Whatever Wednesday - Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead

 Here's the third in his Harlem trilogy, and Cool Machine by Colson  Whitehead does not disappoint. 

cover blurb - This story roves all over NYC from Windows on the World to Sugar Hill, to show that in  New York and the lives of Whitehead's vivid characters, it's what's below the surface that reveals the truth. 

1981 - Ray Carney - business owner/ master fence has just been named Sterling Furniture's Northeast Regional Dealer of the Month.  His wife, Elizabeth, needs a loan for her new travel agency. The banks refuse her, so Ray gambles on one last heist.  It's always one more.... uh oh

1983 - Pepper, Carney's buddy and partner in crime, is feeling his age. But he takes on a bodyguard gig as a favor to Elizabeth. The art/club scene prove problematic, but Pepper knows the language of violence. 

1986  Carney has a chance to rescue his dead cousin Freddie's son.  But he's sworn he was going to stay straight.  Oops. One more deal with Pepper. Everything has to go down smooth.  Will it?

I love Colson Whitehead's writing. He's just so cool. He's funny. He creates the perfect Harlem/ NYC vibe. 

example A per me:   Ray's meeting a guy

You did not lam it in a second rate pizza joint. More unforgivable, their slices exhibited low structural integrity when folded and thirty seconds after hitting the paper plate bled out orange grease. It was shameful to pass through their doors. 

Treat yourself to some time with Ray Carney, Pepper, and quite a cast of characters. And find a decent slice of pizza while reading.  Enjoy!

Monday Moments - Look Around and Up

 A quick Monday reminder to wander, look around, and explore.  The Philly airport often has displays to catch the eye. They feature some artists, or just a colorful balloon display. 

 and when you do sit down to wait for your plane, don't just stare at your phone.

Look Up

This nice message made me smile - Shine Anyway

That's your goal  today - muddle along and shine.  September is almost over and the final quarter of 2026 begins on  Thursday.  Yikes!

Finally Friday - The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

 Flavia de Luce is back, as well as her sister Ophelia, and Dogger the estate gardener. It's fall in Bishop's Lacey, England but not quiet. Ophelia is to be wed and there's excitement in the air. 

back blurb: Flavia muses, "A church is a wonderful place for a wedding, surrounded as it is by legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar."

Flavia, age twelve, is an expert in poisons, and has amazing detection skills. Dogger has his own skills and secrets, and helps Flavia in her endeavors. Her first case is a doozy - there's a human finger in Ophelia's wedding cake.    What?  Who? Why?

Alan Bradley delivers quite a journey for answers in The Golden Tresses of the Dead.  It's a hoot to read. 

Whatever Wednesday - The Odyssey

 Better late than never to review  The Odyssey.    WOW - fantastic movie. 

I was hesitant due to the running time of 3 hours.  Sounded like a slog. Nowadays, I find some editing needs to be done. Whatever made me think I should question the director, Christopher Nolan? He knew what he was doing. 

So, on a steamy hot Sunday - 9/6/26 - I decided to spend my hours in an airconditioned movie theater. Time well spent.  The cinematography is gorgeous. The acting is tremendous. The story moves along well. Each travel chapter brought back memories from my honors English class in high school.  I was never big into Greek mythology, but retained enough to appreciate this film effort. 

Matt Damon is our hero, Odysseus. He is perfect in this role.  Tom Holland as his son, Telemachus, is very good. Anne Hathaway is Penelope, wife and mother. It's a quieter but important role.  She has faith that her husband will come home and staves off the suitors circling for power.  John Leguiziamo as Eumaeus, the blind seer, is tremendous (very worthy, I think, of a supporting actor nomination).  There is a much deeper cast who play Athena (Zendaya), Calypso (Charlize Theron), and more - all integral to Odysseus fights, and travels to return home. 

Big thumbs up and highly recommended.  

Monday Moments - Hagley Museum

One final memory batch from my summer trip back east.  The Hagley Museum in Wilmington DE. 

