Sunday, January 26, 2020

What This Country Needs...

...is a good 5 cent cigar...hey...I just solved one of the country's problems...

This turned out to be another lousy weather weekend - a shock here in Michigan - which means it was also antique shop weekend...
...and we visited one that seemed to specialize in creepy Santa Clauses...
"heh heh...don't worry boys and girls..."



"...I'll be coming down your chimney tonight..."



"...while you're sleeping...heh heh..."
...nice...

But we did see some interesting stuff at another shop...
first time I've seen one in person...a Blick 5 typewriter...sweet...even if you don't have $400...



Not a T but still pretty cool...
...and we did actually buy a couple of items...
a brass fireplace screen...


...and a stove top percolator...


...to complement this Cattail electric percolator we already own...now THAT'S  a pretty good breakfast right there...



Might end up being a desperation move I regret...
...but I've resurrected Chrysallis and am now 11,000 words into this bittersweet coming of age story.

I figure even if I do end up abandoning it (again) I will at least have been writing...and in my world, that's a good thing.

More to come?


It's official...I'm suffering from the winter blahs...
...and I'm going to use that as an excuse for this pitiful example of a blog entry... 


...later, mcm fans...



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Saturday, January 4, 2020

Rough Start...

...to the New Year...been knocked down with something unpleasant for the last week...fever, congestion, headache, etc.

Luckily, there seems to be a cure...
...better than whiskey?  Don't you believe it...it's only 20 proof.

We soldier on...



We've come to the end of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, season 3...
...and that's as far as they've gone so far...season 4 won't debut until Nov or Dec of 2020, or so I'm told.

Overall it's been pretty good...excellent production values, dead on mid century modern styling and music, with witty, rapid fire dialogue and mostly historically accurate events.

It's not perfect by a long shot...way too much profanity - if they removed the F word from the Susie Myerson character's vocabulary...
...her dialogue would be instantly cut in half...and if they removed all obscenity completely she'd be reduced to nothing but prepositions and conjunctions.

As my father used to opine, profanity is the verbal playground of the ignorant, and that character spends most of her time on the jungle gym.

And the series is not above the occasional cheap shot at conservatives, which I suppose comes with any territory occupied by today's woke culture brokers.

In episode 7 of season 3 they repeated long ago debunked accusations of anti-semitism against conservative Phyllis Schlafly.

It's sad, really...there may be lots of things about Ms. Schlafly's legacy with which to take exception, but being an anti-semite isn't one of them.

Raising that tired, disproven charge against her, years after her death cheapens the show, not the legacy of Ms. Schlafly.

And really, it makes Rachel Brosnahan, Tony Shalhoub, et al, look like petty, uneducated idiots when they're reduced to spouting easily fact-checked lies and fake news.

Google, anyone?

I expected better of a show that has been mostly historically accurate, but I suppose I don't know why.

They must, after all, kiss the ring of their ideological masters above all else.

So far that's been an isolated incident - inserted awkwardly as if they had to figure out a way to cram it in to satisfy some higher up's politically correct wet dream - so I'll probably tune in to season 4 if/when it debuts.

Then again, maybe not.



It's been less than 2 weeks since Christmas but already those fading memories...
...seem like a distant dream from months ago.

Everything is so different about the holidays - the decor, the music, the mindset.

Once it's over, the break is so sudden and complete it's almost like it never happened.

Well, until the mail (wo)man delivers all those bills...



Currently wandering in a creative desert again...
...always happens after I complete a writing project, before I settle on my next book.

It's common enough I should develop a routine to help refill the tank...I am reading some Robert Frost poetry lately...maybe I'll write something about a road less traveled or two tramps in mud time or stopping by woods on a snowy evening...
...I've always admired Frost's incredible talent as a wordsmith.


We've once again stolen 3rd...
...spikes up of course, just like the beloved Ty Cobb.

And while that leaves us one base shy of scoring a run, we're confident Providence will smile upon our dire situation...
...and our hero's unquestioned ability will save the day.

Lessee, how did that poem end?

later, mcm fans...

* Crass Commercialism Corner *

In the "so convenient you can't stand it" department, you can purchase my books here and on Amazon.com!

Get your paperback books here:



Get your ebooks here: