‘Keep the River on Your Right’, ‘Old Joy’, Clark’s Ferry hike, ’49 Up’, ‘Jindabyne’, ‘After Innocence’, Rausch Gap hike, Tapenade Bistro, ‘Mr. Brooks’, ‘Sweet Land’ (posted from home)
(This post covers 13 - 27 October, 2007)
-------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 27 October-
Today started out with a hard rain and we awoke fearing we’d have a cascade of water roaring through Labashi’s newly-mulched planting beds. But the rain slowed and stopped completely by noon as we both worked on the web, mostly looking for enough information about next Tuesday’s judicial-retention and township elections to make an informed decision. That afternoon we walked four miles on the creek road as the weather cleared and it became a beautiful sunny and fresh Fall afternoon. We spent the evening on the web.
---------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 26 October-
The rain continued today and I spent much of the morning on the web. By afternoon I had to get out so drove down to York to look around at one of the local gun shops. I enjoyed talking with the owner about this weekend’s York Gun Show as he prepared for it. And of course I picked a shop near Starbucks and my coffee and Times—my real excuse for going to town.
That evening we watched ‘Sweet Land’ with Elizabeth Reasey and Ned Beatty. This one is a two-thumbs-up movie but we were a little disappointed. It opens as an old woman, Inge, nears death. We’re then taken back to the Seventies, shortly after the death of Inge’s husband, Olaf, then back to the Twenties when Inge came to Minnesota as Olaf’s mail-order bride. The problem with the movie (IMHO) is it doesn’t ‘feel’ right. The interaction of the characters is too stiff, their reactions to each other a bit too difficult to believe. I felt like we were watching actors in front of a camera instead of being immersed in these people’s lives.
---------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 25 October-
Today, like yesterday, was again a rainy one, though the rain is intermittent and light. I spent most of the day on the web, starting to do some planning for my winter trip. The weather cleared a bit later in the afternoon and I walked four miles on the creek road near home. That evening we had our local ‘Trick or Treat’ night and were a bit disappointed to only have a dozen kids show up. But we did enjoy seeing the cutie little kids and talking with their parents. Then we watched ‘Mr. Brooks’ with Kevin Costner, William Hurt and Dane Cook. This one is a thriller about a family man and pillar of the community who is secretly a serial killer. The movie was well-written and the acting was fine but I’m uncomfortable with the glorification of the stalking and killing, specifically the portrayal of ‘the rush’ experienced by all three of the main characters and of the methods used to select a random victim. The movie is slick but ultimately just gratuitous violence to ‘entertain’ us and to do so at the risk of inflaming some sicko into becoming a copy-cat. I suppose these guys all have bills to pay or people to impress or whatever but this ain’t art— it’s exploitation in a fancy package.
----------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 24 October-
Today is a special day for us so Labashi and I had lunch at the upscale Tapenade Bistro in Spry. We loved it! We shared an excellent stuffed-olives appetizer, then split a Caribbean-shrimp salad and a bowl of seafood chowder. Excellent, excellent.
I spent the latter part of this special day blogging while Labashi got back to painting. After all the work outside, she is using this rainy day to get back to her re-hab of our living-dining room.
----------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 23 October-
Today I drove down to the indoor shooting range, this time to rent. I like having the option to try various makes and models of pistols and so far find I’m partial to some full-size Glocks—but there are a lot more to try! I’ve been trying semi-auto pistols so far but want to also get some experience with ‘wheelguns’ (revolvers)—just to see what they feel like. This thought was at least partially generated by my meeting one of the older clerks at the range who showed me his Smith and Wesson revolver with a laser aimer. He uses the laser –aimer because he has torn rotator-cuffs in both shoulders and can’t raise either arm high enough to aim. He’s not upset about; it’s just the way it is. Very interesting guy.
On the way home I stopped at Richard Nixon County Park and spent some time in their library with a good book about Indian names in Pennsylvania. I liked reading about the histories of the Conococheague, the Conodoquinet, the Conewago, the Conejohelo, Harris’ Ferry, and other local landmarks.
