Tag Archives: late post

Lame Plans, Late Post

Just to round out the week of late posts. here is my Lame Post Friday blog post, being typed in early (by most standards) Saturday morning.  I kind of feel the week is Monday through Friday, and the weekend is a separate entity.  Monday through Friday workers often feel that way.  I do not care for other work schedules, but to each his own, as the old lady said when she kissed the cow.

Random picture, to distract from a boring opening paragraph.

My daisies are well over, and i must cut down the drooping stems and dead blossoms.  However, it is pouring rain right now.  No walk, run, or gardening for me for yet a while.  I know, it is quite eligible to pull up weeds in the rain, I understand they come up easily and sometimes the roots along with them.  I couldn’t worry too much if the roots came up with the daisies, since they are taking over my front lawn.  However, right now I am on my first cup of coffee and still in my nightclothes.  How ambitious must I be prior to 6 a.m.?  Sheesh!

My real plans for later in the day,.

I searched for this picture, because I thought it would be a funny one.   As a matter of fact, it is symbolic of my plans, because I plan to clean then relax.  Right now as I look at the end of my couch, I see, a few afghans, one incompleted, a pillow, a purse, the TV Journal, and a book I was reading yesterday. My legs are a little to the right of where you see them in the picture (isn’t that how you spell incompleted? My Chromebook is underlining it) (or are you supposed to say incomplete?  or not completed?  You would think I would know better grammar by now).

I actually feel a little uncomfortable that I have mentioned my plans.  My problem with making plans is that whenever I make a plan, the plan goes to hell. I can accomplish small plans, like “make a phone call after work” (did that yesterday), but so many plans get lost in a morass of  “oh, first I have to do this” and “oh, wait, I can’t do that” and “well, that did not work!”  Still, one does what one can.

Now I have rattled on for, ooh, almost 400 words.  Score!  Time to finish my coffee and get on with my Saturday.  I hope I can make my Saturday blog post on time.

 

I Remember Roxy

And it’s another late post, but one can be late on Non-Sequitur Thursday, yes?  Or will it be a Throwback Thursday?  Once again, I resort to my Media Library.

He was so handsome.

I was just thinking about Roxy the other day.  This was a play, beautifully researched and written by Jack Sherman and presented by Herkimer County Historical Society and Ilion Little Theatre in 2015.  Wow, almost ten years ago.  My late beloved husband Steven had several roles.  This is him as Dr. Suiter.  He was such a good actor and had quite a way with a monologue.

He had it coming.

I had the honor to portray Roxalana Druse, who killed her husband with a gun and an ax.  She did not feed his body to the hogs, as legend has it, but tried to burn him up in the stove (the play doesn’t show that part).  She may have had better luck with the hogs, because it was the nasty scent of burning body that first alerted the neighbors that something was wrong.

I thought the poster was cool.

The play had a huge cast of ILT regulars and newcomers.  Things got a little crowded backstage and in the one dressing room, but we all got along, and I made a lot of new friends.  That is the best part of community theatre:  the friends we make.  Come to think about it, that is the best part of life.  Sorry to get a little sentimental, but one might as well say it.

So this is my theatre throwback post.  I often do throw back to theatre memories, because community theatre is a big part of my life.  I need to get back into a play.  And finish writing that murder mystery I mentioned yesterday.  At least I made my Thursday blog post.  A little late, but over 300 words.  Yay me?  I hope so!

 

Not the Hole Story

Sooo… by making my Tuesday blog post on time, I broke my streak, because I did not post anything yesterday, Wednesday.  I can’t get too exercised over it, though, because by my rules for me, this will count as my Wuss-out Wednesday post, and my streak will only be broken if I fail to post anything for Thursday, whether I post it today or early Friday morning (ooh, yes, tomorrow is Friday) (with apologies to all those who work Saturday).

What could this be?

This may look like a random photo for Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, but it is much more than that, at least in my twisted mind.  It is a well outside the Herkimer County Historical Society.  They dug in this well for artifacts some years ago and found some interesting things.  Now, as you see it is overgrown.  But could it have future relevance and interest?  At least fictionally, it could!

