Dec. 12 & 13 - Things Get a Little Sparky
Thursday, December 12
There is no Senior Stretch on Thursday and Zumba hasn’t started so I did two walks around the park – one on my own with my MP3 player, listening to a lecture by Robert Adams. http://feeds.tvo.org/tvobigideas And one with hubs, listening to a lecture by Laurence Steven. (Just joking, Laur.) It is incredibly pleasant here – the warm, sunny weather and the warm, sunny people. Laurence commented that now that he’d done or arranged for a few odd jobs for our trailer, it was time to get serious about marking. I warned him not to say that too loud. He says I’m just superstitious.
We have a “second run” theatre within spitting distance of our Seniors’ RV Park – Desert Sky. See http://www.highsierratheatres.com/movies.asp A matinee is only $12.50 for the two of us and I was keen to see “The Book Thief” and so was Laur, but ONLY if he got a chunk of marking done. Sadly, he had to spend his afternoon composing and sending out reference letters. (Sad for him, great for the students.) I had a nap and I think Laur may have fallen asleep at his computer if the key marks on his cheek were any indication. (Kidding again, hubs.) Then off we went...
I thought the movie version of The Book Thief was excellent – but it has been understandable criticized for trying to make Holocaustic Germany into a place that wasn’t really so bad. See http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-book-thief-2013 I bawled my eyes out at times. On the walk home we discussed it and, for me, a central question that I would never even try to answer is, “Is the German Holocaust of Jews the only Holocaust?” Certainly Robert Adams thinks it is and he is not keen on any fictional accounts of it. But you don’t have to agree with everything a person says, even if you agree with 99% of it.
It was now 7 pm so we opted to go out for supper. We went to a favourite Mexican Restaurant – La Placita. http://www.urbanspoon.com/cities/59/restaurants/640812/menu_photos/340350 Oh my guacamole! We ate until we practically exploded! (Perhaps this is foreshadowing of what was about to happen on Friday.) Laurence had – for the first time – a spinach burrito without cheese and he loved it! He described it to me many, many times. It is now one of our jokes.
Back home to finish off the last three episodes of House of Cards. The second season comes out February 14, 2014. I am not sure why I have become addicted to it and want to see how things work out. It describes everything I can’t stand – excesses, immorality, lack of ethics, slaughter... But here I am looking for sites that speculate on what happens in Season Two.
*****
Friday, December 13
Ah, Friday the 13th – you treated us well. Up for a walk, then Senior Stretch, and then another walk. Given that Thursday was a bust for marking, Laur was anxious to get down to business. Midmorning he pulled out one of his piles and started the first page. Within a few seconds there was a knock at the door – our neighbour Charlie. He says, “You have a gaseous odour coming from your place and I’m a little worried about it...”
Let’s backtrack a day or two. We had smelled something that smelled like sewage (possible) or a propane leak (possible) – but Laur couldn’t find the source if it, so we did what we usually do in the face of unknown danger. We ignored it. Angel Charlie – who is awesome – did a sniff test inside and outside of our trailer and landed on the cupboard that is right beside our propane tanks. Laur opened it up and Charlie and he watched smoke and fumes escape. Umm, we were supposed to put water in our batteries every month? We hadn’t done it ever – not since buying this place for over two years. Suffice it to say, our batteries were toasted but at least we hadn’t gone up in flames.
So much for marking – off to a place that would take back our old batteries and sell us three new ones. First, Wal-Mart – except they only had one. Next – Big O Tires; and they directed us to Napa - they had two and would have a third on Saturday. Back to the trailer. We were planning to go the Friday Evening Karaoke event at the “Club House” – so I had a snooze, to recharge my battery. (Har, har, har!) And Laur fell asleep mid marking.
We were invited to Charlie’s and Donna’s for a Happy Hour. Hey, not getting blown up in ones trailer is something to celebrate, isn’t it? Though Laur might have appreciated seeing all “his” essays and exams go up in smoke. Then a quick supper and off to sing and shout. What we weren’t prepared for was that the folks who sing, actually practise and are very good. No worries - we got up, did something like singing and dancing around to Proud Mary. It’s the closest I have come in a long time to misbehaving! Laur also sang It’s a Marvelous Night for a Moondance, and King of the Road. I butchered Patsy Cline’s Crazy.
Back home to start the second season of Elementary – an American version of Sherlock Holmes. See http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/-em-elementary-em-keeps-getting-sherlock-holmes-right/280028/ I like it well enough; Laur’s not so keen. It’s no House of Cards – and that’s, I think, a good thing. As Sherlock says in Episode Six, “There's a story here, Watson, and we need to help tell it.”