I then thought I’d stop at the Starbucks near Spry for a coffee and Times. As I left I noticed the nearby Tapenade Bistro restaurant was open for lunch. We’ve been in this area several times (typically Sundays) and it has always been closed. So I walked in today for lunch and to check out the evening menu. Labashi is going to like this!
In the newsletter I read about improvements to Rudy Park (another of the York County parks) so wound my way there as I headed homeward. I checked out the new trailhead for the Northern Extension of the York County Rail-Trail—very nice! And then I spent an hour walking around the far end of the park. Looks like a new trail is being established up in the wooded area behind the BMX course and something big is going on in the field directly below—probably the new off-leash dog area I’ve read about.
That evening we watched ‘Pittsburgh’ with Jeff Goldblum. Looking for a different movie? This is it. It’s a ‘mockumentary’ about the decline of Jeff’s career from the guy who did ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘The Fly’, and ‘Independence Day’ to doing a two-week run of ‘The Music Man’ at a regional theater in Pittsburgh. But the interesting part is what is real and what isn’t. It isn’t until you see and hear the commentary on this movie, though, that you ‘get’ it. If you see it, set aside time to see it twice--- once just you normally would but then a second time with the commentary running. Fantastic!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 22 October-
The presentation yesterday helped me decide to get out on a trail today. I drove Mocha Joe up to Indiantown Gap to catch Cold Spring Road to a trailhead for St. Anthony’s Wilderness. Cold Spring Road winds through belligerently-signed portions of the Indiantown Gap military reserve (“Caution: Field Projectiles May be Fired in This Area At Any Time” or “NO CIVILIAN VEHICLES ALLOWED”), but eventually led me (via a heavily-rutted stone road) to a Game Commission parking lot. There I donned the pack and took Cold Spring Trail to the top of the mountain where it joined the Appalachian Trail. I went south a short distance to the Sand Spring Trail intersection intending to go see ‘The General’ again but changed my mind and instead headed north to the Rausch Gap Shelter. After a break for lunch at the shelter I continued north (trail-north) to the Railroad Trail for the return trip via the old railroad bed. I saw one guy, a mountain biker, at the shelter and then again on the rail-trail. Back at the trailhead I talked with a bicycling bow hunter and a bicycling fisherman. These guys use the trailhead as an access point for the rail-trail and then ride their bikes down the railroad bed toward Dauphin. Neither had done well today but both were happy to be out on this pretty day— it’s mid-October and still 80 degrees in the afternoon.
Back home that evening, Labashi and I finished the ‘Grey’s Anatomy Season 3’ episodes and watched the extras. It was a good season but we’re ready for something else now.
------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 21 October-
Today Labashi and I went to a presentation at the Wildwood Lake Sanctuary. Matt Willen wrote a 2004 book about tent-camping in Pennsylvania and is currently working on a book called Sixty Trails Within Sixty Miles of Harrisburg. Matt is a professor at Elizabethtown and is an amateur photographer. His presentation included many of his nature photos—like these: http://users.etown.edu/w/willenm/portfolio%20website/image5.htm
After the presentation Labashi and I had supper at the Macaroni Grill in nearby Progress and that evening did a few more ‘Grey’s Anatomy 3’ episodes.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 20 October-
Today I took the sailboat’s genoa jib out of the chlorox bath and found I’ve probably damaged it, perhaps irreparably. The North Sails sail-cleaning document I was using suggested I could keep it in the 30-to-one bath for over 72 hours with no damage to the Dacron sailcloth but I see what looks like light rust stains, particularly on the heavily-reinforced head, tack, and clew triangles. The mildew stains are gone and overall the sail looks fine, particularly in bright sunlight, but when the sun clouds over the sail looks a tad dingy and the tack stains are obvious. The stains don’t wash off with soap and water but may fade a little in the sun. I’ll have to read some more. A quick search led to a document that says oxalic acid takes off brown stains like rust stains but I’m leery of trying that. I did go ahead and put the working job and sail bags in the bath but will only leave them overnight this time.
