mstrust's #5- Addicted to Americana

Twohey's Restaurant in Alhambra, Ca. Opened in 1943, and after celebrating its 75th anniversary last year, was closed. Yes, the man is wearing a clothes pin on his nose, referring to the Liitle Stinko burger they served, which came with both onions and garlic sauce.

Hi, I'm Jennifer and I live in Phoenix.
With this thread, I'm drawing inspiration from Addicted to Americana, the celebration of American Mid-Century kitsch by Charles Phoenix. For a period of about 30 years, from the 40's through the 60's, America excelled at whimsy and weirdness, space age and neon. And Googie style is found almost nowhere outside of America. We'll be taking a ride around the country to look at some fantastic Americana. Put on your Bob's Big Boy checkered overalls.

As stated in my previous thread, my goals this year are to buy fewer books and to read some of the hundreds of unread books already in my house. I've put my resolutions in writing by joining the ROOT group, and I hope to read 75 books that have been on my shelves for at least 6 months. https://www.librarything.com/topic/301124

My threads are politics free, but high in the snark you need for healthy bones and shiny hair.

My first thread was dedicated to unusual travel spots: https://www.librarything.com/topic/301120
My second was dedicated to unusual cocktail recipes: https://www.librarything.com/topic/302908
My third thread was dedicated to gems, minerals and terribly expensive jewelry: https://www.librarything.com/topic/304444
My fourth thread was dedicated to candy joy: https://www.librarything.com/topic/305996

Books Read in 2019

1. Around the World in 80 Days- 4.5
2. Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide- 4.2
3. My Family and Other Animals - 4 stars
4. The Death and Resurrection of Elvis Presley-3.5
5. My Friend Dahmer- 4 stars
6. The 7 Secrets of Awakening the Highly Effective Four-Hour Giant, Today- 3 stars
7. Blood on the Boards- 3.5
8. Lumberjanes: Sink or Swim- 2 stars
9. Book Towns- 4.2
10. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- 4
11. Nothing More Than Murder- 3
12. John Dies at the End- 5- ScaredyKit Group
13. Soulless- 3.5- February ScaredyKit Group
14. The Walking Dead Cookbook- 4 stars
15. The Twisted Ones- 4 stars
16. Hollywood Said No!- 3 stars
17. The Widow Clicquot- 3 stars
18. Handwritten Recipes- 3 stars
19. A Year in the Merde- 4 stars
20. The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs- 4 stars
21. The Murder of Helen Jewett- 3 stars- ScaredyKit Group
22. The Twits- 5 stars
23. Diamonds Are Forever- 4.2 stars
24. The Red House Mystery- 2 stars
25. The Friends of Eddie Coyle- 4 stars
26. Hotbox-
27. Home from the Vinyl Cafe- 3.5 stars
28. Intoxica!- 4.5 stars
29. Robert Kirkman's Descent- 3 stars
30. Al Capone Does My Shirts- 4 stars
31. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian- 4 stars
32. Mental Floss presents...Be Amazing-3.5 stars
33. Under the Glacier- 3 stars
34. The Art of Tiki- 5 stars
35. More Skipper Stories- 3 stars
36. My Life in Heavy Metal- 3.5 stars
37. The Book Of Lists London- 3.5 stars
38. Say Cheese and Die- 3.5 stars
39. Thirsty- 4.5 stars
40. A Head Full of Ghosts- 4.2 stars
41. Hail to the Chin- 4 stars
42. Return to Fear Street: Drop Dead Gorgeous- 4 stars
43. Goosebumps Most Wanted: Planet of the Lawn Gnomes- 4 stars
44. Dear Boris: The Life of William Henry Pratt- 4 stars
45. Marco Polo: Canada West- 4 stars
46. Go, Mutants!- 4.2 stars
47. Harry's Bar- 3 stars
48. Guide to the National Parks of Canada- 3 stars
49. Blues of a Lifteime- 4 stars
50. The Hawaiian Lei: A Tradition of Aloha- 5 stars
51. Mucho Mojo- 4 stars
52. The Jaws Log- 4 stars
53. Fever: A Nameless Detective Novel- 3.5 stars
54. American on Purpose- 3.5 stars
55. Book Lust To Go- 4 stars
56. Tales From Beyond the Brain-
57. The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry- 4 stars
58. AA Gill is Away- 4stars
59. Supernatural: Witch's Canyon- 4.2 stars
60. Born on the Fourth of July- 4 stars
61. The Wounded and the Slain- 3 stars
62. Al Capone Shines My Shoes- 4 stars

Hello, and welcome. I have doughnuts.

.

Hello and happy new thread! I love Americana and I love doughnuts! I'll just slide over my luncheonette stool and have a cup of coffee with it, thank you very much.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Jennifer! I very much like the theme of this one.

>3 Carmenere: Hi, Lynda! You're my first visitor, so I've got something special for you. Bring your coffee outside:


That's right, I've stuck a whole flock of pink flamingos in your yard. The neighbors look envious.

>4 figsfromthistle: Thank you!

>5 harrygbutler: Hi, Harry! I think it will be an interesting thread. I love Americana too.

Happy new thread! Have a donut So. Cal Style!

Happy new thread!

All for Americana, Jennifer.
Happy new thread.

Happy new thread, Jennifer.

>6 mstrust: I love flamingos. Re flamingos, I absolutely cannot resist posting this picture - most of the flamingos belong to a friend of mine. (Do you know how weird the word 'flamingos' looks after typing it 4 times?)

Warning! Flamingos can strip a T-Rex to the bone as fast as piranhas can strip a large animal to the bone.

Happy new thread, Jennifer.
I am looking forward to another great journey!

>8 quondame: Hi, Susan! I think we'll be seeing lots of California in this thread, as it was an epicenter for whimsy at this time period. Randy's donuts definitely fits in.

>9 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

>10 PaulCranswick: Hi, Paul, and thanks!

>11 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen! And thanks for providing proof that flamingos are vicious creatures. People forget that the plastic flamingos were invented as a decoy to make burglars think they would be eaten if they entered that particular yard.

>12 SirThomas: Thanks, Thomas! I think it will be fun.

49. Blues of a Lifetime by Cornell Woolrich. Subtitled "The Autobiography of Cornell Woolrich". This isn't the typical "I was born in 1905..." type of autobiography, instead, it's autobiographical essays about different periods of his life, all written between 1961-66, so many years after the events occurred. In the essay entitled "Remington Portable NC69411", Woolrich addresses his favored typewriter, telling it about his family life, his grandfather's upper class home in New York City and his father's simpler life as an ex-pat in Mexico. He recalls the very moment he began writing fiction and the obsession it quickly became, with his first book becoming his first sale to a publisher due to his under-handed friend passing the manuscript on to a publishing house without permission.
Other chapters discuss his first love, a fire in the hotel he and his mother were staying in, and most interesting to me, a chapter on his life during the Great Depression when he went months at a time without selling any work and had his hopes for a book acceptance crushed when he needed it most.

As with any autobiography, this is the author's view and he gets to choose what goes in and what doesn't. As a child being raised by one parent in one country, then the other parent in another country, seeing his wealthy family lose everything in the Depression, living through WWI, he had a survivor mentality and recognized that. He never discusses his brief marriage at all, nor his relationships with men, and he's almost too open about his romances with women. It's clear that Woolrich was writing these essays for an audience and that they weren't just for himself, like a diary. He also never addresses a pretty big question, why he spent nearly thirty years living in various hotel rooms with his mother, and why they lived in ratty places when his estate was valued at $850,000 when he died in 1968. Woolrich was a complex man, sometimes saying one thing, then after, doing the opposite. 4 stars

And today is extra special, as it's my sister Julie's birthday. She's in Vegas for the occasion, which is good because she's very lucky.