The visitor center housed exhibitions featuring diverse stories of American innovation

Brandywine River offered water power for the production of gun powder

Pollinator garden

Water works area

Historic barn - weather vanes, a cooper shop, wagons, carriages, and antique vehicles on display

 Eleutherian Mills Residence - Ancestral du Pont family home

The grounds were gorgeous and the walking tour was very interesting.   The Powder Yard had an orientation center, the roll mills, 19th century working  machine shop, and black powder explosion demonstration. 

Excellent preservation of history.  My sister and I were there for a few hours and didn't see everything. (We got hungry and voted to leave for lunch - a yummy cheesesteak sandwich)

Wonderful day in Delaware. 

Finally Friday - Gooey Cinnamon Bun

so  - I know this is old news.  So much crap happens so  fast.  But remember when you know who got on another plane due to a possible threat?  But he let the regular original plane with his flunkies (department staff like our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio) and news folks, worthy journalists go ahead and fly.    ???  

Like, holy crap.  Frankly, day to day, I often feel as I read the news, that we are all on  that  decoy plane daily.  We are plugging  along, and so much out of  control stupid stuff is happening.  There are no adults in charge of  the mission, at this juncture.  America.  The United States of America is out of control and no one is steering. 

Thus - this gooey cinnamon bun from  Mario's Bakery  in Collingswood NJ is worthy of every bite.

Forget a diet.  Forget sugar.  Considering the world we live in - YOU deserve a very gooey cinnamon bun.  I can promise you....this was melt in the mouth yummy.  

What...Me... Worry?   nah....
 

Whatever Wednesday - Longwood Lily Pads

You gotta explore the new conservatory area and see the giant lily pads. 

You feel like you could scamper across the pond on these lily steps....

or sail away......

so  pretty

 quite magical

Longwood  Gardens is a delight. 

Monday Moments - Longwood Gardens 2026

Every year now, when I visit my sister in Delaware, we head to Longwood Gardens in PA.  She's a member and we can explore the gardens and then enjoy their nightly fountain  show.  This year the theme was Animated Music.  At  9:30 pm, the fountains light up to music and water dance to the music. There are also arcs of water with fire.  It's awesome.   

Meanwhile - here's some August garden glory

This is not part of the fountain show.  

Every corner is magical as we stroll the grounds
 

And me against a huge hedge. 

Plan to stay a few hours to stroll and explore. 

Finally Friday - September 11 2001

9/11/2001 

 Every year, this date just sears the soul.  Ray and I had been in NYC the  week or so before. We had enjoyed baseball - Mets and Yankees, US Open Tennis, Broadway shows, a tour of the World Trade Tower, and so much more.  We  had walked amongst the thousands of New Yorkers just living their lives.  

We  flew back to Texas on September 1st.    2001

Then, a sunny Tuesday, as I drove  to work my radio station KISS FM 106.1 reported a plane flying into a  trade center tower.  Say what?

Got to  work, and our small group gathered around a black and white tv.  Then we watched, with horror, the towers fall. 

chills, sadness, scared, amazement and awe, just every emotion possible and the question....why?.....how?.....now what......?

so much changed

and so much more could change, needs to  change.  Do  we learn from history?  

9/11/2001  Never Forgotten

Whatever Wednesday - Baldwin Book Barn and bonus beach day

Here's the  Baldwin Book Barn in West Chester PA.  It  is a real old barn - very cool. 

and it houses over 300, 000 books.  Yes, you read that right.  Five floors of well curated used books. 

Pick a category, any category and you'll find a treasure. 

Here's the fifth floor just to  give you an idea

Very nifty old barn door

Outside view.  This was SO cool to wander.  Every coffee table book imaginable is here.  

I did not spend money because I was flying and I've been downsizing my collection.  But oh, this was so tempting.  It would be a great place to come do research for any weird topic. 

 And then Tuesday - beach day at Rehoboth Beach.  Gorgeous day.  BUT  - big alert - jellyfish water. Oh yuk - so  damn creepy.  Walking along the waves, you had to really watch  to not step on anything gunky. 

Still worth it - just sat and watched the waves, the seagulls, and cute kids making sand castles. 