There is no Senior Stretch on Thursday and Zumba hasn’t started so I did two walks around the park – one on my own with my MP3 player, listening to a lecture by Robert Adams. http://feeds.tvo.org/tvobigideas And one with hubs, listening to a lecture by Laurence Steven. (Just joking, Laur.) It is incredibly pleasant here – the warm, sunny weather and the warm, sunny people. Laurence commented that now that he’d done or arranged for a few odd jobs for our trailer, it was time to get serious about marking. I warned him not to say that too loud. He says I’m just superstitious.
We have a “second run” theatre within spitting distance of our Seniors’ RV Park – Desert Sky. See http://www.highsierratheatres.com/movies.asp A matinee is only $12.50 for the two of us and I was keen to see “The Book Thief” and so was Laur, but ONLY if he got a chunk of marking done. Sadly, he had to spend his afternoon composing and sending out reference letters. (Sad for him, great for the students.) I had a nap and I think Laur may have fallen asleep at his computer if the key marks on his cheek were any indication. (Kidding again, hubs.) Then off we went...
I thought the movie version of The Book Thief was excellent – but it has been understandable criticized for trying to make Holocaustic Germany into a place that wasn’t really so bad. See http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-book-thief-2013 I bawled my eyes out at times. On the walk home we discussed it and, for me, a central question that I would never even try to answer is, “Is the German Holocaust of Jews the only Holocaust?” Certainly Robert Adams thinks it is and he is not keen on any fictional accounts of it. But you don’t have to agree with everything a person says, even if you agree with 99% of it.
It was now 7 pm so we opted to go out for supper. We went to a favourite Mexican Restaurant – La Placita. http://www.urbanspoon.com/cities/59/restaurants/640812/menu_photos/340350 Oh my guacamole! We ate until we practically exploded! (Perhaps this is foreshadowing of what was about to happen on Friday.) Laurence had – for the first time – a spinach burrito without cheese and he loved it! He described it to me many, many times. It is now one of our jokes.
Back home to finish off the last three episodes of House of Cards. The second season comes out February 14, 2014. I am not sure why I have become addicted to it and want to see how things work out. It describes everything I can’t stand – excesses, immorality, lack of ethics, slaughter... But here I am looking for sites that speculate on what happens in Season Two.
*****
Friday, December 13
Ah, Friday the 13th – you treated us well. Up for a walk, then Senior Stretch, and then another walk. Given that Thursday was a bust for marking, Laur was anxious to get down to business. Midmorning he pulled out one of his piles and started the first page. Within a few seconds there was a knock at the door – our neighbour Charlie. He says, “You have a gaseous odour coming from your place and I’m a little worried about it...”
Let’s backtrack a day or two. We had smelled something that smelled like sewage (possible) or a propane leak (possible) – but Laur couldn’t find the source if it, so we did what we usually do in the face of unknown danger. We ignored it. Angel Charlie – who is awesome – did a sniff test inside and outside of our trailer and landed on the cupboard that is right beside our propane tanks. Laur opened it up and Charlie and he watched smoke and fumes escape. Umm, we were supposed to put water in our batteries every month? We hadn’t done it ever – not since buying this place for over two years. Suffice it to say, our batteries were toasted but at least we hadn’t gone up in flames.
So much for marking – off to a place that would take back our old batteries and sell us three new ones. First, Wal-Mart – except they only had one. Next – Big O Tires; and they directed us to Napa - they had two and would have a third on Saturday. Back to the trailer. We were planning to go the Friday Evening Karaoke event at the “Club House” – so I had a snooze, to recharge my battery. (Har, har, har!) And Laur fell asleep mid marking.
We were invited to Charlie’s and Donna’s for a Happy Hour. Hey, not getting blown up in ones trailer is something to celebrate, isn’t it? Though Laur might have appreciated seeing all “his” essays and exams go up in smoke. Then a quick supper and off to sing and shout. What we weren’t prepared for was that the folks who sing, actually practise and are very good. No worries - we got up, did something like singing and dancing around to Proud Mary. It’s the closest I have come in a long time to misbehaving! Laur also sang It’s a Marvelous Night for a Moondance, and King of the Road. I butchered Patsy Cline’s Crazy.
Back home to start the second season of Elementary – an American version of Sherlock Holmes. See http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/-em-elementary-em-keeps-getting-sherlock-holmes-right/280028/ I like it well enough; Laur’s not so keen. It’s no House of Cards – and that’s, I think, a good thing. As Sherlock says in Episode Six, “There's a story here, Watson, and we need to help tell it.”