A Bonus To Having a Good Memory:

You get these delightful old songs stuck in your head, and they follow you all day. Such as this one:

"You're the cream in my coffee,
You're the salt in my stew . . ."

Snow at last

Not much, but enough.

The King Charles's Head Syndrome

I'm dreading next week. But as time plunges headlong, it'll be over before you know it.

I started to say we had a "puny little snowfall," but I'm too superstitious--it could bury us next time. The deck was covered with glittering crystals of snow over ice.

Three things that went right today: I woke up. I had one Coke and plenty of coffee. My sore arm is better.

*
Probably for the first time, I don't even want to watch "Jeopardy."

William Goldman

The Novelist and Screen-writer Genius of the Age.

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Princess Bride," and "Marathon Man" were all his from start to finish. He wrote the screenplay for "Misery," said to be Stephen King's most difficult novel to adapt to screen.

Goldman is 83 years old.

[Images listed as "free."]

*
What's Fair About This?

As if winter weren't hard enough to begin with, my whole winter, and one autumn month, have been dominated and spoilt by clinic, hospital and dental visits. I guess it is my fair share, after a generally healthy adulthood. When it starts catching up to you, you might as well hunker down and deal with it. It has left me with tremors in both hands, and sometime in my knees--my kneecaps will jump up and down!

Soup du jour

Chicken with fresh steamed broccoli. A sprinkle of Colby and Monterey Jack. Plus another delicious corn casserole, topped with crisp bacon slices. I eat too much.

The weather for tomorrow is supposed to be heavy rain, so I'm going to call the Clinic and ask them to reschedule my stress test. I think it will take most of the day, and I may not even feel like driving home, let alone in a rainstorm.

Downton Abbey tonight. Last night I watched "Ghosts of Mississippi" on the Sundance channel. That is a most excellent movie, and along with "Beetlejuice," "The Confession," and "The Shadow," one of the reasons I think Alec Baldwin is a great actor. Or was. I think maybe making "Mercury Rising" and "The Juror" spoiled his disposition. They are both good movies, but very violent.

This morning TCM showed "Girl with a Pearl Earring." If it hadn't been so beautiful, it would have been boring. And had the most annoying musical score I've heard in a while. If I ever watch it again, I'll just leave the sound off.

Christmas in February

Amaryllis

I guess I should have waited until they're fully opened, but I'm so thrilled to have a living, blooming plant in my house! This was a Christmas gift from my lovely sister--which one, I don't remember, but I thank them both.

I think I'm going to paint this pitcher/picture:

The way to make time pass quickly is to make a clinic appointment and a dental appointment in the same week. I know, because that's what I've got next week. Stress test Monday; I'm betting my heart graduates cum laude.

If I ever succeed in establishing a détente with the medical arts, I think I'm going to start painting again. Maybe even writing.

Helen Van Wyk. I used to watch her and Bob Ross on PBS, and admired their paintings. Helen did mostly still lifes and portraits, and Bob Ross did mountains and scenery with a palette knife.

*

The dental appointment is for Tuesday, the 24th, instead of next week. Just that much longer to dread it. Grumble, grumble.

Low Battery

These old bones don't want to go, but I've got those two clinic appointments, so I guess I'd better put it in gear. Every time I go over there, I say I'm not going to do it again. But I guess Dr. G. gets the credit for keeping me going for the last twenty-odd years. Pretty good mechanic.

Very cautiously climbing to "remount" my pottery collection, after the cabinets have had some repairs and new paint.

I haven't run all of them through the dishwasher yet. It's amazing how the collection has grown.

Come spring, I'm going to have a seriously huge yard sale, maybe run it for a week. I need to get rid of things I don't use, things that are hidden away in cabinets and closets. Things. But not my pottery collection.

That "new" pitcher on the table was from a guy in Texas who called himself "The Blue-Eyed Indian." It was made in a Texas pottery, but I don't know if the "Indian" was connected with the pottery.

*

The book club meeting yesterday was a great success. We had lunch at the lovely Music Room in Leeds, then discussed The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The Music Room is definitely a keeper; I hope it keeps going and going.

A quick lunch

Precooked bacon, green beans from the can, and corn pudding from the freezer. That's the best corn pudding I've ever made.

Today I messed up next week pretty well. Already had a radiology appointment for next Tuesday, and today I complicated it by making an appointment for the same day, different time, with Dr. G. He told me in December to come back in a month, so I guess I'll go.

Then the week after that, it's dental work. Happy Valentines to me.

Valentine Ballantyne and his dog Jerry

But tomorrow will be fun. The book club is meeting at The Music Room in Leeds to discuss The Shadow of the Wind. I haven't read the book, but I read a good review/analysis of it. Will get it later.

I'm missing Jeopardy!

Dream Analysis

When I'm dreaming, I never have on my glasses. This causes all kinds of personal and professional problems, especially the former. If I would just remember to put on my glasses, maybe the dreams would be less complicated.

I think this means that I get into jams because I forget to do all the details of my homework. In other words, the lesson for today is Look Before You Leap.

"No jam today . . ."