Plus - bonus pizza on the boardwalk AND ice cream.   Treat day

 Books and beach - does life get any better? 

Monday Moments - Retired, No Labor Here

It's Labor Day Monday.  I respect all worker bee fights for pay, etc.  However, I'm grateful to be retired and not in the game. Whew!    

So let's continue enjoying my summer adventures - here's a very tall sequoia tree at the Tyler Arboretum. I enjoyed a visit there in  August with my sister. 

and then brunch with Lori.   She is the BEST

cool mural in West Chester

and a little bird's next tree house there. 

fun findings as we wandered. 

Hope you've had a great weekend and good luck on Tuesday with Back to Work.  I'll  just be back to yoga and my regular YMCA schedule.  Rah!

Finally Friday - Tyler Arboretum in PA

More August fun with Lori

A morning stroll at the Tyler Arboretum in PA.   Big chair, little sister
 

Tree house view

a gnome in an old tree trunk

a child of the corn - ME!

Whatever Wednesday - summer fun

I fled to the Northeast in  August  - 9th thru 19th - to escape the heat, to see my siblings, and to just have a change of pace.  Mission accomplished.  

Here we are - me with David and Lori at the Upper Bucks County Historical Society.  Catching up on ancient history. 

Post cheesesteak sandwiches with David, Lori, me, and David's wife Cherie. 
 

This is the famous Trainer's lobster in Quakertown PA.  Trainers was a fancy restaurant that my father worked at as a teen. The lobster was on  top of the restaurant that is now gone. Folks  would come up from Philadelphia to eat here.  Dad was a busboy.   We had a fine time checking out this step back in time at the historical society.  Found our folks' old yearbooks and other listings for them in old records. 

Across the street we toured the Burgess Foulke home.  Very interesting - build in 1812

And this is Liberty Hall 1772.  The Liberty Bell slept here overnight on 9/23/1777 on the way from Philadelphia to Allentown to avoid being melted down by British troops.  At the time it had no crack. 

You read that right - 1777       Damn, I love history and it's  everywhere you turn back east. 

Super Tuesday Anniversary Special Post

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, RAY

37 YEARS

LOVE,   JOANNE 

Monday Moments - Suffs - the musical

 

Back on August 8th, I treated myself (and yes, I do treat myself to shows a lot) to the touring production of SUFFS at Bass Hall in Fort Worth.  It's a Tony Award winning musical by Shaina Taub. She is the first woman to win  for Best Book and Best Score.  The show was fabulous and totally lived up to the hype.  I remember watching a musical number on the Tony Awards and thinking - oh, yeah, when it rolls through here, I am going.  

SUFFS is the story of brilliant, passionate and funny American women who  fought tirelessly for the right to vote. The show  explores triumphs and trials and frankly the split in some women's styles - old school  vs new.   The show made me realize I need to bolster my knowledge of many of these famous women - Mollie Hay, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, and so many others. 

The musical is clever  - catchy tunes, great voices, and wonderful production. If it rolls through your area, I urge you to buy a ticket.   Support the arts.  Support women. Support the right and privilege to vote. 

And more than ever, plan to vote in the fall!!! 

Finally Friday - Tony (a movie)

 Big blockbuster movies rule, but a few little art house projects sneak under the radar. It's over one hundred degrees in TX. It's too hot outside to even enjoy our pool.  Movie matinee time and Tony is a decent "little" film. 

Tony (Dominic Sessa) is a hot headed college kid - arrogant wise acre and so, so green. He ultimately becomes Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential chef extraordinaire). In this movie, he's just Tony. He's lost a summer writing prize, he heads to Providence seeking a girl (Nancy - Emilia Jones), he has no experience, fights and gets kicked out of a restaurant (bounced by hooligan Sal (Leo Woodall) )

. The rest becomes a bit of history as he manages to get on with said fish place under the guidance of Chef (Antonio Banderas).  Chef sees something in Tony, and Tony somehow senses he can learn. He needs the discipline, but he also screws up a lot. Drugs, drinking, carousing - you get a hint of the life Bourdain later wrote about. You also see the camaraderie and the growth of  Tony, his potential. 

