Tag Archives: murder mystery

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.)

 

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!

 

At Least I Made a Blog Post

I allow an episode of Columbo to play while I make my Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.

I had my coffee earlier.

I like Columbo every day of the week, not just Sunday, but Sunday seems like an especially good day for him.  I have seen this episode enough times that I can let it play while I post.  I have had a kind of a wrist to forehead day.  I did not actually swoon (I have not a suitable chaise lounge for it anyways, as regular readers may recall), but I had a kind of dramatic bout of I Can’t Do Anything.  That, of course, plagues me regularly, the result of my depression or my innate laziness, but it is often worse on a Sunday.  I usually try to embrace the uselessness, just relax and enjoy the day.

I watched a cheesy horror movie, Manos: The Hands of Fate, a really foolish movie.  I had not meant to watch it, but it was on a DVD with three other movies, and I could not find the remote that allows me to arrow down to another choice.  I later found it right in front of me.  I used to accuse my husband Steve of hiding my things.  He would hide them in one of three insidious places:  Right Where I Left Them, Where They Belonged, or Out in Plain Sight. He would give an evil laugh and admit everything.  After I started the second movie on the DVD (also not the one I wanted to watch), I paused it to call my parents.  While talking to them, I talked myself into trying to mow my lawn. one of the chores I had felt utterly incapable of doing.

What can I say?  I fought the lawn and the lawn won.

From another year. The lawn won then, too.

EEEEE!  That was one of the more brutal murders on Columbo, and I looked up just in time to see it.  I’m always sad when I like the victim.  Sometimes the victim is a fool who tries to blackmail the murderer (in fact, the second victim usually is).  I sit there saying, “Are you ASKING them to murder you?”  When I write my murder mysteries, I usually make the victim a sonofabitch, hated by all.  For one reason, it gives everybody a motive.

I see I am approaching 400 words.  That’s pretty good for a nothing post.  Will the coming week bring posts of more substance?  We shall see.  I certainly hope you will tune in to find out.

 

In the Mood for Monsters?

In the Mood for Monsters?

Hello and welcome to another Monstrous Monday post.  I can’t say my Monday has been thoroughly monstrous, but I am feeling… well, never mind how I am feeling.  It is tiresome to always listen to someone whine about their feelings.  Anyways, I may very well feel differently after I encounter a few of my favorite monsters.

An evocative shot, yes?

Here is one from my favorite Nosferatu, the 1922 silent film.  They made more use of shadows in the older movies.  I think it is scary.  I like it.

Which is the bad guy?

In the interests of using a picture I haven’t used many times already (yes, I am still going to my Media Library for Monstrous Monday; haven’t learned how to get new pictures on the Chromebook yet), I show this one, which I do not remember using before and have no idea what movie it is from.  It looks like an alien and a fish monster.  Do any of you recognize it? If so, please comment and tell me.

A more homegrown monster.

Tired of looking for more movie monsters, I offer this show of my own Bonita, wearing a doggy devil mask I picked up at a rummage sale.  It is hard to see, but she is holding the bouquet of black tulips my friend Jerry made for a murder mystery.  He presented them to me after the performance, and they have been part of my Halloween decor ever since.

And that brings me over 200 words.  Score!  I thank my monsters, and I thank my readers for tuning in once again.

 

No Rainbows, No Husband, But It’s Sunday

Here I am making, or at least attempting to make a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  Full disclosure:  I have had a few drinks. The first was in the nature of Hair of the Dog, since I indulged yesterday (judge me if you will; I had a murder mystery!).  The following were because the first tasted so good.  Oh dear.  It sounds as if I could use to go to one of the them there 12-step meetings. Never mind.  Tonight I will merely try to get a blog post done.

Oh dear (I say it again), this is terrible. I wanted to download a picture of the murder mystery we presented to benefit the Salisbury Grange yesterday, and I can’t seem to do it.
What’s that all about, Chromebook?  I was hoping to share the pictures as a valid excuse for me to not have a decent post today.  Oh well, my excuses are not always valid at the best of times, so let me get on with the post.

