Dumpster of Crows

I see weird and wonderful things on my walk each morning. Yesterday I heard something very different. It was very loud echoic cawing sounds. I looked nearby and could not figure out from where the noise was coming. 

Then I looked ahead and saw a dumpster with 6 crows sitting around the edge. As I walked closer, there was an flutter of black wings as a dozen or more crows erupted from the dumpster! They were making the racket. 

Hence, the descriptive a “dumpster of crows” instead of the more appropriate collective of a “murder of crows.” 

 

Lunar Eclipse

This morning we had a spectacular occurance...one that has not happened in 156 years! It was a “Super Blue Red Moon” Eclipse

In case you are wondering how something can be red and blue at the same time...I’ll paraphrase the folks at NASA to explain. A Supermoon occurs when the moon is closest to the earth. We experienced a Supermoon in early January. A Super Blue Moon occurs when there are two Supermoons in one month. So last night was the second Supermoon and that’s always called a Blue Moon. When there’s a lunar eclipse the moon becomes red...so last night we had the double combination of a Blue Moon and a Red Moon — and that’s called a Super Blue Red Moon. It was pretty special!

 

 

Early Morn

Need I say more?

Second

The second blanket for the year is white with shades of green zigzagging through the field. I started the next blanket and made a HUGE mistake on the foundation row. I tore it out (that's called “frogging” btw) and I’ll start it anew tomorrow.

 

Trees and Flowers

This is my “base line” site. I take a picture from this location every few days to see if the water level has increased.         

This picture was taken on December 30. Sadly, I don’t see much difference.

 What I do see is the amount of tree loss there has been. This week, 5 trees have been cut down because they were failing. This morning, I saw this...      

A big tree dropped a huge limb that was there yesterday morning.       

CRACK! It just broke in two pieces. 

On the other hand,       

there are roses blooming on a small patch of dirt...      

...right near the parking lot! It’s like the roses are saying...”have hope...never give up!”

 

Paddington 2

  Do you want to see a movie that makes you feel good? Do you want see a movie that makes you laugh a little, cry a little, and just feel warm all over a little? Do you want to see a movie that gently teaches an important lesson about life?If the answer to any or all of these questions is “YES” then you need to see Paddington 2. Additionally, the animation is top notch and there’s even a plot!     It’s a sequel to Paddington (2014)…and I think it’s even better! If I tell you more, I’ll give the story away and I don’t want to do that. Just see the movie and send me a note telling me how much you loved it!

Vultures in the Morning

Most mornings, when I take my walk, I see vultures...it makes sense, I’m out in the country and that’s where vultures reside. Recently, I’ve only seen one vulture...the same one every morning. At least I think it’s the same vulture as “he” is always in the same place. If I start my walk early, he is sitting on the same telephone pole with his wings spread out halfway.

The poor thing is cold...and he's trying to capture some heat...

When the temperature feels right he unfurls his great wings.

All 6 feet of his wings are getting warm now! 

He will stay like this for about 20 minutes, until he gets warmed up, then he will fly away. 

 

Sunset

The cloud cover was ideal

The golden light was perfect

And then the sky exploded in color

Stargate

Old Movie Review: Stargate

  Did you know this movie was made in 1994? I did not think it was made that long ago. We had not seen it in awhile, and it was at the library, so we checked it out. 

Some movies do not stand the test of time, but I think this one has done a pretty good job. The high tech scenes deal with an ancient Egyptian artifact, so it does not look dated. You never see a close up of a car and most of the folks are in uniforms of one type or another. 

The two main characters are the academic and the military man...it’s not hard to tell who is the academic. Even that stereotype has held up to the test of time. You know the story, I’m sure as it was made into a TV series. If you have a chance to check the movie out on Netflix, take the chance. It’s fun to see again.

 

Topper

In addition to the old movies that we have stashed in the RV we also borrow old movies from the local library. As I perusing their offerings, I saw Topper and Topper Returns. When I was a kid there was a TV show called Topper that I loved.  It featured two friendly ghosts who haunted a very stiff and proper banker. Now was the time to see the movie that spawned that delightful series of my youth.

In the movie, a very young and dapper Cary Grant plays George Kerby and the gorgeous Constance Bennett plays his wife, Marion. The movie was much like I remembered the old TV series. Topper, the banker is “reserved” and these two happy ghosts are off to do their good deed so they can get to the other side.  

There’s Roland Young playing Topper acting befuddled as George and Marion try to put some fun into his life. 

