The dark skies of yesterday left us feeling like we were in Colorado on warm summer evening as the clouds run across the sky and foretell the imminent arrival of a summer shower.
Nope folks its northern California and its not even opening day for the baseball crowd to start cheering.
The foray into the thrift shops of Modesto had us shaking and wondering about the weather. The weather does not disappoint. We are no longer in spring even through we have set back the clocks.
The rain and the wind has made its appearance once more this season.
My pansies needed to be watered. Not anymore.
We have had enough days for the worker bees to get the fruit trees pollinated. The next step is for these trees to loose their pretty pink petals and get down to the business of producing peaches apricots and nectarines between now and July 10th.
As for me the routine continues. I get my walk in every morning. I paint for an hour. Man I have gotten passionate about that. Eat some breakfast, watch a netflick, do some housework and read a chapter or two in my book.
Life is pretty good.
: ) Pat
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Remembering Old Movies that I liked
Netflicks has a great number of older movies available through their DVD program.
This week I am running back to the old "Taming of the Shrew" film that stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The movie should have one an oscar for art direction. It completely characterizes the mellow raw sienna color scheme that reflects the mood and aura of the Shakespearean play. Richard and Elizabeth certainly have sparks that fly beyond the script in this one.
The counterpoint to Taming of the Shrew is the 1953 Cole Porter classic musical "Kiss me Kate." Its amazing the songs that came out of this musical. It features an on stage treadmill that is used in dance sequences and to move stage sets to signify moving. It introduces a choreographer, then an actor in Bob Fosse. When you look at this movie it is interesting to see the beginnings of the Fosse break style choregraphy that would represent his style in the future. Its a smaltzy musical with the concept of putting on the Taming of the shrew inside the musical format with actors and actresses that off stage are performing that same kind of exchanges that occur in the Shakesperian comedy.
Earlier this week I watched Papillon. Its quite a story and a couple of really solid acting performances.
Don't forget to check out "Flipped."Its a great movie by Bob Reiner. It gets the AARP award for best intergenerational movie. Its a great look at growing up in the 60's.
: ) Pat
This week I am running back to the old "Taming of the Shrew" film that stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The movie should have one an oscar for art direction. It completely characterizes the mellow raw sienna color scheme that reflects the mood and aura of the Shakespearean play. Richard and Elizabeth certainly have sparks that fly beyond the script in this one.
The counterpoint to Taming of the Shrew is the 1953 Cole Porter classic musical "Kiss me Kate." Its amazing the songs that came out of this musical. It features an on stage treadmill that is used in dance sequences and to move stage sets to signify moving. It introduces a choreographer, then an actor in Bob Fosse. When you look at this movie it is interesting to see the beginnings of the Fosse break style choregraphy that would represent his style in the future. Its a smaltzy musical with the concept of putting on the Taming of the shrew inside the musical format with actors and actresses that off stage are performing that same kind of exchanges that occur in the Shakesperian comedy.
Earlier this week I watched Papillon. Its quite a story and a couple of really solid acting performances.
Don't forget to check out "Flipped."Its a great movie by Bob Reiner. It gets the AARP award for best intergenerational movie. Its a great look at growing up in the 60's.
: ) Pat
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Spring in the Valley
Northern California is in bloom.
On a recent drive in the country around Merced County it is clear that the almond blossom season is just about over.
There were some raindrops during the blossom season. Some almond groves are still covered with white and the ground around them looks like snow. The hives are still set in place and hopefully the bees can do their jobs.
One of my friends who owns bees says they have a great union. They only work when the weather is sunny and the skies are blue.
That was pretty much the story in my yards this year. The pluots were the first to bloom. There was a lot of stormy weather that could effect the pollenization this year. The peaches are still in the middle of their bloom now. They will have a great chance to have a super crop. I witnessed and photographed some bees working my trees. You can look these up in my flicker account. Its just a link to the left of this blog. The pee zee the little tree that is right on the sidewalk had the best bloom this year. The Sugar Lady with the non acid white peaches are a close second. The weather in the valley has continued to be mild. I walked to Starbucks today without a coat and didn't miss one.
Dad has reminded me that with the increase in temps, watering schedules need to start being maintained. Their is a single Iceland poppy that made it through the winter and is contributing a single bright yellow blossom to the front patio.
