Home again!, ‘Perfume’, ‘Disappearance’, ‘Black Snake Moan’
(posted from home)
(this post covers 27 August- 2 September, 2007)
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Sunday, 2 September-
It’s another beautiful, sunny day today. I helped Labashi by mowing down the remainder of the weeds in the planting beds. With the mowers out of the way I had easy access to the KLR motorcycle parked in the deep recesses of the barn. I pulled it out and was happy to find it started up easily (I’ve been keeping the somewhat-weak battery charged up with the float charger). I see the inspection just ran out so I’ll have to get that done and I know it’s due for an oil change now that it has 5000 miles on it.
I decided I’d take the Miata into town today and took it up to the local gas station to check the tires (one has a very, very slow leak). Then I remembered— the inspection on it also ran out while we were away. Rats!
I rode the Concours down to Starbucks and Lowe’s (they’re in the same shopping center) for a coffee and Sunday paper, then a search for a solution to a problem with our mud-room door. When a hard rain comes from the east, it blows against the door and leaks past the seal in the lower corner.
I then rode down to the Long Level area along the Susquehanna (below Wrightsville) to the kayak shop. I’m hoping to find a nice, light fiberglass ‘yak to replace my heavy poly Sirocco but I really can’t afford the $2000+ price of a decent fiberglass one so it’s kind of ridiculous to look. But I like the ride down there anyway.
On the way home I went to Rocky Ridge Park and jogged the end-to-end route late in the afternoon. My goal today was just to finish since I’ve not done this long jog in quite a while and my time showed it, about a 1:40.
That evening we watched ‘Black Snake Moan’ with Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. We thought it a good movie, particularly the use of blues music but there is a strong sexual content which could offend.
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Saturday, 1 September-
This morning I drove Cherry Larry down to the garden nursery to pick up 30 bags of mulch for Labashi. She’s in ‘tornado mode’ re-doing all the planting beds, i.e., clearing the weeds, digging up the bed, and then covering with oak mulch. Labashi had bought ten bags yesterday using a 50%-off coupon. So I took another of those coupons today for the additional 30 bags only to have the clerk tell me the discount would apply only to the first bag. When I pointed out they had done it yesterday on all ten bags, she said okay. As I left she told me the girl had done it incorrectly yesterday but since that had happened she felt compelled to go ahead with it today so I had gotten a heck of a bargain. (That Labashi is so lucky!)
I then fired up the Concours and rode down to the REI store in Timonium, MD. They had a Labor Day sale going on but I didn’t find much of interest. I did find one of the ultra-light wind jackets I like on sale and bought it but otherwise I was disappointed to find how high the prices have gotten.
That evening we watched ‘Disappearances’ with Kris Kristofferson, Genevieve Bujold, Gary Farmer, and Lothaire Bluteau. I was hesitant to select this movie given the lack of information on the DVD case but just had to see Lothaire Bluteau. He was so fantastic in ‘Black Robe’ and ‘Jesus of Montreal’ in the early 90’s. I also wanted to see the older Genevieve Bujold, particularly after just seeing the young Genevieve last week in ‘Coma’. And Gary Farmer was the quirky Indian in ‘Dead Man’, one of our all-time favorite movies. Unfortunately, ‘Disappearances’ doesn’t quite work. I love the idea of the story taking place on the Quebec-Vermont border and even the idea of the magical-realism elements of the story. But as storytelling, it didn’t work. Lothaire’s character was just weird and we end up not knowing who he was supposed to be and seeing him far too little. We don’t find out what ‘disappearances’ are and it’s not clear whether Genevieve’s character was real, sometimes-real, or what. The photography is lush and interesting but that only carries the movie so far. As one reviewer puts it: “the movie is lovely to look at but makes not one lick of sense”.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 31 August-
Today we ran a few errands. For some reason the state of Pennsylvania thinks we didn’t pay our taxes (we did!) so we met with our tax preparer today. By mid-afternoon I wanted to get out so I mowed the lower lawn section and our wooded area.
