Entry tags:
Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig..
My father used to say that, along with things like "Good on you", and "Wherever you are, There you are", and "That's Alright? It's alright." He's been on my mind a lot of late, and I couldn't seem to stop talking about him over the holiday. It was as if...he was everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. If that makes any sense? While down there...mother asked if I wanted my father's left over art supplies, and the wooden suitcase style box that he carted them around in. Also, she wanted me to take his watercolors, which he worked so hard on, and was so proud of, and display them - once she was gone, or if anything happened to her. Here's one of them, and I took pictures of all five. I like them, so I'll take them, no problem. (My father and I had similar tastes in art.)
Although home really is where the folks I love are.. it is nice to be in my own space again, with my laptop, my own bed, fridge, kitchen, etc. My life is in NYC, my Momma is in Hilton Head. Such is life. Also the people I love are kind of across the globe. And in NY, of course.
Also as lovely as Hilton Head is, I did miss NYC in some respects. ( Read more... )
It was a lovely and uneventful visit. Mother has a persistent cough, but it wasn't a contagious one. Although she became convinced this morning, for some reason or other that it was COVID. So insisted on taking a test in her armchair. I tried to tell her it was supposed to be done on a hard service - but to no avail. She took another one after she dropped me off at the airport, and it was negative too. I think it may be a blood pressure medication issue. But she will check with her doctor again. I worry about her, but alas, there is nothing I can do.
We did enjoy each other's company, talked about my Dad, whom she misses every day - but has managed to find a way to enjoy her life without him there. She's lonely though, I think. But she has friends, and people who care about her. Also, in a way, having my father at the Preston and their separation helped her get used to his absence, at least enough, to make it bearable. She reminds me a lot of her own mother, in her resourcefulness and determination to find the joy in small things. I try to emulate them both.
**
I'm not a fan of regaling folks with the gifts that I've received or provided. Let's just say, everyone was grateful and happy. I found this season - that I felt very ambivalent about Christmas. Although I did help Momma decorate her tree, and remove the decorations. It turned out nicely, I think...
She put the other decorations up herself. But the tree - she discovered she could get maintenance to put up and take down. They do so many, and do it faster than we do. There was a brief scare though - on Thursday night, we had a deep freeze, and Mother felt the need to drip her outside faucets. (I figured okay, that's not a big deal, and let her go out and do that. Big mistake.) Mother, without telling me and for reasons that escape me, decided she had to put sheets over her hibiscus and a fern. She was trying to protect them. And due to where the hibiscus is located, she almost fell over. Actually she did, kind of fall, but didn't hurt herself. Just over-exerted herself. She came back inside, wheezing, and I got worried. I also told her not to do that again, and next time to ask me to do it. It was completely futile of course - since it was windy, and the wind blew the sheets off the plants. Both got frozen, and she lost the hibiscus, alas. (Also, most likely the fern.) Hilton Head doesn't usually get temperatures below 32 degrees F.
***
My brother got COVID, most likely from his trip up to Montreal with his family. Fever, cough, sore throat, no voice. His doctor told him to hold off on taking the anti-virals. He's feeling better today, but now, his wife seems to have come down with it. (They had four of the five vaccines, but not the biavalent. I've also had four of the five, but the biavalent, not the booster in May. Also I was all Pfizer, they were all Moderna. Mother has had five of the five - all Moderna. Niece got COVID twice, once in May, and again in October or November, so she's probably immune at the moment.)
He apparently went to a spa that is operated off of a barge in Montreal. And had one of the best prepared meals of his life - six-seven courses, with a different wine entry for each course.
***
Over the holidays, mother and I went to the musical A Christmas Story at the Hilton Head Self Family Arts Center - which puts on repertory and touring productions of various musicals and plays throughout the year. In the past, we've seen Hello, Dolly, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Singing in the Rain, White Christmas, Newsies, and a few others. Some are better than others. Mother and I went in with low expectations for this one. (Last year they put on Elf, which we skipped, since neither of us have been able to make it through the film version - let alone a musical adaptation. At least we enjoyed the film version of A Christmas Story.)
It was a lot better than I thought it would be. ( Read more... )
****
I think the Universe took pity on me, and decided to give me an uneventful holiday? I didn't get sick. Allergies weren't an issue. No flight delays (outside of a very brief one on the way down. The flight crew was late coming out of Boston, so we were delayed about an hour, if that). By the LaGuardia is amazing. ( Read more... )
When I got into JFK - it was wall to wall people. My god, I've not seen that many people in an airport in a long time. ( Read more... )
***
Mother saw six movies over the holiday.
