Notable People: Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle, Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Pollak, Created by: Amy Sherman- Palladino
Title: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Grade: Ending it’s brilliant five-year run with a bang this season, this dramedy features Brosnahan as a relentlessly aspiring comic in late 1950s-early 60’s New York- in a male dominated world. Dead-on period piece captures everything it should about a very optimistic time in our history; post war boom- pre-60s tumult. The sets and costumes and music are all fabulous. The feel of the time period is so right it makes me nostalgic for my childhood. Brosnahan in a tour de force in the title role-so good that is hard see her in other roles and get over her being Mrs. M- funny, droll, acerbic, sexy…she is he whole enchilada. The two sets of parents are unbelievably right casting- especially the wacky Shalhoub (Monk) and Pollak as dueling fathers in law. Borstein as the cantankerous agent is a bit much at times, but owns the part. I hate to see this one go- magnificent and relevant TV, and even offers a rendering of the great Lenny Bruce.
No quotes, no stories and not much to say. It has been an incredible week. Had g-daughter #2- Sloane- here at The Mount for the week. I flew back to Ohio on Monday and flew her back on Tuesday. Tess flew out to Albany Saturday night; we all spent the night in hotel and then they flew back on Sunday……..with a six hour wait in DC …with an almost 5 year old.
In between we had a total adventure, which the pictures tell better than I can. Circus Schmirkus, Kids wonderland, parks and pizzas, hikes on the trail, swimming in Pond, concerts and Creamees, endless hide n seek…..needless to say we are into recovery mode for the week. I don’t believe we ate anything all week that was not carbs or pure sugar…but we kept her hopping.
Hope to have more of our g-daughter brood next year for NanaPapi Camp ‘24.
I have attached some pix for the week here- but have also created a Google photos album that you can access with the below link if you really want to feel the experience…..and have much caffeine around.
One week to annual Bunty-Music week in the Greens….so the game is afoot.
Will try to be more entertaining next week after a few hours of sleep…….
Notable People: Sharon Horgan, Rob Delaney, Created by: Sharon and Rob
Title: Catastrophe
Grade: Very witty half hour show featuring these two nutcases; he a runaway businessman from the states, she a clock ticking madwoman from Ireland- who meet in London, have a shag and wind up pregnant and married. The chemistry between these two is amazing, and I was shocked to learn they are not an actual couple. Snappy repartee, great storylines and very funny execution. This is a sleeper. Already produced foe two more seasons –not yet showing up on Amazon but apparently available.
“Down by the water; Down by the old main drag” …………………………………………………………………………… The Decmberists
“ HISTORIC and CATASTROPHIC”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Vermont Seven Days weekly
It’s a Hard…. It’s a Hard…It’s a Hard…………” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. Bob Dylan
See the sky about to rain. Broken clouds of rain. Locomotive pull the train. Music flowing through my brain………………….
Well, you know, I’m not going to try and fully capture the Great Flood, because, Hell, it’s been all over the NY Times and NPR and even Fox News (so even ardent climate deniers are going to have to ponder this one, along with the Canadian smoke-fest and the 92 degree ocean water in Florida……do we have a theme yet, or are we just really bad and getting our spiritual due)….you have all heard the trauma and seen the pictures. Suffice it to say…..Wow…who’d have thought our little stream would look like a class four whitewater raft rapids….but it did….we survived…we are well….there is a lot of helping going on and community spirit is abundant……
Now, onto the news of the weird……
When we left off last week, we had played hooky from Tim fest on Saturday and gone fishin’ more or less. So- dutifully headed over Sunday noon for day two only to find out a day late , dollar short…apparently it was only a two day except in Tim’s mind months ago and on the yenta land of Facebook…..so it was just us and the hungover stray travelers from hither and yon….which turned out to be the best group of impromptu musicians I have ever played with…sat in a circle for two hour playing feminist revolt songs (did I mention they were almost all women and all played in all-women bands from whence they came?)…..one of those moments you come across in blue moon for no apparent reason that are reassuring…..and in this case, clearly the calm before the storm…..
So, Monday it was driving rain for 24 hours, on top of an already dangerously high water table…wham, bam, thank you mam…. best new: state EMS were heroes this time and not a single person passed from the destruction….
