloween CD as we drove. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned our Halloween CD before. It started out as a cassette tape Steven made when he worked at a radio station up north in the ’90s. It was for use as pre-show music for a play our community theatre was presenting. When we lived in Georgia, a friend who had equipment transferred the songs onto CD, adding a few we had acquired since. It is a fun CD.

Fly Creek was a little crowded, but people were mostly polite and good-natured. Of course I went around and tried all the free samples. We purchased some wine, wasabi peas and treats for Tabby. Then we wandered outside to feed the ducks.

On the way back to Herkimer, we stopped, as usual, at Dyn’s Cider Mill. We discovered Dyn’s some years ago, on our first trip to Fly Creek. It is smaller and much lower key but quite charming. We each got a freshly made donut, and Steven had a cup of coffee while I enjoyed some hot cider. I purchased, also as usual, some Dyn’s popcorn. I will enjoy that on some not too distant Sunday with crime shows or cheesy movies.

We rounded out our Mohawk Valley morning back in Herkimer with a late breakfast at Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner. Then we went home so I could rest my back prior to implementing our afternoon plans.

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Some Intrepid Girl Reporter

Posted on October 9, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I think back pain must also effect the brain (cue brainless jokes) (you know who you are), because I had completely forgotten about another horror classic I watched on Saturday, The Corpse Vanishes (1942) starring Bela Lugosi.

Of course, starring Bela Lugosi is not a guarantee a movie will be any good or even that it will be a horror movie (remember when Boris Karloff played that Chinese detective?). Still, with the word “corpse” in the title, I figured we’d at least get to see those famous scary eyes.

The movie starts out quickly enough with a bride dropping dead just as she’s about to say “I do” (cue anti-marriage jokes). A photographer rushes in and takes a picture (paparazzi in 1942?). The undertaker takes the body away, and we catch a glimpse of some scary eyes in the back of the hearse. Oh boy! Then the real undertaker shows up. Oh no!

“Another kidnapping of a dead bride!” exclaims a girl from a newspaper who has just been denied an interview with the bride’s father. “What a story!”

At this point I sat up as straight as my bad back would allow and cheered. An intrepid girl reporter! Yay!

As per usual, Intrepid Girl Reporter gets no respect from her paper. The editor sends her to the next society wedding and he ONLY wants her to find out who’s there and what the bride is wearing.

“But what if I get a clue?” she asks. He does not deem this likely.

The mother of the bride in this wedding has demanded police protection. As the bride prepares, a mysterious orchid arrives, which she naturally pins right on. It MUST come from the groom, right?

Hello! Two minutes earlier the groom was at the door and was denied admittance. Would he not at that point have said, “Oh, well, give her this orchid from me.” That occurs to no one, and apparently the police protection does not extend to questioning deliverers of mysterious orchids.

Predictably, this bride also drops dead. They make sure the coffin gets on the right hearse, which is surrounded by motorcycle cops, but Bela cleverly steals it anyways. Intrepid Girl Reporter ends up with the orchid, which she — and nobody else — immediately recognizes as a clue.

Meanwhile, we follow Bela to his lonely mansion, castle, whatever it is (I missed the exterior shot), with the mysterious laboratory, and we find out why he wants the corpses of beautiful young women. He uses them (by means which are not clear but that hardly matters in a movie like this) to keep his wife young and beautiful. Does she have a wasting disease that makes her look old before her time? NO! She’s just old and doesn’t want to look that way! Come on, lady, none of us do! Slap on some Oil of Olay, schedule a Mary Kay makeover and drive on!

Perhaps I should be a little more understanding. These were the days before botox, after all. And, without this woman’s desire to look young, there wouldn’t be any movie. But she is so annoying! She’s crying with these big, loud sobs that go on and on, begging her husband to hurry, she needs [whatever he does] NOW! I was wishing he would give her a mysterious orchid so she’d just shut up already.

Intrepid Girl Reporter tracks down Bela through the orchid, which is surprisingly easy. What dumb cops they have in these movies. Law enforcement ought to sue Hollywood for defamation. Come to think of it, so should intrepid girl reporters, because this one is not a good representative. She spends a lot of time screaming and fainting (I think Fay Wray screamed once in The Mystery of the Wax Museum, but you really couldn’t blame her and she was intrepid the whole rest of the time).