The movie, which was nominated for 2 Academy Awards is a two trick wonder of ghosts appearing and disapperaring and things floating in space. In one funny scene, invisible George is changing a tire when a couple of bums come along... you get the rest. The movie was made in 1937, while the world was still in an economic depression, and it was a fun break from reality. The sets featured fancy houses, stodgy banks, a fantastic car,  and a wonderful wardrobe. The opening scene has Constance Bennett in a white sparkly creation that is sexy yet demure. This dress would wow people nowadays and it’s a lot better than most of the stuff you see on a Hollywood Red Carpet.

Tne sequel, Topper Returns was not nearly as good, and it still had the same two tricks. It too was nominated for 2 Academy Awards. If you get a chance to see these old movies, take it. These two fluffy and funny movies are considered classics and are worth your time when you need a diversion from reality.

 

In California

I don’t usually get into politics, but am going to dip my toe into that ugly subject. California is a Democraric state...so, I was surprised to see these two bumper stickers.

And

There might be a few Republicans in the state afterall. 

 

Technicolor Snowflakes

In May 2017, I started this blanket. I had a bunch of scrap yarn so my goal was to make 60 granny squares and sew them together in a typical block pattern. In July I broke my shoulder and I was not able to finish the granny squares so they were stuffed in my crochet bag and lingered there until I could crochet again. We went on a 2 month cruise and they sat even longer. Finally I came back to the blanket and finished the squares. But I had no idea how to sew them together until I went to Pinterest and saw an inspiration blanket     

The inspiration blanket was not made from scraps as the design is uniform, but it gave me the idea for my blanket. My blanket is made from random squares with random colors...and the unified theme is the bright yellow stripe. The other DrC calls it a “technicolor snowflake” and I have to agree with him.

In case you don’t know what a typical granny square blanket looks like...a search on the web revealed this collage. The typical granny square is pretty, but the zig-zag/diamond shaped granny blanket is prettier (in my humble opinion)

 

 

Fruit and Veggies

The local Albertson’s is selling some beautiful stuff...the whole fresh fruit and vegetable department is colorful.

Hats off to the people who make my food look good!

Dunkirk

 

 

We saw a “new” movie tonight instead of a movie shot 50 years ago starring an imaginary spy. Dunkirk was real. It really happened in 1940. It showed real people fighting a real war. It showed war—the fear, grit, dirt, noise, and elation in the pure cold light of day. Somehow, after seeing the battles and hearing the guns from so many war movies, we still fight wars. When will we learn? Can we learn?

 

 

The movie intertwines 3 smaller stories of three Spitfire pilots, the crew of one small ship trying to save the stranded soldiers on the beach; and a few of the stranded soldiers. The three stories can stand alone, but together, they make the movie stronger. The music is tense, the dialog is sparse, with all the action happening in about a day. 

 

 

Did I like the movie? Yes I did. Did I enjoy the movie? No I did not. But this is not a movie to enjoy. It’s a movie about war and war is not enjoyable.

 

 

 

The DVD comes with 2 discs. The second disc has many “special features” most of which are down right boring. I thought many of the vignettes were “inside baseball” of interest only to folks who want to know all the minutia  that went into the making of the movie. Given that, there were 3 little gems...the interviews with some survivors of Dunkirk; how the thousands of uniforms were made; and how they created the crowds on the beach.  If you buy the DVD, think seriously of not looking at the second disc.

BaseCamp

Today I looked at the newest trailer Airstream is making. It’s an attractive 16 foot unit called ‘The Base Camp.’ It’s 7 feet wide, and tall enough for anyone under 6’4” to stand up straight. Before I go any farther, this is an expensive unit...just shy of $40K. So while it’s called a base camp, it’s the high end base camp.

 It has some nifty features, like 2 doors, one on the side, and one in the back. It’s good to have an escape hatch.

The only sink is clever. During the day, when it is not in use, it’s covered

But, when you need to use the sink, lift the cover, pull the faucet up, and it’s a functioning stainless steel sink. Note, this is the ONLY sink in the rig...there is not one in the bathroom.  

There’s a tiny 2 burner stove, built into the counter with a similar cover, and under the stove is a 4 cubic foot refrigerator with freezer compartment.  

To the left of the freezer there’s some storage and to the right is tiny microwave with some storage built under it.   

There are  shiny black doors hiding the cubby-holes that are the only hidden storage in the rig. Touch them once and they open, touch them again and they close. Can you imagine all the fingerprints these doors can collect in the course of a day?

Turn around, and you see the seating/dining area. There are two sofas on one each side of the rig with a place to put in a table. At night, the table and sofas make into a full sized bed.    

I’m not sure how comfortable it would be to sleep on the seams...maybe you can scrunch over to the wall side of the RV and get a more comfy place to stretch out. If you look at the back you can see the inside view of the back door.     

This is the view from the living room, looking toward the kitchen. There is a wet bathroom (that means if you use the shower, the toilet will get wet...not ideal) that was planned correctly...the toilet paper holder has a cover on it so it won’t get wet!    

