Notable People: Michael Dorman, Julianna Guill, Sharon Lawrence, Coley Speaks, Patrick Gallagher, Created by: Based on the novels of CJ Box
Title: Joe Pickett
Grade: this show is quite an enigma. As a big fan of Box’s Wyoming Game Warden novels, I was really psyched to see this move on to the small screen. But the casting is dubious and some of the key characters, which are very well conceived in the books, are quite shallow. The acting is uneven although Guill and Lawrence are quite good. Dorman and Speaks just don’t cut it as the two great characters that box had developed in his novels. That said, the stories are quite alluring and the scripts are goof- and it is shot in the beauty on Wyoming. Non Box readers may be less biased than those of us who have a higher level of expectation. Third season is in production-which shows how popular it is.
“You get there by realizing you are already there.” ……………………………………………………………Edward Tolle
“The morning glory lives only an hour-Yet it differs not at heart- From the giant pine which lives a 1000 years…………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Zenrin Kushu
“It’s gonna take lot of love…to change the way things are.………………………………………………..Neil Young
Well, it’s been a short week on The Mount. Wandered around in a daze for a few days after the Heartland return…me look fora cell signal or stream…. TQ in search of some grass to kill…
Left the proverbial dog days of August to come back to our first 42-degree night, and mostly autumn-evocative weather all week…
Go back on the horse with all my work projects…. saw all my virtual clients (platform is the virtual part, not necessarily them) in one week, which pushes my focus for extended empathy (hey- you think you got it bad) …l caught up on my various and sundry projects…with my worldwide streaming capability…assuming it does not adhere to mountain norms and go down once a day…
Most of the week was the perfecto 72 sunny –cloudless sky-zero humidity……. except when the forces of evil again dumped a day of rain on our traumatized mountain towns…get out the rowboat, Ethel…. there is still no grocery or drug store in sight for the near future in Ludlow……but there is a tent….
Got out on a couple of afternoon walks with Lucy-Lu, who was so pleased, she found majordomo special shit to roll in…. for which /TQ meets us at the front door upon return, with her 400-pound fireman’s spray hose….and hoses us both down…Lucy because she stinks, me because I let he…. bad Papi, bad Papi….
Having our usual jonesing for the granddaughter acolytes…. where are the girls that I used to sport with?
I managed a strung-out day of shopping in the modern universe…given I am generally in and out of any store in 10munites……but TQ has a knack for creating lists that amount to treasure hunts (organic mung beans , FCS) that have me on hands and knees around stores, drooling and begging the instacart people to take pity…Wednesday was such a day with not only the usual grocery and Mart stops,….but the dreaded Co-Op…..so got the Birkenstocks and patchouli out of the trunk, put on the rose coloreds, had a small hit and meandered in to figure out how to measure and price mark the items in the Bermuda bulk triangle……then wait about 26 minutes while the robed Yogis figure out how to get the cash register to work- please let me pay….…al of which is so traumatic as to lead me straight to Ernie’s’ Hand Carved around the corner for a low-carb Pastrami an Corn Beef on rye…..life is a balance, no?
TW is revving up for the coming of Cider Daze in October and is less and less visible by the day, plus added in the monthly (not that monthly) ya-ya celebration of the woman’s yenta dinner…..so had a few nights of faux-Marriott solitude around the house to ponder how to find a baseball game on TV without cable, how to maximize carb intake and gleefully wash the dishes and do laundry without supervision- the challenge being to get it done without a trace before someone realizes had done it……though Lucy looks at me with accusing eyes…
From the previous ramblings I’m sure it is apparent that not all that much happened this week, part because we both came home with day care children sickness, partly because we had had enough- no mas- to many fish in the sea……but by Saturday were ready……and wandered up the ongoing post-flood havoc of lovely routes 100 and 12 to the quaint hamlet of Barnard for their annual street dance extravaganza. Stopped at the state park for a walk with our new handy-dandy to get in elder-schmelder pass, then on to town hall parking lot to mingle with post-commune, long- woke set. As soon as the music started, it poured like banshees (is that a thing?), but the swing band Route Five-Jive (think Django meets Bob Wills –but not all that good) played under a tiny tent thru the downpour…and the moon childs danced in the rain, whilst we oldies dozed under the canopy of the fire department (nice engines). Nice ride, nice day out, sun came back out and we warmed for a moment……then ahead to home and back to our sickbeds to resume recovery.