When the dust settled on Tuesday and it the sun also rose, we set out to survey and offer help, eventually trekking down the just cleared road to Rutland to shop…..and encountered the Bizarro world that is mountain living, where Rutland seemed totally untouched, whilst villages around us had floated away….BIZ as usual….did manage to survive the throngs at the only Home Depot within a day’s ride to shop for a new fridge of all things…as TQ has divined ours is finally on the brink and that my pinpoint hammer shots will soon no longer restart the beast …such a worrier……after we decided on a fridge and went back to buy it, we came and decided to measure and found we can now not get it past our pantry opening sine we have our new counter tops, so it will have to come in thru the back 40 and up rickety steps…..which we have decided we will surprise the delivery men with and make their day with an exciting challenge to interrupt their boredom……..
Have I mentioned THE POND……WOW…it doth overflow……?
On way home from Rutland, my pent up emery required exhausting, so had TQ drop me 2 miles from home to jog back, which proved illuminating as Rt. 103 had fallen into the river in several places….and had me tiptoeing for fear of joining it…I mean it just fell in six foot wide sections….holy buckets……got home in time to find the Walrus Dumpmaster courting TQ and very disappointed at my jogging appearance up the trail…another lost opportunity….
Since he only place we could get to and had anything to offer was Rutland, made it down three straight days….Thursday was massive grocery shop, the depot, drug store and the Mart…….all on post chiropractic appointment…..at which I discover that in the general prevailing chaos I had left with no money, no wallet, NADA….so brazenly borrowed a hundred bucks cash money from the doc and dared myself to get everything on the lists or$100 or finagle credit…amazingly, got it all with my 100 and came back with mad money…and became one of those people, for first time ever, to feed cash into self-checkout machines….I always wondered who did that and felt a bit judgmental about it…..but no, I be them……
After two days of dry, was able to get Lucy and me out for dirt road walk to our usual go to nearby, and met The Raker, a 75 year old ZZ top wannabe gent who was out raking dirt up and down road in front of his house…..and who I mistakenly nodded to and aske of his health…..staggered away 45 minutes later having heard the entire family history and the chronology of many wins and losses in his battles with the evil empire ..and he raked the whole time…..
Been working on keeping carbs down, but TQ shows up with the weekly bread from Siri (not that one) which is this dense mélange of fine earthen flours…… And I instinctively drift into Carbland….bring me more, bring me more…..
Friday, we had to go to Dartmouth for a scan…and spent hours trying to figure out how we could get there around myriads of washouts …even WAYS was off and not keeping up…..managed to find a route through the Greens and arrived at med complex that is probably larger than Vatican City…..what a joint…kind of looks like the Mall of the Americas….the drive up was illuminating…..man oh man…..the destruction water can make…capped off a 16 hour fast with a trip to the Vietnamese sandwich shop for Banh-Mi haven……..
Yesterday we joined the Miller clan and spent much of the day looking for opps to be do-gooders……did not find may in all our Mount H. stops, but heard a lot of tales of woes and watched mountain men openly cry…..but found our groove down in the utterly devastated Ludlow, where stores floated away and the streets are surrounded by 30 foot piles of dirt and gravel in every discretion……got to fill up sandbags for hours at the fire dept. (did you ever wonder from whence sandbags came? And then cleared out the town trailer park of mounds of debris……volunteers everywhere…….great bonhomie…and got free barbeque lurch from food truck for our labors…
Came home and passed out to get up and do it again, Amen…..but looking like another bad rain day today so everyone is prepping worst if we get more than the barely receding waters can handle…so far, so good……doing my anti-rain dance……
Grade: I simply run out of accolades for Burns’ incredible documentaries of American life in all its forms. Watched this in dinner installments over a six-month period and was riveted by every moment of its 10 episodes and 16 hours. Makes a solid case that Louie Armstrong and Duke Ellington are the most significant figures in American, and maybe all, 20th century music. The footage is incomparable, the narrating brilliant and the interviews- oh, my- completed around 20years ago, it features some of the true greats before they passed, like Artie Shaw and Dave Brubeck. Must watch TV.
Review: another entry into the wonderful Kate Burkholder series. Kate is the Chief of Police in sleepy Painters Mill in Ohio- in the heart of Amish country, and she is an escaped Amish, having left in her youth, and returned as an adult. This one involves the murder of an Amish bishop in nearby Pennsylvania, and the suspect is someone with whom Kate was very connected to growing up. Filled with passion and nuance and brilliant descriptions of the place and the culture, the books are great mysteries and mini- travel adventures. This is the 25th in this unusual series and no end in sight.