To an RVer, this picture makes sense...to other folks, it’s a small toilet, with an overhead shower. This is not a bathroom for a “thinker” as it’s just too congested.

The RV is cute, but it has some major problems. There is very little inside storage and no outside storage. There’s no place for hanging clothes. There are a few baskets where you can place a few folded clothes, but not too many. It’s made for weekends and not too much more. It does have two tents that can be attached to the passenger side and the back which will give you more living room. As it’s set up right now there’s not a lot of space inside for more than one person. If you are a person who likes to go out on weekends for a get-a-way...this is a pretty good unit. It is not for the type of camping we do. I cannot imagine myself living in this RV for 2 months at a time.

 

For Your Eyes Only

Another Bond story was in the DVD last night. Since the storm the local TV stations are not working well. And we don’t have the satellite dish working right now either…so it’s DVDs or reading. DVDs seem to be winning. 

For Your Eyes Only might be the only movie we’ve seen recently that has a relatively good story line. Of course it’s bad guys against good guys (it’s a Bond movie…that’s what it has to be) but the writers found a plot! Then they put in some really good chase scenes that were fun to watch.  James (Roger Moore) is tasked with finding a highly important piece of electronic tracking equipment that sank when the ship it was on collided with an old WWII mine. Kaboom! He chases all over the world for the equipment, finally finding it on mountaintop monastery in Greece….where … and I’ll stop there. The ski chase is excellent as is the chase down a narrow mountain road in a Citreon 2cv and the underwater chase is pretty good too. It was a good romp in the world of James Bond. As always, it’s fun to look at the IMDb of the stars. The film was made in 1981, so the pretty young women (Carole Bouquet and Lynn-Holly Johnson) are in their 60s now. And, they are still good looking ladies. Thing is, I don’t know of any other work they have done…but they are still in the industry. The movie was a money-maker for the studio unlike Moonraker which we saw a few nights ago. *cover courtesy of “Rotten Tomatoes” 

Tel Kitchen (aka The Plastic Bag Tel)

  In California plastic bags are not available at grocery stores, come to think of it, paper bags are not either. Every time you shop at a grocery store you need to bring your own bag or be forced to buy an "approved" bag for a dime or a quarter or even a dollar. Well, I’ve saved plastic bags for years which I re-use for groceries or garbage or storage or whatever. No bag gets thrown away without a second use or in some cases three or more.    Given that, I have a stash of plastic bags stuffed into a "bag holder" I crocheted years ago. Every time I take out an old plastic bag, I look at the ads on it. I have blue bags from Walmart (these are really old). I have bags from stores that are no longer in business. I have bags from Canada, Hawaii, Wyoming and Texas.  Sometimes they have receipts in them from a long ago past. They are fun to look at as then I remember what I was doing at the time and a smile appears on my face. The bag holder is a tel of our life during the last 10 or 15 years.   Someday in the future, archeologists will dig thru our ancient cities and find plastic bag hoarders. If they are smart,  they might be able to learn a little bit about the culture when plastic bags were common. 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

*

We are viewing old movies on our soujourn at the lake this winter. Tonight we saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes. It was a delightful yet perfectly forgettable movie. The original story was written by Ian Fleming of James Bond fame, and the screenplay was written by Roald Dahl of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame (among other books). The movie has “good” bones as it were.

 

In 1968, this musical piece of fluff was even nominated for an Academy Award for best song. When I taught elementary school, my students loved the movie and I read the book to them (which had a slightly different story line). I had a Matchstick model of the car in my classroom and the kids would put their names on a list in order to have it on their desk for 30 minutes a day when we had a special reading and writing time. When they played with the flying car, they would sing the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song. The little car had very fragile wings and the kids were very careful that they did not break them. For some strange reason, the wings never broke.

 

Fast forward to 2018, a full 50 years later. The song is not memorable. The story is not either, but it is good plain fun. It is a romp in the world of imagination and song. I completely enjoyed it, laughing at times and smiling the rest of the time. After the darkness of Blade Runner, 2049 and my disappointment in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, CCBB was the pick-me-up movie I needed to see. 

*Courtesy of Wikipedia...thank you!

That Stuff Falling From the Sky is Rain

The weather guessers had it right...we had one heck of a storm last night...and it looks like more is coming. 

Before the storm on December 30, the entrance to Harvey’s Cove looked like this...

 

The morning after the storm, on January 9, 2018, Harvey’s Cove looked like this:

Can you see a difference between the two pictures. The water level has come up a bit...

and when the run-off is complete it might rise some more. 

In the meantime, there’s some damage at the park.

A big tree succumbed to the wind and rain...and there are others. 

It’s a sad reminder that nothing lasts forever!