RDJ Doing the Cully Face

 

Best Cookies Ever

My sis Martine sent me a tin of these cookies for Christmas. I swear they are the most delish cookies I have ever eaten. Not terribly sweet with occasional pops of sea salt. Best enjoyed with a cup of tea in the afternoon. Waesucks, the tin has been empty for some time. I swear I will love my sister forever if she will keep me supplied with more cookies. Okay, fine, I'll love her anyway. But cookies certainly wouldn't hurt. And a plain box will do. One fancy tin is quite enough.

Happy Birthday

To my beautiful sister Pam. She goes barefoot. And enjoys beer. And hangs out with questionable statuary. I love her to pieces.

The Wall

 

Doctors of the past. Gone but not forgotten.

Except for a couple I don't remember. At all.

Causation?

A couple of hours after my vaccination on Friday, I experienced a powerful craving for McDonald's. Must have been the nanobots. One thing is clear. The novel corona virus wants us to be fat. Or dead. Perhaps both.

A Cloud of Covid

I always get a bit of a chill when I watch a movie from the pre-2001 era and the New York City skyline appears. The twin towers of The World Trade Center are so prominent and recognizable it takes me a moment to process that they have been gone for nearly twenty years. This is from The Prince of Tides, a favorite movie helmed by Barbra Streisand back in 1991. I must be a fan of Southern Gothic since I also watched Crimes of the Heart. Of course I'm a fan, I'm half Southern. Through the vaccine fog I watched a few other movies, most of them a little dark. The teen angst in Some Kind of Wonderful was probably the bright spot of film viewing. And, damn, Eric Stolz was pretty. Still is, in fact. Rounding out my movie binge were Bombshell and I, Tonya. I gave Nomadland a try, same with Judy, but just wasn't in the mood, I guess. I swear I'm missing a couple* but I was in a vaccine fog.

*Rocketman. I forgot Rocketman.

Dose #1

I am approximately 72 hours past the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, Pfizer version. I have been feeling pretty okay since last evening, all that remains is a sore upper left arm and a largish, tender swelling in my left armpit. I had zero symptoms the first six or so hours after the shot, but then felt generally very tired the rest of Friday and my arm was sore. By the time Saturday rolled around I felt like crap. Total crap. It was as if my bout with covid in December had descended on me once more. Fatigue, headache, body aches and chills, food tasting like sawdust. I spent most of the weekend binging movies through a fog while taking up residence on the couch in the living room. Having mostly recovered at this point, I have to say I'm not really looking forward to dose #2. But I'm scheduled and I'll show up. Make your appointment for the vaccine now. Because we're all in this together.  

For Those Who Strive, But Not Too much

 

Time To Stop Being Gentle

 

Titles

A very long time ago, we subscribed to a series of collected scifi stories. In the previous century sense of a long time ago. They arrived monthly in the form of a paperback that contained seven or eight short stories. For some reason the titles of three of those stories hangs with me. The common thread they share is that they lapse over the line into horror, which is a genre I do not enjoy. The first two portray details of a dystopian future while the last one could occur around any corner in any city right now. Or last week. Or next week.

The Verts Get a Nuke The Verts decide they wish to acquire a nuclear bomb to defend themselves. A salesman arrives with the nuke and tells them how the thing works. But things aren't as straightforward as you might think. The catch is that the code used to activate the device will be tattooed on the inside of the aorta of one of their children. In order to bomb an enemy, they must first choose to sacrifice one of their own, an innocent child. 

Permanent Hook-up A regular fella walks into a futuristic arcade. After paying he goes into a small room where he sits and leans forward into a viewer. He grips the handles and places his feet on a platform. What he is watching through the viewer he can participate in by moving his hands and feet. Sort of a virtual experience. To his shock and horror, maintenance workers enter the room and mistakenly give him a permanent hook-up, cutting into his nerves and muscles to provide better contact, so he remains in that virtual experience for the rest of his natural life.