Happy new thread, Jennifer!

Well, I am very uneducated in this field, I'll carefully watch this thread.

Hi, Anita, and thanks! I think you'll be surprised by what you see here.

>17 mstrust: The flamingos in >6 mstrust: and >11 karenmarie: were real eyeopeners/surprises!

I'm not sure if the flamingos ever made the jump to The Netherlands, or outside America at all, so here's a little context:
https://mentalfloss.com/article/28099/brief-history-plastic-pink-flamingo

50. The Hawaiian Lei: A Tradition of Aloha by Ronn Ronck. The history and meaning of the leis, along with the different methods employed to make them, depending on which flower, vine, shell or feather is being used. There's a lot of new information to me, such as the use of pheasant feathers being traditional for royalty, and the various methods used to make the leis. And there's a section with each traditional flower used in leis identified, along with large color photos of the leis. I'm a sucker for colorful flower photos, so I enjoyed this. 5 stars

Pure Americana:


The hula girl lamp.

I really think I'd have a of the vapors if I saw that in a shop! I love kitsch, high and low. One of my favorite Christmas ornaments is a black velvet painting of Crying Elvis, wearing a Santa's hat. Simple pleasures.

>21 mstrust: Well, the hula girl is fun and kitschy but that reminds me of another strange lamp - when I was 11, my parents went on a just-them vacation and I had to stay with my sister's friend's parents. Laura stayed in Janna's room and I got the den, which had a lamp that somehow or another had a mechanism that showed a little boy peeing - I think the lamp shade circled around with clever cut outs. I was embarrassed as only an 11-year-old girl in 1964 could be.

>6 mstrust: Thanks, Jennifer, I'm just now getting over the fact my neighbors think I'm 75! You can go lighter on the flamingos next time.
In general, I do love the elegant pink guys, though! There's simply nothing else like them.
Today, were headed out to the Burton Fairgrounds antique show. It's a pretty massive outdoor sale. No rain in sight so should be good day for picking through the offerings. There may also be a lot of junk but ya never know what you might find.

>22 SomeGuyInVirginia: Well lookee here, Larry's dropped by! You are not alone in loving Black Velvet Elvis. It was even addressed in the book I read earlier this year, The Death and Resurrection of Elvis Presley. I'm only surprised that you're not admitting to the full-sized glow in the dark poster in your living room.

>23 karenmarie: It sounds like they had a copy of the Mannekin Pis statue of Brussels, which is unbelievably tacky. I'm always surprised to hear that it's one of their most visited sights. And see, it causes childhood trauma! But I'd still love to see a 1964 house in which that would fit into the decor.

>24 Carmenere: Have fun at the fairgrounds! It sounds like a fun day and you might find something amazing.
You're neighbors think you're 75?! Take your teeth out and throw them at 'em!

Amazon has a bunch of Cornell Woolrich's short stories for Kindle at just 99 cents each. Yesterday I read Walls That Hear You, first published in 1934. It's a hard-boiled crime story about a brother out for revenge for his younger brother's horrible mutilation. Recommended.

>26 mstrust: Ooh, black velvet Elvis in Hawaii. Happy newish thread!

Happy new thread, Jennifer. I'm looking forward to learning all about Americana - and I brought you this lovely lamp to add to your collection:

There was a time in the early 90's when I was totally addicted to kitsch and camp, I confess! I still love it.

Once, at the Eastern Market flea, I saw a dealer with this black velvet of a female Nubian warrior. I literally ran to her and asked 'Lady! How much for the painting!?'

Dealer said, 'Five dollars!'

Me, 'I'll take it!"

Dealer "There are two."

Me, 'I'll take them both!'

Dealer, Five dollars each!'

Me, 'Whatever!'

Dealer, pulling an electrical cord out , 'They light up.'

Me, weeping openly 'Thank you!'

51. Mucho Mojo by Joe R. Lansdale. Best friends Hap and Leonard attend the funeral of Leonard's Uncle Chester, a man who had been like a father to Leonard until learning that Leonard was gay. The two had been estranged for years, so Leonard is very surprised to find that Chester left him everything, all his money and a house. The immediate problems are that the house is just about falling down and there's a very active crack house next door. For Hap, the problem is that Chester's very pretty lawyer doesn't want to date him because he's white and unsuccessful. Leonard and Hap set about doing the extensive home repairs themselves, but what they find in Chester's flooring makes it look like Chester was responsible for the local children that had been missing, though Leonard alone believes Chester was actually investigating the crimes.

This is my first Hap and Leonard, a series about two very clever East Texas dirtbags. Their banter is often hilarious, which lightens the mood of the very heavy topics, and it's a highlight in the story when Leonard decides he's had enough of the crack house. I shaved off about half a point because of the enormous assumptions made by the characters when they discover clues that no one else would have made. 4 stars

>27 Familyhistorian: Hi, Meg! Thanks for appreciating Velvet Elvis. Thankyouverymuch.

>28 DeltaQueen50: Hi, Judy! Thanks for the lamp. I was surprised to see how many diffrent styles of hula girl lamps there were, and that there were male versions too.

>29 SomeGuyInVirginia: How could anyone be cured of their kitsch addiction? It's too compelling to get over it. Your velvet paintings were a find alright, and what a steal! Did you have them on your bedroom walls, like the old man in "The Shining"?

Howell, New Jersey. Built in 1966, the hotel was demolished a few years ago but the sign was left standing.

>25 mstrust: Hi, Jennifer! "Walls That Hear You" is one of the stories in Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics by Cornell Woolrich.

>32 mstrust: Nice! I don't recall seeing that one, so I'll have to consider going looking for it sometime when we get over to that part of New Jersey.

It is, and I want to get to his first published short story "Death Sits in the Dentist's Chair', which is also in that book. Thanks again! I read 'Walls..." on my Kindle so I could read it on my exercycle.
Isn't that sign beautiful? I really love these old space age motel and restaurant signs.

>34 mstrust: For a while we had an exercise bike set up so that we could watch DVDs while riding, which I used to good effect to view a fair number of old movie serials (since the average chapter length corresponded fairly well to the time I wanted to spend on the bike).

It's always fun to stumble across a surviving sign of that sort — one of the rewards for traveling somewhat more slowly on secondary highways rather than interstates these days.

I've had this bike just since January. Before that I had a treadmill that lasted for twelve years, which is kind of amazing. We're 100 degrees or more right now, so Mike has stopped hiking the preserve and he misses it. He was hiking about four days a week for the last few months.

I grew up just minutes from Disneyland, and old motels with neon signs lined the boulevards around the park. They drew tourists, but also a lot of crime. Each one had a different theme and many had great signs made in the 50's & 60's. They were all torn down for California Adventure.

Here's one, built in 1957-

>29 SomeGuyInVirginia: musta been a Tretchikoff. I love some of that stuff (altho I loved it more in the 90's as well) . I have this one in my living room https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Girl

I've been reading about the drama at the Phoenix Art Museum and thinking that there are probably lots of open volunteer positions if you're interested!

>37 RBeffa: It's been a while, but Larry and I had a discussion about Tretchikoff's Chinese Girl. It's a wonderful, strange painting and we're fans around here.

