Review: The fourth book in Penny’s great
Gamache- Chief Inspector series, is another brilliantly written novel of life
in Southern Quebec. Though the story line in this one felt a bit random and
quirky, Penny writes so well, her characters are so well developed and her sense
of place………well, just magnificent. The entire boo takes place in a tiny “auberge”
on Lake Massawippi in Quebec’s Eastern Township lakes district. You’ll want to
go there once Trudeau allows us back in. The setting is based on the very real
Manoir Hovey (from her liner notes)- a magical place that we visited may times
in the late 90s when the strength of the dollar made such places quite affordable.
I’m lining up a reservation for when we can again cross………………and taking a few
Penny books with me. Wonderful!
Notable People: Elizabeth
Moss, Nicole Kidman, Ewan Leslie, Gwendoline Christie, Created by: Jane Campion
and Gerard Lee
Title: Top of the Lake
Review: Season one was in 2013 and season two came
out five years later- dubbed “China Girl”. Idiosyncratic Australian mystery series
in which the second season drifted away from the crispy told and compelling storylines
of the first season. Moss is Moss-her roles are very similar, but very effective.
Christie, who is remembered as the giant warrior woman from Game of Thrones,
has a quite different turn here as a neurotic police constable. The story, surrounding
illegal Asian child surrogates in Sydney, wanders a bit, but keeps you pretty enthralled
to try and figure out what is going on. It’s a totally non macho, and very real
life picture of how frail police can be and how out of control in their own
lives. Not many laughs here, but well a done series from Down Under.
Review: Richard Price is a magnificent modern
American writer-though not for everyone. His books are dark and gritty literary
essays on angst driven urban life. Alienation, isolation, loneliness, hypocrisy
and manipulation reverberate throughout his work. The Lower East Side is his Shangri-La….
but it’s a fearsome and dark place. This novel might seem like a crime novel on
first glance, but it’s really a treatise on city life, alcoholism and despair. None
do that better. Price is not prolific- he’s only written a handful of novels in
30 plus years, but his work is worth waiting for-especially if you can get through
the first 50 pages. A principle writer for Film and TV (The Wire) his books are
like watching a film, crisp dialog and all. See if he’s for you- he’s worth it.
“A great silence space holds all of nature in
its embrace. It also holds you” ………………………………………………………………………………………Eckhart Tolle
“The main
reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.” …………………………………………………………………………George Carlin
“Louie,
I think this is the beginning of beautiful friendship” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Rick
Blaine
You know you are living through a COVID
winter in Vermont when:
The
fuel delivery man comes and is reluctant to fill the pipe on the little back deck,
because of five-foot icicle spears hanging from above waiting to pierce his
skull…………………………………….
THE
POND looks like an ice rink…. but then again…who knows…. should we walk out?
After
a week of sub-arctic temps, it hits 55 and It rains all day Christmas day…four
feet of snow comes down from the roofs….and the grass shows up after two weeks….
all is back to as before …. except the streams look like the rushing Colorado River……and
you still have to dig out two more feet of rock hard snow from in front of the
barn doors-to finally get out the new car that has been stuck inside there for
ten days……………………
Your
snowbound partner takes a shower and puts on eye shadow for the first time in
four days- for a Zoom……and your pheromones start screaming….
You
spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with just the two of you (for the 310th
straight day) ….and watch the clock for the next holiday Zoom to start…
You
jump up from the couch when the FedEx truck comes up the lane…only to have him
(still in shorts, mind you) at the wrong house…
You
spend a week with only snow tunnels to get out of your house………
You
make day trip to find Texas Bar-B-Que in Vermont…and find it………… in the back of
a gas station……
You
get dressed to go out and deliver Christmas cookies…and get stuck in four
semi-plowed driveways……apparently everyone else has snow tires and does not really
care….
You
wear the same smelly socks, sweatpants, hoodie and stocking cap around the house
for four days……and that feels normal…………….
You
start wearing the Queens headbands around your hair disarray…and see Keith Richards
in the mirror…….
You
drive an hour and a half to get lunch, just for something to do….and Mama Corleone
says “no lunch today” ……feh…. pui….
On a
frigid night…. you lean over and murmur to your sweetie….” I thought it was
you, but it was just the rug” ……….
You
order curbside groceries and they send you an e-mail with a massive list of items
that are either out of stock or to be substituted…which you know is bullshit…so
you have to go in anyway, and shop for all those items (readily available to any
set of simian eyes on the shelf) …and then have three follow-up conversations with
the store manager about their training program for the teeny-bopper shoppers………………
You
run out of books to read….which must be like what it is to kick cold turkey….and
when you go to the library to pick up some finally arrived reinforcement orders….you
can’t get to the front door over the four feet of snow, and apparently it is unclear
whose responsibility it is to move the
piles….….so you have to resort to reading your benefactress’ library collection…which
is mostly smut…but pretty good anyway….
