I Wanted a Ghost

Posted on September 4, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I DVR’d The Ghost Ship (1943) on the vague hope that it had something to do with a movie that I THINK was called Ghost Ship starring Julianna Margulies that Steven and I saw some years ago. Or vice versa, I guess. I seem to remember not being too nuts about the latter movie, especially the meant-to-be-shocking ending, that I believe did NOT take Steven or me by surprise. Oh dear, I haven’t put in the spoiler alert yet (I know I could always fix these things when I edit, but it’s more fun this way).

Here it is: Spoiler Alert! Although I may have already spoiled the Julianna Margulies movie for you. Maybe I ought to seek that movie out again, watch it again and write about it. But I am unlikely to do that before hitting publish on this.

Where was I?

I thought by the title “Ghost Ship” that the movie would have at least one actual ghost. Turns out not so much. I might have suspected such a thing from the description on digital cable, which said nobody will believe the third mate when he tries to tell them the captain is a sadistic psychopath. Still, I thought a sadistic psychopath might be worth a watch.

When we started to watch the movie, I saw that it starred Richard Dix. I said, “All right!” He was in those Whistler movies I enjoyed so much. I like that Richard Dix.

Naturally he is the sadistic psychopath captain. It’s actually good casting, because with his lovely deep voice, matinee idol good looks and kindly manner, it is easy to see how he fools everybody. The audience is privy to everything the third mate sees, so there is no “is he or isn’t he?” mystery, which may have been fun.

I would like to explain why it is a ghost ship, but I did not properly understand it myself. Something psychological, explained by the good woman whose love could perhaps have saved psycho captain. There’s still hope for the third mate, if only he can survive the voyage. If that sounds a little vague, sorry. I’m not up to giving a full plot summary.

It’s actually a pretty good movie. It gets suspenseful and exciting, and if a few of my favorite characters get killed off, well, you’ll have that. Still, I would have liked a ghost.

Incidentally, the plot of Ghost Ship, (2002, no “the”) (I looked it up), has nothing whatsoever in common with The Ghost Ship. If I were a real movie writer, I would edit this whole thing and delete any reference to it. And here we come to the ugly truth about me.

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Don’t Quote Me

Posted on September 3, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Thank heavens it’s Middle-aged Musings Monday. Now all I have to do is pry my wrist off my forehead and think of something to muse about.

This raises a number of things I have talked about before: first, that even on the “nothing” days, I still have to think of something to write; second, that even though I have attained middle age (if I live to be a hundred), I have very few words of wisdom to impart. In fact, I have a few, but they’re mostly quotes.

Oh, that gives me something. Have you noticed how many people spend a lot of time on Facebook sharing these little cartoons or pictures or just big old squares with quotes? They can be inspirational or funny or profound or political or rude, or any combination of the above. I’ve done it myself. It’s almost a guilty pleasure, hitting that “Share” button. Maybe I didn’t think of it out of my own head, but I can take credit for being clever enough to recognize its worth.

Was that more of a random observation? And there is no Seinfeld-style punch line, so sorry about that. Incidentally, my best quotes have not been gleaned from the internet. I have had some of them for years. I found them in books.

My musing today is, do we really try to live by these words of wisdom? I’m talking now about the profound, inspirational ones, not the ones that give us good excuses to drink wine and eat chocolate, or extoll your good friend who will help you hide the body (I KNOW people live by those).

My contention has always been that “Do as I say, not as I do,” is really not bad advice. Most of us talk a good game. I may have voiced this opinion in this space before, but I shall not apologize, because I think it’s a good one. My more didactic readers may feel free to lecture me on repeating myself. I will nod wisely, knowing that they are probably repeating themselves. I will attempt to do as they say, not as they do.

And I will try not to share that sentiment on Facebook.

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Breakfast with Rachel

Posted on September 2, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I put Rachel’s name in the title, so she can pretend she’s famous. At least, perhaps she is famous in certain circles, but I don’t think my blog will increase her fame. I’m afraid my blog is a little rinky-dink compared to some. Still, I like it.

Where was I? Ah yes, forgoing Wrist to Forehead Sunday for once (I hope) to write a little about my breakfast with my friend, and to give another shout-out to Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner.

When Rachel told me she would be passing close enough to Herkimer, NY to stop for a brief visit, she suggested we meet at one of those yummy places I write about. Since we would be meeting for a latish breakfast, I thought she would like Crazy Otto’s.