>38 RidgewayGirl: Yeah, sounds like the remaining Phoenix museum employees are gonna have a party tonight. I'm actually not looking at the moment, I've gotten busy doing some home repair. I checked into their docent program maybe five years ago and found that they required two year of training. Then after those years, as a reward, you had to explain the artwork to people.

I've been on vacation and just finished catching up!

>11 karenmarie: Love.

And loving all things kitsch/Americana.

xoxo

Hi, Nicole! Go anywhere fun?

***
For anyone who has been visiting me over the past few years, you may recall that Mike's credit card numbers have been used by thieves about five or six times already, and mine once. It was attempted again on Sunday night, with someone in Central California trying to make a $60 purchase, but Mike had set up instant notification on his Capitol One card, so it pinged as the thief was trying to use it and he was able to stop the sale from going through. He still has the hassle of getting the card replaced, but at least the turd didn't get his software or video games. This Capitol One instant notification is so fast that when we're in a restaurant paying, it pings the second the card is swiped. It's better than Lifelock, which we used to have and it did nothing when our cards were used illegally.

Ok, everybody block the phrase "self-lubricating" from your mind.


The infamous oil rain lamp of the 60's-70's. Horrendously captivating. I don't believe we knew anyone who had one, but I remember the anxiety the one at the hardware store caused me. I must have been maybe three or four year old and they had one on display that had a single woman inside that was a goddess, from what I see now when I looked it up. I'd stare at it and wonder why the lady was trapped and how she'd ever get past all those strands of dripping grease, because she was still there every time we went to the store.

52. The Jaws Log by Carl Gottlieb. First published in 1975 and updated periodically, this is the "Expanded Edition" from 2012. It's a behind-the-scenes making of what would be the first ever Summer blockbuster movie. Gottlieb was one of the screenwriters of "Jaws" and he played the part of the newspaper editor, Meadows, the guy in the loud jackets who gets all the men to pose with the dead shark on the pier (he had more scenes originally but actually cut most of them himself to tighten the story).
Working from his notes that he kept during pre-production and filming, he explains how the cast was found and how the location, a sleepy vacation town called Martha's Vineyard, was selected and all the problems they had with local government and sometimes, the locals. He discusses the now well-known problems with the mechanical shark and how young director Steven Spielberg had to shoot around it, and he discusses one of the most debated bits of movie dialogue ever, Quint's "Indianapolis speech", which Gottlieb credits to actor Robert Shaw, who took all the various versions by different writers and re-wrote it to be what was filmed.
For a "Jaws" fan like me, there was still some new information, such as I knew the dead shark on the pier was real, but didn't know that it, and several others, were killed for the scene.
The updates over the years are mostly in the Notes, with Gottlieb adding in new or contradictory information from others on the set, and "where are they now" updates on cast and crew. 4 stars

>42 mstrust: I remember those lamps. Yeah, how greasy and uninviting they were.

I've got as head vase of an African warrior that's been converted to a tv lamp. I want to get it rewired and use it at home but so far I can't get the electrician to rerun my calls.

Yeah, they're so ugly that I sorta want one now. Why shouldn't future generation be creeped out?
A vase that's shaped as an African warrior? My god, yes, that needs to be put on display!

***
Once again, Father's Day falls on my birthday this year. Whenever it happened, my dad would laugh hard and tell me he was going to steal the spotlight from me. And I've cheated on my book buying vow by purchasing First You Dream, Then You Die, a bio of Cornell Woolrich which has arrived and is the size of a cinderblock. I've also bought Poe-Land by J.W. Ocker, one of my favorite non-fiction authors, and Tales from the Haunted Mansion: Volume 1. But I also have a bottle of Perrier-Jouet for the day.
And we're in an "Extreme Heat Advisory", as our temps shot up to 111F yesterday and we're going to be hovering around there today too.

Happy Father's Day, Jennifer ;-).
I wish you a beautiful birthday and a wonderful week!
I was told a good champagne is the best way to cool down on a hot day.
Have a good time.

Happy birfdee! I can't remember when was the last time I had champers. It's my go-to handover when I'm invited to a party, so I buy a lot.

Happy birthday, Jennifer! I say anything Cornell Woolrich-related is the perfect reason to cheat on your book-buying vow.

Stay cool!

Happy Birthday! Sending you a cool breeze. Hope it makes it there intact.

Happy birthday, Jennifer! I hope you get a break from the heat.

Happy birthday, Jennifer. Hope you get a reprieve from the weather soon.

Happy Birthday!

This was one of my go to places, back in the day.

Happy Birthday!

Wow! 111 degrees!! Your heatwave appears to be moving north so I expect things will cool off soon in your neighbourhood.

>46 SirThomas: Thanks, Thomas. It was a good day.
>47 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thank you, Larry, and the champagne was lovely.
>48 rabbitprincess: Thanks, and I agree that Woolrich gets a pass from the moratorium. Unfortunately, I keep buying more books.
>49 RidgewayGirl: Thank you, and we've cooled off to 104 now so it worked.
>50 harrygbutler: Thanks Harry, we're going to hover around 100-104, so not bad for us.
>51 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg, just a little reprieve. A tiny one.
>52 quondame: Thanks, Susan, and I remember Dive! from Las Vegas. It should have worked.
>53 VivienneR: Thanks, Vivienne, and I'd gladly pass it on to anyone who would take it.

Happy Birthday, Jennifer!

Thanks, Judy!

Coin operated kiddie rides are a rarity now but used to be in front of nearly all grocery stores in America. Now they're collectibles.

53. Fever: A Nameless Detective Novel by Bill Pronzini. The nameless detective works for a San Francisco agency that has two cases that looked simple and turned out to be more complex. One is a wealthy husband who wants his estranged wife with a gambling addiction found, just to make sure she's safe. Once Nameless starts digging he uncovers the lengths the wife has gone to in order to keep gambling.
The other case involves a straight-laced, religious young man whose whole personality changes suddenly, causing his mother to ask the agency for help in finding out why.
3.5 stars

This has been on my shelf for over 5 years. ROOT!

>36 mstrust: Sometimes progress makes me sad.
>42 mstrust: Yup, I remember those! We didn't have one but I knew hotsy totsy families who did.
Happy belated birthday!
>57 mstrust: Ahh memories! Our local Outlet Mall still has some of these rides but I haven't looked closely at them, for all I know, they now accept Apple Pay, debit and credit cards et al.

I came across a few places in the NYC area that still had some kiddie rides in front and I believe my pic is from one of them. There also seem to be some arcades that are specializing in them. I was surprised to see this one going for 50 cents a ride, as the last time I saw them they were still 25 cents, but then, they disappeared from the landscape without me noticing, so that's how well I was paying attention. Wouldn't that be something if you had to swipe a card to ride one now?

***
I'm just going to note that I began reading The Stand sometime in January and I'm closing in on the 500 page mark. Yep, six months of reading a chapter or two in between other books. And it's really good, but pretty difficult to hold open with my freaky tiny hands. I'm hoping to finish before the end of the year.

You're a better man than I Gunga Din, I did the audiobook across a lazy summer.

I hired some guys to help me go through my storage unit today. I donated a lot of stuff to Goodwill but one box they pulled out and asked if I wanted to keep it. I said 'Hell yes, that's a black velvet painting on Elvis Presley!' and they were all 'Damn straight, the King!'

Yes, only 900 and something pages to go. And It's all been very interesting, it's just that I'd guess it took King less time to write it than it's taking me to read it.
A couple of those sad eyed kid paintings and you're gonna end up charging admission to your new place, 'cause it's turning into an art museum!
I don't think I ever posted a pic of the limited edition print we bought at the tiki marketplace back in May. I'm going to see, because it's Americana in a big way.

