Weekend thread: 14th to 16th October, 2022

I am going to cheat by mentioning my wonderful evening of Thursday 13th. I feel it was the start of my weekend even if I have work today, but it involved attending a performance that I believe many people here will be interested in.

As it happens, Thursday 13th, 2022 was my older son's 34th birthday. It was a happy accident that Nunkie Productions was performing in Dublin. Nunkie Productions puts on performances of M. R. James telling his ghost stories, with Robert Lloyd Perry telling the stories in the character of M. R. James. My son was with us when we first saw Robert telling M. R. James stories, and last night we worked out that it was fifteen years since we attended our first Nunkie Productions performance. My son loved that evening and he has looked at some of the Nunkie on-line performances.

Many of you may know of Mark Gatiss. Well, Mark Gatiss produced a documentary on the life of M.R. James for television. It is an excellent documentary about the man and his ghost stories. Gatiss employed Robert Lloyd Perry to play the role of James in the documentary, and, as is always the case, his performance was wonderful.



So, I bought five tickets to the show and brought my son, his fiancée, my other son, and my wife to the theatre to experience the performance of two M.R. James stories, "Lost Hearts" and "A Warning to the Curious". This was the perfect birthday present for my son, and the rest of us had a great time too.

I know several people here are familiar with, and enjoy, the ghost stories of M.R. James. Also, at least one person here has expressed an interest in attending Nunkie Productions' shows, which normally run for only one or two nights before moving on to the next venue. With that in mind, the link to the current tour schedule, which runs into November and December, is HERE. The remaining nights of the tour are in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

After the show we headed back to our house for some birthday cake and to give our son his other present, a board game.

My son has suddenly revived an interest in chess. I believe it was his coming across a book I bought him many moons ago. The book is entitled, "How to Beat Your Father at Chess". Apparently he has never beaten me. That had never struck me, but it obviously was of importance to him as every time he has been in the house since discovering that book he has challenged me to a game of chess and last night was no exception.

As it happens, he was delighted to beat me, apparently for the first time ever. :-) I tempered his joy by telling him how I didn't have the heart to beat him on his birthday. :-)

After my defeat I gave him and his fiancée a lift home.

As for the rest of the weekend, I am attending a Science Fiction convention, Octocon, on Saturday. My primary reason for attending is to meet some old friends, make some new friends, and to attend a book club session discussing Walking on Glass by Iain Banks, which I have just re-read in preparation for Saturday's session.



Sunday is not programmed yet, but I am sure I will soon be informed of the schedule.

>1 pgmcc: What fun you are having!

I am looking forward to the weekend. Both my sons will be here with partners and my grandson. We plan to feast upon antelope (shot by my niece) stew in a pumpkin, with a pecan-date pie for dessert. There will be homemade sourdough bread as well, and oh so much other foodstuffs. That is all.

I am taking it very easy this weekend in anticipation of open heart surgery on Wednesday. I hope that is the end of excitement for this year and that the rest of the year (no, the rest of my life) will be very boring.

>3 Taphophile13: Best wishes!

Today (Friday) is grocery shopping and then I'm building a small wall in the back garden out of blocks salvaged from the front yard. I may not finish that job today - if not, will finish on Sunday.

I have a busy Saturday. Morning work bee at the community garden to rake leaves and put them in the bin for use in the compost this winter. Afternoon work bee to help friends build a path in their back yard. After that, I'll probably collapse.

Sunday - finish wall (if not completed Friday), go for a walk, maybe some other yard work.

Plus I have books to read, cats to snuggle, etc.

>3 Taphophile13: Wishing you all the best with your surgery. May the rest of your life be less eventful.

>4 tardis:, Thank you; "books to read, cats to snuggle" sounds like a very good life.
>5 pgmcc: Thank you.

Hope everyone is having fun events to look forward to.

>3 Taphophile13: I hope all goes smoothly! Will keep you in my thoughts.

I have no plans, and I am thankful. The last few weekends were busy, and I'm scraping the bottom on my mojo pile.

I do plan to watch The Rings of Power finale tonight!

>7 clamairy: how do you like Rings of Power so far? I've only watched the first two episodes, so the storyline isn't really laid out yet but I like the casting and the settings a lot.

>8 Darth-Heather: I'm enjoying it quite a bit, but my expectations were in the negative zone. We have a thread! I'll find it and edit in the link.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/344119

>3 Taphophile13: Wow. Best of luck!

>3 Taphophile13: I hope it goes smoothly and you heal well.

I am out of town for a football game. The weather is supposed to be spectacular, and I’m looking forward to walking around campus and looking at all the fall leaves. Hopefully our team wins. They barely pulled a win last weekend.

>3 Taphophile13: May all your doctors and caregivers be at the top of their game, and may your healing be fast and thorough.

>7 clamairy:, >10 haydninvienna:, >11 catzteach:, >12 MrsLee:
Thank you all. Your kind words are helping to keep me calm and are much appreciated.

wishing you all the best with the surgery.

