Tag Archives: blogging

Not Really a Monstrous Monday

When in doubt, include a picture of a monster.

I added that picture after I wrote the following two paragraphs.  I kind of ran dry after mentioning the cooler temperatures and zipped over to Facebook seeking inspiration.

I’m afraid this is a Monday Mental Meanderings post, and not very mental at that.  What can I say, it is Monday and I’m tired.  I know, other people are tired.  I’m sure there are people who are more tired than I am; there are certainly people who work harder than I do, that have more on their plate I have, oh yeah, and are thinner, smarter, better writers… where was I going with this?

It has not been a heinous day.  For one reason, the temperatures cooled off.  I love cooler temperatures.

I have rehearsal in less than an hour.  I did study my lines for a while on break at work today.  I feel moderately ready, although there are a few speeches I am still shaky on.  I will have time to look over them again before we do that scene, I hope.

I also wrote while on break.  I started a post on an old monster movie I watched on Sunday.  I do not think it is a cheesy movie, although the science in which the mad scientist indulges is definitely spurious, a staple of many cheesy movies.  I was writing the post in my head as I worked (my job doesn’t take a lot of brain power, luckily) then tried to put the words on paper once break started.  Of course some of the words were different.  You’ll have that.  Then as I wrote them, I thought of other ways to write what I wanted to say.  I’ll work on it some more.  It is fun to write.  I’m glad I started doing it again, however ineffectually.

Now I must brush my teeth and get ready for rehearsal. It will be fun.  There are very nice people in the cast.  Ooh, I still have to write about last Thursday’s preview performance and share some of the pictures I took.  A preview of coming attractions.  Happy Monday, everyone, even you, Frankenstein’s Monster.

 

Pedestrian Post with Pictures

Steven and I decided to take a little stroll after dinner, so I brought along my Tablet to take a few pictures.  It was a lovely afternoon for a stroll.  After stopping to chat with  neighbor, I saw some flowers I wanted to snap.

This is an apartment building that used to be a school.

Hmm… I guess that one did not come out very clearly, but I liked the purple flowers.

Maybe I’ll go back after dark and try to get a picture of these lit up.

Steven noticed some solar lights and wondered if ours still work.  We did not put them out this year.  It’s kind of a rebuilding year for our lawn; we have not done much with it except get the nice young man who lives across the street to mow it for us.

Steven thinks this would make a delightful movie/opera house.

Eventually we turned down Main Street, and I suggested I take a picture of this building, which we have long admired.  The “for sale” sign that I had noticed there previously was gone.  I wondered if somebody had bought it or if they were just doing the trick of taking the sign down for a while so when they put it back up folks will think it is a new listing.

I love the color; the picture does not fully do it justice.

Continuing down the street, we saw a building that had seen better days, but there was one lovely flower in front of it, so I took its picture.  Soon we were approaching the Historic Four Corners, which regular readers may recall is a favorite spot of mine.

I wrote a blog post about this cemetery once, a long time ago.

This is the Herkimer Reformed Church.   I love the old gravestones.  Next I wanted a shot of the Suiter House, home of the Herkimer County Historical Society.

It’s even more interesting inside.

The house was built by Dr. A. Walter Suiter, who played a pivotal role in the trials of Chester Gillette and Roxalana Druse, two famous historical murderers of the area.  Steven played Dr. Suiter in the play Roxy, presented by the Historical Society at Ilion Little Theatre in 2015 (I played Roxy.  Perhaps you read a few of my blog posts about it).

Across the street is the Herkimer County Courthouse, where Chester Gillette and Roxalana Druse were tried for their respective murders.

Still a magnificent-looking building.

Of course I had to take a picture of the 1834 Jail, which housed both Gillette and Druse.

Who put that tree in the way!

Steven suggested I take a picture of him on the steps.

“Try to look like Dr. Suiter,” I suggested.

“In my party shorts with my Mr. Incredible t-shirt,” he said, as if he thought that was a problem.  He just smiled handsomely instead.

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore are thou…” Oh, wait. Wrong play.

Continuing down Main Street, I took a picture of Christ Episcopal Church.

Another handsome, historical building.

We cut though the little park next to Basloe Library (another of my favorite places), and I got a picture of some nice flowers.

I did not read the NOTICE on the building. I hope it did not say not to take pictures of the flowers.

After that, I thought I had taken enough pictures, so we continued our walk back home.  Now I see I am over 550 words and I have successfully avoided having another Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  I say, not a bad ending to the weekend.