Sittin’ downtown in a railway station……………………………………where are Brewer and Shipley when you need them……………………well, it’s been an all-out adventurous week on The Mount at La Chez Queene………….Resettled after the whirlwind down to the city and survived the latest Covid treat…….spent a few days proactively isolating and missed Monday music……Plaque still suck……decided we were sickish enuff to warrant trip down the hill to little pathetic Ludlow Chinese, which is solidly mediocre and almost twice as expensive as its counterpart near the Heartland home….have I bitched enough yet about the cost of living in Greens………..
By Tuesday, we had a string of negative test days- so headed Uptown or Downton (depending on your band width) to Belmont, or Mt. Holly, (depending on your band width) for 14 minutes of thunder and lightning (think Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman) …. which is the longest endeavor in parade’s recent history….. TQ of course was the Grande Dame, tho the Association float was somewhat pathetic, in a cute sort of way………. dashed home after that to welcome the World’s Most Beloved School Marm and The Erstwhile Russian Spy for long overdue cookout and catch up…where we had delightful time and learned that our own Peter (the Great?) has a longstanding used rube glove collection…the possibilities are endless…..
By Wednesday, it a time to get out, so Miss Lucy and I went hunting for several dirt road walks in the late day hazy sunshine, where it had now gone from weeks of Canadian-cloud chilly rainy 60 to a hot and humid (no AC in site) almost 90…..Feeling more or less invincible now, headed into town on Thursday for a shop-a thon, Root-land style…which , by all accounts, is somewhat limited, and definitely not Madison Avenue…but came back with bags and bags….spent at least 25 minutes trying to fill tiny glass jars with bulk spice from giant glass jars at the local Co-op (assignment from TQ)…me and the Birkenstocks……and the patchouli…..and the hemp shopping bags……free parking in Downton though for Co-op-ing……..
Thursday night we traversed hill and dale (not the Gene Autry kind) to the quaint Phelps Barn at the championship level quaint Grafton inn (oldest in Vermont) for burger ‘n beer night, which was $10 before The Plaque and is now $20…but they added a fish option….met up with old friend Beverly, my long lost benefactress of a 1000 lunches at Java-Baba…along with her whole miscpachah….had a great time after years of separation….and trying to rekindle now- tho she now works a bit far away for me to go for free lunches…….
Friday dawned very hot and after a brief foray into my world of work, we threw the kayaks in the back of the jeep and drove to Nineveh for first paddle of the year….not a soul on the lake, which is mountain water deep, clear as a bell (go, Johnny, go) and no motors…..tried paddling our separate ways to avoid Lucy hysteria about separating the pack….but even that too much….as she barreled form one vessel to the other…finally just taking the panic- plunge….and doing her Lucy Weissmuller thing…..traversing the entire lake with little legs pumping, snout just above water and snorting/ yelling the whole way…….got home just as the thunder skies erupted….after quick stops in Belmont to raid the community room and library….job well done
You can get it if you really want it……. but you must try…try and try…try and try…you’ll succeed at last……
Ignoring several if invite-obligations, we took off Saturday for a drive up majestic Route 100 with plans to traverse the gap over to Middlebury…but got waylaid in lil’ Hancock for lunch on the veranda of the old hotel and then a hop skip and jump over to Texas Falls where we spent hours hiking, gazing, contemplating and ultimately jumping in a tide pool of sorts….made our way over the gap late in day then on down to Rutland where we made first foray into checking out the now legal empire…ok, it’s not San Diego, but cute…and then made it a twofer day with Indian food for diner from the tiny grocery store (better than you might think)…finishing up at TQ’s Palace- the Home Depot….where we stocked up on our massive store of planting apparati…………..and fell asleep trying to find a helper-type to advise us (good luck with that)….and now the time has come………
Getting ready for big month ahead with Sloanie visit in a week, The Band for a week after that and mid-summer Ohio return a week after that…good day sunshine……
Go out an cavort, Make it count, Be the ball…..Love, ya’ll……
Notable People: Riley Keough, Sam Claflin, Camila Morone, Suki Waterhouse, Josh Whitehouse, Sebastian Chacon, Timothy Olyphant, Created by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber
Title: Daisy Jones and The Six
Grade: 1970’s rock and roll stardom comes to life in this part fake documentary/part drama about a top of the world rock band flaring out amidst all kinds of interpersonal drama. Seemingly loosely based on the Fleetwood Mac decades-long soap opera, it feels like a genuine dramatic look at the time and culture- but with interviews from the principles looking back at what happened from today. A bit formulaic and, at times, a tear jerker, but the music is really good (the cast can play and sings really well) and the archetypes are dead on. Keough and Claflin have undeniable chemistry and Olyphant is perfect as the seen-it-all hippie road manager (check the hair). One and done season.