It’s not a bad movie, in spite of Boo-Hoo Wife, Dumb Cops and Not So Intrepid Girl Reporter. There are some scary parts and a few creepy minor characters I haven’t mentioned (thought I’d save you something). One might wonder if it was really all that memorable, seeing as I forgot I had watched it till Monday morning when I was pondering my blog topic (it was kind of like, “Wait a minute, didn’t I see three movies on Saturday?”). But on looking back, I will give it this accolade: it was fun at the time.

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Shopping with Corman

Posted on October 8, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

As I mentioned yesterday, due to a bad back all I was good for was watching cheesy movies — uh, I mean horror classics. I continued my viewing with Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors (1960).

The movie later became an off-Broadway musical, which was also made into a movie with Rick Moranis and Steve Martin. I never saw the play, and I did not like the movie (although in general I like both Moranis and Martin). However, I saw a trailer for the original movie on the Extra Features of Horror Hotel, and I was intrigued. I found it in Steven’s Collection of 50 Horror Classics.

In case you’ve never heard of the movie or play, it is about a man-eating plant. The plant is raised by a nebbishy loser who is on the verge of getting fired from a Skid Row florist at which he works. He doesn’t exactly know what he’s raising and discovers quite by accident that the plant craves blood and eats people. Complications ensue.

I have to say I liked it. Corman throws in a lot of comedy, some of which is heavy handed. For example, at every opportunity, the nebbish sticks his foot in a bucket and trips. It takes some finesse to pull off a bit like that and not have your audience say, “Where do all these empty mop buckets keep coming from?” Roger Corman films are not known for use of finesse. However, that is part of their charm, and I did get enjoy a chuckle or two.

I especially liked the florist’s one regular customer, a lady with an apparently infinite supply of relatives who died and needed flowers sent to the funeral. I also like the florist, the struggling businessman who is alternately ready to fire the nebbish or adopt him as a son and is reasonably torn between doing the right thing and making money.

The big name in the cast is Jack Nicholson. I had known he was in the movie, but I was under the impression he played the sadistic dentist later portrayed by Steve Martin. Not so: Nicholson is hilarious and a little scary as a masochistic patient. It is not a large part. At Nicholson’s stature now it would be a cameo. At his stage of career then, it is a memorable bit.

Leonard Maltin in his 2007 Movie Guide (Penguin Group, New York, 2006) says the movie is now seen as one of Corman’s best. I can see why. The plot moves right along, there are some good scares, and the dramatic conclusion is fitting. An enjoyable interlude on a Saturday afternoon. I may try it again sometime without the backache.

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Saturday Movie Matinee

Posted on October 7, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

I am hoping that this blog does not degenerate into All Back Pain All The Time, but can I just say, Ow. There was not a chance that I could run this morning and write a blog post about that. I thought I might manage a walking post, but I tried it and no dice. I did, however, watch an old horror movie and I’d like to write about that.

Spoiler alert! I may even give away the ending this time. We’ll see how it goes. I will say right up front that this is not a bad movie; I do not feel you would be wasting your time by watching it. So if you like this sort of thing, you might want to stop reading, go watch Horror Hotel, then come back and read this (clearly I do not feel that anybody’s time is wasted reading my blog).

Horror Hotel (1960) is the first entry in a DVD collection I got for Steven some years ago called “Horror Movie Classics.” It came in a tin box that makes horror noises when you push a little button on top. I purchased it mainly because it included the silent classic Nosferatu, one of the scariest pictures ever made. But I find I enjoy the cheesier entries as well.

The first thing that struck me about Horror Hotel is that the opening scene, a flashback to a witch burning in 17th century New England, was used in The Curse of the Blair Witch.

Wait a minute, have I written about this before? At this point it would behoove me to check. However, that would entail making my painful way up the stairs to the computer, waiting while it boots up and sitting on a chair which totally exacerbates my suspected sciatica for as long as it takes me to search every entry I’ve written about movies. That ain’t gonna happen. Oh well, they show re-runs on TV all the time. And scripted shows recycle plot lines ad infinitum. Anyways, maybe I never wrote about Horror Hotel in the first place.

Where was I? ah yes, the witch burning scene later recycled by the clever Blair Witch people. It turns out that this is a part of a lecture given by a wild-eyed professor who is, I think, getting just a little too heated about his subject matter. Of course a beautiful blonde student is fascinated by it all. She wants to go to the site of the aforementioned burning and do research, over the disapproval of her science professor brother and varsity sweater wearing boyfriend.

