You Know How It Is...

...with an April day...so quoth Robert Frost in his poem, Two Tramps In Mudtime:

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March."

At first it was mostly hail...

...but 30 minutes later, this is what it looked like:

Must be Michigan.

Gone fishin'...

...a grandson in Florida is making good use of his free time...

...fishing for both catfish and shark...big fun...

...and beautiful vistas.

In spite of the snowy start to this blog, we've actually had some decent April weather...

...and I've taken advantage of it, swinging my hickories in the back yard.

Last year I'd already been on the golf course by this time, but considering current circumstances...

...it's unlikely I'll see the links much before May.

I may look happy, but...

Now for the Unhappy Man update...

...and things are going along surprisingly well...down 6 lbs so far.

Of course, the 1st week is usually the easiest when dedication and enthusiasm have not yet been shredded by hard experience and fevered dreams of hot fudge sundaes...

...Yummm...

Been writing a little...

...and researching a little but still not hot and heavy into my next story...haven't hit the zone yet, just kind of dancing around the edges of it.

On the movie front, we've seen some good ones lately, including a couple that aren't normally in our wheelhouse...

- and -

...but which both of us enjoyed...and a few old favorites like:

• Young Frankenstein
• Sabrina (the excellent 1995 remake with Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear and Julia Ormond)
• From Here To Eternity (for which Frank Sinatra won a Best Supporting Oscar in 1954)

- and - a film noir classic...

...c'mon...Bogart, Lorre, Greenstreet...great on screen chemistry with those guys...gotta love it.

And they were less than a year away from making cinematic history with Casablanca when The Maltese Falcon was released.

Oh, and the Falcon was pretty cool, too...

wonder who blinked first...

Finally, it's Easter weekend...

...and for what is probably the first time in our country's history, there will be very few church services celebrating the Resurrection of Christ due to "shelter in place" orders...some of them fascist in nature.

That does not - can not - negate the great truth of the gospel:

Christ died for the sins of the world on Calvary's cross, was buried and rose to life on the third day as evidence of God's acceptance of His sacrifice. (I Corinthians 15:3,4)

Because of what Christ did, we can be reconciled to our Heavenly Father through faith in His Son. (Romans 10:9,10)

I hope you've experienced that truth in your life, and I hope you enjoy a blessed Easter with ones you love.

later, mcm fans...

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...

Happy New Year's Eve...

...as we bid farewell to 2019...and welcome the year of perfect vision...2020.

So...do you have big plans for this night?  We certainly do...

...as usual, it will be quiet for us, with two movies on the docket for our big celebration:

...the eponymous "New Year's Eve", which in spite of having some bona fide morons acting in it, is really a pretty good movie.

And of course, the all time great for this occasion...

...When Harry Met Sally...just a wonderful relationship movie, equal parts truth and comedy with great performances by everyone.

After that we'll watch the ball drop - an increasingly difficult task considering the talentless twits they dig up to host this once enjoyable event - and then we'll toast the new year with a kiss and a glass of champagne...

Hope your celebration is both happy and safe as we embrace the challenges and rewards awaiting us in 2020.

The De-Christmas-ification process continues...

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                     / | \

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                 /__ | __\

                      |_|       old school cool...

...we took advantage of the unusually warm weather to remove our outdoor decor and have now begun boxing up all the indoor ornamentation...

...the fireplace being exhibit 1...but so far Sir Kitschalot remains a jovial reminder of the holidays...

...I've heard Santa Is A Scotsman and apparently so is Sir K judging from his plaid scarf.

His festive days are numbered, however...once Karen gets on a mission it's a scorched earth policy with no quarter given and none taken.

We've already stored away 4 of the 6 trees we put up each year and most of the yuletide trimmings...by New Year's day it will be just like it never happened...how sad...but fear not, if experience holds it will all come rushing back 11 months from now...stay tuned...

Any resolutions this year?

I mean besides all the usual high minded and unattainable goals like "world peace", "exercise more" and "lose 20 pounds".

One of mine is learn to swing dance.

...though at my age it's going to be a toned down version I'm sure.

Karen and I have talked about it for several years but circumstances never seemed right...this year we're hoping to make them right and actually learn a little bit.

Winter decided to drop in for a quick visit as 2019 scurries off the stage...

...just a few inches - 3 or 4 - which Mr. Weatherman assures us will be gone by the weekend.

If you're one of those folks who either loves winter sports or makes your living at them - e.g., ski resorts -

- so far winter has been a major bust.

I don't mind, but this is Michigan and it is supposed to be winter, so...

And that just about does it for us here at the Atomic Monster Cafe on this last day of 2019.

As we turn the page and look ahead to 2020, we should remember the failures of the past year were life lessons, not life sentences.

It's also true our successes must be earned, and the rent is due every day...so we keep working toward our goals in life because as the great Vince Lombardi said,

The only place "success" comes before "work" is in the dictionary.

Happy New Year, mcm fans...