Mstrust's Mid-Century Marvelous #3 Space Age Fun

Welcome to my third thread, which will be a little spacey. I love the designs of this era, some sleek, some Googie, but always creative.
I'm Jennifer and I live in Phoenix with husband Mike and a very worried boxer named Coral. I've been around LT since March of 2008.
We collect tiki mugs and attend Tiki Oasis, spend a lot of time in Vegas, and pre-nightmare, loved traveling. I collect books and have over 3000 scattered all over a three story house. I also bake and enter the state fair every year, and I really get into Halloween in a big way. Seriously, make sure you find my thread come September. And I love mysteries and true crime.
I'm devoting this year's 75 Challenge to my love of Mid-Century design. The clothes, furniture, architecture, cars and advertising.
Don't be surprised if you hear Dean Martin, Martin Denny and Peggy Lee around here.



My reading will be focusing on my Category challenges, along with keeping up as best I can with the ScaredyKit, ShakespeareKIT and MysteryCat, along with my ROOTs.

Category Challenge: https://www.librarything.com/topic/336276#unread
ROOTs: https://www.librarything.com/topic/337919#unread>
I'll also be hosting the hardboiled & noir month in April: https://www.librarything.com/topic/340322#unread
My Doorstop of the Year Read, which I've been talking about for too long: A Confederacy of Dunces.

2022 Reads

1. Horrorstor- 4.5
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox- 4
3. What Now, King Lear?- 3.8
4. The Giver- 4.5
5. James and the Giant Peach- 4
6. Foodheim- 2.5
7. Nothing But Blackened Teeth-2
8. The Magic Finger- 3.5
9. Murder at Melrose Court- 4.5
10. Diary of a Bookseller- 4
11. Gastro Obscura- 5
12. Danny Champion of the World- 3
13. Much Dithering- 3
14. 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet- 3.5
15. Flight- 4
16. Best Wishes, Warmest Regards- 4
17. The Geography of Bliss- 4
18. The Icepick Surgeon- 4
19. Murder at Teal's Pond- 3
20. Vintage Cocktails- 3.5
21. Cocktail Hour- 3.5
22.Their Eyes Were Watching God- 4
23. Jamie's Food Revolution- 4
24. Jamie at Home- 4
25. The Westing Game- 4.2
26. Elvis in Vegas- 4.5
27. Winesburg, Ohio- 4
28. Winter's Bone- 4
29. Gertrude and Claudius- 2.5
30. Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook- 3.5
31. Travel Hacks- 3
32. Welcome to Night Vale- 5
33. What's the Difference?- 3.5
34. Las Vegas Then and Now- 4
35. A Taste for Poison- 4.5
36. Cape Cod: Gardens and Houses- 3
37. Farewell, My Lovely- 4.5
38. Welocme to Dunder Mifflin- 4
39. The Cricket in Times Square- 3.5
40. The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe- 4.2
41. Witch: The True Story- 3.5
42. Two horror stories
43. Al Capone Throws Me a Curve- 4
44. Blood on Snow- 4.2
45. When the Mob Ran Vegas- 4
46. Esio Trot- 3.5

Happy new thread, Jennifer.
I am looking forward to many beautiful things!

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Jennifer.

>4 SirThomas: Hi, Thomas! The first lovely is for you being number one! Now you always have a ride home.


>5 quondame: Thanks, Susan!

>6 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul!

New thread hoop-de-do. How nice!

Happy new one!

Happy new thread. Loving the space theme.

Happy New Thread!

Peggy Lee? Great, now all I can hear in my head is “He’s a Tramp”.

Thank you Jennifer, can I take Astro with me when I fly home to Jane and George?

>8 weird_O: I think so too! Good to see you, Bill!

>9 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

>10 figsfromthistle: Thanks, glad you like it too!

>11 CassieBash: Thanks, Cassie, and you're welcome!

>12 SirThomas: Absolutely! Just go over there and stand still while I use my shrinkray gun.

According to Les Baxter, this is what the hep martians are listening to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbT2fIGyAOo

Happy New Thread!!
I like Les Baxter and Martin Denny too.

32. Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. In the small, isolated desert town of Night Vale, Jackie is the owner of a pawnshop that pays eleven dollars for pretty much anything that can be pawned, including tears. She's nineteen and has always been nineteen, she can't remember being any other age. It doesn't bother her that much.
Diane is a single mother to teenage shapeshifter Josh and works in an office that performs unclear business. Diane is the only person in the office who remembers a recent co-worker named Evan, though her memory of him is getting weaker. More importantly, she's shocked to see her ex, Josh's father, has returned to town after abandoning his family years before, and he seems to be working every job he can get.
Creeping into their lives is the worry about a mysterious man in a tan jacket who has been skittering all over town, handing over pieces of paper with two words written on them. He put one in Jackie's hand at the all-nite diner and now she can't get rid of it. The two women really dislike each other, but when Josh somehow escapes Night Vale, something few people have been able to do, they work together to find him.
Surreal, funny, and with strong doses of both sci-fi and horror, this is the second Night Vale novel I've read and now I want them all. How can I not like a place where a visit to the public library is nearly always fatal? 5 stars

>14 hredwards: Thanks, Harold! And good to see a Baxter and Denny fan!

Yesterday included a trip back to the plant nursery, where I picked up another big tomato plant, a strawberry mint plant, and a small French lavender plant, which I've just repotted. And a big bag of soil. We're looking at rolling plant stands for the backyard, so I can roll it into the sun for a few hours then back under the awning. That would be necessary during the summer when the sun fries a plant within an hour or two.
We also stopped in a small farmer's market and found a lady who makes hand pies. I had lemon, Mike had apple.

>15 mstrust: I loved this book too - and I have the 2nd volume ready to read for a long time!
ThankyouThankyouThankyou for the reminder!

I've read It Devours, which I think must be the fifth or sixth of the Night Vale books. I liked it a lot. These books reach a level of weirdness that I admire.

I'm in!

Wow! I am so sorry for the confusion in the last thread! I meant that I had already gone back and changed out my curse words for my previous post! I remember my dad being so opposed to cursing, and I don't ever remember him using it. Mom said s*** once and I was absolutely flabbergasted!

Ok, the Nightvale series is in my Amazon wish list.

Don't worry about it! Your swearing has always been in the charming and gracious style of a Southern gentleman. I wouldn't be surprised if small children beg you to say the f-word.
For anyone just joining us, we're discussing my last thread, when I told a dentally challenged man in a video to clean up his language, but was joking with Larry, and he thought I was telling him not to swear, which I'd never do because "wherever ye be, let your swears be free!", and yada yada...Larry will now be using all the cuss words in each post and I will just stand here and smile.

I picked up two more Night Vale novels at the library today, along with packets of sweet onions and more carrots. I planted heirloom arugula and more desert marigolds today. I had one red strawberry yesterday! I picked it and we both had a nibble. It was delicious and perfect.

Bought today: Las Vegas Then and Now and Cape Cod Gardens and Houses.

Sid Bass' 1956 full album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFqtAXPedJ0

Happy new thread, Jennifer. Sounds like your garden is coming along well. Interesting topper with the guys in space suits. Not sure why cause the women don't seem to be threatened by the atmosphere they way they're dressed.

I'm am very much doting on my plants. I pulled a radish this morning to see the size, which was still thin, but I ate it and it was so crunchy and spicy. I'm calling myself a "front porch farmer".
About the topper: the men are human astronauts with their rocket in the background, the women are on their own planet, and they are introducing the astronauts to their space cocktails, just as we would expect to happen in inter-planetary encounters.

The Backbone of the World by Stephen Graham Jones. Elderly Millie lives in a trailer alone since her husband was sentenced to twenty years in prison for accidentally running over two children. Her trailer is on a big parcel of land outside a Montana town, but she doesn't have much time left there, as the land and trailer belongs to her husband's family, and since he's not there, she needs to go. When another tribe member asks about the old camper Millie had tried to rent a year ago, Millie is happy to have the company and rent, and believes the new renter has been vetted by her friend. The woman who shows up comes at the same time as a terrible prairie dog problem that makes the land dangerous to walk and has Millie worried that it will look as is her husband didn't take care of the family land, so she throws herself into killing the prairie dogs as the strange renter stands by observing.
This is a story of loss and tribal connections that turns into a horror with a unique kind of monster. It's part of Amazon's "Trespass" collection of short stories for Kindle. This is just 53 pages long so I'm not counting it.3.5

Happy New Thread! I'm assuming the Welcome to Nightvale books are similar to the old podcast. Yet, I'm old enough to know not to assume anything. Anyway, they're on my library list. Maybe the ticket I need for my book slump.