Obviously, lots of people like Crazy Otto’s. They didn’t have a booth free, so we sat at the counter. I pointed out the Georgia license plate Steven and I contributed to the decor. She was suitably impressed.

After hearing the specials we perused the menu. I picked something I had never noticed before, French toast with coconut flakes. Rachel wanted pancakes with eggs. This came with choice of meat. The waitress recommended sausage, which I must say looked pretty good. I may have to have another meal at Crazy Otto’s soon so I can try it.

It was really wonderful to sit and talk with a friend I had not seen in years. I only felt bad that it was just a meal and not the whole weekend. I guess anybody who knows me knows I could talk for three days at a stretch, but I would have let Rachel talk, too.

As I write this (I am composing at the keyboard, just to give you the proper mental image), I feel a bout of Wrist to Forehead coming on. Rachel read yesterday’s post, where I said I would write a post about our breakfast. She expressed (via Facebook comment) that she was looking forward to reading what we talked about. I commented back that now I felt the pressure to come up with something profound. Well, everything Rachel says is naturally profound, but this blog, not so much.

Never mind, we had a lovely breakfast, and I hope it is not another eight years till we see each other again. If you are meeting a friend you saw eight years ago, or one you just saw yesterday, or eating breakfast by yourself, I recommend Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner. Their website is www.crazyottosempirediner.com. You can also like them on Facebook.

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A Walk Before Breakfast

Posted on September 1, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I did not run this morning, because it was raining. I felt blessedly off the hook, since by now I’ve been away from it for so long I’ve got that Starting Over Hump to deal with. Come to think of it, that will probably make a good blog post, so we’ve got something to look forward to.

The rain had stopped by the time Steven left for work about ten minutes before nine. I had written a few postcards. We had purchased some new ones at the Fly Creek Cider Mill on Sunday, so that was exciting for me. I thought a walk to the post office would be a good idea.

I had plans to meet my friend Rachel for breakfast. She would be driving through the area as part of a long road trip. I had not seen her in some years so was quite happy at the prospect. I took my cell phone along on the walk with me, in case she tried to call with an update on her progress.

It was still cool out, if a little gloomy, so that was good. I never mind a gloomy day. We set out prepared to enjoy the walk.

It did not disappoint. We said good morning to a couple of ladies out walking. Tabby was good and did not jump up on them. I was glad of that, because she had transformed into that famous blues singer, Muddy Paws.

Rachel called while we were at the post office. She said she was 27 miles outside of Utica traveling at 70 miles per hour, so I could figure it out. Why in the world would Rachel think I could do the math? I did the best I could and continued my walk.

Tabby, as usual, wanted to stop and sniff every two feet. We compromised and some sniffing was done while still making progress towards home. When we walked by Curves, I considered stopping in and saying hello, but the Muddy Paws thing deterred me.

We got home in plenty of time for me to get my act together and meet my friend. Our delightful breakfast may be the subject of a blog post in the near future. As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

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Whine O’Clock

Posted on August 31, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yes, it is Lame Post Friday, and it should surprise no one that I got nuthin’.

I was about to say I’ve had a bear of a week, but I seem to remember last week being rather bearish as well (ooh, look at that, according to my computer “bearish” is so a word; I thought I had just now made it up). Earlier today I told a co-worker I was in a terrible mood, because all I could think about was things that piss me off. She advised me to think about something else.

“What should I think about?”

“3:30 this afternoon.” That’s our quitting time. “Wine-thirty.”

“It’s whine-thirty all day long for me,” I admitted. “Because all I do is whine.”

See, you get the pun right away when you write it down.

I thought it was a kind of a preemptive strike on my part (I’ll be damned, according to my computer pre-emptive is not hyphenated) to admit that I was whining. You know how upsetting it can be when all you want to do is relieve your feelings by expressing your discontent and you get told to stop whining. Actually, I had taken care to go to the co-worker that doesn’t usually say that. You have to be careful who you whine to. Uh, I mean express your discontent.

I was going to go into some half-baked philosophy about whining and perspective, but I believe I have covered it before. I would look back, find the post (or posts, I know I repeat myself sometimes), but hey, it’s Friday and I’m one of those lucky bastards who have a three day weekend. I’m thinking it’s beer o’clock.

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Maybe Next Time with Peas

Posted on August 30, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

People share all kinds of good advice on Facebook lately. Decorating ideas, recipes, security concerns… and some health suggestions.