1. The Last Duel (Hulu) - starring Jodi Comer, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver. Directed by Ridley Scott. We were pleasantly surprised by it. It's actually a very good movie. Adapted from a true story - it is told in three perspectives. ( Read more... )
[Available on Hulu]
2. Bullet Train - this was enjoyable and funny. A kind of action/comedy. It stars, Brad Pitt (making fun of action heroes again), Sandra Bullock (she's not really seen through most of the movie), Joey King, and a whole lot of other folks. Directed by David Leitch.
It's fast action. About a group of seemingly unrelated folks brought together on a Japanese Bullet Train to Russia. Except - they are all somehow connected to a Russian Assassin, known as the White Death (portrayed by Michael Shannon). It's better to go in blind, so won't tell you anything else. Half the fun is figuring it out. Mother and I were having a blast figuring out the movie, with it's fast talking banter, and twists and turns.
[Available on Netflix]
3. Glass Onion: Knives Out Mystery directed by Rian Johnson, who is having fun parodying, satirizing and playing homage to Agatha Christie's
parlor room mysteries. Standing in for Hercule Poirot, is Daniel Craig's bumbling Benoit, who has a thick Southern Twang.
( Read more... )
[Available on Netflix.]
4. Wild Mountain Thyme by John Patrick Shanely, who apparently did Moonstruck. (It's not Moonstruck). It stars, Christopher Walken, Emily Blunt, Jamie Dorman, and Jon Hamm.
I found it to be a bit slow in places. ( Read more... )
[Available on Hulu]
5. Code Name Banshee - stars Antonio Banderas in a small role. It's okay.
Lots of action. Kind of boring. I went to sleep during it. ( Read more... )
6. Charade - Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matheu, George Kennedy, and James Coburn round out the cast of the best Hitchockian film not directed by Hitchcock. It was also recently added to the Library of Congress - one of the 25 selections added to that film library.
It's an interesting film. Charming and twisty. Also, suspenseful. I'd forgotten most of it - even though I'd seen it at least twice previously.
It's available on TCM Movie Classics.
***
Yawn.
Going to bed. I got up early - and had a busy day. Tomorrow will be busy too - my goal is to get rid of things, while waiting for a package. Friday - I plan to go into the city and buy a new, short, coat from Macy's.
Leaving you with a picture of the beach. It was too cold to go to the beach until roughly Tuesday afternoon. So mother and I went, she only went as far as the boardwalk. She can't walk very far. But there's a little gazebo there that she can sit and wait at - which overlooks the ocean. It's a new addition. I walked out to the water - since it was low tide and the beach was flat as a pancake, flatter actually, and the water exceptionally calm.
Although home really is where the folks I love are.. it is nice to be in my own space again, with my laptop, my own bed, fridge, kitchen, etc. My life is in NYC, my Momma is in Hilton Head. Such is life. Also the people I love are kind of across the globe. And in NY, of course.
Also as lovely as Hilton Head is, I did miss NYC in some respects. ( Read more... )
It was a lovely and uneventful visit. Mother has a persistent cough, but it wasn't a contagious one. Although she became convinced this morning, for some reason or other that it was COVID. So insisted on taking a test in her armchair. I tried to tell her it was supposed to be done on a hard service - but to no avail. She took another one after she dropped me off at the airport, and it was negative too. I think it may be a blood pressure medication issue. But she will check with her doctor again. I worry about her, but alas, there is nothing I can do.
We did enjoy each other's company, talked about my Dad, whom she misses every day - but has managed to find a way to enjoy her life without him there. She's lonely though, I think. But she has friends, and people who care about her. Also, in a way, having my father at the Preston and their separation helped her get used to his absence, at least enough, to make it bearable. She reminds me a lot of her own mother, in her resourcefulness and determination to find the joy in small things. I try to emulate them both.
**
I'm not a fan of regaling folks with the gifts that I've received or provided. Let's just say, everyone was grateful and happy. I found this season - that I felt very ambivalent about Christmas. Although I did help Momma decorate her tree, and remove the decorations. It turned out nicely, I think...
She put the other decorations up herself. But the tree - she discovered she could get maintenance to put up and take down. They do so many, and do it faster than we do. There was a brief scare though - on Thursday night, we had a deep freeze, and Mother felt the need to drip her outside faucets. (I figured okay, that's not a big deal, and let her go out and do that. Big mistake.) Mother, without telling me and for reasons that escape me, decided she had to put sheets over her hibiscus and a fern. She was trying to protect them. And due to where the hibiscus is located, she almost fell over. Actually she did, kind of fall, but didn't hurt herself. Just over-exerted herself. She came back inside, wheezing, and I got worried. I also told her not to do that again, and next time to ask me to do it. It was completely futile of course - since it was windy, and the wind blew the sheets off the plants. Both got frozen, and she lost the hibiscus, alas. (Also, most likely the fern.) Hilton Head doesn't usually get temperatures below 32 degrees F.
