peachy
September 04, 2012

A VERY quiet three-day weekend; spent doing not much to speak of. Got the shopping pretty much done on Friday afternoon, opening up the weekend for some enjoyable lack of structure. Nice to get up in the morning because your eyes are open, instead of because the alarm is going off--and then slide through the day wearing comfy clothes, going barefoot, and doing stuff when you feel like it, because you feel like it.

The weather was suckish--Hurricane Isaac lashed his tail at us on Friday and Saturday, with some good rain to contribute to the next two days of steamy misery. Spouse compounded the unbearable humidity by deciding that I needed to live without any air conditioning until Monday. Just him being his usual controlling dick self. Really--the worst part of the weekend was having to spend 3.5 days in his nearly continual presence. My only reprieves were when he ran a couple of very quick errands and when he went to bed. And he minimized that by timing one of those errands for when I was in the middle of my preserves and couldn't enjoy it, and by staying up later than usual.

F*&#er better get work soon, is all I'm saying.

We ate well, starting with Dino's on Friday night, and working our way through the weekend via the grill: Saturday was brats, Sunday featured some spectacular BBQ ribs that Spouse outdid himself on, and Monday wrapped up with steaks and bakers.

Besides the ever popular laundry, my only major project of the weekend was making my peach preserves on Sunday morning. Not terribly eventful; got it done before ten a.m. (including the before-and-after kitchen cleanings), got 7.5 jars out of the batch, it set, and they all pulled a seal. Color didn't darken much, either--used Fruit Fresh and it came out a lovely golden amber. I told Spouse I would probably do one more batch this year. Thinking of putting up another batch of the tripleberry around the holidays if Sam's still has the frozen fruit available. Makes nice gifts.

Really just napped and read and browsed and watched some DVDs the rest of the time. I watched "The Golden Boys", the movie based on Joseph Crosby Lincoln's "Cap�n Eri". It was surprisingly faithful to the book, with the inexplicable exception of changing Cap�n Eri�s name to Zebulon, and they cut the subplot with Cap�n Perez�s nephew. I did find it a little dull.

And I think I would have liked Bruce Dern and David Carradine�s roles switched�Dern was a good Perez, but he would have been even better as Eri/Zeb. Rip Torn and Charles Durning were okay as Cap�n Jerry and Cap�n John, and Mariel Hemingway was decent as Martha. Really, it made me kind of sad to watch; part of it was the pace and the direction, but Torn, Carradine, and Durning seemed to have one foot in the grave throughout-the only one who seemed to have any pep was Bruce Dern. As for the younger characters, the guy playing Mr. Hazeltine was cute, but wooden, and there was zero chemistry between him and the actress playing Elsie.

Bottom line, it was worth seeing because I�m a Lincoln fan, but I don�t know if I would recommend it on its own merits.

I also watched a couple of episodes of Ellery Queen ("Disappearing Dagger", "Hardhearted Huckster) just because I needed a Jim Hutton fix.

Spent some time fiddling with my phone, too. I have just about retired my e-reader permanently, since the phone is so much lighter and easier to tote around, as well as being easier to load. Project Gutenberg is a snap using QR codes, and Manybooks, Smashwords and Feedbooks have direct connections through the FB Reader app itself. It is also quicker, and easier to navigate. I wouldn't keep hundreds of books on it at a time, but it is damned convenient. Have to turn pages a lot, though, with the font size I have to have!

Well, that's it, really. I didn't even go swimming--I am over the pool, I think. Not just for the season--I really think we should just get rid of it. Most of the times I did swim this summer were because I felt I ought to, not because I actually wanted to. And there is this: if we keep it, it will need to be relined and have the bottom refilled next spring, and I just think that would be a waste of money we don't have. I've had my fun. Now I'm too old, and too incapable of joy, to keep it up or to get anything out of it.