Here it is. I'm sorry if it's too large. Let me know and I'll replace it with my own photo, which isn't as clear:

Post that pic immediately or I will die.

Oh my God, that's the coolest thing I have ever seen!

Happy belated birthday!!

>64 SomeGuyInVirginia:. Look, I just saved your life!
>65 SomeGuyInVirginia: So the post isn't too big?
I was flipping through Horne's stack of prints and I liked all of them, but when I saw this one near the back, I knew it was The One. Our's is 5/5.

>66 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle!

Bob's Big Boy in Downey, Ca. is an example of Googie architecture, and very cool:



There was a period of a year or two when I was a kid and Dad was doing overnight on Fridays, so Mom took the kids to Bob's for burgers and shakes every Friday. Heaven.

>68 mstrust: There are no Big Boy restaurants near us, but there is a Frisch's Big Boy not far from where my parents live, which we are happy to stop at for a meal if it's convenient.

I'd never heard of Frisch's, but after looking at how similar their mascot is to the original Bob's, they have to be part of the company. The story the company always put out was that when the first restaurant opened they had a teenage employee who wore a swoopy hairstyle and overalls. He must have been really popular ;-)

>63 mstrust: I had to put up your post on my tablet next to my Chinese lady. So this must be when Elsa met Vladimir

>70 mstrust: There were other associated Big Boy restaurants, too — Shoney's came to mind (still around but no longer Big Boy restaurants).

Can you believe there's a small town in Virginia (Abingdon) that may not allow this fast food place to build because it's too teal? True! Hell, I hope they knock down the Methodist church on Main street to build it, instead of on the highway off ramp. Abingdon, don't get me started.

>71 RBeffa: Horne was inspired by one of the greats!

>72 harrygbutler: I haven't thought of Shoney's in years, I think they were just about to leave Arizona when we moved here and there weren't any in California. I think Bob's was a California chain that did very well until they went national.

>73 SomeGuyInVirginia: That's an awesome building! Here I was mourning the demise of food architecture like giant chickens on top of chicken restaurants, and you come up with this. Slap it high!

It's been a very busy weekend and I read maybe a total of one chapter for the last three days.
My sister and brother flew out from California for a Santana concert because my brother's best friend is a tour manager, and right now he's managing the Santana/Doobie Brothers tour. Don't think this is a brag, because never in my life did I think I'd end up at a show for two hippie bands, neither did my siblings, but Mike was a drummer when we met and he likes both bands because of their musicianship, which is understandable when you see how hard-working they are. Santana's wife is one of his drummers and she's incredible.
Everyone was really, really nice. We had the tour manager's wife, Cathy, riding with us and we all went to dinner, then we were in the backlot and the catering area (I had a tiny little banana pudding backstage. A thimble worth). We all split a $500 bottle of wine my brother had brought and I can't remember the name but we all went "Oh!" He had wanted to have it with dinner but the restaurant said they weren't allowed to open outside liquor. So he brought it backstage thinking there would be nice wineglasses but there weren't any so we had to drink it out of plastic cups, ha. It was red and very good, that's my assessment. We met some of The Doobie Bros. and there's a pic floating around. They were very nice. We had good seats and both bands sounded just like their recordings, and Rob Thomas came out and sang "Smooth" with Santana. It was an outdoor pavilion and it was around 100 degrees, so there was one lone bat flying around the roof.
David flew back home Sunday morning, while we took Julie to the airport around 1:30 for her flight, which they cancelled at 2:30, so we picked her up and she'll fly out on her rescheduled flight tonight. Meanwhile, restaurants and shopping. I had told her Sunday morning she should stay another day!

Wow, busy weekend indeed!

Happy belated birthday, Jennifer! Way cool about the Santana/Doobie Brothers concert and the $500 bottle of wine.

>76 rabbitprincess: Very. But Julie hasn't been out here in six years, and that was just to stop by and pick me up on the way to San Antonio, so this was the first time she's stayed with me in about ten.
>77 karenmarie: Thank you, Karen. I was happy for the experience yesterday and like I said, everyone was super nice and it couldn't have gone better, aside from the plastic cups, which I don't have the gall to complain about. But fingers crossed for future shows because this guy has also toured with Lenny Kravitz and ELO.

So, American Airlines. Julie was there yesterday, they had the passengers line up, then said "we're switching to a different plane", so everyone waited. Then fifteen minutes after that they cancelled the flight and that was the last one going to Ontario. Mike ran up and got Julie, and she was re-scheduled for 5:20pm today. Then around three they backed it up to 6:15, then they changed their minds again and put it back to 5:20 about 4pm. So Mike ran her back up and hopefully they allow her to go home. But I am glad that we had an extra day, because we ate and shopped. We had Navajo frybread and did all the touristy shops in Old Scottsdale.
Somehow I acquired so many books in two days:
three Supernatural tv series novels- Witch's Canyon, Nevermore & Bone Key
three Goosebumps: The Beast from the East, How I got My Shrunken Head, Ghost Camp
We went to the The Poisoned Pen Bookstore today and I found Vegas Tabloid by P. Moss, who owns the tiki bars Frankie's & The Golden Tiki in Vegas.
And in the mail was an online purchase, Death and Douglas and an LT ER win, Tales From Beyond the Brain.

Up until 20 minutes ago I thought today was Thursday. So, sucks to be me.

Thought you were one day closer to the weekend, didn't ya?

I forgot to note that my sister brought me a gift, The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories, which features stories from Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale and Ramsey Campbell.

Ooh, that sounds good.

Have you ever read L. P. Hartley's short stories? The Traveler From Down Under, and The Travelling Grave are two of the scariest stories I've ever read, and Something in the Lift is right up there. He wrote a lot of straight fiction, but some of his horror stories are really amazing.

I still haven't gotten to Hartley's scary stories. You recommended them to me a while ago and I just haven't picked them up, but thanks for the reminder. I don't know why he isn't included in any of the scary story collections I have.

Well, lookee here, I actually finished something...



54. American On Purpose by Craig Ferguson. Scottish actor, writer and talk show host Ferguson's autobiography. He talks about the grim atmosphere in Glasgow in the 70's when he was growing up, where violence even came from elementary school teachers and money was scarce. His first trip to America was as a child traveling to New York with his father to visit an uncle who had emigrated, and this inspired a goal to live in America permanently.
Ferguson discusses his many, many attempts to gain traction in some kind of show business career, as a punk drummer, stand-up comic and theater actor, but the majority of the book revolves around his alcoholism. I had expected a story that focused on his desire to become an American citizen, but that was a very small part of the book. Instead, it's an interesting story of how many chances and relationships he was able to ruin due to excessive drinking and drugs. 3.5 stars

This may be familiar to many. The Wigwam Village Motel in Holbrook, Az. opened in 1950. Your room is an individual teepee. It's still in business.

>41 mstrust: I went to Maine for a week for a family graduation. I haven't seen that side of my family for 20 years (since my wedding)!

I just got back from an anniversary road trip to San Francisco and got caught up on your thread. Sounds like you had an interesting trip yourself!
Love the paintings!

>85 mstrust: Always wanted to stay there!

That sounds like a good trip. I'd like to visit Maine in Autumn. I'm sure it's spectacular year round.
I didn't go anywhere, my family came here. And how nice that the weather took a dip by several degrees just for those days.
>87 PaperbackPirate: I remember driving past Wigwam Village on route to Texas as a kid and wanting to stop and explore. Not gonna happen, my dad only stopped at truck stops.

