End of an Era Oliver Del Signore and I have exchanged movie reviews for somewhere between 15 and 17 years. The first Saturday of every month (or as soon after as we could manage), we’ve emailed reviews and ratings to each other, along with General Observations on Life. This weekend was the last. The end of an era. Over the past several months, we’ve both found ourselves increasingly disenchanted with the films we’ve seen and the people who make them. The idea of supporting, even in a small way, elitists who’d rather see We the Peasants dead than armed, bigots…
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More specifically, two pounds of my favorite things. Or (according to the label) approximately 200 pieces of my favorite things — those being nice, tart, puckery, juicy California dried apricots. A rare treat. Thank you AG & LG! That oughta keep me going for a good long while. —– Don’t ask Ava if it was a day of favorite things. If she could cuss, she’d give you an earful. After a blowy, rainy, miserable walk, I put her through the further indignity of another visit to Furrydoc. Ava thinks Furrydoc is just fine when we’re hiking in the woods. Ava…
4 CommentsOh, that felt good. I stayed up much of the night reading Michael Connelly’s latest Harry Bosch novel, Dark Sacred Night. This one is a Bosch + Ballard tale, in which Connelly teams his dogged retired cold-case detective Bosch with a young, female counterpart introduced just a book or two ago, Renee Ballard. I suspect all the Bosch books are likely to be Bosch + Ballard from here on, and I’m going to make a wild guess that the author might eventually kill Bosch off. Someday. In, I hope, the far-distant future. Way distant. Meanwhile, his books are just getting…
8 CommentsNOTE: If you’re just here for the politics, you’ll probably want to skip this one. But if your also read Living Freedom for arts & home improvement, I’d appreciate your thoughts. —– This winter, The Wandering Monk and I are tackling the remaining interior home improvement projects. As many as we can, anyhow. With luck, in the next two years everything but the flooring will finally be done. This winter’s projects aren’t big, but they’ll make a big difference. There’s one I may or may not do. It’s been on my mind for a couple of years. One day I…
36 CommentsEvery year my friend W and his kind wife J, who I’ve never met, send me The World’s Best Christmas Cookies. Along with Dove chocolates and other tasty goodies. To say that those cinnamon rollups are just like Mom used to make is an understatement. Every nibble takes me back to one of the few perfect memories of my childhood. Mom and my multitude of aunts were not great cooks, but all of them could roll up those treats made from pie dough, sugar, and cinnamon and put my little self into joyful delirium. My grown-up self still approves. Every…
8 CommentsYou remember these from a few weeks back: I was making room on my bookshelves and decided to give these away. As I mentioned then, they aren’t 2018’s hot new titles, but there’s some great stuff here for people interested in preparedness or adventurous fun. See below for how to win them all. The 14 books and one DVD are: Off the Grid: Inside the movement for more space, less government, and true independence in modern America, Nick Rosen, 2010 The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse, Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre, 2009 Bug Out: The complete plan for escaping a…
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