Hi, Lynda! The Night Vale novels are new stories that feature podcast characters as peripheral characters, like having Cecil's community reports interspersed between chapters, while telling the stories of NV citizens that I don't believe have been in the podcast. The podcast is in its tenth year now and the creators are starting a tour with an all-new story. They'll be here in Phoenix in May and I hope to go.

Awesome to know it’s not a bunch of rehashed stories. Of course, I’ll need to read them at night as it was the time I listened to the podcast. Just so appropriate!

The authors seem to have enough weirdness for both the podcast and the novels. I hope you like them too!

33. What's The Difference?: Recreational Culinary Reference for the Curious and Confused by Brette Warshaw. This book explains the difference between apple cider and apple juice, broth vs stock, Kosher vs sea salt, prawns vs shrimp, Armagnac vs Cognac, and all the different coffee drinks with the Italian names. Informative and fun. 3.5 stars

I feel like I've had a full day already and it's just after 10 am. Among other things, I've taken my car to get a smog check and planted an heirloom variety of carrots called Scarlet Nantes. And pulled up a nice sized French radish.
I made a loaf of banana bread last night, and strawberry daiquiris, which I garnished with sprigs of our strawberry mint.

And is it too early for some Halloweenie news? Of course it isn't. Look out for a new series on Netflix from Tim Burton called Wednesday, about Wednesday Addams. And a movie version of The Munsters from Rob Zombie, which I think will be a theater release.

Pity I don’t get Netflix. Sigh.

I'm sure someone will post clips of it as soon as it starts. And I'll probably mention it here and there. I trust that it will be good.

We went to the Mexican bakery this morning and got a pack of fresh, lovely tortillas. We'll grill carne asada tomorrow night. While we were there we grabbed a bag of the red beef burritos, and I had a tangy lemon empanada.

We're expected to reach 93 today and tomorrow. We moved the majority of my fruits and veg from the front porch, having full sun all-day, to the back porch, which gets about six hours of direct sun. We built a little tent with garden netting and put the more fragile plants there. Keeps the birds away too.

34. Las Vegas Then and Now by Su Kim Chung. Vintage photos, some over 100 years old, are placed next to recent photos showing the changes the city has experienced. Each photo has an explanation, a paragraph or two that identifies the building and its history, who built it, and too often, when it was replaced. This book might not be of much interest to anyone who doesn't know the city well, but for someone who has spent as much time there as I have, it was really interesting and cleared up a few things. Like why did I have a memory of going to see a movie downtown when I was a kid somewhere near the Golden Gate casino? Turns out the touristy El Portal gift shop on Fremont used to be the El Portal theater. Why is there a bar called The Ice House on Main St.? Because there was an ice plant on that spot that was the only icing station for three states, filling railroad cars with ice to transport fresh produce.
There are also then and now photos of the iconic "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, which was designed by commercial artist Betty Willis in 1959, and a photo of the Hacienda Hotel and Casino, imploded in 1996, a place that thrilled a very young me when we'd stay there because their buffet featured a self-serve milk machine.
This book was published 15 years ago, so lots of the newer photos aren't accurate now. 4 stars

This photo is in the book:


Taken in 1953, the iconic Vegas Vic sign in front with a mushroom cloud from the Nevada Test Site in the back.

I totally forgot that yesterday was my 14th thingaversary.

>36 mstrust: Happy 14th thingaversary book accumulations....

Catching up after a week away.

Belated happy new thread, Jennifer, and happy Thingaversary!

>37 quondame: :-D I did get to shop a giant book sale a month ago, then a library sale two weeks later!