My dad was the same way, he has to 'make time'. I am the exact opposite, I'll stop for everything.

Yep, I remember Dad always noting if we were making good time, as he had our trips figured out as to how many miles we should cover in a day. But then, he was a truck driver, which would also explain why our meals were at truck stops and bathroom breaks were at Stuckey's. Our road trips were in a black Fleetwood Cadillac listening to Hank Williams and George Jones on 8 tracks, and a boxer named Melissa in the back with the kids.

That sounds, well, perfect really. Did you get along with your sisters? My brother and I fought like cats and dogs.

Ha! Julie and I were always battling, given the chance, but our parents really wouldn't let it go on very long. Mom would turn around and yell, "Get away from each other!" and we had to sit on opposite sides of the back seat.

Atomic Age dishes. This popular style was called Franciscan Starburst. You can get a set for less than $300 now, which would make Grandma scream.

>88 mstrust: Oops, I see now. Glad the weather cooperated.

And happy belated birthday!

>93 mstrust: Love the pattern on the dishes, though I don't think I would have a use for most of the items there.

Thanks, Nicole!
The pattern was made in a full set of dishware, so regular plates too. This pic happened to be both a good size and great lighting. Few of us would have much call for a jug just for vinegar (were people using that much salad dressing back then?), but I absolutely love this pattern and would use those big-mouthed coffee cups every day. And the big divided bowl is the right size for Mike's ice cream. :-D

Loving all your photos or the artwork and style. So much fun! Hope June has been treating you well. I am ready for July. : )

>85 mstrust: - What an iconic picture!

I thought of you this morning when I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a breakfast muffin and saw individual-sized Maple creme pies on display.

Do they even make sure separated tests for food any more? I'd I went back in time to 1960 I don't think I'd be in a different land but another world.

>96 Berly: Hi, Kim! June hasn't been so bad. Had some fun last weekend and the weather has been milder than usual, as June is normally our hottest month. * Now that I've said that, July will make the extra effort to set us all on fire.*

>97 lkernagh: It's such a beautiful blue sky.
Oh man, maple cream pie! I didn't know it existed. Do you live in paradise?

>98 SomeGuyInVirginia:
Hmmm, I'm not sure about your question, but I think if we were in 1960 a lot of us would be saying, "Why is everyone looking right at me they they talk to me?!"

Oh dear God, the auto typing function on Samsung is awful. And I should proof.

'Do they even make separated trays for food anymore? If went back in time to 1960 I don't think I'd be in a different time but in a different world.'

Hey, Larry, you're the 100th post! In the spirit of Americana, your prize features Jell-O in the recipe.


What else is in it? That's for me to know and you to find out.

>98 SomeGuyInVirginia: >100 SomeGuyInVirginia: Yes, you can still find new made plates and trays with separated areas.

55. Book Lust To Go by Nancy Pearl. Divided into sections by city, region, country or activity, such as mountain climbing or house restoration, Pearl recommends the fiction and non-fiction that she believes will meet the reader's needs. Her plot summaries are intriguing enough that I'm left with a sheet of paper that's filled on both sides with books and authors to look forward to. I also like that Pearl tells the readers little asides about the making of the book, like after a heading that is a song title, she says, "At one point I wanted to use song titles for all the sections, but gave it up as an impossible dream."
Books on books, need I say more? 4 stars

Roadside attractions are something that really had a heyday from the 30's through the 70's, especially along those long highways of the South and Southwest. "The Thing?" Museum has sat near Dragoon Az. since 1965, though the original display began years before that on Hwy 91 in the Mojave Desert. My family stopped to see The Thing? when I was a kid, after miles of billboards announcing "The Thing? What is it?"
Should I save you the entrance fee and just show you The Thing?


Mummy. Seems like anything billed as an amazing sight is always a mummy. The original owner of the attraction said that a man traveling through his town in 1950 sold him three mummified bodies for $50, and an empire began.

I love roadside attractions and they made excellent breaks from driving. I remember stopping at a cave house near Bisbee, Arizona that was fascinating. And somewhere in Montana there was a really cool ghost town that we spend a few hours exploring. How come my most vivid memory of that one is the saddles that they used as bar stools??

How come my most vivid memory of that one is the saddles that they used as bar stools??
'Cause it's so cool, if you're in jeans. Not so great if you're wearing a summer dress.

I think I remember seeing The Thing? simply because it was so rare that my dad stopped for the roadside stuff. I think all the billboards must have made even him too curious to pass it up.

>101 mstrust: Yay! Somebody went to a great deal of trouble to make that look interesting, if not edible.

Enjoy, and let us know if the jell-o was cherry, tomato or salmon flavored.

56. Tales from Beyond the Brain by Jeff Szpirglas. Illustrated by Steven P. Hughes. A collection of horror stories for ages 9-12, this was an LT ER win of an advanced reading copy.
The plots are pretty unusual, and I expect they would be chilling for a young reader. In many of the stories the bully, vandal, or mean teacher learns their lesson, but most of the ends come just before the horrible stuff happens, leaving it to the reader's imagination. In the first story, "An Apple A Day", a teacher who runs his class by requiring the "Student of the Day" to bring him an apple finds out that Megan's dad is an entomologist, so she knows a lot about wasps. In "Two Brains, One Alice" we see what happens when young Alice finds a fresh human brain lying in the gutter, and in "Last of the Daves" we find a boy named Dave who realizes that all the Daves of the world are being vaporized in alphabetical order. "In "Stuffing", two school bus vandals are forced to make up for the damage they've caused. The illustrations are perfection for these creepy stories. 3.5 stars

It was aspic. It tasted of Clamato. Even the olives tasted of Clamato. I did enjoy the Cole slaw base!

Oh dear. I have nothing to do or prepare for until tomorrow. I'm going to binge old Britcoms on my new, yooge, tee-bee. I lurb my yooge tee-bee.

Britcoms. Two words. 'Bean.'

Happy belated birthday, Jennifer. I can't believe it's been that long since I've visited.

You are so lucky to have had the Santana experience! I love Santana (you can tell my age now, right?)

The USA and I are having our birthdays tomorrow. I always get an American themed party and presents.

>110 SomeGuyInVirginia: Cole slaw...okay, I'd been thinking it was a generous layer of Easter grass. So the round things aren't plastic buttons?
We don't usually do anything on the 4th either, just because it's so frigging hot. We were invited to a party and turned it down. Who wants to stand outside at a bbq in 110 heat? We went to a birthday party on Saturday night and refused to sit on the patio til after 9pm. My left foot, just the left, is covered in mosquito bites.
Speaking of tv, have you been watching "NOS4A2"? I like it, even though the lead actress is supposed to be 18 but looks 30. It's plenty creepy.

>111 VivienneR: Thanks, Viv! In three weeks I'll go to your thread and wish you happy birthday, lol!
I'm glad I got to go to the show, mainly to spend time with my people. It was memorable. A woman at the party over the weekend was envious that I'd seen Santana and she's a fan. I could see that she was thinking the whole thing had been wasted on me, ha!

Wishing you a Happy 4th of July!

Hey Jennifer! Your backstage pass sounds like a lot of fun! $500 bottle of wine! Living large, aren't we ;0)

I really love the Atomic Age dishes >93 mstrust: I'd buy them for sure but $300 is a little steep for me.

Wishing you Happy 4th too!

ETA: Is Michael McDonald touring with the Doobies?

Happy 4th of July, Jennifer. I've been recording NOS4A2 but haven't watched any of it yet. I've also fallen behind a couple of weeks with Fear The Walking Dead, I guess my books are keeping me busy and away from the TV.

