Monday, June 29, 2015

Lucky...

...Me...Karen in one of her "Stop Staring" dresses...she wore this to a recent wedding up north.  Here's another pic:
Same dress, this time at the reception.  Here's a pic of Karen and her two lovely daughters:
That's Amy on the left, Sarah in the middle, and Karen on the right.  I am surrounded by beautiful women!  As I said, Lucky Me...

While they were attending the wedding, I was holding down the fort at home...went to the store to buy some beer, and the good folks who make their living on Madison Avenue in the advertising biz scored a direct hit:
I am not a Budweiser drinker, and never drink beer from cans...but I bought a six of these...God Bless America...who knew that drinking beer could be so patriotic?

And to make matters even worse, I also bought this bottle of 3 Olives Vodka...not because we drink 3 Olives Vodka...never had it before...but just had to have this bottle:
Madison Avenue thrives on pigeons like me.

So it was a very quiet weekend with everyone up north at a wedding and me doing the bachelor thing at home.  If I really was a bachelor, I'd undoubtedly have a routine...but I'm not, so I did some wandering around my empty house wondering what I should do next.

Besides trying to catch up on some work related issues, I also watched a couple of movies I haven't seen in a while but really like...Robocop,,,

...and Man On Fire.


I'm turned off by the over the top violence in Robocop, but the underlying theme of humanity lost in a tidal wave of evil, then regained in a triumph of good has always grabbed me.  There's a scene in the movie when Robocop is dealing with his partially recovered memories...he visits his old house, remembers his wife and son from his previous life, and is enraged by the overwhelming loss.

But the real tearjerker is Man On Fire, where virtually every main player gives outstanding performances, none better than Denzel Washington.  Both of these are definitely worth a look if you haven't seen them.

The gardens continue to bloom...this past weekend we were blessed with more lilies...
more orange lilies popped this week

yellow lilies in bloom

Love summertime in Michigan...

Later, mcm fans...


Saturday, June 6, 2015

Our Lady...

...of Mercy chapel...at the Lacks Cancer Center.  Had a recent scare with Karen's annual checkup, and spent some time in the beautiful chapel while she was undergoing additional tests.
So why is it we turn to God when we're in trouble or worried or scared, but otherwise figure we've got life handled by ourselves?  A minor study in the ignorance and arrogance of man, I suppose.  Thankfully all is well with Karen.

Summer is struggling mightily to escape Spring's recalcitrant grip, and it looks like this weekend it may actually succeed...eagerly anticipating some actual sunshine and warmer temperatures...in the meantime, the backyard continues to flourish:
the peonies in glorious bloom...
...and we continue to enjoy being outside as much as possible:
relaxing by the firepit in the evening...
enjoying a manhattan and a cigar by the pool...

Recently saw a 1956 Thunderbird and have been rethinking my "must have a 1956 Corvette" mantra:
That is a beautiful car, and they are typically 10's of thousands of dollars less expensive than their Corvette counterparts.  They were actually created to compete with the 'vettes of the mid 1950's, and for a while they outsold them.  Now all I need is to find $40k of loose cash hanging around that I don't need for anything in particular and I'll finally own that classic car...

In the "no particular reason" department, here's another exciting video about a day in the life of a vintage toy...


Later, mcm fans...