>38 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita!

Happy thingaversary!
>35 mstrust: priceless!

Happy Thingaversary!

The Smithsonian should be documenting this! You will never understand Americans without some sort of entree into old Las Vegas.

Oh dear Lord. I am not okay with the sweep of history. One thing I do love about the electronic universe is that things don't just disappear.

Fight the power! Have a good time! Be happy!

>40 Carmenere: Thanks! I don't know how I'd never seen such a photo before.

>41 CassieBash: Thank you!

>42 SomeGuyInVirginia: Visiting Vegas is definitely a passage of adulthood, at least in my family. I don't know how many people would have the childhood memories of Vegas that my sister and I do, as it was before the whole corporate "family" switch, but I'm very glad I was there before it changed. I've seen some things, man.
Yesterday, I bought a rolling gardening cart, ate a cheeseburger, and got one of those giant jars of M&Ms from Costco. I'm happy. Now beat that.

35. A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them by Neil Bradbury, Ph.D.. The author, a Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, discusses the discovery, properties and effects of a list of poisons that include arsenic, strychnine, ricin, potassium and more. With each poison, the reader is given case studies of poisoners who used that particular method on their victim(s), such as Charles Cullen, the critical care nurse who killed patients with digoxin, and KGB-defector Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning in London with a pot of polonium-laced tea by Russian agents.
This book combines chemistry, biology and true crime, and moves at a quick pace while giving detailed information. Good choice for someone who needs this info for a mystery novel! 4.5 stars

Happy thingaversary!

>35 mstrust: Great picture. Quite a different time.

>15 mstrust: Woot! My local library actually has that one.

>44 mstrust: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Sounds right up my alley!

Happy Thingaversary!

>45 figsfromthistle: Thank you! Downtown, further away from the Fremont Experience so not touristy, is a bar called Atomic Liquor. It's a two story building and in the 50's it had the roof open to customers for watching the explosions, giving them some choice seats for the radiation.
>46 alcottacre: Thank you! Fourteen years here collecting recommendations have left me with so many books! I'm glad to be able to add a few books for your BlackHole. Both are really interesting, and I've started another Night Vale book, this one being a reprint of their podcast scripts.

>47 mstrust: I will have to see how much I enjoy the first Night Vale book and then seek out the others. I will be interested to see what you think of the next Night Vale book you read.

>43 mstrust: I can't even imagine! I made my first visit to Las Vegas in 1985 as a college student. I drove there, and pulled into a gas station / convenience store to fill up and call some local friends to come and get me. I had about an hour wait and spoke with the lady behind the counter. She'd been a Las Vegas native since the early '60s and she told me stories that I cherish to this day. For example, say what you will about the mob - but if they didn't see you as competition they were extremely generous hosts. She told me that even people who became bankrupt in Las Vegas under mob rule were still given bus or train tickets back home. Microsoft would not do that.
The lady I spoke with loved the mob and hated the new corporate owners that were coming in. 1985 was the transition year, I guess.

>44 mstrust: Added to my TBR. Thanks!

Karen O

>44 mstrust:. Oh my God! How weird is it that half of my f****** recipes come from you, and then you review a book on everyday household poisons!? Seriously Jennifer! Mix messages!

>44 mstrust: I’ve either read that one or a similar book. The fact that I can’t remember which probably saying a lot about my disturbing nonfiction reading.

>47 mstrust: Do you know if the bar also served food? Puts a whole new spin on mushroom burger….

>48 alcottacre: Sure. I actually thought that all the NV books were novels, but this current book will let me catch us with podcast episodes I'd missed.

>49 SomeGuyInVirginia: It's true, the mob was way more generous with visitors. You hit a jackpot back then and you were getting free meals, and if it was a decent-sized win, they comped a room or took your name and gave you a free room the next time. When I was a kid, all casinos had a red runner that went through the casino and it was the only place kids were allowed to stand. I remember huge pit bosses who looked like they could dislocate arms. And performers like Debbie Reynolds have talked about how much they preferred working with the mob because they honored deals to the letter and treated people well.
Personally, I don't mind the stories of cheats getting taken out back or driven to the middle of the desert and thrown out. Some people learn the hard way.