Happy 4th, Jennifer!

Hi Jennifer! I hope you had a properly air conditioned 4th of July.

>114 Carmenere: Hi, Lynda! I realize that a $500 bottle of wine sounds awful snobby. I won't try to deny it. :-D It's likely to be the only taste of something like that I'll ever have. My brother collects wine on a very serious level.
I would troll our local second-hand stores for some Mid-Century dishes if I had a place to store them as my fancy-once-a-year set. I have no room. Next house!
Michael McDonald wasn't touring with the band. The lead singer was one of the guitarists, named Tom. He's the voice on "China Grove".

>115 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! I hope you like NOS4A2 when you get to it. It's probably a good show to binge. I've kept up on FTWD, though this past episode was all Al, a character that I haven't warmed to as she seems unrealistic.

>116 SomeGuyInVirginia: Thanks, Larry, and I hope you had a good one. I'll bet you had lots of fireworks.

>117 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen, and I hope yours was good! I stayed in all day, so it was nice and cool. I made a strawberry custard pie, Mike grilled steaks, watched some of the Capitol event, and we had a very good view of two different city firework displays from our backyard.
We're expected to have two days in a row of 113F this coming week.

More Americana:


This is Chatty Belle, located in Neillsville, Wisc. She's billed as "The World's Largest Talking Cow". Put a quarter in and she'll discuss cheese. Yes!

>118 mstrust: "China Grove"?! that's an oldie but a goodie, for sure! I'm sure Tom did a more than adequate job.
>119 mstrust: Moovalous bit of Americana!
Hope you're chilling in the lower level during this hot spell!

My cycle and the computer are both on the lowest level, so I've got that going for me. I really want to paint down here though, and you know how you notice and then fixate on something like that?
Despite being in triple digits all summer, this has been a pretty mild season for us. June is usually the hottest month in Phoenix, and we got through it pretty easily. Okay, now that I've said that...

***
We went out for ice cream last night and I had tangerine buttermilk ice cream. It was so good, with thin slivers of tangerine peel throughout.

57. The Sharper The Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. Flinn was living in London, working for a software company when she was suddenly terminated from the job she didn't like but hadn't worked up the courage to quit. Her initial thought was to return to Seattle but instead it became her chance to do what she'd always wanted, attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. With just her savings and a year of college French, Flinn enrolls and pursues a diploma, re-creating classic French dishes that are all about stuffing meat with other meats, making friends and rivals at school, getting engaged and planning a wedding from another country, and having an almost constant flow of houseguests. She discusses the difficulties of getting a dish right for the chefs who taste each, and the personalities of the chefs themselves. Each chapter ends with a recipe. 4 stars

I've had this one on the shelf for about 3 years.

58. AA Gill is Away. A collection of travel articles by critic Gill that ran in The Sunday Times of London between 1998-2001. Gill was something of a misanthrope, but one with empathy. His articles describe traveling to Hiroshima and ending up in an argument with a Japanese activist about who was to blame for the bombing, or a drive up the California coast sneering at the wealth, only to turn his cynicism on himself. He attends the Royal Agricultural Show, Fashion Week in Milan, goes to highly dangerous locations such as the war-torn Sudan and Uganda, and puts a lot of effort into reaching what the Guinness Book of Records named "The Biggest Ecological Disaster in the World", the city of Nukus in Uzbekistan.
Traveling with Gill isn't to everyone's taste. He's got a razor sharp tongue, but he's so funny and often surprising.4 stars

This has been on my shelf for five years!

LOVE Gill!

This day just won't die gawddammit, longest ever. I'm pretty sure I'll get out of here and it will be August.

Wasn't he fun? This is just the third travel book I've read from him, and I still have some food books to look forward to.
And see, the day did end, it just seemed like it never would ;-D. I'll bet it would fly by if you filled your coffee mug with bourbon and just shuffled a stack of papers when co-workers walked by. I should be a life coach.

We went to the canal last night and watched thousands of Mexican freetail bats go out on the town. And since the fair is going to have entry delivery three days before the opening, I will be able to enter. Deliver my cakes on Oct. 1st and leave for Canada on the 2nd. That works out. I made a vanilla, maple and cinnamon cake yesterday that I'll work on.

Of course I have to get some tiki in on the Americana. Coming out of the return of WWII soldiers, tiki culture is American, though it's so fun that you can find tiki bars throughout the world, and Germany is home to many cool surf bands.



Almost as unexpected, we have an incredible surf band here in Phoenix. The Surfside IV have been around for years and I think they rival any of the more famous bands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1FqwxouJUM

>125 mstrust: Canada, yay! Hope you have a good time. The cake sounds yummy!

I agree, "Canada, yay!" The time is creeping up but I'm ready to get on that plane. I want Autumn.
The cake it really good, but it needs a little work. Turns out that putting cinnamon/maple in the cake pan, then adding the vanilla batter, makes it come out looking burnt.

I love visiting here. What wonderful images of Americana! I collect books...and giraffes. I love the large, majestic animals they are.

Happy Saturday to you!

Hey Linda, glad you like it here! Happy Saturday to you too!

Looks like you had a great weekend back there at the Santana concert and a $500 bottle of wine! Canada should be autumn-like in October, Jennifer.

I'm counting on it, because it will be my one week of actual Autumn. We'll return back to an oven set on 90F in mid-October. I've just bought a new pair of hiking boots because we'll do a little of that.
I've got my fingers crossed that we can all do an ELO concert someday, but in the winter. Then we'd know to pack our own wineglasses.

And I've noticed that we'll be there during Thanksgiving, so I have a question for any Canadians: will everything be shut down like on American Thanksgiving? I just want to know so we can plan on hiking that day and eating at the hotel.

59. Supernatural: Witch's Canyon by Jeff Mariotte. Brothers Dean and Sam head to Arizona's High Country, to a small town that experiences a murder cycle every forty years. Because of the very long gaps between cycles, there aren't many eyewitnesses, but also because no one talks about what they've seen, there isn't much information for the brothers to determine what they're dealing with. To make things worse, a new mall is set to open, bringing potential victims to the area.
This is the first in the Supernatural novels. If you like the show, you'll like this, and even if you've never seen the show, it's a well-written murder mystery. 4.2 stars

Here's a great Mid-Century sign that I see pretty often:


Located near the Strip in Vegas.

It's going to be 100 degrees and high humidity for the next several days. Ermagerd.

I'm listening to Convenience Store Woman and you may like it.

>75 mstrust: How in the HELL did I miss your post about Santana/Doobie Brothers??!! That is SO COOL!!! I love Santana! Sorry, things have been absolutely nuts at work lately. I must have my head in the clouds.

We're going to have a high of just 107 today, which I'll take over the 114 of yesterday. But we don't have the humidity that you have there, so I know DC must be a sticky mess. It makes me say "Ewww" just thinking about it.
I don't know how you could have missed my concert post, lol! Doobie blindness? Our next entertainment is a new Addams Family play at The Herberger Theater next week. It has the appearance of debuting here before going on to a bigger city.

Jennifer, I think that most businesses and services do shut down for Thanksgiving in Canada so a day of hiking and dinner at the hotel would probably work well. Our Thanksgiving always falls on the second Monday in October so it will be on the 14th this year.

>134 mstrust: Love it!
Glad to see you' re entering the cake baking contest! Sounds like a good one!

>137 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy, especially for the date. I don't know where I'd gotten the idea that it would be on the 8th, but I'm glad it will be the 14th. We'll get to see the build-up to it though and that'll be nice.