 

Sad Monsters on Tired Tuesday

I think I have used this in two previous blog posts. Don’t judge me.

Do you suppose I can get away with another post of monster movie pictures with silly comments?  I am going to try.  I felt all day that I was Trudging Through Tuesday (I once wrote a blog post of that title).  Well, at least a trudge can result in some forward movement, and I hope not only movement towards Friday (oh, don’t get me wrong, I am looking forward to Friday; I just hope to make other sorts of progress as well).

Where was I?  Ah yes, monster movie pictures.  The above is a repeat but apropos to the day.  I wonder what else I could find…

“Beware… take care!”

Ah, no silly comments on this one.  I share this picture my husband Steven downloaded to mark a sad recent event, the death of Martin Landau, who won a much deserved Oscar for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood.   Steven and I LOVE the movie Ed Wood, and we especially enjoy Landau’s character.  In other sad news, George Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, also died this week.  We have this movie on VHS but do not watch it as often as we do other horror classics.  I suspect Steven does not appreciate creepy movies as much as I do.

I personally prefer the old-fashioned lumbering zombies to the new-fangled faster ones (full disclosure: I’ve never gotten beyond the trailers for the newer zombie flicks).

I thought a movie picture would be more in keeping with the theme than one of Romero himself.  I hope that as a director he would appreciate this in the spirit in which it is intended.

So this is my Tired Tuesday post.  In my defense, the Mohawk Valley weather has taken a turn for the hot and humid. My meager brain has melted into a puddle, and I am only good for doing puzzles on breaks at work (and not very good at those, I confess).  But I hope you will stay tuned.  Soon this blog may go All Tempest All The Time.

 

I Did the Damn Dishes!

It is Wrist to Forehead Sunday indeed.  I return to work tomorrow after two weeks off.  YES (with eyes rolling), I am GRATFUL I have a job and YES I am GRATEFUL I got a vacation, some people just can’t bear to hear anybody else complain about anything.  Sheesh!

Be all that as it may, I need to make a blog post before returning to enjoying what is left of my vacation and my Sunday.  I must say, I am really looking forward to next Friday, when it will really be Friday for me.  This past Friday, it being the last “real” day of vacation (since I normally have weekend off) (don’t hate), it felt not as delightful as a Friday ought, by rights, to feel.  But, again, be that as it may, on with the blog post.

I have long felt that there was no point in trying to get anything done on a Sunday.  Some Sunday I lament this, others I embrace the uselessness.  Today I actually did a few thing.  I took a short run (which, truth be known, I often do, even on the most useless of Sundays), I did the dishes, I did a load of laundry AND folded two baskets of previously done laundry, I laid out three outfits for work (I need five to get me through the week, but I only have so many pairs of work pants) (and I’ve gained weight, so they don’t all fit), I put away the dishes after the air and patience had dried them.

That is more than I have accomplished on previous Sundays.  However, as I typed in the preceding paragraph, I realized there are a number of areas where some reader (or the critics in my head) could judge me.  For example, why was there a pile of dishes to do first thing in the morning?  Why was there laundry previously washed but still waiting to be folded?  Why did I not immediately dry and put away the dishes, and where do I get off counting that as another chore and not part of “doing the dishes” as a normal person would?

To any such judgmental sorts, I explain, “Shut up!”  mentally thanking S.J. Perelman as I do so.    I see now I am over 350 words.  I call that respectable for Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow for what I hope is not too Melancholy of a Monday.

 

What to Watch on Scattered Saturday?

There was not a whole lot of scatter to my Scattered Saturday today (nor a whole lot of scat either, if you’re into jazz) (which I am).  I ran, I wrote, I read, I did not do dishes, I went to an early dinner with my husband, Steven, and now we are about to embark upon the movie watching portion of the evening (as regular readers know, my favorite part) (along with the bra off, sweats on, wine drinking portion of the evening) (which it also is, except for the sweats; too hot).  This being the case, I share a picture I downloaded earlier to share on Steven’s Facebook page:

Just another unrealistic body type for us females to aspire to.

I’m pretty sure this is a publicity shot for House on Haunted Hill (1959), one of our go-to movies for just such an evening.  I think we will not watch this movie tonight, since we did recently view it.  What are our other possibilities?  Hmmm….

“You think I’m the murderer? I thought you were the murderer!”