That afternoon I went jogging at Rocky Ridge but saw a number of bow hunters setting out as I drove into the parking lot so I only jogged about a half hour in the less-remote west end of the park. I don’t think there’s really any danger from the bow hunters but I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate me jogging by.
That evening we watched ‘After Innocence’, an excellent documentary which tells the story of exonerees, i.e., men exonerated by DNA evidence. These men spent years in jail, many on Death Row, for crimes they did not commit. It’s an eye-opener of a film and highly recommended.
------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 19 October-
Today was rainy so I drove down to the fancy indoor shooting range to validate that I’ve fixed a jam problem which occurred during my last shooting session with my brothers. I put a box of shells through the gun and everything was fine until the last shot—another jam! At home I found that the extractor hold-down screw had backed out again. I’ll have to locktite it (which was recommended as part of the fix but I didn’t think it necessary)… and test again!
That evening we watched ‘Jindabyne’, an Australian movie with Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne and directed by ‘Lantana’ director Ray Lawrence. This one is based on the Raymond Carver story ‘So Much Water So Close to Home’. Four men find a body on a remote fishing trip but it’s too late in the day to hike out to report it. Early the next day, one man goes fishing early, apparently intending to fish only until the others wake, but he finds great fishing. The others get caught up in the excitement and the group fails to report the body until they hike out the next day.
I loved ‘Lantana’ so I was very much looking forward to ‘Jindabyne’. But something went wrong. I’m not sure why but I was disappointed. I loved the scenery and the plot had a lot of promise but somehow the film became muddled. I think we get a clue to why that happened from the extra features. Ray Lawrence shows us how the film was made and it becomes clear he likes to work in a very free and unconstrained (and unplanned) manner. I think in this case the film lost itself and left the editor with a pile of only peripherally-connected scenes to deal with. RT gives it a 65 per cent rating but I’m not sure I’d be that generous… maybe a 55 for me.
------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 18 October-
Today I changed the oil and filter on the Honda 20 outboard on the fishing boat. This was the first change on this engine and it took me much longer than it should have. The first issue was how to warm up the engine to drain the oil. I could probably have gotten away with draining the oil cold since the ambient temperature was about Seventy but thought it would just take a little more effort to get the engine warmed up. I first attempted to put use a 65-quart storage container filled with water to cover the water intakes. But that solution still allowed air to be sucked into the intakes. I then switched to a full-size garbage container lined with two garbage bags and filled about two thirds full worked… more or less. Everything went well with warming up the engine and then with draining oil from the drain-screw. But once I removed the oil filter, I created quite a mess. The oil filter is just mounted to a flat spot on the side of the engine block and there’s no way to control the oil cascading down the engine once you unscrew the filter. Since I wanted to fire up the engine again to test it once I’ve changed the filter, I had left the garbage can-full of water under the engine so suddenly I had an ugly oil-water mix—what a mess. The good news, though, is oil floats. So I spent the next hour skimming oil off the water until I had only a light sheen and then I siphoned the water from the bottom, leaving even that little bit of oil clinging to the inside of the garbage bags. Next time I’ll remove the water before taking the oil filter off and allow the oil to drain on down to a drainage pan, then after cleanup, put the garbage can back under the engine, refill it and test.
That evening we watched yet another ‘Grey’s Anatomy 3’ episode.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 17 October-
Today I rested up from yesterday’s hike as I worked to set up a new credit card for us. We’ve decided to switch cards after noticing that our current card had cut some benefits and raised some fees. During the process to set up auto-payment I ran into problems with the new-account process so dashed off a detailed description of the frustrating issues I hit and recommended fixes to the manager. I then took one of the hard-copy signature forms to the bank and on the way back stopped at the township police office to check for news about our yard-damage incident of two weeks ago. Nothing new.