Did I mention that The Dumpmaster and his cronies told TQ that life was meaningless without her when we dropped off our junk? Or that we had my car back for 2 days before errors lights were back on in spite of the miracle 400 bucks battery fix? Well, no matter…sixteen tons and what do you get?
Notable People: Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dillon, Tobi Bamtefa, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Alden Gillen, Created by: Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon
Title: The Mayor of Kingstown
Grade: wow- talk abut intense. Kingstown is a mythical Illinois or Indiana town (where is irrelevant) that is the home of multiple out of control public and private prisons and a whole lot of mean streets. The McCluskey family, currently presided over by middle brother Mike, are the unofficial and de-facto fixers-which involves a whole lot of graft, violence and offers one cannot refuse. Very violent and disturbing but extremely well written and way dark/gritty. The casting is superb and the chemistry enviable. Hard not to be hooked by this latest from the current Emperor of Streaming TV, ‘Taylor Sheridan’s endeavors. Writing is magnificent, but you have to like an hour of pure intensity for each show. Renewed for third season but production held up by life threatening injuries to the now recovering star, Renner, who is priceless- check out the walk!
Review: Benedicts’ third historical novel focusing on underestimated/under recognized woman behind the scenes of epic moment in history, is a barn-burner. The tale of a most beautiful and enchanting (that is emphasized on every page of the book) young Jewish woman in Vienna in the early 30s who becomes the wife of a dominating, abusive and extremely powerful arms dealer to Hitler and the emerging Nazi powerhouse is an unbelievable story on its own merit-but then add in the fact that she turns out to be one of the most famous movie stars of all time (not giving it away) only adds to the intrigue. The portrait of Australia in the throes of change and chaos is frightening and the portent of Nazi domination is powerfully portrayed. The revelations about this woman are beyond extraordinary. This a book hard to put down. Though I absolutely found the story riveting, Benedict’s writing lacks depth and fluidity to some degree, which slowed me from being drawn in early on. I eventually got focused on the incredible narrative-a most powerful book in many revelatory ways. And my thanks to our Vermont benefactress, Karen, for the wonderful recommendation. Can anyone say major film coming?
“With no bird singing The mountain is yet still” ………………………………………………………………………………………Zen saying
“What a day fora daydream, What a day for daydreamin’ boy” ……………………………………………………………. John Sebastian
“Decades down the road, can’t let that train be slowed” …………………………………………………………………………. Ferlin’ Norris
Well it’s been quite a few weeks hither and yon……
When we last left our heroes, the last of the Bunty boys were departing for the Heartland and left us with the one car, while the mystery death of my Jeep resided in the Rutland Dealer surgery. It wound up there for three weeks only to find that the 48 error codes and the fact that I had no usable transmission were all related to a bad battery……which somehow the “experts” took three weeks to figure out (It is the mountains, and apparently they only have one guy who is code-reader) ….and…voila…a four hundred dollar Dealer battery…..but……The Beast is back on the road…but I am way ahead of myself.
We had three days between post-boys-partum and mid-summer Ohio jaunt, so I took the only vehicle, and left The Queen to her garden madness and went off for an overnight to a retreat of the Governor’s Council- up in lovely Randolph. Spent the night in a weird but nice airbnb which I had to traverse 42 road crews and ten miles of outback like dirt road to get to……flood, flood, go away, come back another day…..Randolph, which we always liked and almost bought a house in way back, is still a very quaint and classic Vermont town, but has added several foo-foo joints, and wound up eating at a Filipino place on the square where I shared the corner with Tuesday night smooth jazz purveyors, with the thumping standup bass to give me a chewing pattern. The theme and vision of the place was amazing- I was so psyched- the execution so-so. The all-day retreat was on a hillside at a state park on a sunny and warm abut very windy day……came home hoarse from yelling out various celebratory ya-yas.
Got back from the alleged respite/overnight and then off next morning to the Heartland. With my recent MRI and bullet dodging of a planned biopsy, were free to take Quin-Lily and Sloanie for three days for NanaPapi Camp, which was rapturous, fun-filled and exhausting with round the clock activities. How many potty jokes can a five-year-old tell? Before that, we celebrated little Parkers’ #2- in which she led us in 26 straight of singing happy birthday. Al the girl pictures are attached, though selective- did not think you wanted to see 246 shots of our granddaughters……but maybe I am overthinking it…………………
Got in a band practice, several dinners with friends, walks with my posse of dog walking pals, a number of sneaky trips to the Y and rainy day trip with the girls to see the Ninja Turtle extravaganza-which we realized halfway thru was more suited for 17 year olds than 5-6 year olds- but, hey, what do we know.
We ate pretty much pizza, burgers and fried chicken for the week, but we don’t care about no stinkin’ carbs ad sugar and fried foods…and still made a number of trips for Heartland faux-Creamees.
Trio back was uneventful except for locking ourselves out of the house just as we were ready to leave and discovering we had not put new front door keys on our chains…plus having left the one possible entry key locked inside plus TQ having insisted on locking every window-to create a veritable fortress….…but turned out in ones of life’s rare surprises, that The Nave had a garage door key stored away. From there it was smooth sailing until we missed the turn in Binghamton whilst yakking away about the Florida Keys, and while we did the three-mile miracle mile detour still missed getting gas and wound up in a dire search before running out. Finally got home, after 12 straight hours, to no internet, phone or TV, and TQ made the brave trip to find a cell signal and call the cable co. morons to get us a signal. But, by midnight we unpacked, connected and exhausted.
The season is changing here in the Greens, and nights are quite chilly and days are no humidity-fall looming-won’t be long.
Having had our g-daughter fix, gotten our winter house in order, and seen our old friends, we are now back for the Fall-haul thru November- TLWATCDR (figure it out). Looking forward to some guests in next few months and couple of reunions, but mostly just calming down after the activities of the month ……And, TQ is out scanning the property and all of Mt. Holly for in search of potential trouble that she an dig her heels into. LLTQ (another one!)
Mostly kid pix this week, so if it’s your thing…. enjoy.
We just got back the upload for our show this year on the Green, so if did not already send it you, below is a link. I’d suggest headphones to get the quality feel but it’s a pretty good feed by the local TV station……and …it’s the 45th Band anniversary….BTW…. when the band gathered in Ohio last week, we did 12 straight Band songs before we even spoke ….to honor the passing of the great Robbie Robertson. Where have all the flowers gone?
Notable People: Lior Raz, Itzik Cohen, Netta Garti, Doron Ben-David, Yaakov Daniel, Idan Amedi, Created by: Avi Issacharoff, Lior Raz
Title: Fauda
Grade: Fauda (meaning “chaos”) is an Israeli television series developed by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff drawing on their experiences in the Israel Defense Forces. Every episode is filled with multiple Fauda cluster- f___s from start to finish. If you like Chaos-this is for you. The violence is constant, but accurately portrays the tremendous conflict and ennui that exists in this crazed relationship between ancient enemies. It never stops. The acting is pretty good (Raz and Cohen shine) and the dialog like a buzz saw. The stories are indistinguishable from one episode to the next: Arabs ambush Israelis, Israelis sneak around to get revenge, results in another total Fauda…. then reverse…and do it again. Despite the overkill, the show is well done and Raz is almost Eastwoodian in his stubbornness, quiet menace and heroic meltdowns. I liked this one in spite of of myself and it has been renewed for a fifth season, which seemed highly improbable at the close of season four. Worth a shot.
Notable People: Matthew Rhys, Julia Rylance, Shea Whigham, Chris Chalk, Justin Kirk, John Lithgow, Created by: Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald
Title: Perry Mason
Grade: wow- who’d have thunk that this historic TV series could be successfully re-created and not have Raymond Burr rolling around in his grave? The series focuses on the origin story of famed defense lawyer Perry Mason. In 1932 Los Angeles. Very well written with an intriguing plot and a great ensemble cast featuring the very nimble Matthew Rhys (The Americans) in THE ROLE and the subtle scene stealing Rylance as the mysterious and charming Della Street. Dramatically adapting the original had me raising eyebrows initially with an African- American Paul Drake and openly gay Della and Hamilton Burger (the highly entertaining Kirk, “Weeds”), but the show is captivating and I even found myself taken with these modern updates on iconic characters, which did provide grist for more complex societal issues to be framed. At the end of each season, we get the treat of a version of the original iconic theme music- da-da-da……….da-da….can you hear it? Regrettably, and surprisingly, the show has been canceled by HBO. Boo!!!!
Review: Perhaps the foremost playwright of the 20th century, I have now discovered that Miller was also an accomplished and highly-regarded fiction writer. Found this book in my cousins’ stack of giveaways from her 35 years as an antique dealer. Beautifully conceived and wonderfully written –if a bit dated- Presence is a 2004 posthumous gathering of Miller’s last published fiction, a group of stories that appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire, and elsewhere. My favorite was “The Performance,” in which a Jewish tap dancer unintentionally enthralls Hitler. A nice surprise from one of Americas most original voices.