>50 klobrien2: You're welcome, glad to help!

>51 SomeGuyInVirginia: ;-) My guilt depends on if you followed my instructions to label a bottle of rat poison as garlic.

>52 CassieBash: I found this book in the "new non-fiction" of my library, so maybe you haven't read it yet.
Yes, Atomic Liquor does serve food, and they use their Atomic burger sauce. Some of their cocktails have a nuclear theme too.
http://kitchenatatomic.vegas/

>54 mstrust: And this is what happens when you go thru the all you can eat crab legs line one too many times.

I have about 6 NV books headed to a library near me. They are all authored by Fink but not all say Nightvale. I hope they're all related.

I put a hold on an NV book in the library but there's a pretty long line.

Love mutant bug movies!

>55 Carmenere: >56 SomeGuyInVirginia: I like how she stops screaming for second and looks at the pinchers, like, 'Come on, you're supposed to grab me."

>55 Carmenere: I know that Fink has written a few books on his own but I haven't read one yet so I couldn't say if they are Night Vale books. I'll look for your reviews!

>56 SomeGuyInVirginia: Have I created a run on NV books?

After watching a couple of Youtube videos, I've planted ginger this morning. Fingers crossed.
Coral continues her life of crime by stealing a croissant off the counter.

36. Cape Cod: Gardens and Houses by Taylor Lewis and Catherine Fallin. A coffee table book that takes the reader into the well-heeled homes all along the Cape. Some homes are over one hundred years old and have a rustic Colonial look, while others are more modern beach houses. All have beautiful large gardens. 3 stars

>58 mstrust: Oh my gosh! I have that book! Bill, Will and I have never been known to miss a book sale when one is afoot. So, when we were vacationing on Cape Cod a few years ago we became aware of a sale at the Brewsters Ladies Library and that was one of the books I squeezed into our already cramped car to bring home with me.
It still helps me in trying to duplicate a wee portion of these gardens.

What are the odds, huh? This was a pretty that I couldn't pass up a few weeks ago. The photos of the flowers stopped me too, along with the very old brick lined homes. I liked the houses that looked like they belonged to a Colonial witch.

I love old houses. I like looking at gardens, too, but real life experience tells me that if it needs more than watering or mowing I'll pull it up and put down gravel. I have it on very good authority that the flower bank that borders my next door neighbor had some really beautiful sunflowers last year.

I've only been up north once in my life, to attend a wedding in Western Massachusetts and I buzzed through Connecticut on my way back to DC. I saw some really beautiful old houses, and now wish I had taken pictures. Still, I didn't get far off the tourist track so probably saw nothing is nice as what was in that book.

I don't know if this is a Phoenix thing or what, but for many years we would hire landscapers who would come once and never again. We even had one guy who did the work while we were at work and never came back to be paid. For a long time we thought it was because our yards are larger than normal and they felt it wasn't worth it, but we've had other people tell us that it happens to them too.
I've toured a few old mansions but nothing like some of these homes. I don't believe any of them are open for tour, at least at the time of publishing. No match for Graceland, I'm sure.

Hi Jennifer, I now have a craving for crab legs so thanks for that. I love science fiction books from the 1950s and I am in the mood for a crazy space adventure - any recommendations?

>63 DeltaQueen50: There are more volumes of The Expanse, which really is almost as space opera as you can get!

>63 DeltaQueen50: Sorry, both for the craving and that I've read so little sci-fi myself. Off the top of my head the only thing I can recommend, but I recommend it highly, is Go, Mutants!. It's the story of an alien boy trying to fit in at an American high school in the 1950s. It meets the definition of "crazy".
>64 quondame: Thank you for stepping up, and if you or anyone else can come up with more "crazy space adventure" titles, it would be appreciated. I'd like to know myself.

Here's something to crave instead...okra! Or maybe a jello mold.

>66 mstrust: 😂😂

I especially like how the army dude wants to jitterbug but the evil okra is all, 'no dude I'm evil okra!'

>67 drneutron: >68 SomeGuyInVirginia: Okra is popular in my family but I've never cared for it, and this is why. How can they not see?