Setting aside the wild-eyed professor, this movie is lousy with foreshadowing. For one thing, here’s the ground level fog which never goes away. Seriously, outside of a haunted house with a good dry ice machine, has anybody ever actually walked through this thick, scary mist on the ground? I never have.

Naturally Blondie ignores the gas station attendant who tells her “decent folk” do not go where she is headed. Naturally she picks up the scary hitchhiker who speaks in sepulchral tones using language from another century, apparently thinking he’s a perfectly nice guy that needs a ride even though it is just a bit odd that he disappears abruptly without saying goodbye or opening the car door. And why wouldn’t she explore that dark, cobwebby basement where there isn’t supposed to be one?

I’ve skipped a bunch of stuff, which I think is a good thing if you ever want to watch the movie. I think I’ll skip a bunch of other stuff, too. For one thing, it is probably going to be painful to sit at the computer and type this in (man, I love writing a blog; you can get away with all kinds of stuff).

The climax is exciting. I may be giving away too much by saying that evil is vanquished, but I just wanted to tell you that I sat there asking, “Why didn’t they just do that 300 years ago and save these kids the trouble?”

Well, over 600 words and my back isn’t hurting too badly. I think I’ll go lounge on the couch some more and watch some more horror classics. That way I’ll have something to write about if I’m not up for more energetic Mohawk Valley adventures soon.

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Almost Completely Lame

Posted on October 6, 2012 by mohawkvalleygirl

Myself as well as this post.

I think somebody somewhere has a voodoo doll of me and is sticking pins in it. He or she picks different spots. One day it’s the sinuses, one day the upper back, one day the lower back, later that day the bunions. This evil person’s evil plan is to make it so nobody likes me any more because all I can do is complain. I fear it is working.

Yesterday at work my headache reached nightmarish proportions. Seriously, I felt that I was in a nightmare. As I walked up the stairs to the ladies’ room I was surprised to see that I actually made it to the top of the stairs. I expected them to continue infinitely, as happens in some dreams (or have you never gotten the never-ending staircase or road or hallway?). When I got to the bathroom I was relieved to see real toilets not disgustingly dirty. I don’t know about anyone else, but when I dream about bathrooms they are either too wet and dirty for use or they are not real toilets but in the dream you are expected to use them as such, usually in full view of other people (or, again, is that just my sicko dreams? Paging Dr. Freud!).

After I got home and took a nap the pain subsided into mere lightheadedness. I could rock that, at least till bedtime, which would be early. Then as I was walking up the stairs (one flight) to the (normal) bathroom, I felt this sudden jab in my back. What the hell was that? After I went back downstairs and sat down, I found I could not get back up. This sucks! Well, I went to bed (after Steven helped me up). Sleep would help.

It did, somewhat. When I described my symptoms to a friend at work, she said it sounded like sciatica, which she suffers from. I do not know much about sciatica, except that it is fun to say (try it!). After a while the pain subsided. I reported this encouraging development to my friend.

“It comes and goes,” she told me. Damn! She went on to describe her own tribulations with sciatica. Oh dear! I said maybe I should not complain, because her case was obviously much worse than mine.

“You go right ahead and complain,” she told me. “That’s your prerogative. To complain and to change your mind!”

“Maybe I’ll change my mind about complaining,” I said.

The pain was practically gone by the end of the day. I thought I might even go running. Then I thought it might be more sensible to walk with my dog Tabby. Obviously she would prefer that alternative. By the time I got home, however, the pain was back. I could still rock a walk, I thought. Um, no.

I got on the computer. I would check my email, make my blog post, then decide. I checked the email. “Oh yeah, I wanted to email Entertainment Weekly and complain about YET ANOTHER double issue!” I stood up to go downstairs and get the magazine for the address. OOOWWW!

I went and laid down instead. I read, I relaxed. I made my painful way downstairs and ate something. I really really really wanted to make my blog post and get it over with. I had not written anything, but I had a tentative title, “Not Completely Lame,” and I had a tentative subject, my walk with Tabby which I had not yet taken.

In desperation, I came up with the above title and started typing, the results of which you see. You know, I think it is the hoariest cliche in fiction where the character wants to write a book, wants to write a book, wants to write a book, has some movie-ish adventure, then writes a book and it’s THE MOVIE YOU’VE JUST BEEN WATCHING!!! Have I just been guilty of a hideous piece of hypocrisy? How lame would that be? I would say, almost completely.

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