I took this picture after walking to the Society to purchase some post cards (regular readers know I like to send post cards to people).  I thought it would inspire me.  You see, I began writing a murder mystery for the Historical Society centering around this very hole in the ground (ooh, I just thought of a good title for this post!).  Full disclosure:  I began to write it last year for our fall show but felt it was too complicated a plot for my brain at the time.  I wrote Lights, Camera, Murder! instead, which I think worked out pretty well.  More recently I came across the notes for the other and was surprised by how much I had written on it.  I said, “Heeyyyy!”  or some such expression.

Many accept the rule that writing about not writing is still writing.  I will add that writing about what one is going to write is also still writing.  Now I just have to write it.

(That last sentence would have made a good title too.)

 

Monsters I Have Known

The late posts continue as I sit here Tuesday morning hoping to at least do a Monstrous Monday post.  I am sipping re-heated coffee from yesterday (waste not, want not), which is never as good but will surely do (there I go again, calling myself Shirley).  I almost felt like putting on a sweatshirt this morning, as we got a break from the excessive (to me) heat but said to myself, “Don’t worry; as soon as you start drinking the coffee you will get a hot flash.”  Sure enough…

Never mind all that, on with the monsters!

He looks like a friendly fellow.

I open with an unknown monster I found somewhere on the internet back in 2017.  It is a pretty cool scene.  I wonder if it is somebody’s house or an attraction one can visit.  I may never know but enjoy speculating.

He is scary, yes!

I move on to a better known monster, my favorite guy Nosferatu, from the eponymous 1922 silent movie, arguably the scariest movie ever (although I do not argue it myself, because I almost always lose arguments).

Here’s a creepy one!

Perhaps a lesser known monster, here is the unnamed menace from Carnival of Souls.  Is he death?  Is he the devil? I got the picture from the Carnival of Souls Facebook page.

Another low-budget delight.

They may look human, but they are witches, thousands of years old in Haunted Hotel, also known as City of the Damned,  although both are misnomers, as I believe I have pointed out before, because it involves an inn in a village.  Speaking of known and unknown, the guy in the middle is a young Christopher Lee.  I did not recognize him the first time I saw this movie (I have it in one of my DVD horror collections), but it was before I became acquainted with Hammer Horror films.

I see I have rattled on for over 300 words.  Additionally, my coffee has gotten tepid.  I do enjoy making a Monstrous Monday post and hope my readers do as well.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Remember the Alamo?

Late posts lead to more late posts.  This is how bad habits start, or return as in this case.  I had two genuine Mohawk Valley Adventures yesterday, which is why I was too tired to post.  Yes, I need more vitamins, vegetables, or exercise. Or maybe a vacation.  AAaaahhhh… (pause for fantasy of sleeping in and doing nothing for days).

Be that as it may, yesterday afternoon I went with my friends Kelly and Jim to the matinee of The Savage Dilemma at Ilion Little Theatre.  It was really funny.  I not only laughed out loud at parts of it, I laughed out loud when I could tell a funny line was coming up.  Alas, I did not get any pictures.  Of course, we are forbidden to take pictures during performances by copyright laws and consideration for the actors.  Still I could have gotten a couple pictures of them still in costume after the performance.  Only I liked some of the Act I costumes best.

After the show, we went to The Alamo Bar and Grill in Poland, NY.  They wanted to take me someplace I hadn’t been, or at least hadn’t been often.  In fact, I had been there once for lunch a long time ago, so I was delighted to return.  We enjoyed the decor, and the food even more.  We shared loaded fries, which could have made us too full for our sandwiches.  Kelly had Brisket, while I had a Classic Burger.  Jim had a Slider Train, which included burgers with different stuffings.

None of my picture turned out very well.

All over were past-used tap tops (is there a better name for those things?).  We speculated that some of them might be valuable antiques.  We also liked the fake fish.  At least, I’m sure some of them were fake.  Some may have been real.

You can see more tap tops behind it.

I noticed a picture of an old stone fort. “What is that?” I asked, pointing, then immediately realized.  “Oh, it’s the Alamo.  Remember the Alamo?”  I said it in a conversational tone, not like a war cry.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening.  The Savage Dilemma will be presented again next weekend at Ilion Little Theatre.. For more information, you can visit their website or Facebook page.

The Alamo Bar and Grill is located at 8773 S. Main St., Poland NY. You can also visit their Facebook page.

 

Would Shirley Mind a Slacker Saturday?