Your
music playing partners are an ancient IPhone and a laptop…but you make music anyway…with
your posse and The Prodigal……………………Priceless….
The
cable company calls you three days in advance to tell you that your service
will go out with the next storm……proactively deflating….
And….on
Christmas Eve day the ancient fridge stops working….and you wonder….how are we
going to get a masked appliance guru to come to our snowbound house now……or for
the foreseeable future…and The Queen goes ballistic thinking about 40 pounds of
spoiled, local, organic meats… …and trudges through the four feet of snow to
the barn to gather all our known coolers to avert the catastrophe…..and then …it
mystically comes back on…..Ho, Ho, Ho…..
You
drive around…unsuccessfully……looking for a half-dry place to jog…and put on six
layers to go out to The Barn to work out…
And
then….you take a drive up Route 100…walk through the silent snow beauty of the
Green Mountain National Forrest…and cross the Brandon Pass at 3000 feet …and
can see 100 miles of snowbound landscape……all the way to The Adirondacks…..and
it’s almost all worth it….
Merry Christmas to all…and to all a good night………Papi
Notable People: Olivia
Coleman, Tobias Menzies, Helena Bonham Carter, Gillian Anderson, Emma Corrin, Created
by: Peter Morgan
Title: The Crown
Review: This quietly superb show amazingly just keeps
getting better. The fourth season is a dynamo –with story lines covering the
70s-80s-inlcuding the IRA conflict, the Princess Di shebang and the Mrs. Thatcher
years. Lots of turbulence, lots of sturm and drang, broken hearts, deep depression,
eating disorders, massive cover-ups……………who knew? Anderson does an extraordinary
turn as the pipe- up –her- ass, indomitable Margaret Thatcher. And, Corrin…don’t
know where they found her…. but she is Dianna resurrected. And ………Coleman……well
she is just top of the heap. Magnificent supporting cat and settings. Nice cameo
by original early seasons Queen- the rapturous Claire Foy. We were riveted. What
does the Queen think of this series?
Review: Most recent season (fourth is on the way) of
international intrigue thriller with a dark sense of humor. Shaw and Oh are agents
of Britain infamous M-6 security agency (think Bond) and Comer is a very deadly
assassin for a European underground crime group. Oh is her usual solid self and
Comer is a nutcase for the ages as the borderline/schizoid stone cold killer.
Their arch nemesis/love of my life relationship is pretty wacko, but Comer is
simply brilliantly insane in this role. Shot all over the continent, the plots
are a bit convoluted and hard to keep up with, but it is still quite the guilty
pleasure
“You are the sky. Everything else is just the weather”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………Pema Chodron
“I’m dreaming of a White Christmas” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Bing
Crosby
“That’s gonna
be awful clean down there” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Andy Sipowitz,
NYPD Blue
Four feet of SNOW in 12 hours……that could be the
week in review…. but we get ahead of ourselves…. Brrrrrrr…
After a stretch of not reaching 20 degrees for four days, with lows overnight below zero, last Sunday was a tropical 40, so trekked south for ride and a walk for the Beast (guess which one?)…..Weston, Londonderry, Stratton Mountain…quirky Vermont sausages for lunch- au- car from Honeypie……………long dirt road walk as the farmers along the mountain lane out hanging lites….gift of extended daylight until a robust quartet to five……but harbinger of big things to come in the air…..gonna need a bigger boat…..
Then…. our newest bestie, Christine of the Vegas
(eldest daughter of our benefactress, Karen) sends along a response to last week’s
Blog with best wishes/dire warnings for handling the Vermont Winter on the mountain……along
with pix of THE blizzards of 78 and what they did to The Inn (pix attached) ….
impressive, fear worthy……and………………. another harbinger……
Harbinger becomes reality……four feet of snow in
12 hours overnight on Wednesday….what happened to Global Warming?….never seen
anything like it…..shades of The Shining…..could not get out front door….could
not see the barn….thought Jenn’s car was stolen, till we found it under a
fifteen foot drift of snow…..had smugly put my new car in the barn in anticipation
(of maybe 12 inches)…..which we may see again in a week or two once the eight feet
of snow in front of the barn doors recedes….WOW……The Curse of Christine -Storm
of the Century….
Fortunately, we were on good terms with food,
water and edibles…and the power stayed on…and the internet worked…and we streamed….