That evening we watched ’49 Up’, a British documentary which started with the filming of a group of seven-year-old kids from different economic backgrounds in 1964. Every seven years the film crew returns to document the lives of these folks and they’re now 49. We loved seeing the footage from each time segment as these people have grown and matured. Recommended!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 16 October-
On this 80-degree day I rode the Concours up to Harrisburg for a hike on the AT. I parked at the east end of the Susquehanna bridge at Clark’s Ferry to catch the trail at the base of Peter’s Mountain and climbed up the switchback trail to the top, then on to Clark’s Ferry Shelter. The mountain still looked like late summer—mostly green leaves on the trees with a little color here and there but largish patches of golden-color dying weeds along the trail. I took my GoLite pack loaded for an overnight stay but just to check out how this new ultralight pack (it’s only 1.5 pounds while my Gregory Forester is 5 pounds) carries with a load. The hot and humid day and the fairly steep ascent under a pack load kicked my butt. At the shelter I had a Powerbar lunch and then laid down on the shelter ‘porch’ with my head on the pack for a rest. It was absolutely perfect up there. I had a very light breeze coming up the mountain and a pleasantly-warm sun to dry out my clothing (thank goodness for fast-drying poly clothing!) and even drifted off for a few minutes. After 20 minutes or so I walked down to the spring to check it out and found the spring-pipe barely dripping—about once per second. There was a small pool below the pipe but it didn’t have enough water to dip my water bottle. If I had really needed water I could have used my cup to get some water but I had enough water for the trip home so I avoided the questionable water pool. On the trip back I took the nearby blue-blazed trail and that proved to be a shortcut down the mountain.
That evening we watched a few more ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ episodes.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 15 October-
Today I rinsed and dried the mainsail I’ve had in a Chlorox bath for the last few days and then I put the genoa in the bath. I then finished cleaning the interior of the boat, wiping it down with a weak bleach solution (of Chlorox ‘Outdoor’ bleach) and pumping out the bilge of accumulated rainwater. Looks like new! I really need to get a new solar vent to keep fresh air circulating through the boat and preventing mold and mildew from getting a chance to re-establish.
That evening we went to dinner at the Hillside Restaurant and then watched ‘Old Joy’, a very interesting minimalist film with William Oldham and Daniel London. I’m not sure what to think about this one but I’m very glad I saw it. By ‘minimalist’ I mean the camera merely follows along as the slowly-unfolding events occur. We have been trained to expect a movie to lead us through a story. But ‘Old Joy’ is deceptively simple. Two old friends get together in Portland and go on a weekend camping trip to a hot spring in the Cascades. That’s it. There’s no murder, no dramatic revelations. But as one RT reviewer puts it: ‘There are whispers of bigger themes present---the changing nature of friendship, the co-opting of 90’s ‘alternative’ culture into the mainstream—but, for the most part, what you get out of the film depends on what you bring to it”. For me, this is one of those films which leave you wondering what the heck the story was at the end of the film (because of our normal expectations of the director leading us through a story and our expectation for something dramatic to happen). But in retrospect, I like the movie quite a lot and would like to see it again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 14 October-
Today I worked some more on the sailboat cushions to minimize the mildew stains and again put them in the sun to bleach. Later in the day I fired up the Miata and drove in to Starbucks for a break and to Blockbuster for some DVDs before jogging again at Rocky Ridge, this one my regular end-to-end route (1:26 today). That evening we watched the first episode of ‘Rome’ and found it unworthy of continuing on to other episodes.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 13 October-
I spent much of this morning updating the blog (and notice I seem to get behind more easily than I used to). That afternoon I jogged at Rocky Ridge and then we watched ‘Keep the River on Your Right’ that evening. This interesting documentary is about Tobias Schneebaum, a 78-year-old Brooklyn-born painter and rabbi who, in 1955 became lost in the Peruvian jungle. He lived with a native tribe for more than a year. He participated in a raid on a nearby tribe and afterwards engaged in ritual cannibalism.