That evening we watched ‘Perfume’, an odd movie about a perfumer/murderer in 18th Century France who finds compelled to bottle the ‘essence’ of young women in his quest for the perfect perfume. The book version of the story was quite a hit and it took years for anyone to attempt putting it to screen. But we have to agree with this reviewer: “By the time the mad finale rolls around, the viewer will feel had, for ‘Perfume’ grasps for significance where there is none to be found”.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 30 August-
It’s SO nice to be home! It’s a hot day today and I spent most of it going through our carton of held-mail and working on the computer, then later in the afternoon took on the considerable task of mowing the lawn. We had told the lawn service we only need the lawn mowed when it really, really needs it and they apparently took us at our word. My guess is they were planning to do it one last time just before our scheduled return but we came home early. In any case, the grass is very about six inches high and extraordinarily thick so I could only mow about half a row at a time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 29 August-
Today was a make-some-miles day. Time to go home! After a leisurely breakfast we got underway by 0900 and soon hit a construction backup on I-75 south of Detroit. But I can’t object too much—that stretch of road really needs a rehab. Traffic, particularly truck traffic, was very heavy down to the Ohio turnpike but then was blissfully light once on the turnpike. By 1830 we were nearing home but decided to celebrate our trip with a nice meal at the Hillside. When we finally pulled in the driveway shortly before dark we were amazed to see our new crop of weeds. The lawn service had kept the grass mowed but we hadn’t anticipated how well the weeds would do in the planting beds around the shrubbery. Some of the weeds were over six feet high! As Labashi toured the weed beds with our neighbor, I opened up the house and buzzed through getting things turned back on and checked out. We were happy to find everything came up with no problems and we had no surprises.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 28 August-
This morning I drove over to a motorcycle shop in Bloomfield Hills which advertises itself as the largest in Michigan. They did indeed have a lot of motorcycles but a predictable and somewhat boring selection of models—except for one. I finally got to throw a leg over the new Kawasaki Versys, an interesting new 650cc cross-over. I did see two interesting Can-Am three-wheelers--- sort of a combination snowmobile/motorcycle with two wheels in front and one in the rear— in the parking lot.
I spent the afternoon on the web at the Southfield library. I’m really impressed by that library and just love it. It’s completely modern and has dozens of tables for laptop users, each with an electrical outlet and a hardwire connection if you prefer that to their nice, fast wi-fi service.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 27 August-
Today I drove over to a Royal Oak appliance store to pick up a spring for the dishwasher door I had temporarily fixed yesterday with two smaller generic springs from Lowe’s. I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the library on the laptop and reading magazines I don’t normally get a chance to see. That evening Labashi and I took a long and very pleasant stroll around the neighborhood.
============ end of 2 September post ============
(posted from home)
(this post covers 27 August- 2 September, 2007)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 2 September-
It’s another beautiful, sunny day today. I helped Labashi by mowing down the remainder of the weeds in the planting beds. With the mowers out of the way I had easy access to the KLR motorcycle parked in the deep recesses of the barn. I pulled it out and was happy to find it started up easily (I’ve been keeping the somewhat-weak battery charged up with the float charger). I see the inspection just ran out so I’ll have to get that done and I know it’s due for an oil change now that it has 5000 miles on it.
I decided I’d take the Miata into town today and took it up to the local gas station to check the tires (one has a very, very slow leak). Then I remembered— the inspection on it also ran out while we were away. Rats!
I rode the Concours down to Starbucks and Lowe’s (they’re in the same shopping center) for a coffee and Sunday paper, then a search for a solution to a problem with our mud-room door. When a hard rain comes from the east, it blows against the door and leaks past the seal in the lower corner.
I then rode down to the Long Level area along the Susquehanna (below Wrightsville) to the kayak shop. I’m hoping to find a nice, light fiberglass ‘yak to replace my heavy poly Sirocco but I really can’t afford the $2000+ price of a decent fiberglass one so it’s kind of ridiculous to look. But I like the ride down there anyway.
On the way home I went to Rocky Ridge Park and jogged the end-to-end route late in the afternoon. My goal today was just to finish since I’ve not done this long jog in quite a while and my time showed it, about a 1:40.
That evening we watched ‘Black Snake Moan’ with Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. We thought it a good movie, particularly the use of blues music but there is a strong sexual content which could offend.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 1 September-
This morning I drove Cherry Larry down to the garden nursery to pick up 30 bags of mulch for Labashi. She’s in ‘tornado mode’ re-doing all the planting beds, i.e., clearing the weeds, digging up the bed, and then covering with oak mulch. Labashi had bought ten bags yesterday using a 50%-off coupon. So I took another of those coupons today for the additional 30 bags only to have the clerk tell me the discount would apply only to the first bag. When I pointed out they had done it yesterday on all ten bags, she said okay. As I left she told me the girl had done it incorrectly yesterday but since that had happened she felt compelled to go ahead with it today so I had gotten a heck of a bargain. (That Labashi is so lucky!)