Thinking of Vincent Price usually brings me back to Laura (1944), a stylish noir, as one reviewer described it, and another of our favorites.  Price plays, unusually enough, a leading man type, not a creepy murderer type.  This is another of our go-to movies.

Nothing to worry about, everything is fine.

I finish with one last shot of Price, in another of our go-to movies, House of Wax (1953).  Price does play a creepy murderer-type in this one.

So we have several suggestions right off the cuff for the movie watching portion of our evening.  What to watch, what to watch, what to watch (yes, you have to say it three times).  Tune in tomorrow, on Wrist to Forehead Sunday, and perhaps I’ll tell you.

Just a thought: would you be more apt to describe this post as Slacker Saturday?  I’m thinking, maybe.

 

 

Various Vampires on Tired Tuesday

It is Tired Tuesday (don’t judge), and I am resorting to my new favorite thing: downloading monster pictures from Facebook and writing stuff about them.  For one reason, I am mysteriously able to download on my own Facebook account once again.  I downloaded this one purely to test my machine:

He’s a pleasant-looking fellow.

It is a 17th or 18th century vampire burial. I downloaded it from Murder, Madness and the Macabre, one of my go-to Facebook pages.  After downloading that, I thought I would make this a vampire day and clicked around looking for more.  I went to The Golden Age of Monster Movies, always a good sources.

A new shot of my favorite guy!

Naturally I wanted to include Nosferatu, which, regular readers know, has my vote for the scariest movie ever.  I haven’t watched this one in a while.  Perhaps tomorrow I will give it a view.

Vampires can be scary in color, too.

Christopher Lee is the favored Dracula of many.  I do love the Hammer horror flicks of the 1960’s and ’70’s.  I only recall one vampire flick with Lee (perhaps you read my blog post about it).  I must seek out the other ones.

You didn’t think I would leave out Bela, did you?

What post about vampires would be complete without Bela Lugosi?  Oh, I’m sure others have written them. I may have written one myself.  I suppose your better bloggers would be writing scholarly commentary, comparing and contrasting the various vampires, perhaps including some of the blood-sucking lore and history of the legends.  And here we come to the ugly truth about me.  No matter.  It is Tired Tuesday, and I have made my blog post.  Now I must prepare for rehearsal for The Tempest (which I mentioned in yesterday’s post).  I must shake off my tiredness and act!

I hope I don’t meet up with any vampires.

 

Post Race Post

I was going to title this “To Dress or to Blog?”  but I did not want to invite unkind comments about how nobody wants to see me naked.  Also, it would not be clear that this is yet another post about the Boilermaker.  Which I just ran.  Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! (That was a triumphant laugh, by the way.)

So this is not going to be a great post.  I ran. It was not easy for an overweight woman of my age who, as it turns out, perhaps did not train enough.  However, I finished without resorting to walking.  Full disclosure:  towards the end, my run could not catch up with some of the walkers.  I will write more about the run later.  For now my purpose is merely to publish something, so I can get on with celebrating my triumph as soon as Steven gets home from work.

For anyone just tuning in, the Utica Boilermaker is the best 15K race in the nation, possibly in the world.  It seems as if the entire City of Utica as well as the surrounding area turns out to run, volunteer or cheer folks on.  Runners come from all over the world, including elite runners from places like Kenya as well as those who run for fun and fitness from places like Syracuse and Rochester.  I believe folks come from farther afield, but I did not encounter any of those today.

My challenge now is to find a cute outfit to put on such that Steven will realize that the best way to celebrate is to take me out somewhere nice.  Or I could just sit here in my bathrobe, which I put on after a delicious shower, and he will probably make me a grilled cheese sammich.  I do like grilled cheese.  It is good to have options.  Tune in tomorrow, on Mental Meanderings Monday, which I will either tell you what I wore or describe in greater detail my triumphant Boilermaker run.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

I’m Not Hydrated Yet!

I have have Lame Post Friday in the middle of vacation, can’t I?  Of course I can; it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to.  Wait a minute, that’s something else.

I have spent all day having Boilermaker Butterflies (I think I once wrote a blog post of that title).  I mean serious, stomach-churning nervousness.  I don’t know why.  All my problems will resolve themselves at the proper time.  I will run the race.  There is no reason to think I will not have fun.  Yet here I sit, trying to drink more water and worrying.