The film follows his return to Peru. I see RottenTomatoes rates it a 78 and that seems about right.
========= end of 27 October post =====
(This post covers 13 - 27 October, 2007)
-------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 27 October-
Today started out with a hard rain and we awoke fearing we’d have a cascade of water roaring through Labashi’s newly-mulched planting beds. But the rain slowed and stopped completely by noon as we both worked on the web, mostly looking for enough information about next Tuesday’s judicial-retention and township elections to make an informed decision. That afternoon we walked four miles on the creek road as the weather cleared and it became a beautiful sunny and fresh Fall afternoon. We spent the evening on the web.
---------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 26 October-
The rain continued today and I spent much of the morning on the web. By afternoon I had to get out so drove down to York to look around at one of the local gun shops. I enjoyed talking with the owner about this weekend’s York Gun Show as he prepared for it. And of course I picked a shop near Starbucks and my coffee and Times—my real excuse for going to town.
That evening we watched ‘Sweet Land’ with Elizabeth Reasey and Ned Beatty. This one is a two-thumbs-up movie but we were a little disappointed. It opens as an old woman, Inge, nears death. We’re then taken back to the Seventies, shortly after the death of Inge’s husband, Olaf, then back to the Twenties when Inge came to Minnesota as Olaf’s mail-order bride. The problem with the movie (IMHO) is it doesn’t ‘feel’ right. The interaction of the characters is too stiff, their reactions to each other a bit too difficult to believe. I felt like we were watching actors in front of a camera instead of being immersed in these people’s lives.
---------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 25 October-
Today, like yesterday, was again a rainy one, though the rain is intermittent and light. I spent most of the day on the web, starting to do some planning for my winter trip. The weather cleared a bit later in the afternoon and I walked four miles on the creek road near home. That evening we had our local ‘Trick or Treat’ night and were a bit disappointed to only have a dozen kids show up. But we did enjoy seeing the cutie little kids and talking with their parents. Then we watched ‘Mr. Brooks’ with Kevin Costner, William Hurt and Dane Cook. This one is a thriller about a family man and pillar of the community who is secretly a serial killer. The movie was well-written and the acting was fine but I’m uncomfortable with the glorification of the stalking and killing, specifically the portrayal of ‘the rush’ experienced by all three of the main characters and of the methods used to select a random victim. The movie is slick but ultimately just gratuitous violence to ‘entertain’ us and to do so at the risk of inflaming some sicko into becoming a copy-cat. I suppose these guys all have bills to pay or people to impress or whatever but this ain’t art— it’s exploitation in a fancy package.
----------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 24 October-
Today is a special day for us so Labashi and I had lunch at the upscale Tapenade Bistro in Spry. We loved it! We shared an excellent stuffed-olives appetizer, then split a Caribbean-shrimp salad and a bowl of seafood chowder. Excellent, excellent.
I spent the latter part of this special day blogging while Labashi got back to painting. After all the work outside, she is using this rainy day to get back to her re-hab of our living-dining room.
----------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 23 October-
Today I drove down to the indoor shooting range, this time to rent. I like having the option to try various makes and models of pistols and so far find I’m partial to some full-size Glocks—but there are a lot more to try! I’ve been trying semi-auto pistols so far but want to also get some experience with ‘wheelguns’ (revolvers)—just to see what they feel like. This thought was at least partially generated by my meeting one of the older clerks at the range who showed me his Smith and Wesson revolver with a laser aimer. He uses the laser –aimer because he has torn rotator-cuffs in both shoulders and can’t raise either arm high enough to aim. He’s not upset about; it’s just the way it is. Very interesting guy.
On the way home I stopped at Richard Nixon County Park and spent some time in their library with a good book about Indian names in Pennsylvania. I liked reading about the histories of the Conococheague, the Conodoquinet, the Conewago, the Conejohelo, Harris’ Ferry, and other local landmarks.
