usedtobeljs

Thank God it's Friday. Sigh.

*I am beginning to feel rather hemmed in, but since the Orange Satan visited nearby recently, I am now worried about venturing out, even masked. Will suck it up tomorrow for a quick trip downtown, but otherwise...

*Also, my allergies yikes.

*But Miss Adventure and I are now taking slightly longer walks in the morning, averaging a mile. Today it was a mile and a half. Does it wear her out at all? Oh no. OH NO.

*Also, I've started watching The Wine Show Series Two (on Hulu in the US, Amazon in the UK). I tried Season One, but couldn't get into it (I like Matthew Rhys but I didn't like him as presenter somehow). Series Two has Rhys staying in NYC [edited: London; NYC for Series Three] and Matthew Goode's partner in crime is now James Purefoy. Welp. Goode and Purefoy work for me. A lot a lot a lot.

*In fact, in Ep 2 of Series Two, Messieurs Goode and Purefoy (for reasons of the show) stumble out into the French morning, draped only in bedsheets 'round their lower limbs, and I might have exclaimed aloud, "OMFG, tag your porn!"

*Okay. I DID say that aloud. Miss Adventure rolled a weary eye at me and stretched out further on the top of the loveseat.

*Here, have a look at the Series 3 trailer, with a great song to accompany the stunning visuals.

There we go -- hugs, and have a great weekend! :)

This morning it was announced that Dame Diana Rigg passed away at the age of 82.

Diana Rigg has been an icon for me for years -- starting with Emma Peel, yes, but going beyond that. I will always be disappointed that I didn't get to see her on stage (and that I somehow missed seeing her and Mark Gatiss in Almodovar's All About My Mother at the Old Vic). But I think of her TV work in particular -- my deep and abiding love for her Mrs Bradley Mysteries probably the first that comes to mind.

Here's the Guardian's "life in pictures".

Dame Diana was elegant, smart as hell, acerbic, and yet somehow always grounded. She'll always be someone I look up to.

I was going to write a short Steed and Mrs Peel ficlet to honor her, but honestly I'm too tired and sad. Maybe for my birthday.

Anyway, rest in peace and power, Dame Diana.

So, I have been buffeted by work crises and family crises, all amidst the general pandemic/lockdown anxiety, and really, I can't stand to think of any of it right now.

But before I turn to an afternoon of work, here's a quick 10 Good Things:

1) The National Theatre at Home this past Thursday showed a 2017 Twelfth Night that I missed in the theatre. You can still watch it for free until this Thursday.
2) It's really delightful. Oliver Chris is an Orsino I've never seen before (sort of bisexual Bertie Wooster with Shakespeare's words), and I loved Tamara Lawrence's Viola-Cesario, and I ship them like burning.
3) My thing for Tim McMullan (who will also be in the upcoming Antony and Cleopatra) got even more intense after seeing his louche Sir Toby.
4) Also continuing to love Christian Kane and Almost Paradise.
5) Shifting gears: read the first in Ashley Weaver's 1930s historical mystery series, Murder at the Brightwell. Heroine Amory and her wayward, louche husband Milo are a rich couple in England, negotiating marriage issues, when Amory stumbles into investigating a murder. Fun, even with 1st-person narration. Will read the next in the series and report.
6) Shifting gears again: have been spending too much money online, but I bought on rare sale a Liberty-print popover shirt from Ann Mashburn, and it's joy-making to wear.
7) Also? My purchase of a straw Stetson last summer is looking prescient, because I need a hat to go out these days.
8) Miss Adventure continues to be a wild child, but I see moments of trainability which encourage me. She's currently in heat (because of course) and she can't be spayed until lockdown is over anyway, but once that's done, we'll try walking in the park.
9) She is the cuddliest cuddle-bug there ever was, too, which is a delightful change after Master Danger.
10) In two more weeks I'll be able to breathe more easily. Fingers crossed, anyway.

Hugs and good days to all.

Small crises at work have now swarmed into an Attack of Things That Suck, and I wake up every day longing for retirement. (It's several years away, la la la.) But let's think of better things.

