Category Archives: Drama

FMQ Looks Soooo Easy!

Weather in the Tries:
Got up to 107, again, yesterday. Today it’s only gonna be 100, then the temps will drop to 86 on Thursday and up to 93 by next Monday. IF the prediction holds true. That’s always iffy. Depends on how big the competition between the butterflies of Seoul and Hong Kong. I understand their teams have some of the most ferocious wing beaters going. Beijing’s aren’t too bad, either, but they lost the competition this year to Hong Kon and Seoul. Keep your rain gear handy. Yep, I’ll see your Olympics in France and raise you two teams of Pacific Rim Butterflies!

FMQ Looks Soooo Easy!
Boy Howdy, I watch the Quilting Nerd show , I sit straight, make my hands follow hers to learn the motions, then go into my machine, it looks so farking easy, I work at it, then have to quit because I understand the salt of my tears will damage my machine. Besides, it’s too farking hot.

By the way, if you have a quilt you’d like professionally quilted, you might want to check her out. Her studio is here. She does both long arm, and domestic quilting.

Anyhow, I did figure out how to get my presser foot raised a wee bit last Monday, so didn’t have to take it to the sewing machine doctor (unfortunately, they aren’t covered on my health insurance). So I was/am able to practice. When it cools down somewhat. 

The “What, Me Complain?” desert dog is still sleeping on the floor most of the night. He’s not complaining, but he says it’s warm enough. But our afternoon nap/snuggle on the bed, he’s right next to me, stretched out and snuggled to my thigh. Although, today, he did evenutally move away a couple inches. 

Photos of the Past:

Egret across the slough where I used to live on the Columbia River

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Osprey nest out in the Columbia river, just about the middle if I’m remembering correctly.

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Cormorant on the shore of the Columbia. Like the Anhinga’s in Florida, they have no oil in their skin to help them stay afloat. After a few dives, they have to come out and sit in the sun (if they can) but hold their wings out to air dry.

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from the desk of the hot dog;
Sammy says he’ll write when he’s a few degrees cooler as my lap is just too hot to stay put.

TV Series of the Week:
Netflix, Korean 16 episodes, My Demon. Lots of eye candy, and a fun story. And God is wonderful. She just damn near stole the show! A fun RomCom.5 stars! Excellent subtitles. Of course, if you’re fluent in Korean (Hangul?) you don’t need the subtitles 😉 The Asian Wiki has some info about the story and cast, here.

Music of the Week:
Jesse Cook-rumba-flamenco music think I’m gonna have to save my pennies and buy a couple of his cds. Especially before I leave on my road trip!

Quote of the Week compliments of Holidappy.com:

“The trouble with quotes about death is
that 99.9% of them are made by
people who are still alive.”
~Joshua Burns

Ladies and Gentlemen, Auntie Lenora Presents: The Toddler in Chief!

Weather in the Tries: We had a moderately cool week. All temps were double digit! However, today, Monday, is on the schedule to be 102, and then a week of mostly low 80s. There will be one dip into high 70s. After our couple of days of nearly unbreathable smoke-filled days, we’ve gone back to Good or Moderate Air Quality. 

What an odd week has just gone by. And yet one more reminder I’m still grieving. I was late for an appointment. I’d written down it was at 10:15, which was correct. However, every time I looked at it, I saw 10:45. I always get to those appointments early, and I was there at 10:30, and they marked me as ‘missed’ and I couldn’t be worked in later in the morning. To say I was confused would be to word it mildly. 

A couple days later my Grief Group met, and when I told them, they smiled knowingly, and the Facilitator told me about Grief Brain. Apparently, it’s a thing, and Boy Howdy! did I have a case of it. Then I got to thinking, took two aspirin, and realized it’s not yet three months since he died.

Fortunately, there was a great show on the telly Thursday night that took my mind off things for a while. Like many people, I watched what there was to see of the arrest and booking of the OP. And then the county released his mug shot and I had one of the best laughs I’ve had in a while. Not that the arrest and booking of a President is funny—it isn’t, it’s really a sad commentary on us—but the shot is priceless. Reminds me of when my kids were toddlers and if  told to do something they didn’t want to do. “NO! I DON’T WANNA AND YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!!!

I DESERVE TO BE PRESIDENT! IT’S THE ONLY WAY I CAN STAY OUT OF JAIL AND I AM YOUR RETRIBUTION! (I’m not at all sure what that means, really. I don’t need retribution for anything. Do you?)

How sad for him. He wants to look threatening and strong and will never surrender (though he did surrender, was arrested, booked, and released on bond!) and he looks like a petulant toddler throwing a temper tantrum. I’m surprised he hasn’t taken the old Don’t Tread on Me! rattlesnake and photoshopped his mug to that.

Since I have a genuine photo of the Hot Line to Jesus, I’ll post it, in case the OP needs it. Or anyone else. I know the photo is genuine, because I took it, I did not swipe it off the web 😉

Actually, the sign was in the mall where I used to walk in the winter. It was in the food court where they were installing a new pizza place, and Jesus was the general manager, and was looking for a few good workers. I apologize for the ugly crossing out of the area code, but it is, or at least was, a working number and I couldn’t figure out how to change any of them to a fictional number.

The book, Saying Goodbye to Thomas is coming along very nicely. There are 28 poems in it. There were 27, but I took a poetry workshop on Saturday, and wrote one more. The book (sans the new poem) is out to several people who asked to read it. I hope to have everyone’s comments back in a couple of weeks so I can wind it up and start sending it out. Sheryl has sent me some very nice photos of Thomas, his niece has given permission to use one her mother, his sister, took several years ago, I have one taken during the toast before the Final Cocktail where he’s happy and smiling. I now have seven shots of Thomas, I hope I can get them arranged on the page like I want. And a possible couple more coming from a friend in Arkansas.

And, I have submitted his novelette to a publisher. Fingers crossed.

The Big Chihuahua is liking this cooler weather a lot. Still warm enough for a Desert Dog, but not so hot he melts. He still dives under the summer quilt on my bed at night, but before long he’s topside. At least until about 4a.m. when he gets cool.

Kingdom: Ashin of the North

Netflix, 2021
Korean, excellent subtitles
1h, 33m

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Ashin is probably 11 or 12 and her mother is dying. She goes into the forbidden forest to find the magical herb to save her mother. Her entire village is killed in her absence. When she returns home to find everyone dead, she goes for vengeance. I’m not normally fond of vengeance movies, but this one held me. She belongs to a tribe of, I believe, Jurchen, who were from China and looked down upon. The War Lord likes her father and holds out acceptance to him for some under-cover work. When Ashin goes to the War Lord and says she will do anything if he will look into the slaughter, he uses her as a spy. She has a place to sleep in a drafty barn, and is spurned by the villagers. Her father taught her martial arts, and she watches the soldiers, becomes proficient in the use of a bow and arrow. (for fun, count the arrows)

The horror part of the movie comes in rather early, but I was too naïve to see it—the magic herb she found, turns the dead into zombies. We don’t really see them, until she uses it for revenge, and then it’s a delightful twist, worth a couple of good laughs, and makes for the perfect ending.

Kingdom: Ashin of the North trailer