Category Archives: Uncategorized

I Just Couldn’t Resist!

Every week I say to myself,  don’t go out this week.  Stay in, save money, save calories.  I agree with me at the time.  Then Wednesday rolls around, and I want to go to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort for music and food.  Today I went and once again was glad I did.

Justin Smithson was playing.  I have heard him before and loved him.  I was happy to hear him again.

Excellent musician!

I was loving his acoustic guitar.  He played a mix of songs from The Eagles to Jimmy Buffet to Johnny Cash and more.  When he sag, “I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain,”  I said, “Yes, we have,”  because it had been raining all day.  He smiled.

A couple walked in and greeted Justin.  I thought the man looked familiar and asked did I know him.  He said he used to be on TV.  It was Steve McMurray of WKTV in Utica, NY.  He is general manager now so not on the air as often.  I told him of a time my husband I had met him at a Stuff the Bus campaign one December.

“I took a picture for my blog, but I don’t remember if I used it.  If I can find it I’ll put it in tonight’s post,” I said.

My Steve loved to donate toys.

It took some looking, but I found them!  It was actually November 2019.  It is a good memory.  I will be sure to donate to Stuff the Bus again this year.

Full disclosure:  when I got home I was too tired to make the post so am making it Thursday morning.  And I need more coffee.

 

 

 

Carnival of Tired Tuesday?

Tired Tuesday follows Monstrous Monday once again.  I meant to take a walk and do a Pedestrian Post,  but I just feel too tired.  Oh dear.  I did a few things earlier:  a little yard work, a little house cleaning, ran a couple errands, grocery shopped.  And somewhere in all that I took a nap.  You would think that would have helped, but not so much.

It’s a classic. Or a cult favorite. I get them mixed up.

I am looking at Carnival of Souls, a low budget but very effective horror movie.  I have it on two different DVD collections.  Right now I am watching the one from 50 Horror Classics.  I thought I would watch my way through all 50.  I still have not solved my television problem so am only watching DVDs these days.

I kind of feel like she looks.

I plan to do more than sit around and watch DVDs, of course.  I plan to run more, clean my house, and fix up my yard and garden.  Then I can write blog posts about doing those things.  If I’m not too tired.

Eeeeeerie!

In the meantime, I continue to watch Candace Hillligoss struggle with the strange things that keep happening to her.

Eeeee! Who is that man?

I’m afraid this is a very dull blog post.  I always say a bad blog post is better than no blog post at all, but I have to wonder.  As usual, I intend to hit Publish and hope for the best.  Also as usual, I shall go for a better blog post tomorrow.

 

Planning My Pots

Another Sunday and I got nuthin’.  How many blog posts have I started with the confession that I have not much to say?  This is a rhetoric question; I do not intend to go back and check.

Pretty!

I fall back on my usual trick of throwing in a picture to pep things up.  This was from May 2017.  It is raw materials for my container garden on my deck.  I have not had one these last few years, but I hope to have one this year.  I have all kinds of hopes and plans.  All I need now is to muster the oomph to do them.

Even prettier!

Here is a later shot that same year.  I think two of those pots are broken now.   The third one is plastic, so it still ought to be around.

Also that year.

I believe this one filled out some as the season progressed.

I enjoy deciding which colors to put together.

Now that I look at these pictures again, I notice the backgrounds.  The first one has a nicely mown lawn.  That was when Steve used to do the mowing.  In the second, I see a portion of fence with some vine growing on it, so that’s not so bad.  However, the garage in the background of the third cannot be described as anything other than shabby.  Professional photographers notice these things,  and here we come to the ugly truth about me and photography.

And now I see I am over 200 words.  Score!  I hope it turns out to be a preview of coming attractions.  I hope you will stay tuned.

 

Not Exactly Cinema But Not a Bad Sunday

I thought I might make a Sunday Cinema Post, but I am only on my first movie and getting tired.  I did watch the rest of a Columbo episode I started last night.  I suppose that counts.

She was divine!

The movie I am currently enjoying is Death on the Nile, a star-studded Agatha Christie romp (come on, autocorrect, Agatha is a well-known name!).  This is the wonderful Angela Lansbury as Salome Otterbourne, alcoholic writer of sexy romance novels.  I would SO love to play that character!  I kind of did when I was Ruby VanRenssalaer in Rubbed Out at Ruby’s, a murder mystery of my own devise.

Two more delightful divas.

Here are two more stars who stud the movie, Bette Davis and Maggie Smith.  So delightful to watch these two old pros playing off each other.

I have done a few useful things today.   I ran,  I did laundry,  I went grocery shopping, I wrote a letter which I walked to the post office.  From the post office, I walked to Herkimer Elks Lodge, where I secured space for Wednesday’s rehearsal of Shooting at the Grange, our upcoming murder mystery.

Back home, I watched Columbo before putting in the aforementioned Agatha Christie but also made a salad for the week’s lunches.  I call this not a bad Sunday.  Is it not a bad blog post?  You decide.

Today there is not “one more thing.”

 

April Lame!

OK, I said I was going to make my Lame Post Friday post on Friday and here I am.  Unfortunately,  I got nuthin’.  That should not matter on Lame Post Friday, but somehow it does.

Remarkably similar, yes?

I thought a picture might spark more words and found this one from April 2021.  I confess it does not look a whole lot different from more recent pictures of crocuses,  yet I cannot stop from taking pictures of what they look like this year.

J’accuse!

Here is a different April shot.  I just SEARCHED through my posts from April 2019 to find that the title of this murder mystery was Murder by the Book.  I am not inclined to also do a Google (or even a Duck Duck Go) search to see if “J’accuse” is the proper French spelling.

Earlier today I went to a wine tasting at Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer.  I also spent some time sitting on my front porch, enjoying the weather. I sipped a little wine while I did so.  I also spent some time planning my Mohawk Valley Adventures for tomorrow.

I need to get such a short ‘do again!

Just to give another picture from April, here are my friend Kim and I at Gerber’s 1933 Tavern in Utica in April 2017 for their Prohibition Party.  I love to dress up!

Ooh look, I have gotten myself over 200 words.  Not bad for a Lame Post Friday post,  I say.  Thank you for tuning in.

 

This Is Not A Post.

This is a Blogger’s Stupid Day.  I had most of a post written when a friend started  messaging me about an email I hadn’t seen (long story, too complicated to get into now).  Somehow after clicking back and forth, WordPress decided not to let me finish that post.  It saved it.  I can get to it, it comes up where I can usually edit a post, but when I try to add to it nothing happens.

I am quite frustrated.

I am also very tired.  However, I could not just go to sleep after starting a blog post and not finishing it.  Or can I?

 

Music and Fun at Fratello’s

Wednesday night I went to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY, because I saw that Mark Nanni was playing.  He’s awesome!  He plays keyboard, guitar, and accordion (no, not all at once, as I am sure some of you were about to say) (you know who you are).  When I walked in, one of the workers greeted me and told me Mark Nanni was playing.

“I know, that’s why I’m here,”  I said.

I love his sound.

While I waited for the music to start I ordered some food and a glass of wine.  Then I got into a discussion with some other patrons about my flowered headband, which I wore because it goes so nicely with my Beer Belly Bob’s tie-dye t-shirt.

“I was a little worried it would make me look like that lady they said killed her husband and fed him to the tigers,” I admitted.  I further admitted I never saw the popular Netflix series on the case, although I did see Dateline episode about it.  One of them looked up the lady’s name, and another shared me a picture.

This is me, by the way.

I believe the resemblance is only superficial, but it was a funny conversation.  I did wonder while I was getting dressed if I would remind people of that lady, and it seems I did, because they were the ones that brought it up.  I told them a friend said I looked like Frieda Kahlo and that they would sound more cultured if they made that reference instead.   I kind of lost them there.

I was delighted when the music started,  Nanni opened with a jazzy tune, which further delighted me.  In one song he transitioned smoothly from guitar to keyboard and back to guitar.  Nice!