Review: Walker continues his wonderful and long running Bruno series with this installment of short stories. Brilliantly se in the Perigord/Dordogne region of France and overlaid with a fantastic sense of place, history and culture- Bruno carries out his Chief of Police duties whilst saving damsels in distress, raising half the children in town and coking gastronomically extraordinary meals with his collection of eccentric pals. This series has been going for almost 20 years, and this is just a nice addition with little vignettes from throughout the life of the stories. If you are a serial reader, start at the beginning. If not, this might be up your alley-short, sweet and delightful.
“Many men fish all their lives without realizing it is not the fish they are after” ……………………………Michael Baughman
“Value judgments are destructive to our proper business, which is curiosity and awareness” ……….John Cage
“If you gotta go now…. go now….go now”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Moody Blues
Well, the Arcadian Driftwood SmokeFest refuses to submit, with index of air quality bordering on shit, and a low cloud cover most of the time. Could be worse; people are wearing HazMat suit in the city……but enough…..we need really big wall on the Canuck border. Forget the Mexicans, this is the real r…an I know just the man we can elect to get it done………
Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine….th sun shine in……..
Been a whirl of a week near Star lake…………………our hometowns……
Last Sunday went from smog gloom to blue sky glory in late afternoon, and went to Vermont style birthday party on the former Empress of GE’s deck, overlooking he splendor of the Greens. Daughter Andrea’s 40th had bunch of no-shows –so it was mostly family style, which for them means around 35 people who live in the compound…and our plus two….despite being grumpy with TQ about not really wanting to be social, enjoyed the multiple generations and got a months’ worth of hugs (after wondering aloud if I was actually huggable these days).
That was the end of sun for a while, as the rains came, the clouds drooped, the streams came a rushin’ and THE POND filled tot it’s magnificent brink.
Midweek we went down to Rutland to the nice Table 24 (which shockingly had closed for good the night before) for an event celebrating Vermont’s constitutionalizing of Reproductive Rights….we now invite women from anywhere to come here and be served without barriers or repercussions…which is quite amazing in our time (Pence and Desantis were invited to come but sent regrets)…….and was pushed through by our republican governor…..though he might not be a Republican anywhere else………….after all we have two parties in our statehouse currently…Democrats and Progressives….but still, I digress,….the event was moving and the celebratory quilt put together by many hands, quite impressive……I managed to not insult anybody for the entire evening….mostly by keeping food or drink in my mouth at all times….did I mention that the crowd was filled with lily-white, blue haired, extreme fit people wearing Birkenstocks?….Duh…..I have now dubbed this, after one of the quilt squares, the no-sex quilt gathering……
After the event, we snuck over to Ramuntos for some slices before heading p the mount, and were shocked to see multitudes of other vegan-tofu types from the event sneaking in, looking for little pepperoni topped jewels…. kind of reminded me childhood Yom Kippur at the Schul, and we’d mosey over to the coffee shop and keep heads down (allegedly fasting), but when I’d sneak a peek, there were 50 such families all hiding with their schmeaedr bagels………
Thursday we visited the Weston Playhouse for the first time since pre- Covid……more lily white, fit blue hairs…..no Birkenstocks……and caught a preview show ($20 ticket- fourth row center- who knew?) for The Buddy Holly story, which was beyond spectacular, and possibly life changing…the stars totally aligned that night for the cast of mostly young star wannabes, and they put on the performance of their lives…..SHOCKUNG….maybe the best live theater I’ve ever seen…maybe I was also accidentally impaired…a lot of maybes
Capped the week with a weekend in The apple- specifically Westchester County (if that counts) to get with all of my olde cousins for first time since Covid….I say older because for 20 years I had been the patriarch of our family…till I searched out three sets of cousins ten years ago, whom I now gladly defer to and assume the mantle of the baby cousin……gotta love that…….Italian for 12 at Tuckahoe…spent night in Riverdale…..then Saturday in lovely Nyack with a beach front luncheon and night at the local Doubletree….sadly, my cousin Joel wound up going to hospital just as we arrived, which was real bummer, but got to see the rest plus my nephew Mitch, as well, who drove across the river……ROOTS in CAHOOTS…..very moving…..
Back home to more rain and dankness on the edge of town, on this strange long, maybe holiday weekend…………
Minimally exposed to Covid in city- so monitoring, but so far, so good….is there an end to this nonsense?