“Where does the term Dop Kit come from?” …………………………Randy Wasserstrom (1976) and Feel Unetic (Redux 2023)
“I need someone to warm my buns” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………The Naven
“WD 40 is not Lube” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Mitch Tayse
“Better, Same or Worse” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Dr. Strange
“I LOVE THIS WEEK”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Bunty Station
A Buddhist approaches a hotdog vendor and says: “Make me one with everything.”
Well, it has been a really long two weeks since we last went Bloggish….week One was devoted to 5 year-old recovery and week two to The Bunty Invasion…it is now recovery time again.
Sloane left us after our week together a week ago Sunday and then we slept…aside from all the adventures we had, we managed to have the annual family traffic stop in Albany. We are no longer eve surprised to see flashing lights and sirens for every family vacation. Tess says that Sloane does not even blink an eye any more when the armed man comes to the door.
Flood recovery had proceeded nicely until we had another dump week before last- and another one this week. The first PTSD occurred while we are having a sandwich outside Java Baba and once again food ourselves in a water park as the newly constructed parking lot began to wash away Redux.
Aside from that, we tide to return to biz-as usual with a few hikes, a shop till you drop day in Rutland and a trip to the reopened gym at Okemo. We had a drive by with the Royal Hairdresser as she came over to dinner for The Queens monthly haircut and Papi snuck one in also. Got thru a soggy mountain Music on the Green, in which it poured until show time and stopped at that exact moment and the sun came out…..mountains! Finally got our new fridge delivered by a non- English speaking crew with no tools or materials to install- left after two hours muttering “no mas” after not being able to get the device leveled- so had to rant and rave at home depot to send a crew with English and tools-which came four days later and they did it in four minutes…this is appliance shopping in the mountains.
Spent the Friday-Saturday prepping for the British (Bunty) Invasion…..with ever more shopping, massive house de-fogging, yard primping and trips to the Cavendish town wide yard sale…..and then the rains came yet again reducing Ludlow to a lake.
We made it home safely, barely, and then Sunday dawned nice….and the boys started landing. In the past, they used to arrive in a scattered pattern for days Sunday through Wednesday, but everyone came on Sunday-so we had a party of nine for the week. The “I love this week” mantra was coined within an hour of arrival land maintained as the theme all week. Our 45th year band celebration was an incomparable array of male bonding activities, all watched over and directed spectacularly by The Queen Hostess. Daily hikes, afternoon lunches on the porch, late candlelight dinners for a dozen were de riguer. The amount of beer, bourbon and sundry enlighteners consumed was staggering for l guys and the amount of belly whopping laughter irreplaceable.
It is impossible to describe just how unusual it is for this many people to spend a solid week in one house and get along so well…..everyone pitches in, everyone fights to pay for everything…and everyone r to ward off the predictable chaos.
Did I mention the music? Starting Monday, it went on for six days with impromptu jams, two practices with our additional Vermont crew, Music on the Green on Thursday and culminating with the 25th annual Tie- Dye festival on Saturday at The Empress of GE’s palatial estate. Our core six were joined by our longstanding local Vermont friends on percussion, slide guitar, the magic of Fiddler Bob and our good pals Cheryl and Mike….. and a parade of other music sibs as they joined in for special numbers. Thursday night the Band was tight as skinny-jeans, and we garnered an amazing $375 in tips which donated to the local flood relief efforts here. Saturdays set was all loosey-goosey with in a mud strewn property that had us all thinking Woodstock revisited.
It was week of Adventures and Misadventures too many to count for these pages, but will let the pictures tty to tell the story. Most of the boys shuffled off to real life on Sunday with Mitch and Steve staying overnight until this morning. Though nice to have our house back, we will really miss all the guys and Rachel and Chris who came along and were super roadies.
I think Lucy will sleep for the next three days.
I am attaching nice array of photos, and also sharing link blow for those who want the full Monty.
Have a crazy three days ahead and then off to our mid-summer Ohio visit for ten days and some g-daughter mana. Be back to you all on the flip side.
Notable People: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, Created by: Colin Dexter
Title: Endeavor
Grade: set from 1965- 1972, this very well done British detective show follows a young DC Morse (in a prequel to the character from very long running beloved Morse series on PBS) as he finds his way as a cultured and insightful young man in the world of conservative Oxford policing. Shaun Evans is wonderful as the young Morse and Roger Allam is a classic old school bit as his boss/mentor. Very god nine season run of intriguing stories, well written dialog and apropos of the turbulent times it takes place in. Very, very British.