Decent acting, interesting coming  of age story, and a nice  cool theater. I was happy for my two hours in a darkened air-conditioned show.  Look for Tony - probably streaming soon near you. 

(It also made me want to rewatch some Anthony Bourdain  shows - the man was so good. So sad he died by suicide) 

 

Whatever Wednesday - RIP Dolly Parton

 I shall confess I was late to the Dolly Parton bandwagon.  I was never a big country music fan. Way back when, in the Ed Sullivan show days, I didn't clamor to stay up to watch her. I was a Motown gal - Diana Ross, etc. 

BUT.  Whitney singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton. Now, that was a wow of a song. 

Dolly in movies - 9 to 5, Steel Magnolias - absolutely

And as I aged, I appreciated reading interviews about  her. Smart, funny, clever, creative.  A superb businesswoman who cared about people. 

Her Inspiration Library  - another WOW of a humble use of her money. The gift of a book to a child opens  a world  of possibilities.  And, of  course, her contribution to science - funding for the COVID vaccine to save lives. 

Dolly Parton - RIP at age 80.   We were lucky to have her around and her legacy will live on - a genuinely good person.   

Monday Moments - American Fantasy by Emma Straub

 Looking for a summer escape? Ahoy - Board the American Fantasy cruise ship for four days with your favorite nineties era boy band. Three thousand screaming women worshipping middle aged dudes.

Emma Straub writes a good tale with American Fantasy.  Annie is fifty, divorced, and signed on to this trip  with her sister. Alas, the sister can't go, so Annie is shocked at herself for starting to enjoy the hype. 

cover blurb - Call it memory. Call it nostalgia. Call it the chemical reaction of hormones, hope, and sexual reawakening.  By the time, Annie meets one of the band members - not just a celebrity but someone in need of a friend - she has accessed a sense of new possibility.

The story is  told from various viewpoints, Annie, boy band dudes, and the managing director of the whole four days. Her tale is rather exhausting - controlling the guys, herding the fans, and making the  magic happen. 

Emma Staub captures the vibe - the passion, the yearning, the dips into the past, and the reality that exists. 

This is a silly, very fun read.  I confess - back in the  day, I'd buy Tiger Beat: I loved David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, and more.  I could totally get on board this fantasy trip.  

Finally Friday - Shirley Hazard stories

Shirley Hazard (1931-2016) is a renowned author from back in the day. She won the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and more.  I found her Collected Stories at our library sale for only two dollars.  What a lovely treat!

back blurb - These twenty eight stories are masterworks in telescoping focus, ranging from quotidian struggles between beauty and pragmatism to satirical send-ups of international bureaucracy, from the Italian countryside to suburban CT. Hazard's heroes are high-minded romantics who struggle to accommodate their feelings to the twentieth-century world of office jobs and dreary marriages.

Hazard's writing and characters have an old fashioned touch, but in a good way. Her descriptions of world weary people going  about their day, or dreading a dinner party are spot-on.  Sharp  humor, clever dialogue - her writing propels one to keep turning the page. I laughed out loud at times.  One of my favorite sentences was something to the effect that the "woman looked like a resort town in the rain".  Oh my!  Can't you just picture it - bedraggled, a bit rough. 

This book was a gem on sale. I now need to seek out her novels. Quite the find. 

 

Whatever Wednesday - Anxious People by Frederik Backman

 I like Fredrik Backman's writing. He finds the quirkiness in folks and writes interesting stories. Anxious People was not a favorite. It had its moments and was amusing. But I also found it a tad contrived. 

At an apartment open house, a failed bank robber bursts in and takes eight strangers hostage. Ultimately, each person's story emerges, some coincidences occur, and the poor bank robber is a mess unto himself. 

back blurb: Each person carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, the reluctant hostages turned allies set in motion an unexpected chain of events. The theme is friendship, forgiveness, and hope - the things that save us, even in the most anxious of times.  

I got this book for $1 at a library sale and I was interested enough to keep turning pages. But then I sorta groaned at a few twists in the tale. I'm going to pass this along - others may love this book.  I don't necessarily need more angst!