I then thought I’d stop at the Starbucks near Spry for a coffee and Times. As I left I noticed the nearby Tapenade Bistro restaurant was open for lunch. We’ve been in this area several times (typically Sundays) and it has always been closed. So I walked in today for lunch and to check out the evening menu. Labashi is going to like this!
In the newsletter I read about improvements to Rudy Park (another of the York County parks) so wound my way there as I headed homeward. I checked out the new trailhead for the Northern Extension of the York County Rail-Trail—very nice! And then I spent an hour walking around the far end of the park. Looks like a new trail is being established up in the wooded area behind the BMX course and something big is going on in the field directly below—probably the new off-leash dog area I’ve read about.
That evening we watched ‘Pittsburgh’ with Jeff Goldblum. Looking for a different movie? This is it. It’s a ‘mockumentary’ about the decline of Jeff’s career from the guy who did ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘The Fly’, and ‘Independence Day’ to doing a two-week run of ‘The Music Man’ at a regional theater in Pittsburgh. But the interesting part is what is real and what isn’t. It isn’t until you see and hear the commentary on this movie, though, that you ‘get’ it. If you see it, set aside time to see it twice--- once just you normally would but then a second time with the commentary running. Fantastic!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 22 October-
The presentation yesterday helped me decide to get out on a trail today. I drove Mocha Joe up to Indiantown Gap to catch Cold Spring Road to a trailhead for St. Anthony’s Wilderness. Cold Spring Road winds through belligerently-signed portions of the Indiantown Gap military reserve (“Caution: Field Projectiles May be Fired in This Area At Any Time” or “NO CIVILIAN VEHICLES ALLOWED”), but eventually led me (via a heavily-rutted stone road) to a Game Commission parking lot. There I donned the pack and took Cold Spring Trail to the top of the mountain where it joined the Appalachian Trail. I went south a short distance to the Sand Spring Trail intersection intending to go see ‘The General’ again but changed my mind and instead headed north to the Rausch Gap Shelter. After a break for lunch at the shelter I continued north (trail-north) to the Railroad Trail for the return trip via the old railroad bed. I saw one guy, a mountain biker, at the shelter and then again on the rail-trail. Back at the trailhead I talked with a bicycling bow hunter and a bicycling fisherman. These guys use the trailhead as an access point for the rail-trail and then ride their bikes down the railroad bed toward Dauphin. Neither had done well today but both were happy to be out on this pretty day— it’s mid-October and still 80 degrees in the afternoon.
Back home that evening, Labashi and I finished the ‘Grey’s Anatomy Season 3’ episodes and watched the extras. It was a good season but we’re ready for something else now.
------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 21 October-
Today Labashi and I went to a presentation at the Wildwood Lake Sanctuary. Matt Willen wrote a 2004 book about tent-camping in Pennsylvania and is currently working on a book called Sixty Trails Within Sixty Miles of Harrisburg. Matt is a professor at Elizabethtown and is an amateur photographer. His presentation included many of his nature photos—like these: http://users.etown.edu/w/willenm/portfolio%20website/image5.htm
After the presentation Labashi and I had supper at the Macaroni Grill in nearby Progress and that evening did a few more ‘Grey’s Anatomy 3’ episodes.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 20 October-
Today I took the sailboat’s genoa jib out of the chlorox bath and found I’ve probably damaged it, perhaps irreparably. The North Sails sail-cleaning document I was using suggested I could keep it in the 30-to-one bath for over 72 hours with no damage to the Dacron sailcloth but I see what looks like light rust stains, particularly on the heavily-reinforced head, tack, and clew triangles. The mildew stains are gone and overall the sail looks fine, particularly in bright sunlight, but when the sun clouds over the sail looks a tad dingy and the tack stains are obvious. The stains don’t wash off with soap and water but may fade a little in the sun. I’ll have to read some more. A quick search led to a document that says oxalic acid takes off brown stains like rust stains but I’m leery of trying that. I did go ahead and put the working job and sail bags in the bath but will only leave them overnight this time.