AAaaand we’re back to late blog posts.  Yesterday was indeed a Slacker Saturday.  The heat wave is technically over, but my house was not a comfortable place to be.  Additionally, I had a terrible headache.  It came to me during the night, when I tried to fight it with acetaminophen  (I had to look up the spelling, but at least I did not call it acetaphetamine, as I used to).  Surely coffee on rising (I slept later than usual for a Saturday) would help (I call myself Shirley in times of stress).  Then a long walk.  All the while drinking water, because, hydration.

I started with a full bottle of water, then refilled it at the spring.

At last I ate a few crackers, took some Migraine Relief, and laid back down.  It was starting to storm by now, so I told myself to just listen to the thunder (I had stopped calling myself Shirley by then).  When I woke up an hour or so later, my headache was better, but I was dreadfully sick to my stomach.  I did not mention earlier that the nausea had come and gone a couple times during my walk.

Would you believe washing the dishes helped my stomach?  The dishes have been looking at me resentfully for the last few days (don’t judge me) when with one thing and another, I just did not do them (oh, go ahead and judge me).  I thought to myself I would do a few dishes, till the nausea was too much, then sit or lie down for a while, then try a few more dishes.  It was one way of passing the time.  Well, I managed to do all the dishes and felt much better.  A cold shower, and I felt ready to enjoy the rest of my Saturday.

Which I did, without doing anything particularly blogworthy.  But I see I am approaching 300 words with this nonsense.  What will Sunday bring?  A trip to Brookwood Market?  A show at Ilion Little Theatre?  Or just more coffee and delight at NOT having a headache?

I’m already anticipating Monstrous Monday.

 

I Like LiFT

Another day, another late blog post, and I am tired.  This is getting to be a theme with me.  I guess I need to get more exercise and eat more vegetables.  Anyways, it is early Friday morning and I am going to try for a late Throwback Thursday post.  I can only hope the coffee kicks in as I scroll my Media Library.

It was a dramatic moment.

My favorite kind of throwback is theatre throwback.  This is from Much Ado About Nothing, the first Shakespeare play I was in with LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company.  They have once again not done summer Shakespeare for a couple of years. Perhaps I can help get something going for 2025.

I always hang out with suspicious-looking people.

Here is another project with LiFT, Rubbed Out at Ruby’s, an interactive movie mystery set in a 1920’s speakeasy.  I was Ruby, and that may or may not have been coffee I was drinking earlier.

I miss rehearsals!

Here is a rehearsal shot from The Tempest, another LiFT production.

This was a fun one.

I had to search for this one.  It is Donate to Murder, a murder mystery LiFT put on to benefit Herkimer Elks back in 2018.  As we rehearse there for other mysteries, I have talked to the Elks about doing another, but we haven’t nailed down any particulars.  I hear Little Falls Elks would like a murder mystery.  I do like doing murder mysteries.

As I type this, I am on a temporary hiatus from theatre.  I need to finish writing one for Herkimer County Historical Society.  I also need to get my house clean, get my bills paid,  finish the yard and deck work my Mom and sister got such a good start on, answer a couple of letters, oh, and return an overdue library book.  I have left a couple of things out, but I see I am over 300 words.  At least I have made Thursday’s blog post!

 

About Blogging, About Writing

Yesterday I kind of snuck my late Monday post in under the radar (snuck isn’t a word, Chromebook?  what is it, sneaked? That sounds just as silly), making the post and not saying anything about when I made it.  Today is Wednesday and I am boldly making my Tired Tuesday post and telling you it is late.  For one thing, I am still too tired to write about other things.

That is an interesting thing about this blog.  When I started it, I wanted it to be about Something, not just me.  Well, it became a lot about me, and now it seems it has become a lot about itself.  Is that like a snake eating its own tail (another cliche but one not as often used)?  That is what fiction advisors say about people writing about their own experiences, just changing the names.  Sooner or later, they say, you run out of things to write about.  I quite frankly do not see where that is inevitable. You keep living, don’t you?  Incidentally, that is not my style when I write fiction:  I make almost everything up, characters, situations, events.

Well, the characters in my books sometimes drink wine.

I wanted to throw in a picture to pep things up but did not have one of me writing.  To continue:  a number of my friends have asked to be put into books.  I hesitate to do this, because what if they don’t like how they are portrayed?  “I’m not like that!”  “I would never say that!”  They would also like to be killed off, since I write murder mysteries.  I have thought of trying a horror novel, where lots of people get killed.  I could knock off all my friends and enemies at once.  Something to think about.

