Life: It Goes On - November 3

Happy Sunday! Now, I shouldn't be complaining about the rain and drizzle we've had for days (we were desperately in need for it), but I'm so excited to see the sun coming out just now. I'm usually more productive when the sun is shining, although I did get a ton done yesterday on a grey, dreary day so maybe the sun just is better at getting me up and moving. 

We've reached that time of year when Big Guy has to mow the lawn several times a week just to grind up leaves. Trying to make myself appreciate the blanket of colors and crunch as I walk through the leaves, but I'm already bemoaning the fact that the trees will soon be bare for five months. To help alleviate that, I took Halloween down immediately and began decorating for Thanksgiving, which I am so looking forward to this year! 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher, a book about Sylvia Beach who founded the famous Shakespeare and Co bookstore in Paris. 

Watched: A fair amount of sports, some Food Network, and some Bridgerton. I really haven't enjoyed this season much more than I did season 2; I need to find a new "guilty pleasure" watch to replace it. 

Read: Ugh. Still in something of a rut when it comes to physical books (or ebooks, for that matter). I will finish Sandwich, by Catherine Newman today and I'm hoping to get my reading mojo back once we're through the election. 

Made: We ate out and ate leftovers from eating out four nights this week so did almost no cooking...again. I did make homemade mac and cheese and today I've got a pot of chili on the stovetop. 

Enjoyed: Celebrated my birthday Monday with my dad and a pizza and our anniversary Wednesday at one of our favorite places (my seafood risotto was to die for!), and Friday we went to hear one of our friends playing a solo gig at a local brew pub. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Week I’m:  

Planning: Yesterday I spent hours working in my office, being ruthless in trying to get things to a manageable amount. Even so, it's still packed but it looks so much better. This week still need to get into the closet in that room and finish it up. Is it anything anyone else will ever see? No. But I'll feel better knowing it's done. Then it's down to the basement to continue that job. There will almost certainly be someone sleeping down there come Thanksgiving; as it is now, I'd have to insist they slip down there blindfolded. 

Thinking About: Painting, remodeling the kitchen, rearranging my bedroom...the list goes on. Will I ge to all of that any time soon? No. But at least some of it will happen soon and that will keep things moving forward. 

Feeling: Better today than yesterday - I had, as expected - a reaction to the Covid vaccine I got on Friday. Fortunately, it didn't set in until later in the day and I slept it off. Unfortunately, I didn't walk up yesterday speaking Russian, as predicted by a coworker. I mean, how cool would it be to just walk up and speak another language without spending years learning it! 

Looking forward to: Thanksgiving and a trip after that to visit my aunt and uncle. I wanted to be able to help them with some things but also I needed to give myself something to look forward to after the kids all leave. 

Question of the week: I'm working on a menu for Thanksgiving. What's the one thing your family must have for the Thanksgiving meal? I've got two pescatarians coming this year so I think salmon will be on the menu...do I still do both turkey and ham? 

The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne

The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne 

Read by Griffin Dunne 

12 hours, 19 minutes

Published June 2024 by Penguin Publishing Group

Publisher's Summary: 

At eight, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good. In his early twenties, he shared an apartment in Manhattan’s Hotel Des Artistes with his best friend and soulmate Carrie Fisher while she was filming some sci-fi movie called Star Wars and he was a struggling actor working as a popcorn concessionaire at Radio City Music Hall. A few years later, he produced and starred in the now-iconic film After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese. In the midst of it all, Griffin’s twenty-two-year-old sister, Dominique, a rising star in Hollywood, was brutally strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, leading to one of the most infamous public trials of the 1980s. The outcome was a travesty of justice that marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne’s career as a crime reporter for Vanity Fair and a victims' rights activist.

And yet, for all its boldface cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes, The Friday Afternoon Club is no mere celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny, and moving characters—its author most of all.

My Thoughts: 

Back in 1985, the Big Guy and I went to a see a movie called After Hours, starring Griffin Dunne (and a cast of other well-known actors). It was odd (BG was prone to taking me to odd movies at the time), but I've never forgotten it or Dunne. But I've been more familiar, over the years, with his father, Dominick (a prolific author), and his sister, Dominique (who is best known for her role in Poltergeist and her murder), his uncle, John Dunne (who I knew through his aunt's book) and his aunt, Joan Didion. 

Even without that knowledge, if I'd have been walking through the bookstore and seen this book cover, I would definitely have picked it up. Doesn't it just scream "we have interesting stories to tell!"

And it does. From the years spent growing up among the movie and literary elite to his famous aunt to he and his sister's Hollywood careers to his father coming out as gay to his uncle's suicide to his friendship with Carrie Fisher, Dunne has lead a life filled with experiences that brought out every human emotion. He does a commendable job of telling his stories with humor and honesty. He doesn't hide away his own shortcomings nor those of his family and friends. 

