Nori Kimura was helping Stan Brown, and I understand one of the ways to use past tense in a sentence. Well, Nori was helping me, and Stan was shaking his head because I usually pester Nori to answer a question. Stan’s Japanese is pretty good. He can read hiragana and katakana well, but his Kanji knowledge is still below my grade level. We played a game called KitKat roulette, in which several KitKat flavors are in a bag, and you reach in and eat the KitKat with your eyes closed and tried to guess the flavor. Nori thought his taste, Macha. I guessed my flavor, Dark Chocolate. But Stan struggled with his flavor, which turned out to be Cheesecake.
Tuesday was a very full day. I hosted my online drawing group Epic Sketch Time. This time we gave each other tips on drawing birds. Hanh, who has enjoyed attending for the last three weeks, informs us that she will miss the next meeting. She’ll be traveling next week to visit relatives. Bill, Katie, and I are going to miss her. I hope she returns. I want to hear all about her travels. I picked up some take-out sushi for dinner at the Metropolitan Market. I wanted to have something in for Mom and Dad to eat in the car. There would be no place to take them out to dinner as their flight would arrive at 8 pm. All the restaurants would be closed by the time I got them into the car. It was while I was waiting for the luggage that I learned how much they took with them. Stan sent me a text saying I should look for two large bags, two backpacks, two carry-ons, a walker, and a wheelchair. I was a little worried. I only had a sedan. I was glad that I didn’t ask Krista to come along. As it was, poor Mom practically had the wheelchair and walker sitting on her. It was a long drive home, but they hung in there like troopers. It was late when all the bags were brought in. I texted the siblings to confirm arrival, took questionable items from the fridge, added new items to the refrigerator, and had the parents take their pills that I crashed out in the spare room.
I knew all about my folk’s adventurers in Hawaii. My brother Stan was good at sending us photos and updates via text. I could tell my folks were tired because they didn’t go into much detail about their trip on their ride home. They were more curious about how I’d spent my day. I’ll have to grill my father for details about his fishing in Hawaii later. I could hear them unpacking as I drifted off to sleep.
The following day the clinic called me on my cellphone before I got out of bed. I have a simple preventive procedure coming up, and I learned a few days earlier that my insurance required a visit to my primary doctor. When I learned this, I tried to schedule online, but nothing was available until after the deadline. I’d sent a message pleading my case. The call was to let me know that another physician could see me that day. Could I be there by 1:30? I confirmed I could. I went upstairs and began cooking breakfast. I thought my folks would be exhausted, but they got up when I got the eggs going. I was able to sit and eat with Mom. She complained that it was colder than Hawaii. I gave my father a kiss and a hug as I sat his plate down for him, and then I was out the door. I made it home to shower and have lunch before my appointment. Afterward, I went on a walk with my neighbor Pat. I also delivered a client’s completed project to the printer.
Alley News
The weather said it would rain this weekend, and it did, lightly. The rain was also in the evening. And while the ground was damp, it wasn’t so soggy that Krista and I couldn’t do some gardening. The state of the soil lent itself to the dandelion pulling I was doing. I could extract the long roots without snapping them off and risking the weed growing back. I made good progress. Once Krista retired into the house to do some cooking, I chanced the weather and used the weed whacker to know down the grass in the garden. I racked up all the trimming to help with Krista’s allergies. I will have to attack the rest of the yard this next week. The temperature will climb from the low fifties to the high seventies in the next few days. This will be unseasonably warm. That should help to dry out the grass.
My neighbor’s house alarm went off on Sunday. I went over and knocked on their door and pushed their doorbell. It was one that had a camera mounted on it. It must have been connected to their phone. I heard him answer and learned he had just left the house without setting the alarm. Somehow it must have been triggered. He thanked me for my concern and for coming over.
Our neighbor Judy is coming out more now that the weather is getting warmer. She’s mainly taking items to the trash, but I think we will see her sitting outside this week. I look forward to telling her more about my parent’s trip to Hawaii and how they brought the warm weather back with them.
I woke up with a song in my head:
Best Day of My Life by American Authors
April 20
#IDreamt RR invited me to participate in creating a diorama as part of an art project featuring multiple artists.
April 21
#IDreamt I was walking with my late dog, a Great Dane named Yorick. He was playing a game where he kept his left paw touching my right foot as we walked. As long as he did so, I was to touch his headApril 22
IDreamt James Stowe and I had to hide overnight in a department store. He hid behind dog food bags, and I hid on the ground behind large curtains. Stowe was caught. The employees were having a late-night party.
April 23
#IDreamt androids operating as caregivers or Nannies that were confiscated due to criminal activity would be repurposed as police officers.
I listened to a couple of books this week:
“The Charmed Wife” by Olga Grushin
“Before the Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
“Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus” by Lydia Sherrer
“The Time Traders” by Andre Norton
“A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman
Movies I watched this week:
39. April 15
The Lost Empire (1984) Rating: 2
This T&A movie is terrible. I would give it a one, but it had a robot in it, so it gets a point for that. The film purposefully went for levels of over-the-top nonsense. I watched it on Tubi after hearing my friend Travis Bundy exclaim what a pile of dreck it was. I confessed I’d seen this film before when it was first released on VHS. I’m wondering how long it will take me to forget it all over again.
April 16
Raya and The Last Dragon (2121) Rating: 7
I give extra points to movies that have dogs with names in them. While this movie doesn’t have that, it does have a rolling creature that reminds me of a pill bug. This movie pasts the Bechdel test with flying colors. It’s wonderfully filled with strong female roles that are so natural it never came to mind that it broke boundaries in that regard. So an extra point for that. My wife and I watched this on Disney+. It was designed to be a visually pleasing 3D experience.
April 18
Frozen II (2019) Rating: 6
I was going to give this movie a seven. But then I forgot that I watched it with my wife on Disney+. And so I’m now stuck with realizing it is probably more of a six. I think one of the movie’s highlights is Olaf’s recap of the first film. That’s hardly a spoiler, as you’ve seen the first movie by now, and his retelling is some of the best writing in the film.
April 23
Solace (2015) Rating: 6
Elements of old stories and their themes construct this narrative. There’s a slightly new take on a not-so-new story. I felt that it could have used a dog with a name. My wife and I watched it on Netflix.
April 23
The Invitation (2022) Rating: 5
Elements of old stories and their themes construct this narrative. There’s a slightly new take on a not-so-new story. I felt that it could have used a dog with a name. My wife and I watched it on Netflix.
More next week,
Mark
