Whatever Wednesday - Ray Birthday Salute for August 1

Happy Birthday Ray  - August 1

He's my beach dude

He said "I do" back in 1989 - really - who are these children?

New truck  in 2024 - darn slick, dude

 Happy Birthday, Ray for August 1st but I post on Wed.   So Happy Birthday Eve!!!  You're still young!!!

Love ya lots.   Let's eat Cake!

Monday Moments - North Woods by Daniel Mason

My PA book club is discussing this book in August. Great  choice. North Woods by Daniel Mason  started a bit slow.  I kept putting it down.  Then - wham- the story turned and it pulled together. I became enamored with the flow and wondered what  would  happen next. That's the key to a great book - when the author engages the reader and the reader can't stop turning the pages.  

One house in the woods of New England. Through centuries, we hear about the lives that inhabit  this space - a daring, moving tale of memory and fate.  (cover  blurb)

Young lovers from a Puritan  colony

An English soldier devotes himself to growing apples

spinster  twins - yikes  - death!

crime  reporter and secrets ..............all of this in these woods,  on this home property that everyone keeps expanding

A lovelorn painter, a sinister  con  man,  plus creatures - a panther, a beetle, birds

This novel, North Woods by Daniel Mason,  brims with love and madness, humor and hope. It follows cycles of history,  nature, language, and magical  connections to environment.   

cover blurb: How  do we live on, even after  we're gone?    Yowza  - lots to process here. 

 

Finally Friday - The House of Hidden Meanings Review

The boy with the  unusual name

RuPaul Charles just knew he was meant  for bigger things in this  world. 

The House of Hidden Meanings is one  of his memoirs and it is a fascinating  read. He has a way with words. He's had an amazing life so far. And he's driven. He's had a mission.  He's unique. 

Reading  this is following  a  person into self-actualization.  He always knew he wasn't like anyone else. And when he dressed and performed in  drag - well.........magic.   He was tall. He was lovely. He had  style. He just knew........

The rest  of the world had  to catch up.  

p. 190   All my adventures, all those failed attempts at becoming something - I had just been  gathering  string. 

I really enjoyed this memoir.  He's different in a good way.  He truly found his way which I admire. He's funny as hell.  What the heck! Just be who you are,  embrace who you are, and embrace love, hard work, and  go with it.  Dang  good!

Whatever Wednesday - Just a Moment of Summer

 A friend's photo that  encapsulates summer freedom and  family (cousin) love. 

Georgie (age 8) with older high school cousin.  This tall guy will haul this girl anywhere. 

Sweetness

Family love

Just a cool summer pic

Monday Moments - A Gem in Irving TX

Enjoyed a one hour little adventure in Irving.  The Irving Archives and History Museum turned out to be a new little gem. Within 30 minutes of my house.  New modern building that opened in Feb 2020 - oops bad timing.  But now it is in full stride.  

This exhibit called Thrift Style was curated in  Kansas and featured here.  Feedbags turned  to clothing during  the Depression era.  Really cool.  Early repurposing done in style. 

Irving  history - stuff started popping  here when the original Cowboys  - Texas Stadium was built.  Had the hole  in the roof so  "God could watch his team".   Yeah,  yeah - that's the myth. 

 And a rather sobering art exhibit called "La Frontera: The Border" was coordinated by the Dallas Latino Society.  Various artists explored the heartache of the border situation.  A lot of the works gave one pause.  Wow.  Very powerful traveling exhibit. 

This "new" museum is a gem.  I will  go back as new exhibits arise.  Thanks, Irving.  Money well spent. 

Finally Friday - Amon Carter Museum

You'll  see a theme right now -  Ray and I are trying  to beat the heat.  Fortunately, a good place to  escape is a local  art museum.  After a delightful  Tex-Mex lunch at Uncle Julio's, we drove over  to the Amon Carter Museum.  The featured exhibit was Moving Pictures: Karl Struss and the Rise of Hollywood. 

Karl Struss ( 1886-1981) valued photography as an art form. His soft-focus compositions and labor intensive processes enhanced the tone.  He did commercial  work such as ads for Kodak.  He made studio portraits in Hollywood - the glamour shots of Gloria Swanson and  more.  Film  stills were staged, separate from the actual filming  of a movie.

He won/shared the first Oscar for  Cinematography for "Sunrise"(1927).  He  was also  nominated for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Sign of the Cross (1934), and Aloma of the South Seas (1941). 

He was an innovator  and  created the Struss Pictorial Lens for soft focus  compositions. Struss worked on over  150 films during his career.  

The  Amon  Carter's collection holds  over 2,000 photographs and 5,000  negatives by Struss. Very impressive.  I always learn something after an afternoon of art and photography. Food  for the eyes. (and a great way to  beat the heat)
 

Whatever Wednesday - Jubilee Theater

 It was the final hot Sunday in June and I treated myself to the cool  Jubilee Theater in downtown  Fort Worth. This place is a gem with fine acting, great productions, and thought provoking drama. That day's show Thoughts  of a Colored Man by Keenan Scott II did not disappoint. 

The director quoted Jesse Owens, " The battles that count aren't the ones for  gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at. "  This show brings to light the internal struggles and unseen challenges that Black men face daily. 

The characters in this show - Love, Anger, Depression, Passion, Lust, Happiness, and Wisdom - all move about  the stage in small vignettes located in Brooklyn.  Work, barbershop, sports, expecting a child, getting over a break-up.  There's humor, sadness, struggle, and delight - all depicted with humanity. The  actors were tremendous and the stories they told  were powerful. 

I appreciated this fine afternoon  of theater. Thank you Jubilee for your presentations. 