>138 Carmenere: I was just going over a list of possibilities. Mike doesn't think anyone will appreciate lavender sugar cookies, but I got hooked on them, so why not the judges? It's too hot to experiment right now so I made coconut ice cream last night.

This is the Palm Springs Mid-Century home that Elvis and Priscilla lived in for the first year of their marriage, 1967. It was on the market late last year for over $3 million.

.

>140 mstrust: We could pool our money and buy it! Live there year round a la' The Golden Girls! Ya know, I've wondered about starting a Website that brings together people in retirement who pool their resources to live in a nicer house than they could normally afford. Especially since retirement is looking like it will never show up ever. But naw, they would probably turn into Intentional Communities where yoga was mandatory and you couldn't eat anything that had a face.

That's a good idea! You should look into that. Years ago, when my MIL was retired and always looking for someone to travel with, I thought a site for single women to have a travel partner would be good, and I was right, because it already existed.
And I think a houseful of seniors would be non-stop ham and cheese sandwiches. golf, and everybody on the phone with a pharmacy.
Last night a cat gave birth on our front yard garden hose, which surprised us a lot. Mike walked in around 11pm and told me they were out there, and I couldn't believe it, because we have a dog. The kittens were so new their eyes were still sealed. We were both calling around to the Humane Society and Halo and trying to find an animal rescue that would come get them, but they don't pick up feral cats. We had to do something this morning because our front yard doesn't have shade and in another hour those kittens would have started cooking in the sun. So we put the kittens in a box while the mother watched and took them around the corner to the neighborhood cat lady who feeds a horde of feral cats in her front courtyard, so this mother was definitely one of hers, and her son took the kittens. I don't know what we would have done if he hadn't.

Hi, Jennifer!

>119 mstrust: Now that would be fun to visit. We may go to Roadside America, the World’s Greatest Indoor Miniature Village (https://www.roadsideamerica.co/home/), this weekend, if timing permits.

With summer here, I’ve begun making ice cream. First up was black raspberry, using black raspberries (and a few red raspberries) from our backyard. Yesterday I made cherry ice cream to use up some cherries from the store, but blackberry ice cream will be the next using our own fruit. I’m hoping for a blackberry cobbler first, though!

>142 mstrust: You would have become the parents of several kittens and Coral (did I misremember your boxer's name again?) would love them and do what they said. You dodged a bullet.

Hi Harry! The miniature village is featured in Addicted to Americana, so hope you make it there. It looks like fun.
Blackberry ice cream sounds awesome, but then I love blackberry and marionberry. The coconut flavor was my second batch this summer, as I made lemon vanilla two weeks ago. Ooooh, it was so good! I like to top my homemade coconut with crushed roasted peanuts, as that's how our Thai restaurant serves theirs.

>144 RidgewayGirl: Ha! Yes, her name's Coral, and I have a hard time picturing her becoming a servant as she's so bossy herself.
I'm just so glad the man took the kittens, but then he could hardly deny the mother was one of theirs, as they had cats everywhere.

The first time our German Shepherd, Ivy, saw a cat, she tried to eat it. Now she obediently trots off to get me whenever one of the cats feels the kibble in the bowl is a little low.

Awww, she's the nice, more responsible sibling. I know that Coral would eat all the cat food, look innocent while waiting for it to be re-filled, then repeat. It's every man for himself in this house, dang it.

Oh man, my 50 count variety box of coffee pods arrived today. I'm set for the next three weeks.

I'm starting to see Halloween things...

Me too! I've seen some of the new stuff Spirit Halloween stores will be selling this year, new animatronics. What have you seen?

Anything very cool? I like creepy but I don't like barf-inducing.

They're definitely getting scarier props and animatronics. They have a show-worthy Twisty the Clown prop that I believe is around 6 feet tall. And here's a Sam from "Trick 'r Treat" animatronic that only moves his arm up and down, but looks spot on.
https://www.spirithalloween.com/product/animatronics/4-3-ft-sam-animatronic-deco...

>140 mstrust: I like the gates on Elvis' house. The rest of it seems rather modest compared to celeb houses today.

It's definitely less showy than modern celebrity homes. It's not a mansion and the rooms are airy and minimalist, but now there are black and white photos of Elvis decorating the hallway. He's a selling point, for sure. It's a really cool place and living there means always having a martini in your hand.
I recently saw a Samantha Brown travel episode about Palm Springs and she toured one Mid Century up for sale and went around to a furniture store that specialized in the style. It was so popular there because Palm Springs was a hot spot for second homes of Hollywood people.

60. Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic. The true story of young Marine Kovic, who's combat injury in Vietnam left him paralyzed from the chest down. The writing can be stilted sometimes but that doesn't stop the reader from feeling the impact of Kovic's story. The first two chapters are very difficult, as they take place in the battle when he was shot and surrounded by other wounded men, then the treatment he received in the VA hospital immediately afterwards, which was just as horrifying as the battleground. I actually put the book down for about a week and wondered if I'd keep going, but then figured that he lived it and all I had to do was read about it.
Kovic's story was published over 40 years ago, and it's probably more introspective than most, as he deals with isolation, loneliness, grief over the loss of sexual functioning, and his desire to be seen as a symbol of the war. 4 stars

Safari Inn, Burbank, Ca. Opened in 1955 and still in business.

>156 mstrust: Ooooh! Look at all that lovely low humidity!

The Safari Inn reminds me, one thing I didn't get rid of when I sorted through the storage unit were my black velvet painting. Or as I like to call them, 'The Collection'.

You find any cool Tikis lately?

Like in tiki drinks or mugs? I haven't gotten anything since May when I bought the collector event glass and coffee mug at the Tiki Oasis. But we'll be in Vegas in a few weeks so maybe something from The Golden Tiki. I've got my sister buying them now :-D. I've actually been making gin & tonics these last weeks because they're so simple and I have limes.
I need to figure out what to do with the thirty figs a friend gave me from his tree that just started producing. I asked Mom if she knew what to do with them and her advice was "throw them away."

There's no doubt it has some long ago German roots, but funnel cake at the fair is now Americana:

Powdered sugar is traditional, but now you can get all kinds of fruit, whipped cream, or maple bacon toppings.

I got into funnel cakes when I'd go antiquing with my parents in Pennsylvania. They're the McDonald's french fries of fried dough- great when hot but even the raccoons won't eat them when they're room temperature.

Oh oh oh! Try Ransom Old Tom gin. It's the only hard liquor that I really like the taste of.

I've got Seagram's Extra Dry right now, but I'll remember Ransom.
This might make you jealous, but the only time I ever buy liquor is when there's something specific I want, like when I get pumpkin beer in the fall. Otherwise, I have a four foot long shelf of free liquor. Mom lives in Vegas, and all the casinos have days where they give the locals bottles of liquor to get them in. It's constant, it's good name brand stuff, and Mom doesn't drink but she wants her gifts, so Julie and I benefit.
We can get Navajo fry bread anytime, and you can have it with powdered sugar, or with honey, which is how I grew up having it. Our local place also has a butter, cinnamon and sugar version and that's my favorite. The dough is a little heavier than funnel cake.

>150 mstrust: The best were some skeleton wine glasses from Pottery Barn. I got an Instagram ad for those. Then I started looking around Pier 1 because I bought a great Day of the Dead doormat from them last year.

I've never had funnel cake - I guess it wasn't around in Canada when I used to go to the fair regularly. It could be available now but we haven't been for a few years now. (I know - we're boring oldsters!) I did have Navajo fry bread with cinnamon and sugar when we visted Monument Valley a few years ago. Delicious!