Get out and enjoy the sunshine, if you can! : ) Pat
On a recent drive in the country around Merced County it is clear that the almond blossom season is just about over.
There were some raindrops during the blossom season. Some almond groves are still covered with white and the ground around them looks like snow. The hives are still set in place and hopefully the bees can do their jobs.
One of my friends who owns bees says they have a great union. They only work when the weather is sunny and the skies are blue.
That was pretty much the story in my yards this year. The pluots were the first to bloom. There was a lot of stormy weather that could effect the pollenization this year. The peaches are still in the middle of their bloom now. They will have a great chance to have a super crop. I witnessed and photographed some bees working my trees. You can look these up in my flicker account. Its just a link to the left of this blog. The pee zee the little tree that is right on the sidewalk had the best bloom this year. The Sugar Lady with the non acid white peaches are a close second. The weather in the valley has continued to be mild. I walked to Starbucks today without a coat and didn't miss one.
Dad has reminded me that with the increase in temps, watering schedules need to start being maintained. Their is a single Iceland poppy that made it through the winter and is contributing a single bright yellow blossom to the front patio.
Get out and enjoy the sunshine, if you can! : ) Pat
Monday, March 7, 2011
How many Movies In A Redbox
An online search revealed that there are 500 movies in a redbox vending machine.
The news from the film industry reflects some concern over the number of redbox kiosks that seem to be popping up everywhere.
Case in point.
Our Raley's which is my point of sale for the redbox has two rebox kiosks. During any weekend hour it seems that there is always a line in front of both. This means that there are really a lot of people using the redbox or there a a few slowpokes that have to skim through the synopsizes of each movie they are interested in holding up the line. Sometimes this is the case.
I see now that the 24 hour Walgreens in our town also has a redbox kiosk. Each of our sav mart grocery stores have two redboxes too. Walmart has one as well.
Living a in city with two colleges with many people highly literate in computer use this by and large confounds and frustrates the younger generation. They have reserved their choice on line and come in to pick up and pay. There are also people that come in to must return the title.
Once a month the free feed line opens. This amounts to a text message, you do text messages don't you, to a free promo code. This is often sent ready for the first Monday in the month. It s one time code, and you really cannot reserve your movie in advance for this event. I stood in line this morning when life was a lot easier at the redbox and still had some difficulty fingering in the promo code. The touch screen was a little slow and somewhat inaccurate. There is also the bit of gracefulness required in keeping your phone fired up with the code while you touch screen in an obscure formula to get the free rental.
Still this is a better system then the big VHS soft pack cases that we used to wonder through to find the perfect movie at Blockbuster.
So Blockbuster is all but dead and redbox and netflicks are the winners of the consumer movie game. You don't have to have a human interaction with either of these paradigms.
The news from the film industry reflects some concern over the number of redbox kiosks that seem to be popping up everywhere.
Case in point.
Our Raley's which is my point of sale for the redbox has two rebox kiosks. During any weekend hour it seems that there is always a line in front of both. This means that there are really a lot of people using the redbox or there a a few slowpokes that have to skim through the synopsizes of each movie they are interested in holding up the line. Sometimes this is the case.
I see now that the 24 hour Walgreens in our town also has a redbox kiosk. Each of our sav mart grocery stores have two redboxes too. Walmart has one as well.
Living a in city with two colleges with many people highly literate in computer use this by and large confounds and frustrates the younger generation. They have reserved their choice on line and come in to pick up and pay. There are also people that come in to must return the title.
Once a month the free feed line opens. This amounts to a text message, you do text messages don't you, to a free promo code. This is often sent ready for the first Monday in the month. It s one time code, and you really cannot reserve your movie in advance for this event. I stood in line this morning when life was a lot easier at the redbox and still had some difficulty fingering in the promo code. The touch screen was a little slow and somewhat inaccurate. There is also the bit of gracefulness required in keeping your phone fired up with the code while you touch screen in an obscure formula to get the free rental.
Still this is a better system then the big VHS soft pack cases that we used to wonder through to find the perfect movie at Blockbuster.
So Blockbuster is all but dead and redbox and netflicks are the winners of the consumer movie game. You don't have to have a human interaction with either of these paradigms.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Grocery Tech Meets Older Generation
A lady with silvery white hair was in font of me in front of my at Raley's this morning had a nice collection of grocery items that she brought up to the clerk ready to check out.