Still thinking....

Okay, here we go, with a list of 10 good things:
1) Azaleas are in bloom here in the subtropics.
2) I finished the first draft of a major writing project that has been dragging on for years.
3) I immediately started its sequel and am 1500 words in, whilst planning revisions for the first.
4) Have conferred with Traveling-Best-Bud and we've agreed on Santa Fe, New Mexico, for May 2021.
5) (We're going to Scotland this May.)
6) Since I'll be in Santa Fe, why NOT drive the mere 400 miles to my beloved Marfa as well? So I will. :)
7) Also, I'm going to London this December by myself. Already have my ticket to see David Tennant on stage, too.
8) Chicken with Hatch green chiles is cooking in the slow-cooker right now.
9) Pilates this evening, which is the best way to end the weekend and start another hell-week.
10) I have already done my vote in my presidential primary election (it's vote-by-mail) and have dropped off my ballot at the courthouse. I decided to stop listening to all the strategic-voter babble, and just voted my heart. (Elizabeth Warren.) And once the primary season is over, I'll go volunteer to get out the November vote.

And here's two three-sentence fics on the subject of flowers, with two very different couples with the same theme:

( Lindsey/Fred, Deep Ellum )
........
( Twelve/River )

Happy week ahead to all!

Welp, I need to catch up on my journal (which I started Jan 1 and flailed at yesterday), I need to write my assigned number of words, and I need to get ready for work. Do I want to do any of this? No. The only thing I managed to do yesterday that I'd planned to do was eat relatively healthily.

La la la. I spent yesterday putting out fires at work (figurative) and booking for my next holiday in May (literal). Am I burned out? Oh yes. Oh so very much yes.

It's hideously, record-setting hot in the subtropics this week; the weather should break Friday, but until then....Master Danger is currently stretched out in front of the fan, trying to hog the breeze. Ah well.

So what else can I talk about?

*Thrilled that Zawe Ashton signed with heavy-hitting talent agency CAA. That probably means she's moving to LA or NYC, but... yay Zawe!

*Just got All The Ways We Said Goodbye, whose blurb reads "The New York Times bestselling authors of The Glass Ocean and The Forgotten Room return with a glorious historical adventure that moves from the dark days of two World Wars to the turbulent years of the 1960s, in which three women with bruised hearts find refuge at Paris’ legendary Ritz hotel." Look, that is ALL MY JAM. Now of course it joins my tottering TBR pile (virtual), but when I get to it I will report back. :)

*Thinking a lot about Sacha Dhawan in Doctor Who. Like, a lot.

*Thanks to Anne_D for an awesome present which came in the mail! Thank you!

Happy mid-week to all, and may you have fun stuff to consider

Welp, I had not planned to go silent for the last month, but it's been hell at work and then my big trip, so....

I'm back!

My birthday, which was a big one, was v.v. quiet. Had a lovely lunch with Freixenet and went to my killer exercise class, with work bits inbetween. Had a dinner with best bud A and her husband the week before (because they were on their way to a Central America holiday), and am promised dinner with best bud S at some point in early January. So there we are.

Did make it to London and back. (I just missed the horrors of train delays and washed-out motorways, so it was all good.) You might know that I'd planned an overnight trip to Paris as well, but, er, the Paris transportation strikes and the cancellation of our Eurostar meant it was just London. That was all I needed.

Theatre: A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic, with Paterson Joseph a great Scrooge and inventive, interactive staging by Matthew Warchus and great singing and energy from the company, pity about the muddled script by Jack Thorne; The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the National, SO FREAKING GOOD, magic and sadness and scares and healing, with Samuel Blenkin excellent as the Boy and Justin Salinger handsome and effective as Boy Grown Up/Dad, and Pippa Nixon as a first-rate creepy Ursula Monkton (one major plot point changed from the book, but it really worked); Cyrano with James McAvoy, directed in stripped-down moderne stylee by Jamie Lloyd as is his wont, GREAT first half, slow second half where the directorial conceit and script did not work nearly as well. McAvoy is as excellent as one would expect, and also hot as hell.