That afternoon I went jogging at Rocky Ridge but saw a number of bow hunters setting out as I drove into the parking lot so I only jogged about a half hour in the less-remote west end of the park. I don’t think there’s really any danger from the bow hunters but I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate me jogging by.
That evening we watched ‘After Innocence’, an excellent documentary which tells the story of exonerees, i.e., men exonerated by DNA evidence. These men spent years in jail, many on Death Row, for crimes they did not commit. It’s an eye-opener of a film and highly recommended.
------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 19 October-
Today was rainy so I drove down to the fancy indoor shooting range to validate that I’ve fixed a jam problem which occurred during my last shooting session with my brothers. I put a box of shells through the gun and everything was fine until the last shot—another jam! At home I found that the extractor hold-down screw had backed out again. I’ll have to locktite it (which was recommended as part of the fix but I didn’t think it necessary)… and test again!
That evening we watched ‘Jindabyne’, an Australian movie with Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne and directed by ‘Lantana’ director Ray Lawrence. This one is based on the Raymond Carver story ‘So Much Water So Close to Home’. Four men find a body on a remote fishing trip but it’s too late in the day to hike out to report it. Early the next day, one man goes fishing early, apparently intending to fish only until the others wake, but he finds great fishing. The others get caught up in the excitement and the group fails to report the body until they hike out the next day.
I loved ‘Lantana’ so I was very much looking forward to ‘Jindabyne’. But something went wrong. I’m not sure why but I was disappointed. I loved the scenery and the plot had a lot of promise but somehow the film became muddled. I think we get a clue to why that happened from the extra features. Ray Lawrence shows us how the film was made and it becomes clear he likes to work in a very free and unconstrained (and unplanned) manner. I think in this case the film lost itself and left the editor with a pile of only peripherally-connected scenes to deal with. RT gives it a 65 per cent rating but I’m not sure I’d be that generous… maybe a 55 for me.
------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 18 October-
Today I changed the oil and filter on the Honda 20 outboard on the fishing boat. This was the first change on this engine and it took me much longer than it should have. The first issue was how to warm up the engine to drain the oil. I could probably have gotten away with draining the oil cold since the ambient temperature was about Seventy but thought it would just take a little more effort to get the engine warmed up. I first attempted to put use a 65-quart storage container filled with water to cover the water intakes. But that solution still allowed air to be sucked into the intakes. I then switched to a full-size garbage container lined with two garbage bags and filled about two thirds full worked… more or less. Everything went well with warming up the engine and then with draining oil from the drain-screw. But once I removed the oil filter, I created quite a mess. The oil filter is just mounted to a flat spot on the side of the engine block and there’s no way to control the oil cascading down the engine once you unscrew the filter. Since I wanted to fire up the engine again to test it once I’ve changed the filter, I had left the garbage can-full of water under the engine so suddenly I had an ugly oil-water mix—what a mess. The good news, though, is oil floats. So I spent the next hour skimming oil off the water until I had only a light sheen and then I siphoned the water from the bottom, leaving even that little bit of oil clinging to the inside of the garbage bags. Next time I’ll remove the water before taking the oil filter off and allow the oil to drain on down to a drainage pan, then after cleanup, put the garbage can back under the engine, refill it and test.
That evening we watched yet another ‘Grey’s Anatomy 3’ episode.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 17 October-
Today I rested up from yesterday’s hike as I worked to set up a new credit card for us. We’ve decided to switch cards after noticing that our current card had cut some benefits and raised some fees. During the process to set up auto-payment I ran into problems with the new-account process so dashed off a detailed description of the frustrating issues I hit and recommended fixes to the manager. I then took one of the hard-copy signature forms to the bank and on the way back stopped at the township police office to check for news about our yard-damage incident of two weeks ago. Nothing new.
That evening we watched ’49 Up’, a British documentary which started with the filming of a group of seven-year-old kids from different economic backgrounds in 1964. Every seven years the film crew returns to document the lives of these folks and they’re now 49. We loved seeing the footage from each time segment as these people have grown and matured. Recommended!