What I like best: a day when I don't have to go anywhere or do anything.

Errands take me longer these days, and they're not as much fun as they used to be. Also they cost a lot more.

So I got up late, and I'm puttering, paying some bills, tossing some old magazines, stuff like that. Will be foraging for supper. Probably watching a movie on DVD this evening, maybe an old favorite such as O Brother, Where Art Thou? or RED or an ancient Kurosawa film.

It's blessedly quiet in my neighborhood today, as long as you tune out the freeway noise, the airport noise, the nearby light rail, the occasional helicopter, and the inevitable intermittent sirens.

Oh Brother is a classic by now, right? This place is a geographic anomaly, it's two weeks from everywhere!

And do you mean Red with Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Bruce Willis et al? Love those movies. The bit with the ex, Brian Cox, is priceless. As is the Pig.

>16 Bookmarque: Yes, that RED. "Can I shoot her now?" RED 2 isn't as good, but I watch it anyway. "That was before they had expiration dates on food, so it's okay."

I laugh out loud at the same lines every time I watch O Brother. "Damn, we're in a tight spot!" And the music is really fine. "Not the livestock, George!"

That is one of our family favorites.

"Goddam it, I don't want Fop! I'm a Dapper Dan man!"

"Well , there are all manner of lesser imps and demons, but the great Satan himself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail.. ."

"You two are dumber than a bag o' hammers."

OMG I love you guys! You have bona fides!

>18 clamairy: "Iz you iz, or iz you ain't my constituency?"

I'm going to have to watch that soon. Yes, the music was phenomenal.

"Tommy sold his soul to the devil, and you two just got baptized. I guess I'm the only one who remains unaffiliated." (Approximately.) I love it that Clooney almost cracked up delivering that line.

>13 Taphophile13: It sounds like we'll be helping you worry and rooting for your surgical team. Can you ease your nerves a bit by watching a greatly entertaining movie?

>14 Bookmarque: Thanks.
>22 Meredy: A movie sounds like a good idea. I've seen Red and Red2 but I'll have to try to find one of others. Thank you for the suggestions.

>16 Bookmarque: P.S. What Pig?

>24 Meredy:
“I’m going to get the pig.”

Decided: for tonight, it's O Brother.

Beautiful fall morning*1 in Bicester. Mrs H and I drove out to the stables*2 this morning and the leaves on the trees along the B4100 were absolutely glowing in the morning sun.

*1 I remember reading someone’s wondering why the English had abandoned “fall” as the name for “the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”. I thought it was Henry Fowler, but Modern English Usage clearly prefers “autumn”. As whoever-it-was said, “fall” is respectable early modern English, having been supplanted by “autumn” in the 18th century, is shorter and prettier, and is Saxon like the other three season names.

*2 Mrs H is of the opinion that her horses will die of starvation unless provided with carrots in large quantities. I go along as porter. Oh well, no doubt they have excellent night vision.

>27 haydninvienna:
Night Rider!

Incidentally, Bicester Airfield seems to be fairly active today, and one aeroplane that’s been around is a Waco biplane. This is not the 1930s Waco—it’s newly built to the original design, and using the traditional methods, but with modern safety equipment such as brakes and digital electronics. What a splendid idea. Thinks: how much would a Spitfire Mk9 with zero hours on airframe, engine and propeller be worth? Should be practicable with modern manufacturing methods. But how on earth would you get it certificated?

ETA last sale of a Mk9 that was built in 1943 and actually flew on operations: £4.5 million. For a certificated newly built one, if there were such a creature, I’m guessing at least £10 million.

>28 pgmcc: not me, Peter. Neither by day nor by night.

Processing fall photos.



Will probably get the dock components off the lawn later on. We took it off the water last week. Sigh.

>31 Bookmarque: Ahh, that's lovely. Sorry about the dock. I didn't realize you had to bring it in every Winter.

>31 Bookmarque: Stunning! Thank you for sharing.

>32 clamairy: yeah we do, it's a floating dock and leaving it on the water will probably get it wrecked eventually because it's river and even though it's slow because of dams, it still has current. Plus the ice itself can move a lot and pile up.

>31 Bookmarque: Beautiful shot. Thank you!

I finished my little wall, and put the plants back. Very pleased with it. I also did a few other fall jobs in the garden - putting away the birdbaths and some of the pots, picking the last of the tomatoes, etc.

The absolute highlight, though, was FINDING MY KEYS! I lost them over a week ago, and I've been looking ever since. I have spares of everything except the bike lock key, but even so, annoying! Our garden shed has two sections with separate doors, and I found the keys on the floor of the side that I hadn't been into (obviously!) since the keys went missing.

Thanks guys and thanks for found keys!! Woo hoo!

>31 Bookmarque: I am reading a book by a naturalist from Maine. When he describes the brooks, foliage, etc. Your photos come to mind.

My company has gone home. Grandson met Great Dane dog again, with reservations. He had a healthy sense of caution, which I applaud. Lovely weekend; tonight I will finish watching Rings of Power.