Monday Moments - Real Americans by Rachel Khong

1999 -  Lily Chen, an unpaid intern, meets Mathew in New York City. He's heir to a vast fortune. She's the only child of  scientists who fled Mao's China. They fall in love despite differences. 

In 2021, Nick Chen, age fifteen, feels like an outsider on an isolated Washington state island. He senses his mother Lily is hiding  something and he decides to seek out his biological father. Note - Nick, while half Asian, is a tall blond haired blue eyed kid. 

cover blurb - In immersive, moving  prose, Rachel Khong's Real Americans weaves a profound tale  of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and  inheritance, a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.  This book is an inquiry into  the forces that roil our new century: Are we destined or made?  And, if the latter, who gets to  do the making? 

I found this book to offer a different perspective on culture, race, past, and present. I really liked the characters and the author presented the various clashing issues well as our characters worked their way through life. Secrets emerge. Feeling  are  hurt. People reconnect. Family can be very complicated. 

Finally Friday - Cool off at the Movies

Hot afternoon. What to do? What to do?  Treat yourself to the Pixar film Inside Out 2. It's worthy of a small popcorn and small soda. 

I enjoyed Inside Out (1) in the theater a few  years ago,  and it's currently streaming on  Disney. But if you didn't see it, no worries. You can easily follow the story line. 

 Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Tony Hale), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness, and Disgust (all  are in the command central body space)  are the stars running Riley's life. She's  excited playing ice hockey, she enjoys her friends, she's a kind  kid, and  she loves her parents. You get this synopsis in the opening scenes.  

Then, Riley's  innards undergo Puberty construction and who  shows  up but Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), and Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos).  Let the power struggle of  being a teenager begin. The original crew don't  know how to handle these new emotions, yet they know Riley to the core. 

This animated romp takes Riley to hockey camp - should  she stay with her old friends (nerds),  or try to  get in the cool girl group?  Being a teenage girl, emotions change by the minute and this movie does a very good job  of  depicting  the confusion. I enjoyed laugh out loud moments, and could completely identify and understand.  Inside Out 2 is a very fun  way to spend ninety minutes enjoying imaginative entertainment.  Big thumbs up
 

Whatever Wednesday - Ray Reunion Time

 Saturday, June 22nd, Ray trekked out  to east Texas for the 91st annual family reunion.  Here's his group - they are from the Cleo connection.  Many of the other family units boost a lot more  people.  Ray figured there  were over one hundred  people  there for the Sunday BBQ  feast. 

My tradition is  to NOT go - too darn  hot.  The past two  years I did drive Ray's folks for the Sunday meal, so they could  visit.  Last  year was the  official 90th  and that was special.   This year, the heat  was going to be even crazier and the folks mobility has  gone downhill.  

Thus, I had friends  over and floated in our pool for  "Sangria Sunday".   Ray enjoyed all of his cousins, etc.   He did win  the 42 domino tournament.  Rah!   Son Kevin's volleyball team won.  So a good time had  by all.  And Ray had a big card signed by various family members to present  to Ray's folks, so they were thought of  and  remembered. 

Another reunion is on the books. 

Monday Moments - the "New" Arlington Museum of Art

My pickleball gang branched out to visit the "new" Arlington Museum of Art.  It was previously located in downtown Arlington - it was small, had character, felt intimate, and presented the art exhibits well. 

Now they moved to an old convention center. Bigger ain't better folks. The place felt  like  a concrete temporary box and the exhibit seemed like a pop-up after thought.  Of  course, we have to pay for the "new" place so  fees were higher and they now charge for  Parking.  Boo  hiss!!  The ridiculous part - parking was way in the back of the buildings. Thus the walk to the museum was past dock  doors.  Very ugly first impression.  No signs, no sculptures.  They could at least paint a mural on the docks.  

Meanwhile the exhibit itself was "meh".  It  lacked  many real  artifacts and "wow" items.  There was one decent  short film.  The replicas of equipment created back  in Pompeii were interesting.  Obviously until  the city was buried under ash it was quite advanced.   And in the real Pompeii, Italy more  and more is being discovered. 

Thumbs down Arlington Museum of Art. You are going to have to work hard to lure me back. 

Finally Friday - The Fury by Alex Michaelides

 The Fury by Alex Michaelides.   Wow.  Holy Cow.  Damn!

A friend told me about this book and I immediately found it at the library. Then I read it in a fury.  It's nutso.  Crazy plot and characters.  Compelling and page turning.  Very creative and kudos to the author. 

cover blurb -  This is a tale of murder

Or maybe that's not quite true. At its heart, it's a love story, isn't it? 

Trapped

Old friendships

reclusive ex-movie star

game of cat  and  mouse

a battle of wits

The night ended in violence and death

But who am I?

I am not  revealing a thing.  The Fury is brilliant. I could not stop turning pages.  Say, What?  Seriously?    OMG

This book is very different.  Quite the spin.                   Enjoy.  

Whatever Wednesday - July 4th Celebration

Happy July 4th everyone

No, this flag is not upside down - duh!    

I truly hope America finds its way to support its allies (hello, Ukraine - beat Putin at his stupid game)

 Enjoy summer, family, burgers, beer, sunshine, beaches, pools, and freedom.  Democracy.

Let's reflect on history. The Founding Fathers. The Constitution. 

What  do we really want  to present  to the world?    Not the ravings of a lunatic. 

Oh dear Lord. 

Cheers all???????????????????

Monday Moments - I Declare Summer

 July 1

It is summer

Don't you love this gnome?

'nuff said.  I am floating in the pool a lot.  I thank my cabana boy - Ray.  He's the best. 

Happy July and I declare it is summer, for sure.