Yay!! JP chose last. Fast Five. I did it and I actually enjoyed the samplings they took from Ocean's 11 and The Italian Job in putting together a crack team. But I still went into it with a medium popcorn, all my own, extra butter please. The general yumminess of Paul and Vin can only get a girl so far.
Side Note: If you mostly watch TV on Netflix and Hulu, you don't see many commercials - great for filtering out the gibberish, but not so great for movie releases.
I never heard of "Midnight in Paris," until friends told me about it. And the main character is a writer! And it's Paris!
How can we go wrong?
Has anyone seen this? What did you think? No spoilers, please.
Most of us, like me, buy our polish dogs and kettle corn outside the ballpark on the corner, and then happily climb up to the third deck to watch a live baseball game.
Two weeks ago, I lived as the Other Half lived. And it was beeeeeaUtiful.
A friend of mine manages a condo building downtown. Their tenants? Members of the Nordstrom Family. Yeah, THAT Nordstrom. They couldn't go and gave her two tickets, with parking pass. And she asked me!
Let me outline how the other half lives.
They know nothing of Seattle Sausages across the street. A special entrance ushers them past the lines and into ... a buffet. With crab legs, prime rib, and pretty much anything else you could want. They have their own hotdog rotisserie, if you're a baseball purist, and an open bar.
The other half sit NEXT to the camera man behind home plate. Don't believe me?
The other half have a menu at their seats, should they need a sneak during the game. I casually checked off a beer and garlic fries and handed it to the "waiter". Five minutes later, "Here you go."
The other half can whisper to Ichiro, and he can HEAR THEM.
Why did I post this under the "Writing" category? Because baseball is poetry in my world.
"I love the game," Shoeless Joe went on. "I'd have played for food money. I'd have played free and worked for food. It was the game, the parks, the smells, the sounds. Have you ever held a bat or ball to your face? The varnish, the leather. And it was the crowd. The excitement of them rising as one when a ball was hit deep. The sound was like a chorus."
-- Shoeless Joe, by WP Kinsella.
The love was passed down from my grandma, a die hard SF Giants fan. In 1992, my sister and I lived and died by the Atlanta Braves. There's no team in Oregon, where we lived, but TBS aired the Braves every day. They were our boys, every last player.
Game 7, the National League Championship Series.
Bottom of the ninth.
Two outs.
Bases loaded.
Bobby Cox, the general manager, had used every player on the bench. With the playoffs on the line, he sends up Francisco Cabrera, a player who's only batted 10 times in the Majors. To me, this is the most exciting play ever made.
Watch!
Oh, and don't miss Ted Turner, the owner, high-fiving Jimmie Carter. Hilarious!
Subtitled, "Mr. Seattle Weatherman, Do you need a calendar? Use it!" I think the second title has a certain lilt to it, don't you?
Dear Phoenix, Arizona:
I miss you.
I miss your prickly pears gleaming in the sun. I miss your tall, proud saguaros swollen after a monsoon.
I miss your purple bougainvillea blossoms, so beloved in Rosamunde Pilcher books,that have the nerve to stay in bloom almost all year, even during the wicked hot summer.
I miss the cheerfully orange Mexican Hat-Dance plants mixed in - purple and orange defying the hot asphalt.
I love your palm trees, though word on the street is you "imported" those and claimed them as your native own. Some might call that lying. Others call that ingenious!
I miss pools and swimming. I miss the stark necessity of Iced coffee. I miss sunburns.
I'm sending you this love letter because I miss you so much. I miss your weather reporters using descriptions like, "balmy, sunny, and toasty."
I take back all the times I called you "The Freakin' Desert." Please forgive me.
I have Wegener's Granulomatosis - just by way of review. (Whoops... there went my close friends clicking over to "photography." Or to another blog. I understand. It gets old.)
But, I'm not here to whine or complain. In fact, it's time for a mini celebration!
My doctor was unhappy with my last blood draw (inflammation markers up) and changed my meds, taking me off of methotrexate and starting Imuran. Sigh. I took this three years ago and it caused mouth sores and thinned out my hair.
So, being thus forewarned, I mentally flirted with cutting off my hair.
The flirtation turned to dating on and off, checking out websites, staring at cute haircuts ahead of me in line.