I went for one final run today (is it bad that I have begun the last three paragraphs with “I”?  Just something else to worry about), 30 easy minutes.  It didn’t feel too bad.  I found the shirt I wanted to run in, a large yellow tee with a Superman logo which Steven purchased for 50 cents at a church thrift store some years ago.  It is a little wrinkly, and I am considering ironing it.  I rather like the thought of running the Boilermaker in a freshly pressed t-shirt.

This morning I had several errands to run: an afghan to drop off, a trip to the post office, a visit to the library to print out my Boilermaker registration confirmation.  By 11:30 I was headed to Utica to Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) to pick up my race number and goody bag.  What a crowd scene!  However, people were nice and numerous volunteers kept things running smoothly.

For dinner I had a London broil in the crock pot.  Some time ago, a nice young man at The Sneaker Store told me I should have a steak dinner on Friday and pasta on Saturday.  I substituted roast beef in the crock pot then as I did now.  I plan to use fresh basil from my container garden to make pesto for tomorrow’s pasta.  Yum!

What I am mostly worried about now is that this is a truly lame blog post.  Can I possibly expect tomorrow’s to be any better as the 15K race looms ever closer?  I should probably have an in-depth conversation with myself about whether the race is worth all this anguish I put myself through, with perhaps a side discussion about why I put myself through such completely useless worry.  Don’t worry, any minute now I will move on to the point where I start to laugh at myself.  Happy Friday, everyone!

 

Psycho Strangers on a Blog Post

So it’s not going to be All Boilermaker All The Time after all.  I am indulging in Non-Sequitur Thursday complete with pictures.  First a little cheesecake for the discerning viewer (you know who you are):

So how come John Gavin is so small?

We decided to watch Psycho, which we have on DVD.  I think it starts a little slowly, but Janet Leigh does spend the first scene in a bra and half-slip.  Some folks enjoy that sort of thing.  Here is a more atmospheric shot for a little less prurient interest:

I love the sky.

After Psycho, I suggested we continue the Alfred Hitchcock theme with Stranger on a Train.  I recently acquired that DVD at a yard sale. Score!  I would like to see again the remake, Throw Mama From the Train.  I love that Danny DeVito.

Ah, the fateful cigarette lighter. There was a lot more smoking in the movies in those days.

I would have liked to get a picture of the carousel, a more dramatic setting than the titular train, but I could not find one.  Full disclosure:  I didn’t look very hard.  Regular readers may notice that I am downloading pictures again.   I still cannot download them on my own Facebook page.  However I can download them from my husband Steven’s page.  So I am sneakily logged onto his site.  Don’t worry, I won’t cause any more mischief while I’m there.

“Good Evening.”

I close with a picture of the master himself, Alfred Hitchcock.  We could have continued our movie viewing with Rear Window, The Birds, Rope, North by Northwest, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, or To Catch a Thief.  I guess we have quite a Hitchcock collection (no, no Vertigo!  I may lose all cinemaphile cred by saying this, but that movie has always left me cold).  And I thought of a good title while I was typing this.  Happy Thursday, everyone.

 

When in Distress, Vampires Often Help

Earlier today, a friend at work gave me some icy-hot (it was Equate brand) to rub on my knees.  It seemed to help.  I have spent most of the rest of the day wishing I had something similar to rub on my attitude.  It’s not even Bad Attituesday!

It is, in fact, one of those days when I disprove one of my own rules: that writing begets more writing.  I just finished and emailed out two articles for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  Shouldn’t I be all raring to go and write my blog post now?  It turns out, not so much.  I was just futzing around Facebook, looking for pictures, because that always seems to be a good fallback post.  Of course nothing appeals.  Maybe I should look again.

When in doubt, look for monsters.  Here are a couple of pictures from Mark of the Vampire.  I found them on a page I Like called Murder, Madness and the Macabre, Our Favorite Nightmares.

Bela and friend.

I gotta get me a dress with sleeves like that.

I’ve seen Mark of the Vampire a couple of times.  I can’t believe I don’t have it on one of my horror collections.  Maybe my husband will buy it for me for my birthday (he usually reads this blog, teehee).

I’ll throw in another picture of Bela Lugosi to round things out (you know how I like to include three photos).  Here he is from Dracula in 1931.

“I bid you welcome.”

He was fine, yes.  I haven’t seen an old horror movie in a long time.  Perhaps that is the ice-hot for my attitude I seek.  At any rate, it couldn’t hurt.  We’ll call today a Non-Sequitur Thursday post (although the title I have in mind is more of a sequitur) and drive on. Thank you for tuning in, and I hope to see you all on Lame Post Friday.