A LOT-…and made on line music……so…could be worse??????….and then Master
Bowbie, and the town plow came through on Friday morning, clearing the lane
(not the barn) ….and then……… we hit minus 18 on Friday night…are you shitting
me…do people do every year?……what are we, Eskimos?
Saturday we were able to dig out the lost car, get
down the lane and go to town…..such as it is….after The Dump, the post office,
the unreachable library, and our package
delivery drop-off/pickup at the abode of The Masseuse in the Trailer (she has a
mailbox)…..we took Lucy for short dirt road snow walk….frozen feet after 20 minutes
(us, not her)…..and then…… having felt isolated enough for one week….I braved a
night drive down the mountain to Ludlow to DJ’s to pick up dinner…..ARE WE
NUTS????????….with daily records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths,
Ludlow was crawling with people, every open restaurant filled, traffic jam in the
center of town…..99% out of state lunatics….had to wait 15 minutes for my called
in order to be ready…so, refusing to be amongst the lunatics, stood outside in the freeze, face mushed up
against the window waiting for the signal….like a waif from a Dickens Christmas……we
live in a world of crazy people …..but I must say the Roast Duck with Cherry Bing
Sauce….may have made it worth it……
Speaking of crazy, how about the GOP Congressman from Colorado who has announced he will not take the vaccine…because HE IS AN AMERICAN……straitjacket anyone?
And what else is there to say (you’d be surprised)
……. SNOW, SNOW, MORE SNOW……………The Pond will be up to the Manse after it rains
this week…. where will it all go?………….Saw the new cat twice this week….
TQ is alternately calling her Malo, Mahalo, Saffron and Jai-Lai….no wonder she
has no idea where the hell she is………Workouts in The Barn…. have become a challenge
even after digging out the side door to get in…. but who’s complaining….
And, does Santa still use the USPS (we need another
stamp raise to stay afloat) to deliver?………….Vermont Santa made that mistake
(only place we could get to for shipping) …and our gifts are floating around the
Bermuda Triangle at this point (February?) ……along with my title application
to get the new car registered in Ohio…. but who’s complaining?……..
Tess, bless her heart, organized a Christmas
cookie bakeoff with Nanna for the grand-girls …so at least one tradition
survived in the time of COVID…and The Queen helped organize a massive food relief
effort for those who have not, which resulted in the collection of four hundred
or so pounds of mac-n’-cheese, etc…Vermont is community focused….
And the local new hip radio station in Rutland (that
has a signal you can get within about three miles) continues to astound and amaze….
last night on way to crazed Ludlow played a set which included, Bruce’s Spirit in
the Night (all right), Four Tops I’ll be There, Van the Man and the Chieftains
and Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys……have now arrived at another retro planet………
And…that…must…… be it….
Have a wonderful Christmas…hope Chanukah went
well……if you’re something else……. well, good luck with that. Be safe……next
year: Jerusalem…….
Review: the ten thousandth listing in
this book machine author’s catalog, and fourth in “The Memory Man” series……this
stuff is all new to me. I’ve known of Baldacci for years, but managed to never read
any of his work…since I generally turn my nose up at NY times bestselling authors.
But, alas, the library is mostly closed and getting books from other libraries
has slowed to a crawl…so I was lost and jonesing. Hit the living room shelves, where
our benefactress had a wellspring of popular books and picked out this one. Baldacci
has created a fascinating protagonist in Amos Decker, former pro footballer with
head injuries, who is a semi- FBI agent with perfect recall and total lack of emotional
response. The story line is pretty farfetched …..as in how may deaths,
bombings, kidnappings, sabotage can happen in two weeks in a small town in Western
PA….but Baldacci write really well, his characters jump off the page, and he kept
me in suspense for a week…so…all in all…worth a shot.
“I pack no provisions for my long journey- entering
emptiness under the midnight moon” ………………………………………………………………………. Chinese Sage
“Winter solitude—in world of one color, the
sound of wind” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Basho
“Heaven help the poor man as he struggles
every day
Heaven help the red man if he turns his back away
Heaven help the man who kicks the man who has to crawl
Heaven help us all.” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Charlie
Pride (RIP)
My Brothers and Sisters:
“I pack no provisions for my long journey- entering
emptiness under the midnight moon” ………………………………………………………………………. Chinese Sage
“Winter solitude—in world of one color, the
sound of wind” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Basho
“Heaven help the poor man as he struggles
every day
Heaven help the red man if he turns his back away
Heaven help the man who kicks the man who has to crawl
Heaven help us all.” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Charlie
Pride (RIP)
Makin’ a list…. checkin’ it twice…. Mama!…….. THE BLOG
is here!………….THE BLOG is here! …
The snow is whirlin’……the winds are howlin’……. The POND is
fillin’……The day are gettin’ longer, the nights are gettin’ colder…and I wanna
go back home…lay my head down on your shoulder……winter on The Mount…. pretty solitary…but
keepin’ busy…The Elves are beginning to abound as we brace for the most unusual
holiday season……crank up the Zoomin’, please….