It was a lovely evening.  I shall return to Fratello’s soon for more music and food, perhaps wearing a different hair ornament.

Fratello’s Pizzeria is located at 158 E. Main St., Frankfort, NY, 315-894-8484.

 

Blog After Run, Such As It Was

As often happens, I neglected to make my Saturday blog post on Saturday.  This morning I thought to make it first thing, but after I had futzed about (holy crap, autocorrect recognized “futzed” as a word!) with coffee and Facebook (judge me if you will, I find Facebook sometimes comforting these days), I really felt more like running than blogging.  It was almost light out.  I decided to go for it.  For one reason, I have been trying to self-medicate my depression with exercise.  For another, the Boilermaker 15K is coming up.  Eventually.

Holy crap, it was cold!  Never mind, I told myself.  You’ll warm up as you go.  Ignoring the logical part of my brain that said my fingers and face traditionally do not warm up, I kept going.

More problematic was the ice.  There were patches of ice EVERYWHERE!  Some of it was insidiously hard to see.  I found a nice bare strip down the center of most roads I went on, but clearly it is a mistake to run down the center of, say German Street, which I happened to be on.  Well, maybe there wouldn’t be much traffic.  In fact there was not a lot, but it only takes one car to obliterate one middle-aged lady runner.  I sprinted for Prospect Street as I heard then saw one approach.

I quickly decided a long-ish run such as I had enjoyed yesterday was not necessary.  15 minutes would be OK, I told myself.  Even at my cautious shuffle, that would be at least a mile.  As it happened, I went for 20 minutes, just under a mile and a half.

As I went, I did not observe much, since I was mainly keeping my eyes on the road.  Therefore I did not enjoy the benefits of distraction which running outdoors usually brings.  Never mind.  We all know some runs are better than others.  The point is, I ran.  And now I have blogged.  Bring on the rest of the day!

 

From my Phone

Here is something new for me. I am trying to make a blog post on my phone. So far, I am not loving it.

My favorite band!
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Look at Me, Having a Scattered Saturday!

Look at me, making my Saturday blog post on Saturday.  And I think I can do a Scattered Saturday Post.  I have not done one of those in a long time.  For one reason, I have not done enough to scatter around at all on recent Saturdays.  Let us see how well I can do today.

I slept in a little this morning and made my Lame Post Friday post when I got up.  After coffee, I went running.  I thought of doing a Saturday Running Commentary Post, noting my caution about ice under the snow and speculating on my thoughts of running the Boilermaker 15K in Utica this summer.

After doing the dishes (judge me if you are so inclined), showering, and calling my mother, I wrote a very few post cards. Regular readers know I write some every week.  I only covered my regulars this Saturday.  I went to the post office, where I ascertained that my post cards needed first class stamps not post card stamps, and purchased some of each.

After the post office I went to Ilion, NY, to the new premises of Melfe’s Shoes.  Imagine my chagrin when I found out they no longer do repairs!  However, I was able to purchase a new pair of running shoes.  Boilermaker 15K, here I come!

They have upped their clothing game!

Returning home,  I attempted to do something useful, with no notable success, and found out my friend Kim, my usual partner for Mohawk Valley Adventures, had a debilitating headache.  After some debate, I decided to go out for some lunch on my own.  Well, why not?

I went to the Tin Cup Tavern in Little Falls (actually I would call it between Herkimer and Little Falls,  but nobody asked me).  I had a delightful time and a delicious sandwich.  I asked the bartender,  Jenna, if I could take her picture for my blog post.

She graciously agreed.

On the way home, I stopped at Valley Wine and Liquor for a bottle of Great Western Brut, a flute of  which I am sipping as I type this (actually peck this in one letter at a time with the stylus).  My husband, Steve, and I have watched a couple movies.

It has been an enjoyable Saturday so far.  And I am feeling inordinately pleased with myself that I made my Saturday blog post on Saturday.  I think this calls for another glass of Brut.