It is his sister's death that captures the largest part of the book. Dunne details the toxic relationship she had with the boyfriend who killed her, the horror that was living through the subsequent trial (all while Dunne was filming Johnny Dangerously with Michael Keaton), and the fall out of the trial. Dunne reading the audiobook makes that period all the more heartbreaking. Strangely, though, all of this doesn't weigh down the book - by this point Dunne has already shared plenty of darkness. But even in that darkest of times, there were still moments of humor - humans seem to need that to survive times of trial and I could relate to that need. 

Did I judge a book by its cover? Yes, I did and this one lived up to the bar that cover set. And the book gave me exactly what the cover told me it would and so much more. 

Life: It Goes On - October 29

Happy Tuesday! Yeah, yeah, I'm late again...and I really have no excuse for not getting this done on Sunday other than that I was getting a lot accomplished around the house that seemed more important, although most people will never even notice what I got done. 

Last week was a productive week: I finished the chairs for Mini-him and Miss C and got those delivered along with a table leaf, I cleaned out guest room closets and my office with the result being a giant bin of stuff to the Goodwill and breathing space in all of those rooms. I cleaned and cleaned inside and worked on cleaning up the last of the dead plants outside. What didn't I get done? Any book reviews or, for that matter, much reading. Just cannot get myself to sit down and focus on books lately. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: Long Island by Colm Tobin and Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue. 

Watched: Volleyball, baseball, and football. And then I threw in some Bridgerton. 

Read: Sandwich by Catherine Newman.

Made: It was another one of those weeks where we didn't seem to cook a whole lot. We're really trying to use up things in the freezers to make room for the holidays so we've had potstickers, chicken nuggets, veggie rolls. We did get one last BLT with vine-ripened tomato last week. 

Enjoyed: Friday night I joined Mini-him, Miss C and her parents (the Big Guy was off playing with his old band) for dinner, a trip to the giant liquor store that we call Booze 'R' Us (it's in an old Toys 'R' Us building), and then one last cocktail. It's lovely to get to know Miss C's parents better; they are lovely people. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Week I’m:  

Planning: Work will continue this week on getting things ready for company to arrive in four weeks for the week of Thanksgiving. 

Thinking About: We're looking at countertop and sink options for the kitchen and paint colors for the cupboards. It's both fun and frightening - a big expense and a lot of work (if we paint the cupboards ourselves, which is currently the plan). 

Feeling: Excited. A couple of months ago BG dropped a glass soap dispenser into the pedestal sink. Guess what broke! Hint: it wasn't the soap dispenser. Saturday we picked up a vanity and new sink for the powder room and Thursday it gets installed. It's a silly thing to be excited about but I've regretted that pedestal sink almost since we built this house 28 years ago - even a powder room needs some storage.  

Looking forward to: Dinner tomorrow night to celebrate our anniversary - 42 years! 

Question of the week: Have you ever painted cabinetry? I've seen some people have so-so results and others have great results so I'm looking for all of the hints and tips anyone can give me. 

Life: It Goes On - October 20

Happy Sunday! It's a beautiful fall morning here - temperatures are perfect and the sun is that wonderful soft golden color. The trees are changing colors and the neighborhood is bustling with activity. 

The only down side is that those activities (including ours) are all about getting lawns and gardens ready for winter. Yesterday we pulled up the tomato, pepper, and zinnia plants so the gardens are already looking brown and sad. 

I saw a post the other day of a woman doing something in those spaces to make them less depressing for the rest of the fall and I was definitely, absolutely going to do that in our spaces...except I can't remember what it was she did. Which is a peek into the way my brain works (or doesn't) these days. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club and started Colm Toibin's latest, Long Island (which is a follow up to Brooklyn). 

Watched: Baseball, volleyball, and football (although I had to shut off my Huskers yesterday). 

Read: Grief Is For People by Sloan Crowley. 

Made: I'm pretty sure that I did not make a single thing this week...either the Big Guy was doing the cooking or I doing some version of eating out. 

Enjoyed: Book club Tuesday, getting my hair done Wednesday, dinner out with a coworker on Thursday, dinner and drinks on the deck at some friends' Friday night. I went to a class reunion last night but I can't say that I enjoyed that; got strong armed into going but the people that I would most like to see and reminisce with weren't there. It was an unusually busy week! 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Week I’m:  

Planning: I'll probably spend most of my free time this week working on the house - there are so many things I want to get done before our Thanksgiving guests arrive. Important things like cleaning out guest room closets! 

Thinking About: Was telling someone that I was getting a couple of vaccines Friday and had two more scheduled for a couple of weeks from now to which she replied "well, when you start speaking Russian, I won't be surprised." Can't stop thinking about that - it's people like her that have caused whopping cough cases to surge in my county and me to feel like I needed the vaccine. Also, if I wake up one day speaking a foreign language without having to pay for Duelingo, yea me! 

Feeling: Ready for the two days I schedule off this week just because I have time to burn before the end of the year. 

Looking forward to: We're going to see a one-man performance of Dracula Saturday night. 

Question of the week: Anyone have any good ideas as to how we get people to put as much money into doing good as they do into political campaigns? I'm so over the tv ads, the vitriol on social media, and my mail box being filled with flyers.