The Queen’s lil’ dug-up Christmas tree now has lights and tchotchkes,
in the set- free –of the hot tub living room…. thanks to the barn supply left
by our dear benefactress, Karen, who is basking in the Vegas sunshine while we
dig out the sidewalk…. Had a half foot of snow on the ground unit it rained it
away yesterday …. but drove done to Rutland on Tuesday, where it seemed like springtime
and nary a flake…. Mt. Holly IS apparently the snow capitol of Vermont…
Got CAR????…yes , we do…having sold the malignant Subaru,
we picked up the new Cherokee from Santa Bob on Tuesday…which required a weekly-mandatory
stop for lunch…having discovered the secret Italian Super Deli….Paisanos (how original)…which
is in the far back of a beer carryout- on a far back street- in the middle of nothing….Actually had a grinder
named after the local concrete baron, which is better than it sounds…..the
place has salamis and prosciutto hanging from the ceiling…almost like being on Bleecker
Street…car has now been fitted into the Barn, where it has yet to emerge…who
goes anywhere these days?
The Hot Tub is now percolating on the frozen back porch, where
it seems to be surviving though it takes about a day to fully heat for use…no
leaks yet…lots more space in the living room……
The new cat, who I call Malo, but TQ is calling Mahalo
(apparently Malo is Espanola for “bad”, which TQ is not happy with)….has now been
spotted three times in in about ten days….she is apparently not all that happy cohabiting
with Grace, Lucy or Jenn…though she seems to like Papi….she has come out only long
enough to scratch the shit out of TQ’s hand, spread used litter all over the
now spacious living room,…and shit behind the TV….but hey…I do all those things
too…..assuming it’s The Plaque…..
And how about the Miracle of Zoom?……had a zoom this week
with my very old friend, Steve Berman, in Portland (OR), who I have not seen in
20 years….tracked him down and sent him some
music we had been working on…since he was my first adult band mate (not
counting the seminal Stu the Shrew and the Wild Men from howling adolescence
days) and writing partner back in the Golden 70s….we played in band called “Pipedream”…still
is, No
The Nave has assumed the Chanukah cultural mantle…and is sending
the family a classic video for each night of the holiday…which is a little like
sending rosaries to Muslims…. can you say “Chanukah Harry”?
Took a snow day on Friday…which provided
the opportunity for not one….but two Covid -safe carry-out meals in one day….it
may be my only contact with other human beings….so hit Ramuntos for the two- slice
special for lunch…and then the lil’ Indian palace in the back of the exotic
(for Vermont) grocery for some Saag and
Vindaloo take home for dinner….In between , we headed up to scenic Chittenden Dam
for a snow walk….and wonderful views of the setting winter sun…love walking up snow
covered mountains with shoes with worn out soles…can you say …….on your ass….
Law Enforcement in Vermont……had to
get a VIN inspection to send to Ohio for getting the new Jeep titled…and it requires
it be confirmed by police types…which are nowhere to be found in our parts…so tracked
down Paul the Rotund Town Constable (This…is a REAL Thing) …who came over this morning
to VIN me…a bit Sipowitz-like… he may have been packing, but I tried hard not
to ask….
And…. the wood is split…after cutting
down trees for eight years…. our drunken -forester up the road, Dennis……
showed up this week with his splitter in tow…just back from deer hunting in Coshocton
Ohio (no deer, no masks there) and allowed us to split up a cord or two…which
we dutifully neatly stacked and tarped…and then made a beeline for the hot tub….
enough fireplace wood now for the next eight years…..
And…. I’m out of gas…. too much darn
activity for one week……mid-40s today so getting out for a drive and dirt road
walk…sugar plums dancing….
Be well….be safe….do what you can…oh…oh….
oh…. oh…. stayin’ alive, stayin alive……
Review: Fascinating……these books are
mysteries but beautifully chronicle to unique Quebecois culture of the rural Eastern
Townships of Southern Quebec. It’s amazing how you can cross the border and
five minutes later it is like being in the French countryside. Penny does an incredible
job of painting the place and culture- and far transcends the mystery genre.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is an unforgettable character, and the fictional
village of Three Pines a place we will all want to visit…maybe stay. The whodunit
part may be a little farfetched – this one involves murder at séance in a clearly
haunted house- but, then, who cares. This is book #3 of the current 14 editions….gonna
have to pace them out or I’ll be through them all by the end of the year.