>162 PaperbackPirate: I didn't know those stores began selling Halloween things this early. Cool! I usually begin searching in late August and, for brick and mortar, the first places are Michael's and Home Goods. Target seems to push their Halloween stuff back to the last minutes these past few years.

>163 DeltaQueen50: Gasp! You poor thing!
Ok, funnel cake it a lightly sweet dough that is quickly deep fried. The shape is made by squeezing the dough through a funnel into the fryer and making a general round shape. It comes out a little crispy on the outside and pillowy on the inside.
Navajo fry bread, mmmm. One of my grandma's specialties. My ex-BIL held the family record for being able to eat two Navajo tacos and then follow them with a honey one.

Has anyone seen the trailer for the Alvin Schwartz scary stories movie? I didn't know del Toro was involved, so that gives you a good idea of how dark it will get.

>162 PaperbackPirate: I haven't been in the stores, just saw their online ads for Halloween and started looking around the websites. Someone sent me a scarecrow picture from Michael's though so I think they are popping up irl.

And yum to fry bread! I also like it with chili meat.

mrsdrneutron's birthday cake this year was a funnel cake we shared at the fireworks display in our local small town for Independence Days - her birthday's July 3. It was awesome as usual! They had a bunch of other fried stuff - fried oreo cookies, in particular - that seemed pretty over the top, though. 😀

>165 PaperbackPirate: I'll check out their sites and see if they have stuff up.
Do you go to the FryBread House on 7th Ave?

>166 drneutron: That's sounds like a great alternative to birthday cake, and of course the firework display was in her honor.
Our fair had peanut butter and jelly funnel cakes last year but we shared one with real maple syrup and bacon crumbled on and it's all I can do not to pick the plate up and lick it. I tried the fried Oreos once a few years ago and didn't care for them at all. They got both crumbly and mushy somehow. Now, deep fried Twinkies are very good.

And now I'll mention that the sequel to SuperSize Me is coming soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAjsBZEOnVw

We had a gentle monsoon last night. The wind was whistling and there was rain and thunder, a little lightening. But I don't think there was much damage and our yard only had the addition of somebody's little plastic bucket.

I have never even seen a fried Twinkie place but I've always wanted to try one.

So do you get to keep whatever bless into your yard. What if you're wearing a pirate's hat?

>155 mstrust: I didn't realise it was a book also, Jennifer.

>168 SomeGuyInVirginia: If only it had been something worth keeping, like a box of bath bombs, but I figure I can buy my own plastic bucket if I want one. I tossed it. I woke up to warm rain and thunder this morning, so fingers crossed, I might be gifted with an aloe plant or an orange tree.

>169 PaulCranswick: Sometimes that movies are so famous that they overshadow the book, like finding out that The Seven Year Itch was a play first. But I still haven't seen the movie version of Born on the Fourth of July.

The Del Marcos Hotel, Palm Springs

>167 mstrust: I haven't been since they moved to that location. But I love their fry bread!

We got some sprinkles the last 2 nights! I only know because both times my dog woke me up to take a bathroom break in the middle of the night.

Yeah, they did spend a long time in the "temporary" Indian School Rd. location.
How nice that your dog also allows you to get the weather report. None of us could live without a doggy door, Coral is just too antsy.

61. The Wounded and the Slain by David Goodis. James and Cora Bevan's nine year marriage is spiraling round the drain. In what they both know is a parting gesture, James takes a month off work and they fly to a resort in Kingston, Jamaica. While James gets embarrassingly drunk every day, he ruminates on why his marriage fell apart, the drinking, and his affair with his prostitute girlfriend that Cora finally caught onto. Cora thinks about her frigidness that drove her husband away and she finds a fellow guest who falls for her.
James' drinking leads him to the bad part of town where he is the intended victim of a mugging, and it throws him into a web of problems with the city's criminals.
I liked the story as it focused on the crumbling marriage and James' reliance on huge, huge amounts of alcohol, as it was almost noir. But the focus shifts midway into the Blevans being blackmailed too easily over a crime James didn't commit. Gritty but not too realistic. 3 stars

I can't find when I bought this but it's been on my shelf about two years.

>174 mstrust: I do like those Hard Case Crime editions and will pick them up whenever I find them. I'm sorry that one was not up to the usual level of excellence.

Usually a book that starts out hardboiled tends to remain hardboiled. This one went into some pretty ludicrous dialogue and even features three would-be murderers who are scared away by a sad smile. This book went bad.

When books go bad!

That's right. Not so bad that you stop reading it, and I'd definitely pick up another Goodis because he did really well with James' drunken misery. Shoulda stuck with that rather than have him going around trying to fix other people's problems.

We're going to see The Addams Family musical tonight.

>179 mstrust: That sounds like a fun night! Enjoy. :)

Holy cow, I'd love to see that! Must tell!

>180 DeltaQueen50: & >181 SomeGuyInVirginia: I'll dish tomorrow. To be honest, I:
1. Didn't realize it was a musical until I looked for the pic this morning. Mike hates musicals, so I'm not saying anything. Let him find out once they're singing.
2. Thought this was a brand new play debuting in Phoenix. Nope, it's been on Broadway. How have I never heard of it?

The show was fun and all the actors had really good singing voices. I liked the costumes, the staging, the lyrics. Both Mike and I agreed the the song melodies were written for Broadway, very showy rather than creepy. The show began and ended with the orchestra playing the theme song while just a ghostly white hand snapped its fingers. I liked Uncle Fester's song, "The Moon and Me" best. All the actors really looked like their characters, and they even put a thick belly on the thin boy playing Pugsley and he hunched over a bit, which gave him an appropriately strange shape.
Oh, and my evil plan worked. Mike didn't know it was a musical until they started singing.

A local landmark in Kissimee,Fl. Doesn't that make you want an orange?

It makes me want a beanie!

Ha! I didn't see that before but now I can't stop seeing it.
It's been a long day. Our tv and internet have been down since this morning as Cox does whatever in our neighborhood. It's still down but I finally thought of trying the tablet.

I've passed 800 pages in The Stand.

Woo Hoo! How many more to go? Is it a fast read as are many of King's other books?

It's a real page turner full of interesting characters and awful events. It runs to 1439 in my edition.
I've been reading a chapter or two in between my other books since January. Yes, nearly eight months and I'm crossing my fingers that I finish before the year ends. So it would take someone who reads at the average LT pace about a week to finish.

Our internet is still down. 😲

Internet!


The Bel Air Motel in Wildwood, NJ. It's located on a strip of restored Mid-Century motels.

Take a tour of Frank Sinatra's Mid-Century Palm Springs home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Giz_AO-CI

62. Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko. The follow-up to Al Capone Does My Shirts, twelve year old Moose and his family are still residents of Alcatraz, where his father is a guard. At the end of the last book, Moose had sent a secret note to the island's most famous convict, Al Capone, asking if he could get Moose's sister accepted into a school for children with special needs. Now we see that Natalie has been accepted and leaves for San Francisco, giving Moose and his parents some time for themselves. Soon after, a note from Capone comes to Moose, instructing the kid about how to pay the mob boss back. Moose has more problems too, as his best friend often won't talk to him, and the bratty warden's daughter wants romance but everyone warns Moose that it's a bad idea.
I'll continue with the series. The writing and the story are addictive. 4 stars

Our last piece of Americana:


Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours. The last one closed in June. Don't people want to eat something called a Pig Trough anymore?

Come visit my new thread!