My cousin posted a rather silly looking picture of a girl sitting crouched over on the edge of her bathroom sink. To cure a headache, the caption said, sit with your hands and feet in warm/hot water and put a bag of frozen peas on the back of your neck. It went on to explain how this worked, but I don’t read all these things any more than I pay attention to all the plot points on cheesy horror movies.

My first thought, which I immediately posted as a comment, was that I could never do this as there are never frozen peas in my house. I hate cooked peas, always have. I like to eat raw peas straight out of the pod, I add for the sake of pea lovers who might be inclined to cut my acquaintance. My sister suggested I purchase one bag of frozen peas for just such a purpose. I thought this not a bad suggestion, as I would be disinclined to cook and eat any vegetable that had spent an appreciable amount of time on the back of my head.

Of course I did no such thing.

However, suffering from yet another headache this afternoon, I thought I would try the technique, as best as I could. I did not sit on the edge of my bathroom sink. For one thing, I’m far too lazy to clear it off for such a purpose. For another, I really do not need to know whether my fat ass will or will not crack marble (I’m hoping not, but why put it to the test?) (oh, I know, back on the South Beach Diet for me). I sat on the edge of my tub. A frozen gel pack substituted for the peas. Nobody took a picture for Facebook and other embarrassing purposes, so if anybody had their hopes up, sorry.

And I am sorry to report: it did not work for me. Maybe I had the wrong kind of headache.

On the brighter side, I thought it would make an acceptable blog post for a Non-Sequitur Thursday. Hmmm… I guess nothing particularly non-sequiturish about it, but it will have to do. I hope to see you (figuratively speaking, of course) on Lame Post Friday.

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Something with a Vampire

Posted on August 29, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

In my continuing quest to find cheesy horror movies to write about, I turned once again to Steven’s DVD boxes set of 50 Horror Classics, purchased for him by me out of a discount bin.

Spoiler Alert! Although I will try to avoid mentioning the big reveal. It is a big one. In fact, already I’ve said too much.

As I sit here writing this, I suddenly realize I am not 100 percent clear on what the title is. Something with a vampire. The Vampire Bat? Or was that the one I saw with Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead? So many vampires, so little time. I know I can look up these things before I type this into the computer, but I thought it said a little something about the movie that I could not recall the title. Or about me. In either case, I found it of interest.

The vampire killings start before the first scene of the movie. We open on a meeting of important men of the village discussing the murders. It’s vampires, insists the burgermeister (and any time there is a burgermeister in one of these movies, how many flash onto Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Burgermeister Meisterburger? Raise your hands).

There are no vampires, insists the sheriff or marshal or whatever he is. He is dressed like a plainclothes detective and is apparently the only cop the place has. At least, I don’t remember seeing any other cops. Probably a low budget production.

Our hero states that he will seek out a human murderer and goes to visit his girlfriend, conveniently located in the next room. I wasn’t clear on the geography of this movie, but that’s what it looked like to me. Oh, and he has to go down some steps, which seems appropriate, because it looks like a mad scientist’s laboratory. It belongs to the village doctor. Fay Wray is his assistant.

My girl Fay does not get to crack wise, like she did in Mystery of the Wax Museum nor yet to scream her head off as she did in King Kong. I was naturally disappointed. Also on hand is Fay’s aunt, a hypochondriac who is constantly after the doctor to prescribe for her, using some impressive if malaproppriate medical terms (I just made up that word malapropriate: malapropism + appropriate). She was my favorite character, especially since they let Fay be so boring.

The other character of note is a half-wit who says bats are good, making him an object of suspicion to the villagers. You can tell he is a half-wit, because he speaks of himself in the third person. He likes to catch bats and pet them and put them in his pocket. Is anybody else reminded of Lenny in Of Mice and Men? Our half-wit does not fare a whole lot better.

Things get suspenseful, even given poor Fay’s lamentably underscripted character. I don’t really want to say too much, because I was intrigued and a little surprised by how things unfolded. A little confused, too, because Fay’s part was not the only thing underscripted.

On the whole, I enjoyed the movie. But now I want to view Mystery of the Wax Museum again. So I can watch Fay Wray crack wise.

Note: It is The Vampire Bat, 1933. The one with Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead is The Bat, 1959. I wrote a blog post about it.

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At Least I Have Clean Socks

Posted on August 28, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was going to put “Underwear” instead of “Socks,” but felt certain some wise ass would say, “TMI!” my most loathed and abhorred thing to hear (except, possibly for “We have to talk”) (and now I’ve given myself the heebie-jeebies, just thinking of those two things).