The dating morphed into engagement. "Hello, Joel? Cut-n-Color, STAT." (Joel Burrow of Lavish Hair Salon - if you're in Seattle, I highly recommend.)
Then the walk down the aisle - snip, snip, and off it came!
But even more exciting is that my hair is thick and healthy, and I'm almost done with my second bottle of Imuran. Happy Dance!
Before and after below. Whattaya think? Vast improvement, right?
And it's only available in an ereader format (or pdf). Mom, thank you again for my shiny, new toy!
Apparently, this was released at the end of December 2010. So, I'm the late one to the party. Oh well... Still delighted.
One of the things I loved about this book was the phrasing, with the recurrent: "Here is the truth. This is what I know..." starting many chapters. Abby paused to take a photo on a foggy beach. In that moment, she lost sight of Emma, age 6, who was soon to be her step-daughter. The story begins here, in a moment of disbelief and shock, and takes us through the lengths we'd go through to find a loved one. Each day after is numbered, adding to the stress of time lost.
While the story is fiction, I admire that Michelle continues to draw attention to real unsolved cases on her blog page, writing about missing people and adding links for Amber Alerts. In a recent post, she writes about the missing Joseph McStay family, husband, wife, and two children, who all disappeared 16 months ago in southern California. All links concerning the case are included, including a website his brother maintains, and a list of their media press conferences, much like the fictional Jake & Abby went through. My deepest sympathies to those close to the McStays, as their search continues.
My friend, Megan, and I met Michelle and another author, the very talented Meg Waite Clayton, at a book festival in Tucson a year ago.... (has it been over a year since I lived in AZ? *emotional collapse*). You can see the photos here.
Don't you hate visiting a new city and not knowing where to go?
Looking at the Red Lobster and wondering if you should turn off, cuz it could slide downhill from there?
Welcome to Spokane, Washington.
Other than the generic mall by our hotel, where JP was working, we didn't know the city. Enter Eden's boss, who had just been there the week before. She was busily nodding politely, but tuning out his monologue about a political trip when he mentioned it was in Spokane. Good friend that she is, she perked right up and asked him where he stayed, where he ate, and did he like it...
Instant guide to Charm! Cuteness! And Harper Lee!!
Riverfront Park
Forward Ho!
Ha!!
Hope things are going well for Moe & Tee.
This would be outstanding against a blue sky... alas, rain follows me everywhere.
Great name for a coffeehouse!
Followed by ...
Boo Radley's Gifts on the corner!!
If that didn't sell me on Spokane.... this did.
Yes, friends, a sky bridge between Nordstrom and the Public Library. Blissful sigh... Gold star to the city planners.
While I did write this on Friday, we were on the road home from Spokane, with no internet. So, it's a day late, but hey, he says he'll leave the light on for us.
Ode to Tom Bodett
Four days on the road And only two hotel rooms, Makes me no expert.
However, I’m me. And lord knows, I have opinions. Need suggestion box.
Breakfast Required. Not lame-o cereal bar. Waffle iron, yes!
La Quinta buffet, Biscuits, gravy, eggs, yogurt, stood with standards.
Major points for grub. But why end breakfast at 9? Need more pillow time.
Cedars Inn lovely. Foyer smells of vanilla. Warm and welcoming.
Marble in bathroom! And modern decor throughout. But bed soft as floor.
Thus, in summary: Polyester bedding out, Internet a must.
JP interrupts With this important message, A smile on his face.
If check in/check out Begins and ends with cookies, He will be loyal.
He hopes to be asked About “The Legend of the Missing Razor,” mine.
JP is an HVAC technician. If it's too hot or cold in your favorite stores at the mall, chances are, someone like my JP is up on the roof, wrangling tall machines with manly tools, hefting equipment up steep ladders, wiping perspiration from his masculine neck. It's poetry.
About once a month, he travels to eastern WA. Usually, it's just an overnighter, but this time he has enough stops that it will take four days. So I packed up and jumped in the van, leaving Big Mittens and Lil Mittens to the loving care of Eden & Froy. I've now transcribed in one Borders, one Barnes & Noble, two Starbucks, and one hotel room. It's not exactly touring the countryside...
Low points:
Loud mouths in all public places. "She was like..." "He so doesn't get it and was like..."
Starbucks latest infatuation with Bob Marley and Neil Young.