Exhibitions: first time to the Charles Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury (tiny, evocative); a powerful, magical, transformative Tim Walker exhibition at the V&A, which I will be thinking about for a long, long time; the small but choice exhibition at the Museum of London for the 40th (!!!) anniversary of the Clash's London Calling.

Visits with Paratti and L, as well as my brother and brother-in-law.

Eating out: Ivy, Tower Bridge, for my birthday dinner; Champagne and cheese at Champagne et Fromage near Covent Garden; dinner at Joe Allen which I enjoyed tremendously. Oh, and tea at the Ritz, where the Good Omens references came thick and fast.

Shopping: exhibition T-shirts, loads of books (including Zawe Ashton's latest play), stationery, Fortnum's (OF COURSE), and a gorgeous Stina Goya silk shirt from the Shop at Bluebird.

Master Danger was moderately pleased to see me return.

So -- will try to post one more time before the decade ends, but until then, happy holidays.

You might have noticed that there was a post on Halloween, which disappeared the next day. Alas for me -- I tried to edit something and then somehow clicked Delete. It is dispiriting, and also fairly consistent with the way my October into November went.

But I am hoping for a better season ahead. Thanks be to a cool front, the weather here in the subtropics is a mere 3 degrees above normal rather than 12, and it feels like proper autumn at last.

So -- 3 3-sentence fics on proper autumn:

( Mycroft/Anthea, established relationship, set now )


( Crane/Abbie, in a world which diverges from canon before the end of Season 3, established relationship )


( Hardy/Miller, post-series, established relationship )

Speaking of Olivia Colman and David Tennant, each of them has a song on the BBC Children in Need album which just came out: Colman does an amazing cover of Portishead's "Glory Box," and DT sings a plaintive and sweet cover of the Proclaimers' "Sunshine on Leith." It's a cool project.

Happy start to your week!

1) I cannot tell you how crammed full of Stuff my calendar has been.
2) So, so much work.
3) Also, it's been unseasonably hot (hottest September on record, going right into October), until a brief blast of autumn yesterday. It was glorious--
4) And now a Tropical Storm has passed well to the north but brought heat and rain. Bleah.
5) In anticipation of autumn, I sent two boxes of nice but no longer flattering clothes to thredUP, the online resale shop.
6) Pretty good deals there. It reminds me of my time in graduate school, shopping at Buffalo Exchange (which I believe still exists). I did major job interviews in clothes I got at the resale shop.
7) Now, of course, resale also is an environmentally sound choice, even beyond the bargains. Reduce reuse recycle, as we used to say.
8) Today's good thing: my local grocery store is carrying Topo Chico 4-packs of sparkling water. YAY.
9) Also, I took a new exercise class this morning at the local Pilates studio. Good instructor, fun moves. We will pass over my clumsiness.
10) What else? I have been sucked into reading Hardy/Miller fic (Broadchurch) on AO3.
11) Look, I understand and support the reason Chibnall et al emphatically shut down Hardy/Miller as an option on screen, even making sure they didn't hug. Perfectly fine.
12) But post-season-3 getting-them-together or established-relationship fics ARE MY JAM. It's like, hmmm, she's complicated and sparky yet sad, he's brooding but decent at his core, they speak the same language of sarcasm and shouts. How could I not love them?
13) Also, not going to lie, the great David Tennant Renaissance of 2019 continues apace.
14) Although I can't watch Criminal on Netflix, for reasons.
15) Further, I am looking forward to Olivia Colman's turn on The Crown, and it pleases me mightily that she got the cover stories on Vogue US last month and Harper's Bazaar UK this month.
16) In other news -- Master Danger is slowing down rapidly, which is depressing. He has his senior-dog checkup Thursday, and I dread to think what his vet will say.
17) In other other news -- am I looking forward to Betrayal on Broadway next month? OMG.
18) And then London in December, wheee.
19) Hugs to all, and may you have lists of goodness.