My computer is telling me “heebie-jeebies” is misspelled, but the dictionary says it is correct (I was going to put that in the above paragraph in parentheses, but feared having too many parenthetical comments) (oops).

Where was I? Ah yes, another post on Why I Can’t Write a Post. In today’s case it is another Blogger’s Sick Day, though, because I have a dreadful headache. I will take time to share two things that made the end of my day a little bit brighter.

As you may have guessed by the headline, we did laundry. And we didn’t plan ahead enough to have something in the crock pot waiting for us when we got home. And we didn’t have our act together enough to order something for pick up on the way home. And I was hungry enough to get irritated (oh, all right, I’ll admit it doesn’t take much) (there I go with the parentheses again).

Enter my wonderful husband, Steven. I was going to grudgingly accept the idea of sandwiches when he suggested taking some good rye bread we happen to have and some deli ham and cheese and making grilled sandwiches. How good did that sound! Yummy! How does such a little thing as some time on a frying pan transform pedestrian, blah, at-least-its-food into a tasty treat suitable for blog mention? I don’t know, and it’s not the day for half-baked philosophy, so let’s just enjoy. I did.

I went to check my Facebook notifications before making my blog post and discovered… I won a Croghan Bologna contest! I LOVE Croghan Bologna! I’ve been scheming how to talk Steven into a road trip to or through Croghan, NY to get me some. I know it will make a great blog post.

So my headache is still with me, but my day is brighter. And perhaps by tomorrow my blog will be more interesting. As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

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Fun at the Mill

Posted on August 27, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought I would write a little bit more about Sunday’s visit to the Fly Creek Cider Mill.

It is always an enjoyable drive from Herkimer to Fly Creek, over mountains with great scenic views. I looked at farmland, lakes and more. Luckily, Steven was driving.

We went into the main building while we waited for my sister and two nieces to arrive. I thought it couldn’t hurt to get a head start on some sampling. That is one thing I love about Fly Creek Cider Mill, lots of free samples. They have dips, sauces, spreads and more. My favorite this past Sunday was a spinach and artichoke dip, which they had heated up. We bought a jar of that.

We also tried a few of the wines. Hard cider was also available for sample, but I didn’t want to be greedy. The Mill is part of the Cooperstown Beverage Trail, which a lady gave us a booklet about. Could be a future blog post (or posts).

After the others had arrived, we had some more samples and wandered upstairs to look at the many gifts and decorations available. I almost feel it is too early to think about Christmas decorations, but, oh, I love all the Santas! Of course, it is never the wrong time for Halloween, as far as I’m concerned, so I thoroughly enjoyed looking at those things.

When we had browsed and tasted our fill, we made our purchases and went outside to see the animals. There are chickens, ducks and geese, walking around a fenced in area or swimming in what I think is Fly Creek. We fed them some corn, available in gumball-type dispensing machines for twenty-five cents. Note to self: bring more quarters next time.

Steven and I try to get to the Mill at least once every year. I hope to go again in a couple of months, when the drive down will be enhanced by the changing leaves.

Fly Creek Cider Mill is located at 288 Goose St., Fly Creek, NY 13337, phone number 607-547-9692. Their website is www.flycreekcidermill.com. You can also Like them on Facebook.

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Me and the Angels

Posted on August 26, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

I believe in angels, but I do not believe in Facebook posts. Yes, half-baked philosophy is once again creeping onto days other than Lame Post Friday. What’s a blogger to do?

Earlier today, Steven and I took our schnoodle Tabby for a walk. As we approached home, we discussed our agenda for the rest of the day. I added, “Unless somebody was to call us up and say, ‘Oh, come here and do this!'” We both remarked that really nobody does that to us any more, we reminisced about a couple of times it had happened and was fun, then we were home.

Steven got on Facebook and shared one of those pre-printed things about angels seeing us struggling with something and they were about to make something good happen to us. If we re-posted it. Or something like that.

And then the phone rang. It was my sister asking did Steven and I want to meet her and two of her daughters at Fly Creek Cider Mill. Steven thought it was a great idea. So did I! We made the date.

Steven got back on Facebook and shared a picture of Fly Creek Cider Mill and the story of posting the angel thing and then getting a fun invitation. Could there, in fact, have been a connection? Who cares! We had a fun afternoon! I can probably get two or three blog posts out of it as the week wears on.

But today, I felt like writing about the angels.

Could my sister actually be one of them? Discuss amongst yourselves.

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