Saturday, January 21, 2017

An Adventure off the Porch...

I am packing up my one room new camper to head into the wilds of the populated world. Living on a remote northern peninsula sure insulates one  from traffic, too many people and all that jazz. Really it is easy to become way too comfortable up here despite the snow and ice and the cold. I 'll go ahead and say it, "In God's country." I always wear wool slippers, heavy sweaters and flannel pajamas. It is a good look for me. I'm off to spend time with my daughters and their families. That is what is missing here in the north. I love spending time with our grand kids. They fascinate me. 

I just finished This is Where I Leave You by Jonathon Tropper. Good read. Much darker than the movie. I did not appreciate Judd's observations on the aging human body, ugh! Young=smooth skin, aging=sagging skin. 

I read Love May Fail by Matthew Quick. A few of his coincidences were a little too coincidental for me but I have yet to be disappointed in any thing I have read of Quick's. I become emotionally invested in every character. Chuck and Tommy Bass. Portia, Mr. Vernon...please be okay. This book made me check out Motley Crue on YouTube. How's that for broadening my horizons?

I went to the theatre and saw Hidden Figures. Five Stars. Take your daughters! Infinitely Polar Bear based on the life of Cameron Forbes. Bi polar dad of two girls. Mental illness bites. Anywhere but Here with Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon. Family dysfunction at it's best. Still bites to be the child. Ride with Helen Hunt. How do you go on after losing a son without totally traumatizing your surviving son. This Mom does not. I finished watching Sherlock season 4 on BBC. Too Dr. Whoish or maybe Bond. Not even comparable to the stellar previous three seasons. I am letting myself forget that season four ever happened.

I started listening to Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. I am reading Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell. 
           Here we are again. The family from The Christmas Story. Yes, we did eat our dinner at a Chinese restauraunt! I love these people!



Monday, January 9, 2017

My top 10 lists of 2016...

Top 10 books I read in 2016
1. The Round House by Louise Erdrich-I was so touched by the love between Geraldine and Bazil Coutts. It was enduring.
2. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx-I carry Proulx's ordinary people with me still.
3. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz-I felt like I walked in the shoes of Diaz characters.
4. Lila by Marilynne Robinson-Maybe there is a God. Reverend Ames was an inspiration.
5. Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson-I miss Frank...
6. Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal-I emailed the author and he emailed me right back.
7. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan-I still smell the ocean.
8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury-I read this with my 15 year old grandson.
9. Moby Dick by Hermann Melville-I feel accomplished.
10. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates-Hurt my heart.

I read 59 books in 2016. I choose my reading material very carefully and somehow I found wonderful books. 

I rarely see a movie but in 2016 I discovered Netflix so I do have a movie list

1. A Single Man with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore 
2. Beginners with Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent and Christopher Plummer
3. This is Where I Leave You 
4. Sing Street an Irish film with Ferdia Walsh-Peelo
5. Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard
6. Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis
7. The Way He Looks Brazilian with subtitles Blind teen coming of age
8. Fundamentals of Caring with Selina Gomez, Paul Rudd and Craig Roberts (favorite)
9. Foreign Student 1994 with Robin Givens
10. Bad Moms with my daughters


This is every movie I saw this year

I watched the first three seasons of Sherlock on Netflix. I am hooked!
I-Tunes first season of Poldark !!!!!!!

Music in 2016
 Disturbed's version of The Sounds of Silence
Violin covers of old songs
Amici's Italian Senza Cantene aka Unchained Melody
Pentatonix any song by them


Happy New Year from my porch...

I spent New Year's Eve with my brothers and sisters, brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews at Marci's home in Midland. We played phase 10, full contact, and Golf. I wish we lived close enough so that we could play crazy games together every week. So much fun. We toasted 2017 with a lovely pink sparkling wine. Poor hubby went to bed early with a bad cold that he still has not shaken weeks later. I have a slight germophobe problem so I really don't like breathing the same air as a sick person. Like I said, poor him.

I am watching Sherlock on BBC Masterpiece. I like it though the previous three seasons were more to my taste. The first two mysteries have been dark. Trying to watch Being Human on Netflix. A vampire, a ghost and a werewolf try to pass as human. Not going that well for them. Getting gory.
I have watched a few carefully chosen movies. The Way He Looks, a sensitive  Brazilian coming of age movie with subtitles. Foreign Student, 1994 movie set in a late 40's Virginia college starring Robin Givens. I went to the show Fences starring Denzel Washington with Dani, Sandy and Sharon.
Gut wrenching.

I am reading Love May Fail by Matthew Quick and at the  half way point in the book it looks like love  just might fail.
My upstairs hard copy is Lessons Before Dying.
                                                      THE THREE AMIGOES