1) So tired. So, so tired.
2) Did two hour-long workouts in a fourteen-hour period, which, ouch a bit, but mostly I'm tired from other things.
3) But it's Friday, hurrah!
4) Am wearing Paul Smith socks (black with bright pink flowers) for a secret lift.
5) What's lifting you up right now?
6) I am eating Greek yogurt (low-sugar, no Xylitol).
7) Master Danger gets to lick the yogurt cup when I'm done, which he appreciates.
8) I am thinking about music as well. Been listening to Hot Rocks for a little olde-time Rolling Stones action.
9) Thinking about switching to Elvis Costello or Bill Withers or Sade for the evening.
10) In the car this afternoon, I heard on the radio this 80s bop -- "Things Can Only Get Better" by Howard Jones.
11) Wouldn't it be pretty to think so.
12) [sings Whoa-whoa-whoa chorus]
13) I have been writing on an original project lately and planning another.
14) But sometimes I find myself thinking about Mycroft, no longer the British Government, and how he's getting along.
15) In the short term, honestly, poor Sherlock.
16) Speaking of British thesps I like, Tom Hiddleston has been doing loads of press for Betrayal. The New York Times article is especially nice.
17) We will not speak of the journalist who brought up Taylor Swift to Hiddleston after the subject had been deemed off-limits.
18) Let's show some manners, rude journalist.
19) I am slightly embarrassed by how much I enjoy TSwift's video for her new single "Lover".
20) TSwift gives me a bit of secondhand embarrassment herself, too.
21) Clearly I am a fool for melodic pop songs, anyway.
22) Let's put on something great and dance around the living room.
23) Hugs to all!

Where have I been? Nowhere? What have I been doing? Spinning my wheels in mud.

Otherwise, 22 points:

1)I am passionate about my new car. As a person who has hitherto not liked driving, I thoroughly enjoy zipping it around.
2)I do not understand all the connectivity bits, however. It will take a day of sustenance and poss. prayer to be able to make it through the manual.
3) Master Danger has not yet been in the car, but I have a new fleece backseat protector so that he, King o' Shedding, won't leave an ineradicable presence.
4) My baby brother was here this past weekend, and he spoke warmly about the car, which is nice since I drove him around for two days.
5) Saturday was a perfect morning for our beach walk. I am reminded that I like beach-walking, and I like the sound of the ocean.
6) It's odd what one forgets, eh?
7) I did NOT forget to book a ticket for a November night of Betrayal on Broadway. Hooray! Orchestra seating (I still think of it as the stalls), albeit a goodly number of rows back.
8) Look, I just love Hiddleston and Ashton and this production, I don't know what else I can say.
9) It'll be the only show I see, because DEAR GOD Broadway tickets are expensive. (Like, double the price of West End seats.)
10) I'll take the train up to the Bronx to see a dear friend of mine and his family instead.
11) I also need to book for this exhibition at the FIT museum. It is my kind of thing.
12) Weather permitting, I'll also check out the High Line.
13) That's about it. Am not an NYC person.
14) What else... I de-accessioned a few pieces from my closet yesterday.
15) And, er, I purchased YET ANOTHER shirt-dress, no I am not going to link, I am too embarrassed.
16) But it is my style, after all.
17) Have also been revisiting the Tenth Doctor era of Doctor Who. Lord, DT was young back then. I was struck by the star power of "The Lazarus Experiment," too -- Mark Gatiss as Main Baddie, Bertie Carvel casually walking through as sinister person from Harold Saxon (sadly never to return), Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Martha's sister and Adjua Andoh as Martha's mom. Wow.
18) Also rewatched "School Reunion" (evil Tony Head, BLESS) and "The Girl in the Fireplace" (which is my favorite of Tennant-era Who). Love love love.
19) Off to work now, but I am glad to have checked in.
20) Master Danger will go out into the steam-heat and then head for his bed, where I have a fan just for him.
21) And I will be driving to a Nearby Town, poss. in the rain, for a TSA Pre-check appointment. I am so very spoiled.
22) Hugs to all, and joy for you!