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Tuesday, 16 October-
On this 80-degree day I rode the Concours up to Harrisburg for a hike on the AT. I parked at the east end of the Susquehanna bridge at Clark’s Ferry to catch the trail at the base of Peter’s Mountain and climbed up the switchback trail to the top, then on to Clark’s Ferry Shelter. The mountain still looked like late summer—mostly green leaves on the trees with a little color here and there but largish patches of golden-color dying weeds along the trail. I took my GoLite pack loaded for an overnight stay but just to check out how this new ultralight pack (it’s only 1.5 pounds while my Gregory Forester is 5 pounds) carries with a load. The hot and humid day and the fairly steep ascent under a pack load kicked my butt. At the shelter I had a Powerbar lunch and then laid down on the shelter ‘porch’ with my head on the pack for a rest. It was absolutely perfect up there. I had a very light breeze coming up the mountain and a pleasantly-warm sun to dry out my clothing (thank goodness for fast-drying poly clothing!) and even drifted off for a few minutes. After 20 minutes or so I walked down to the spring to check it out and found the spring-pipe barely dripping—about once per second. There was a small pool below the pipe but it didn’t have enough water to dip my water bottle. If I had really needed water I could have used my cup to get some water but I had enough water for the trip home so I avoided the questionable water pool. On the trip back I took the nearby blue-blazed trail and that proved to be a shortcut down the mountain.
That evening we watched a few more ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ episodes.
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Monday, 15 October-
Today I rinsed and dried the mainsail I’ve had in a Chlorox bath for the last few days and then I put the genoa in the bath. I then finished cleaning the interior of the boat, wiping it down with a weak bleach solution (of Chlorox ‘Outdoor’ bleach) and pumping out the bilge of accumulated rainwater. Looks like new! I really need to get a new solar vent to keep fresh air circulating through the boat and preventing mold and mildew from getting a chance to re-establish.
That evening we went to dinner at the Hillside Restaurant and then watched ‘Old Joy’, a very interesting minimalist film with William Oldham and Daniel London. I’m not sure what to think about this one but I’m very glad I saw it. By ‘minimalist’ I mean the camera merely follows along as the slowly-unfolding events occur. We have been trained to expect a movie to lead us through a story. But ‘Old Joy’ is deceptively simple. Two old friends get together in Portland and go on a weekend camping trip to a hot spring in the Cascades. That’s it. There’s no murder, no dramatic revelations. But as one RT reviewer puts it: ‘There are whispers of bigger themes present---the changing nature of friendship, the co-opting of 90’s ‘alternative’ culture into the mainstream—but, for the most part, what you get out of the film depends on what you bring to it”. For me, this is one of those films which leave you wondering what the heck the story was at the end of the film (because of our normal expectations of the director leading us through a story and our expectation for something dramatic to happen). But in retrospect, I like the movie quite a lot and would like to see it again.
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Sunday, 14 October-
Today I worked some more on the sailboat cushions to minimize the mildew stains and again put them in the sun to bleach. Later in the day I fired up the Miata and drove in to Starbucks for a break and to Blockbuster for some DVDs before jogging again at Rocky Ridge, this one my regular end-to-end route (1:26 today). That evening we watched the first episode of ‘Rome’ and found it unworthy of continuing on to other episodes.
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Saturday, 13 October-
I spent much of this morning updating the blog (and notice I seem to get behind more easily than I used to). That afternoon I jogged at Rocky Ridge and then we watched ‘Keep the River on Your Right’ that evening. This interesting documentary is about Tobias Schneebaum, a 78-year-old Brooklyn-born painter and rabbi who, in 1955 became lost in the Peruvian jungle. He lived with a native tribe for more than a year. He participated in a raid on a nearby tribe and afterwards engaged in ritual cannibalism.
The film follows his return to Peru. I see RottenTomatoes rates it a 78 and that seems about right.
========= end of 27 October post =====
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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