I then fired up the Concours and rode down to the REI store in Timonium, MD. They had a Labor Day sale going on but I didn’t find much of interest. I did find one of the ultra-light wind jackets I like on sale and bought it but otherwise I was disappointed to find how high the prices have gotten.
That evening we watched ‘Disappearances’ with Kris Kristofferson, Genevieve Bujold, Gary Farmer, and Lothaire Bluteau. I was hesitant to select this movie given the lack of information on the DVD case but just had to see Lothaire Bluteau. He was so fantastic in ‘Black Robe’ and ‘Jesus of Montreal’ in the early 90’s. I also wanted to see the older Genevieve Bujold, particularly after just seeing the young Genevieve last week in ‘Coma’. And Gary Farmer was the quirky Indian in ‘Dead Man’, one of our all-time favorite movies. Unfortunately, ‘Disappearances’ doesn’t quite work. I love the idea of the story taking place on the Quebec-Vermont border and even the idea of the magical-realism elements of the story. But as storytelling, it didn’t work. Lothaire’s character was just weird and we end up not knowing who he was supposed to be and seeing him far too little. We don’t find out what ‘disappearances’ are and it’s not clear whether Genevieve’s character was real, sometimes-real, or what. The photography is lush and interesting but that only carries the movie so far. As one reviewer puts it: “the movie is lovely to look at but makes not one lick of sense”.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 31 August-
Today we ran a few errands. For some reason the state of Pennsylvania thinks we didn’t pay our taxes (we did!) so we met with our tax preparer today. By mid-afternoon I wanted to get out so I mowed the lower lawn section and our wooded area.
That evening we watched ‘Perfume’, an odd movie about a perfumer/murderer in 18th Century France who finds compelled to bottle the ‘essence’ of young women in his quest for the perfect perfume. The book version of the story was quite a hit and it took years for anyone to attempt putting it to screen. But we have to agree with this reviewer: “By the time the mad finale rolls around, the viewer will feel had, for ‘Perfume’ grasps for significance where there is none to be found”.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 30 August-
It’s SO nice to be home! It’s a hot day today and I spent most of it going through our carton of held-mail and working on the computer, then later in the afternoon took on the considerable task of mowing the lawn. We had told the lawn service we only need the lawn mowed when it really, really needs it and they apparently took us at our word. My guess is they were planning to do it one last time just before our scheduled return but we came home early. In any case, the grass is very about six inches high and extraordinarily thick so I could only mow about half a row at a time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 29 August-
Today was a make-some-miles day. Time to go home! After a leisurely breakfast we got underway by 0900 and soon hit a construction backup on I-75 south of Detroit. But I can’t object too much—that stretch of road really needs a rehab. Traffic, particularly truck traffic, was very heavy down to the Ohio turnpike but then was blissfully light once on the turnpike. By 1830 we were nearing home but decided to celebrate our trip with a nice meal at the Hillside. When we finally pulled in the driveway shortly before dark we were amazed to see our new crop of weeds. The lawn service had kept the grass mowed but we hadn’t anticipated how well the weeds would do in the planting beds around the shrubbery. Some of the weeds were over six feet high! As Labashi toured the weed beds with our neighbor, I opened up the house and buzzed through getting things turned back on and checked out. We were happy to find everything came up with no problems and we had no surprises.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 28 August-
This morning I drove over to a motorcycle shop in Bloomfield Hills which advertises itself as the largest in Michigan. They did indeed have a lot of motorcycles but a predictable and somewhat boring selection of models—except for one. I finally got to throw a leg over the new Kawasaki Versys, an interesting new 650cc cross-over. I did see two interesting Can-Am three-wheelers--- sort of a combination snowmobile/motorcycle with two wheels in front and one in the rear— in the parking lot.
I spent the afternoon on the web at the Southfield library. I’m really impressed by that library and just love it. It’s completely modern and has dozens of tables for laptop users, each with an electrical outlet and a hardwire connection if you prefer that to their nice, fast wi-fi service.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 27 August-
Today I drove over to a Royal Oak appliance store to pick up a spring for the dishwasher door I had temporarily fixed yesterday with two smaller generic springs from Lowe’s. I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the library on the laptop and reading magazines I don’t normally get a chance to see. That evening Labashi and I took a long and very pleasant stroll around the neighborhood.
============ end of 2 September post ============
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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