Family Dentistry A guy walking down the street who has a tooth that is bothering him sees a sign above a door reading "Family Dentistry". He goes inside and is taken back to an operatory where he meets the dentist. He is numbed up for the procedure and everything goes well. While he is still woozy from the gas he becomes aware that he has been strapped down to the chair and cannot get up. Then the rest of the family comes in, the wife and kids, and continue to poke and prod him with sharp instruments even while the anesthetic is fading. 

Yes, It Would Be Nice

 

Three-ish Years Ago

Over the course of the last few months I've come to the conclusion that you're a terrific fuck but kind of a shitty friend. You withhold, you disappear, you alternately confess, then stonewall. All I wanted from you was the opportunity to walk through the possibilities of you and I becoming a we. No grand gestures, no promises, no agenda. Whether I like it or not, you remain in my head. On this beautiful Colorado morning I was walking my mile and a half loop through the neighborhood and Bonnie Raitt was in my head. This is what she sang, and it echoed so much what I feel about you.

Welcome Spring!

 

I'm Ready!

 

Aluado 2019

 

Working my way through this box of most excellent red wines. Thus far, all very good. But when I opened the bottle of Aluado 2019 a few days ago, it bowled me over with its deliciousness. The best part is, there were two bottles of this in the box! NPR wine club, you have won my heart.

My Handsome Little Furry Guy

 

Ides of March

So it snowed a little over the weekend.

I would swear that this is a black and white photo if not for the bright green umbrella and the hot pink compost bucket.

 

The view from my office window.

Pi Are Square, No, Pie is Round

It's Pi(e) Day. A day to celebrate pie is all its perfection and forms. Psst...don't tell anyone, but I have made a square pie. Also a rectangular one. I regret that there are no photos of today's pies. A lovely quiche with bacon and spinach and four cheeses. The leftover half of the Christmas apple pie that I froze because we weren't that interested in sweets during covid that I crisped up in the oven. And finally, Reid made a pizza topped with pepperoni, bacon, and pineapple. Yes, this is one of those houses. Where the inhabitants approve of pineapple as a pizza topping. Deal with it. If you want pie pics from the past, I recommend going here. And here. But most especially here.

Storm Update

It started snowing around noon. It seems the storm arrived late but will stick around and dump snow on us as predicted. Another photo update tomorrow. Stay in, the streets are getting slick and nasty. 

Newton Says Good Morning

 

He also says, "feed me." Now. NOW! I'm hoping that tonight's forward leap of one hour will help adjust his morning cycle just a bit later. I really don't enjoy all this enthusiasm so early in the morning. The least he could do is put the kettle on before he begins annoying me.

Waiting For The Snow

It's brown.

 Very brown.

Tonight's Dinner

 The only question now is, red or white wine?

Yes, Please

And, a resounding thank you to everyone except the Republicans who believe in the bootstraps theory. Which is easy if you can afford the boots in the first place.

Time to Make Chili and Settle In

This explains the apocalyptic buying frenzy at King Soopers. What would have normally been a 20-30 minute run through the store took over an hour. Though it did take some extra time for the nice young woman to fetch a stepstool and retrieve the Whopper malted milk eggs from the ridiculously high top shelf. It's still over three weeks til Easter, but I wasn't taking any chances on missing out on this seasonal delicacy. 

Love This!

 All of you steel magnolias will agree, I'm sure.

Do It!

 

Question of the Day

Are Romulans cromulent?

 You decide. The definition can be found here.

Know The Difference

Cardassians

Aliens on a scifi tv series.

Kardashians

 Alien-looking humans on a reality tv series.

Wisdom for Wednesday

 

Tuesday March The Second

If Tuesday Weld married Edward March II, she'd be Tuesday March II. Which is today. Thanks for coming out tonight, I'll be here all week, folks! Tip the waitstaff generously.  

Spring Bunnies With Daffodils