Not today, alas!

Since I could not find what I wanted in my Media Library I at last settled for this shot taken from my porch in September 2022.  I spent some time sitting on m porch today with my friend Kim.  The headache was somewhat in abeyance, and I wanted some companionship.   We got some rain but, alas, no rainbow.  Still, it was nice to sit out on the porch with my friend.

We were having a fine time!

I wanted one more picture to end with and found this one of Steven, my late, dearly missed husband, busting a move at the Mohawk American Legion to the tuns of The Posers, our favorite local band.

I see I am over 250 words.  Score!  I hope you all had a delightful weekend and look forward, as I do, to a lovely upcoming week.

 

Run Before Murder

Remember Saturday Running Commentary?  I would get up on a Saturday morning, go for a run, then write a blog post about it.  I have recently re-started running AGAIN, and I would like to do a Saturday Running Commentary post.  For one reason, if I do not make my blog post this morning, there is every chance I will not get to it later.  I do not want to break my streak!  Um, that is, my streak of blogging. I have never actually been streaking; sorry if that gave you an unfortunate mental image.

When I woke up this morning, I thought I would not run.  I must recruit my energies for Deadly Night Life, the murder mystery being presented at Salisbury Grange this afternoon.  However, after drinking some coffee and contemplating my day, I decided to go.  It could be a short run.  It will never be a fast run.  I could do this.

I thought I would run the way I walked to the Elk Lodge on Thursday.  It was an indirect route, amounting to about a half a mile.  Then I could keep going till it was a mile.  At least I would go a mile.  Maybe more.  Maybe 20 minutes.  No pressure.  Up to German Street and turn right.  I went as far as the path over what used to be a hydraulic canal, one of my favorite places to walk or run.

The spots are a little faded now.

I did not “Step, “March,” “Tiptoe,” etc. as advised by the printing at each painting.  I may do so if I ever walk the path with my great niece and nephew.  I continued to go through the County Office Building parking lot, so I could defy a couple of Do Not Enter signs.  Regular readers know how I love to do that.

Running past the Elks Lodge (which I cannot find a photo of in my Media Library, nor can I find a Do Not Enter sign), I saw a lady walking a cute dog.  I called good morning and asked if I could pet her dog.  The poocher was certainly eager to be petted.  The lady said it was a good reason to take a little break from a jog.

“It encourages me to keep going,” I told her.  We wished each other a nice day and moved on.  It is always a good run when I get to pet a dog.

I continued past my beloved Herkimer Historic Four Corners, going close to the 1834 Jail, so Chester Gilette could look out the window at me.

I thank whoever put him in the window!

I ended up running for 20 minutes.  I can’t tell you how much over a mile it was, because my Garmin is across the room from me, and I am recruiting my energies.  I have a murder mystery today, you know!

 

 

Lame Me Your Ears

You know, like “Lend me your ears”?  I was trying to think of a clever title, because I do not have anything particularly clever to say.  Cue unkind remarks about how I am never particularly clever (you know who you are).  I am home relaxing after doing some minor running around related to Deadly Night Life, the murder mystery we are putting on at Salisbury Grange tomorrow.  I’m sure a fun time will be had by all, or at least most.

It might look a little like this.

I went into my Media Library to look for a picture of a murder mystery and found this one from Shooting at the Grange, the murder mystery we presented last April.  I am a little disappointed that I did not find any of the last one we did at the Elks Club to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society.  I looked rather fabulous in that one, although I daresay I flatter myself.

There’s a fabulous bunch!

Here is the cast of Fabulous and Fatal, the murder mystery we did at the Travel Lodge in Little Falls for the Herkimer County Historical Society in 2019.  The beautiful blonde and the lovely fellow in gold (I loaned him the dress) are in tomorrow’s play.  I positively must get some pictures!

In the meantime, I am over 200 words.  Sufficient for a Lame Post Friday post, at least by my rules for me.  I hope you are all having a lovely evening.