Full disclosure:  In my long life, I have only ever finished one novel.  I currently am not even working on one, but I am trying to get back into it.  These days I write my blog, my interactive murder mysteries, and articles for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.  That reminds me:  I have a magazine deadline coming up.  Yikes!

 

I Cut Myself a Little More Slack

Here I sit, trying to make my Slacker Saturday blog post early Sunday morning.  At least, it is not early for me, but as Sunday mornings go for other people…  Not that I know that much about other people, but I have heard.

I put off making this blog post while I had some coffee, scrolled Facebook, played Solitaire, then read another blogger’s weekly post.  Oh, and I re-read one of my posts from 2012 which I had been thinking about.  I have been writing this blog for a long time, haven’t I?  Or, as Truman Capote famously said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”  I fear that lately my blog has become me rambling on, not saying much of any substance, much less sharing Mohawk Valley adventures as I intended to do when I began the blog.

Like KO Grainger at the Herkimer Downtown Chowdown.

I sometimes mention one I am going to write about, then when I sit down with the Chromebook… not so much.  What, I ask once again, is my problem?  More to the point, what is the solution? I confess I do not know.  I am not having much luck with the Do It Anyways method.

Am I too chicken to write?

Yesterday, by the way, was in fact a Slacker Saturday.  I went running, as I mentioned in my late Lame Post Friday post.  I puttered around, doing a little bit of cleaning here and there.  My house, as I have also mentioned, is quite the disaster area.  I express great determination to get it clean one way or another, then wander around, feeling ridiculous for not knowing where to start.  Then I put some things away and hope I have made some progress. Yesterday I discovered the Columbo method of cleaning:  I cleaned for a set amount of time, then when time was up, I said to myself, “Oh, one more thing!”

I am obsessed with Columbo, you may have noticed.

Eventually I wrote a few postcards and walked them to the post office.  It had stopped raining by then.  Returning home, I made some popcorn and watched, you guessed it, a couple episodes of Columbo.  I crocheted while I watched (after I had eaten some popcorn and washed the butter off my hands) (I’m not a barbarian, after all), so I could feel a little productive.

Once again, I have rattled on for an appreciable amount of words (just over 400!).  I shall end with a random picture, so that my Saturday post can be Scattered as well as Slacker.

Will the curtain rise on a new act for the play of my life?

Too dark, but I feel a picture of a closed curtain is always evocative.  It is the Capitol Theatre in Rome, NY, a good place to visit for future Mohawk Valley adventures.

 

It’s Never Too Lame!

Once again I make my Lame Post Friday blog post on Saturday morning.  I thought about making it last night, but bed seemed like such a good place to be.  It’s been a difficult week, although it has had its good points.  Nothing is all good or all bad, I hope.  At least, I hope nothing is all bad.  All good, I would like to try and see.  There is some half-baked philosophy for you.  We are used to finding the silver lining in bad times, or at least it is a good idea to do so.  Do we ever look for the fly in the ointment in good times?  Are there any other hoary expressions I can throw in?  Really, me, “silver lining”?  “fly in the ointment”?  Have some more coffee.

Ah ha ha! Coffee can be evil!

I throw in a random picture while I go get another cup of coffee.  I do not want to speculate on whether coffee is or can be, in fact, evil.  I put the caption because I believe that coffee mug looks malevolent.

Since this is my second cup of coffee,  one might think I had just rolled out of bed, but that is not the case.  I got up prior to six and went for a run.  The problem with running before coffee is that sometimes I forget to make coffee.  I had my recovery beverage of chocolate milk (it’s science!), made myself an egg sammich for breakfast…  oh yes, coffee. Ahhh… coffee.

I got rained on during my run, off and on.  Now it seems mostly on, so I am sorry about the local events going on today, for example, Little Falls Pride 2024 and Dolgeville Violet Festival. I had been thinking of running the Pride Stride 5K in Little Falls.  There used to be a 5K associated with the Violet Festival, too, but I don’t know if there still is.  How uninformed of me.  Anyways, I am not in 5K shape at this time.  I am in shape, though, because round and puffy is still a shape, you know.

I don’t think these two are in 5K shape either.

Here are Bonita and Bonaparte to wish you a happy Saturday.  I will never be as skinny as Bonita.  Puffy little Bonaparte is more my speed (almost literally).  I suppose I am not as cute, although my husband, Steven used to think so.