>3 Taphophile13: best wishes on your surgery! I had open heart surgery 4 years ago (valve job), and while it was no picnic, it went well and I have recovered well. I hope it will be the same for you! I will be thinking about you on Wednesday. Please let us know how you are doing when you are able.

We had civic elections here on Saturday, and I was working on the polls all afternoon until they closed, and helped with the final steps. All the counting was done by a machine, which scanned the ballots as they were completed. After the polls closed we just had to scan mail in and remote site ballots, then print and tabulate the results. Much better than counting by hand!

Today our seniors group had an AGM, followed by a pot-luck supper. I'm still on the board, but have avoided more responsible positions.

And I am still having fun with my new kitten.

>39 NorthernStar: Thank you so much. It's always good to hear from people who have already experienced what you are about to go through.

A new kitten makes everything better.

>3 Taphophile13: Better Half had a triple bypass, it must be about 20 years ago now. As NorthernStar says, no walk in the park, but the only recurring effect is the half-yearly visit to the cardiologist (a 50 km journey each way, but could be worse). Strength and courage to you.

>39 NorthernStar: We need kitten pictures!

>3 Taphophile13: Wishing you well for your surgery, and for a quick recovery.

>36 tardis: Your wall looks good (in the FB pics)!

My weekend was fairly quiet: a quiz night (my team came 3rd), church in the morning, then taking my mum shopping afterwards.

>41 hfglen: This isn't a kitten photo, but it is a young person (my grandson) making friends with a Green Dragon, so that's almost as good.

>43 MrsLee:
Super picture. Has he got his GD account yet on LT?

>41 hfglen: I'm glad to hear your Better Half is doing so well. My mother had a triple bypass 25 years ago but did not fully recover.

>43 MrsLee: What a handsome little dude.

>43 MrsLee: What a great pic! I'm so happy for you.

>44 pgmcc: I believe his mother started one, but she may have gotten sidetracked in the process of keeping up with the tornado.

>41 hfglen: you may be sorry you asked!

>48 NorthernStar: Ohhh, so so cute. I'm melting. :o)

>48 NorthernStar: Little Kitty looks just like my Feline Overlord, Mr Inky Mistoffelees, did at that age. May you have as much pleasure from yours as Mr Mistoffelees gives me.

>48 NorthernStar: So sweet!

>48 NorthernStar: I love black cats. Post as many pics as you want, can never have too many.

>48 NorthernStar:
Beautiful. Is the older cat ignoring the kitten?

~ head explodes from cuteness ~

>48 NorthernStar: oh! So adorable! What’s his name? BTW, I have two black cats. They are the best!

>43 MrsLee: He’s so cute!

>48 NorthernStar: Oh, he is so cute!!!

>43 MrsLee:'s picture reminds me that The Girls entered a competition run by a local pet-food company the other day. "HaydninVienna's friend Jess" won a swanky new bed and a toy. Here's Jess's new toy:

>57 hfglen: Appropriate! Best wishes to Jess.

>57 hfglen: Way to go Jess!

>53 pgmcc: Macduff is still hoping that if he ignores the kitten it will go away.

>55 catzteach: I'm still waffling on his name. I have a vet appointment to get him shots tomorrow, so will have to finalize by then. He's the third black cat I've had, and I had one tuxedo as well. I was really not planning to get another black cat, but he needed a home.

>48 NorthernStar: Is that Police Line - Do Not Cross tape? Did he need a home because his previous owners met with an unfortunate... accident? I'm thinking that Beelzebub may be an appropriate name,

>61 MrAndrew: 'bub for short?

I just named a black cat with a stub tail, who hangs out at the cemetery, Grimalkin. Grim for short.

>61 MrAndrew: LOL - actually it's fire line tape. I'm not sure of his story, but there were 4 kittens, brought in from out of town to find homes. The two stripey ones were already gone, leaving him and his sister, both black.

I've tried out several names, but they didn't seem to stick. Most recently Max, after the boy in Where the Wild Things Are. I may settle on McTavish, for no particular reason except that it continues the Scottish theme in my pet names.

>60 NorthernStar: I had an uncle who used to live in Southampton. He was owned by a Tuxedo Cat who rejoiced in the name of Thomas à Catt.
May I echo T.S. Eliot and remind you that
"The naming of cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE SEPARATE NAMES ..."
I submit that while Thomas may do for everyday, the fuller version was indeed a "name that never belong\s\ to more than one cat".

We once named a cat Colonel Tarakinini, after a Fijian strongman that was in the news at the time. Shortened to Colonel, it really suited him as a reserved, aloof cat that ruled his home and didn't take sh*t from any of the other inhabitants. Plus is was amusing on vet visits.

>66 MrAndrew: Happen if Little Kitty puts on far too much weight and develops an erratic, irrational temper one could call him Idi Amin ...

Well that does continue the Scottish theme, based on the title of that book & film.