 

 

Post Rehearsal and Past Mysteries

I am not sure if I can up with anything for a Post-Rehearsal Post, but I will try.  I just returned from a rehearsal for Deadly Night Life, the interactive murder mystery we are putting on for Salisbury Grange this Saturday.  It went pretty well.  At least, we all had a good time and a lot of laughs.  These murder mysteries are always a lot of fun.

A suspicious bunch I’ve shared before.

Slipping into Throwback Thursday mode, here is a bunch from a murder mystery we did a few years ago, A G.R.A.V.E. Murder.  I had a lot of fun with that one.

Another fun night.

This one, Fabulous and Fatal, actually came up in a conversation tonight.  Of course we always bring up previous theatrical experiences during rehearsal.  Sometimes I have to interrupt the reminiscences to get us back to rehearsing.

Actors at work.

Here is a shot of the show we put on at the Grange last April.  I certainly hope Saturday’s goes as well.

This fabulous lady is in Saturday’s show.

For one last picture, I give you a cast member from both last year and this year’s shows.  I often have repeat cast members.  Could it be they like my scripts?  I can only hope!

 

Too Tired for a Pre-Rehearsal Post?

How about a Pre-Rehearsal Post on this Tired Tuesday (full disclosure:  I am tired most days).  I ought to be looking over my lines again, but regular readers know how seldom I do what I ought.

The rehearsal is for Deadly Night Life, the murder mystery we are putting on at Salisbury Grange this Saturday.  I have not blogged much about it, because it sold out quickly.  I did not want my local readers to get all interested then be disappointed.  However, as I have very little to blog about right now and (again, as regular readers know) very little brain to blog with, I thought I could talk a little bit about it.

Only there will be all tables on the floor.

Here is a picture I took of the Grange last April, when we presented Shooting at the Grange.  I did not act in that one, which I regretted on the day of the performance.  Oh well, I had my reasons for not taking a role, and we cannot always predict how we will feel about these things.

Here’s a shot with tables.

The above is a picture taken at one of last year’s rehearsals.  I have not taken any pictures of this year’s rehearsals, but perhaps tonight I will have a photo op.

It seems I have rattled on for over 200 words without saying much about the murder mystery, the Grange, or tonight’s rehearsal.  How typical of me.  No matter.  It is Tired Tuesday, and I always feel that a blah blog post is better than no blog post at all.  Do you agree or disagree?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

Just Another Wrist to Forehead Sunday

Well I had a fine start to my weekend (according to the title of my last post) and not bad weekend, and today is Wrist to Forehead Sunday, the day when I swoon, dramatically posed with the back on one wrist to my forehead, in anticipation on the upcoming Monstrous Monday.  My aim is to begin blogging daily again, as I once did.  So here I am.

It isn’t an unhappy Sunday.

I am watching an episode of Columbo as I type this. Patrick McGoohan is the murderer, one of my favorites.  For anybody unfamiliar with Columbo, this needed no  spoiler alert.  In Columbo, the viewer sees the murderer commit the “perfect” crime then watches Lt. Columbo cleverly solve it.

Earlier tonight I watched a 1973 TV movie of Double Indemnity.  It was included with our DVD of the original 1944 film.  Alas, I do not know how to find a picture of it on my Chromebook.  I might have a picture of the original in my Media Library, but can I find it?

Steamy!

I have been knitting while I look at the television, a very relaxing way to spend a Sunday.  Earlier today I got a few things done, did the dishes, went grocery shopping, made a salad for my week’s lunches, progressed a little more on various cleaning projects, took a walk… I listed each little thing in the TV Journal, just to encourage myself.  I wrote a few other things in the TV Journal plus worked on a letter to a friend, just to have done a little more writing.

And now I see I am over 250 words on this blog post.  So I have posted for two days in a row.  I suppose that is not such a much, but I like to celebrate every small win.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

A slightly blurry photo from another weekend.

I just wanted to add another picture.  I am enjoying a glass of wine, by the way.