***
My brother got COVID, most likely from his trip up to Montreal with his family. Fever, cough, sore throat, no voice. His doctor told him to hold off on taking the anti-virals. He's feeling better today, but now, his wife seems to have come down with it. (They had four of the five vaccines, but not the biavalent. I've also had four of the five, but the biavalent, not the booster in May. Also I was all Pfizer, they were all Moderna. Mother has had five of the five - all Moderna. Niece got COVID twice, once in May, and again in October or November, so she's probably immune at the moment.)
He apparently went to a spa that is operated off of a barge in Montreal. And had one of the best prepared meals of his life - six-seven courses, with a different wine entry for each course.
***
Over the holidays, mother and I went to the musical A Christmas Story at the Hilton Head Self Family Arts Center - which puts on repertory and touring productions of various musicals and plays throughout the year. In the past, we've seen Hello, Dolly, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Singing in the Rain, White Christmas, Newsies, and a few others. Some are better than others. Mother and I went in with low expectations for this one. (Last year they put on Elf, which we skipped, since neither of us have been able to make it through the film version - let alone a musical adaptation. At least we enjoyed the film version of A Christmas Story.)
It was a lot better than I thought it would be. ( Read more... )
****
I think the Universe took pity on me, and decided to give me an uneventful holiday? I didn't get sick. Allergies weren't an issue. No flight delays (outside of a very brief one on the way down. The flight crew was late coming out of Boston, so we were delayed about an hour, if that). By the LaGuardia is amazing. ( Read more... )
When I got into JFK - it was wall to wall people. My god, I've not seen that many people in an airport in a long time. ( Read more... )
***
Mother saw six movies over the holiday.
1. The Last Duel (Hulu) - starring Jodi Comer, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver. Directed by Ridley Scott. We were pleasantly surprised by it. It's actually a very good movie. Adapted from a true story - it is told in three perspectives. ( Read more... )
[Available on Hulu]
2. Bullet Train - this was enjoyable and funny. A kind of action/comedy. It stars, Brad Pitt (making fun of action heroes again), Sandra Bullock (she's not really seen through most of the movie), Joey King, and a whole lot of other folks. Directed by David Leitch.
It's fast action. About a group of seemingly unrelated folks brought together on a Japanese Bullet Train to Russia. Except - they are all somehow connected to a Russian Assassin, known as the White Death (portrayed by Michael Shannon). It's better to go in blind, so won't tell you anything else. Half the fun is figuring it out. Mother and I were having a blast figuring out the movie, with it's fast talking banter, and twists and turns.
[Available on Netflix]
3. Glass Onion: Knives Out Mystery directed by Rian Johnson, who is having fun parodying, satirizing and playing homage to Agatha Christie's
parlor room mysteries. Standing in for Hercule Poirot, is Daniel Craig's bumbling Benoit, who has a thick Southern Twang.
( Read more... )
[Available on Netflix.]
4. Wild Mountain Thyme by John Patrick Shanely, who apparently did Moonstruck. (It's not Moonstruck). It stars, Christopher Walken, Emily Blunt, Jamie Dorman, and Jon Hamm.
I found it to be a bit slow in places. ( Read more... )
[Available on Hulu]
5. Code Name Banshee - stars Antonio Banderas in a small role. It's okay.
Lots of action. Kind of boring. I went to sleep during it. ( Read more... )
6. Charade - Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matheu, George Kennedy, and James Coburn round out the cast of the best Hitchockian film not directed by Hitchcock. It was also recently added to the Library of Congress - one of the 25 selections added to that film library.
It's an interesting film. Charming and twisty. Also, suspenseful. I'd forgotten most of it - even though I'd seen it at least twice previously.
It's available on TCM Movie Classics.
***
Yawn.
Going to bed. I got up early - and had a busy day. Tomorrow will be busy too - my goal is to get rid of things, while waiting for a package. Friday - I plan to go into the city and buy a new, short, coat from Macy's.
Leaving you with a picture of the beach. It was too cold to go to the beach until roughly Tuesday afternoon. So mother and I went, she only went as far as the boardwalk. She can't walk very far. But there's a little gazebo there that she can sit and wait at - which overlooks the ocean. It's a new addition. I walked out to the water - since it was low tide and the beach was flat as a pancake, flatter actually, and the water exceptionally calm.