Freezing coffeeshops (why?).
High points:
Playing on Urban Spoon with JP to find dinner (I'm swollen from salty mexican).
Unlimited mochas in the name of "working."
Breaking in my Nook Color.
When Mom & Tante visited two weeks ago, they marched me down to the nearest Barnes & Noble (three-to-six blocks, depending on who you ask). Mom went straight up to the Nook display and explained that "she wants a Nook Color with the green cover. Screen protectors? Yes." I stood there, mute, afraid if I said a word the universe might hand the shiny toy to the girl at the summer reading table. But No! It was packaged up and handed to me, along with gift card from my Tante for downloads.
HAPPY DANCE!!!!
I should insert here that this is NOT a Paid Advertisement. B&N has no idea that I exist, except for my online account of recent purchases... which include:
You should check out these amazing authors, Jenna Blum and Beth Hoffman, both of whom I'd like to be when I grow up. I can't wait to dive in.
Alas, the stupid day job. Sigh. Unless I write a medical thriller. Wouldn't it be a pretty day if one of the neurologists I work for asked for my autograph? hhahahahahaaaa.... Oh Lord.
Perhaps I should get back to work.
Oh, speaking of Boots... check these out!! How I'd love to glide down the river/jogging trail in Spokane in these babies. Mom? Can I have?
His reply came with a Tone... thinking better of the full blown explanation of what a blog tour is, I opted for the short-n-sweet, "I just do."
He squizzled his eyebrows and growled, "Eleven," and he headed out back to put together his new grill.
"Thanks, hon!"
The winner is #11, Janet Beasley! Congratulations, Janet, and I couldn't be happier that the winner is someone who lived who understands life without books completely. Here's an excerpt from her blog post on this theme. See if you don't tear up.
"It was a sad world without books,
but I couldn't read and understand a story,
and I was too embarrassed to ask anyone for help.
Eventually the longing to be a part of my friends conversations
was overtaking my embarrassment and I was desperate to learn.
If it weren't for my closest friends and family
who listened to me instead of laugh at me,
then graciously spent the time to help me learn,
I would not have read more books in the past couple of years
It sounds as appealing as a summer vacation at Guantanamo Bay, if you asked me. Take away books and you erase history, science, medicine, and stories.... aka Knowledge.
You also take away my favorite present. When I was in fourth grade, my mom gave me a wondrous box. Inside, I found 10+ books, all young-adult novels. The gem?
"Anne of Avonlea."
Now, do you honestly know ANY redheaded girl who hasn't considered herself to be Anne Shirley for at least for a few weeks in her life? Mom says they were sold out of "Anne of Green Gables," but I soon got that book too.
I was Home.
I was Understood.
She talked as much as me.
She organized all her friends into theatrical dramas.
She hated her hair!
But where the heck was my Gilbert? I searched my classroom in vain for an intellectual foe capable of rescuing me from a downing rowboat. Alas... one tried to cheat off my answers and another said my dress made me look "less fat." Ahem. Books, for the first time, took me AWAY. And I've never quite returned.
A few months ago, a local theater produced "Anne of Green Gables, The Musical." Girls night!
Anja, age eight, very excitedly asked, "OK. Can someone tell me the story of this play before we get there?"
I had Goosebumps! "Let's start from the beginning." She now has the book.
First Giveaway at The Ole Master Plan!!
To enter, please leave a comment and answer the question,
"What was your FIRST favorite novel?"
And since a world without books = jelly-covered raisins for food, for the rest of my life, the prize is a $15 gift certificate to Amazon or Barnes & Noble, whichever the winner prefers. The winner will be chosen at random (hubby, pick a number between 1-30, please). Giveaway closes Monday, 5:00 pm, West Coast time.
Blog Tour Stops
I'm privileged to have Amber, author of the blog, A Day Without Sushi, as the featured blog spot just before mine. If you missed her blog, go back!!! It's worth your while. You'll find advice on how NOT to accept advice, on how NOT to get your child to nap, and how NOT to give up on your writing goals. God love 'er.
Your next stop is making me giggle. "The tour is now leaving the quiet gabled home of Anne Shirley. On your left, you'll see flames. Do not be alarmed. We're descending into the Realmlevels." Visit Always Writing, by Neil Ostroff, and you'll see what I mean.