The clerk ran her things across the laser light beam and gave back her coupon for the lunch meat, asked her if she wanted some cash back.
Yes the lady said yes 40 extra and picked up her lanyard that held her debit card miniature and still in had faced it to the cashier. The cashier grabbed it up and dragged the unsuspecting customer close to the face of the face lightbeam until the cashier figured that she had this elderly lady by the neck and was on her way to a choke hold. The lady finally took off the lanyard and the transaction was completed over many apologies.
I won't grab it next time the clerk said.
The lady said I will surely take it off next time.
I couldn't help but chuckle.
As I approached the cashier, I mentioned to the cashier that it looks like there was another Sav Mart customer. (Raley's rival grocery store in Merced)
She laughed and said that I would be laughing about that all day.. Now you can too!
: ) Pat
The clerk ran her things across the laser light beam and gave back her coupon for the lunch meat, asked her if she wanted some cash back.
Yes the lady said yes 40 extra and picked up her lanyard that held her debit card miniature and still in had faced it to the cashier. The cashier grabbed it up and dragged the unsuspecting customer close to the face of the face lightbeam until the cashier figured that she had this elderly lady by the neck and was on her way to a choke hold. The lady finally took off the lanyard and the transaction was completed over many apologies.
I won't grab it next time the clerk said.
The lady said I will surely take it off next time.
I couldn't help but chuckle.
As I approached the cashier, I mentioned to the cashier that it looks like there was another Sav Mart customer. (Raley's rival grocery store in Merced)
She laughed and said that I would be laughing about that all day.. Now you can too!
: ) Pat
Monday, February 28, 2011
ADELE 21 on the Walk
No covers here.
The singer songwriting Brit has a great rhythmic sound. If I were to describe her latest album in wine tasting terms.. substituting singers for aroma characteristics, I would say that she has some Cher, with tinges of Janis Joplin and overtones of Norah Jones. Its a strong album and the songs are largely self written. There is some angst reflected in the production but there is also triumph in light of tough situations too.
Is the world ready for that? I hope so. The latest album out in middle February has much more structure is produced with a stronger support group then her first album, Adele 19.
Its a great listen overall and worthy of an E-music download.
: ) Pat
The singer songwriting Brit has a great rhythmic sound. If I were to describe her latest album in wine tasting terms.. substituting singers for aroma characteristics, I would say that she has some Cher, with tinges of Janis Joplin and overtones of Norah Jones. Its a strong album and the songs are largely self written. There is some angst reflected in the production but there is also triumph in light of tough situations too.
Is the world ready for that? I hope so. The latest album out in middle February has much more structure is produced with a stronger support group then her first album, Adele 19.
Its a great listen overall and worthy of an E-music download.
: ) Pat
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Starbucks on a Sunday
My Starbucks is the meeting place for many on a Sunday Afternoon.
Pete checked in. He is a recent retiree like me. His greatest hobby is geo caching and camping. He recently upgraded from his tent camper to a firm sided 16 footer. He was up geo caching (finding small treasures hidden in places guided by gps numbers) and fell and cracked a vertebrae. He has been slowed down for 6 weeks but today was on a mission to pick up good coffee for his wife. He was happy to hear of our cruise and look at the photos that I have up on flickr as seen by my iphone.
Nancy and her husband Ray were back from their week long break in Pismo. Ray showed me some photos of his lobster feed on the beach that he hosted for the family. Nancy the non seafood eater was careful to point out the fillet that she had cooking on the grill. I shared PV photos again and we talked some cooking.
Overall a great time at the Starbucks. :) Pat
Pete checked in. He is a recent retiree like me. His greatest hobby is geo caching and camping. He recently upgraded from his tent camper to a firm sided 16 footer. He was up geo caching (finding small treasures hidden in places guided by gps numbers) and fell and cracked a vertebrae. He has been slowed down for 6 weeks but today was on a mission to pick up good coffee for his wife. He was happy to hear of our cruise and look at the photos that I have up on flickr as seen by my iphone.
Nancy and her husband Ray were back from their week long break in Pismo. Ray showed me some photos of his lobster feed on the beach that he hosted for the family. Nancy the non seafood eater was careful to point out the fillet that she had cooking on the grill. I shared PV photos again and we talked some cooking.
Overall a great time at the Starbucks. :) Pat
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