I'm looking forward to the Stephen King-inspired puppet show that's coming to The Cartoon Network next month. If you haven't heard, it's because info is coming out in bits, but it's hand puppet versions of King characters talking to kids about big subjects. A Randall Flagg puppet will explain the pandemic, a Carrie White puppet will discuss puberty, and the Torrances will cover resolutions in family conflict and survival skills. The show is called "King's Dirty Birdies" and is aimed at 6-10 year-olds, but I'm immature.

>69 mstrust: "King's Dirty Birdies" sounds terrific! I'll have to keep an eye out for that. Thanks for the heads-up!

Karen O.

P.s. That was a good one! You got me!

>69 mstrust: Almost got me until I remembered what day it is…

>69 mstrust: >71 drneutron: I was so looking forward to that!

>70 klobrien2: You're welcome and I'm sorry!

>71 drneutron: Dang it!

>72 quondame: I should be ashamed of myself.

It's been a busy day. I just happened to look this morning and the one-day-a-year vintage swap meet was today, so we went and I found a delicate little boxer figurine and a pair of red bakelite earrings that will go with my tiki outfit for the oasis weekend in two weeks.
We did some shopping around the east side and I bought more planters and seeds, bought Coral three weeks of canned food plus all her special treats, like chunks of yak cheese, then had pork belly barbecue for lunch and went to an Aldi for the first time. My sister raves about it and I thought it was okay, definitely not big enough to get everything I need.
I harvested two red strawberries this morning and sowed a small trough of zinnia seeds. I have lots of little tomatoes growing and both lavender plants have flowers and buds. I also clipped off a tall stalk on one of my aloes that had spent flowers, so hopefully another stalk will grow.

Happy Thingaversary!

I somehow got off your thread train, but I'm glad to be riding along with you again.

You definitely got me with the Stephen King show! Lol.

Loved your April fool gig and you would have got me with it had I seen it in time.

>69 mstrust: I completely bought into the April fool. My reaction was, 'but that's so off brand! What is he thinking?!'

>75 PaperbackPirate: Thank you and glad you found me!
I'm starting to think I should be pitching to a network.

>76 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul! And I hope you've learned a lesson about ignoring me and my weird thread.

>77 SomeGuyInVirginia: I thought that by the time the reader got to the "Carrie White and puberty" line, everyone would be rolling their eyes. Ha!

Jello got really creative in the 50s, convincing cooks that they could use gelatin in just about anything.


Maybe it's just me, but I don't want it.

No, it's me, too. Jello molds always bring out the finicky 4-year-old eater in me. Well, Jell-O molds and 7-Eleven burritos. Sometimes you just can't keep a 4-year-old sufficiently contained.

And doesn't enough food already have eyes!

>78 mstrust: Well a few days away from my friends threads does just about constitute ignoring them, I suppose! Will try to do better. x

>80 SomeGuyInVirginia: In the 50's Jello made a tomato flavored jello, and I suspect this may be what's giving that thing the "skinned alive" look. But at some point they also made an Italian Salad flavor, and the thought of a garlicy gelatin is too much.

>81 PaulCranswick: I think you've learned your lesson. Xoxo, and help yourself to some skinned jello fish.

>82 mstrust: Fishy tasting jello doesn't get my juices flowing, Jennifer, but I'll accept it as my punishment!

>82 mstrust: I recently saw coffee jello show up on a FB video. I thought it had been staked long ago. It wasn't a thing in my family, but I had a boyfriend whose mother, grandmother and aunts all made it every day from left over coffee so as not to waste any coffee. How could left over coffee even be a thing? We always drank the pot empty, and why make more than you know you'll drink. Weird. It's not like it came in pods back in the 40s-60s.

>79 mstrust: That looks disgusting to me! Lol

Have a wonderful week, Jennifer!

>79 mstrust: That is seriously creepy. And I can't stop looking... The 50s were such a weird time. 😀

>79 mstrust: Just…no. I’ll pass, thanks.

We do have 2 Jello molds that get occasional use during certain Halloween-themed parties—a brain and a heart. And we have one of those more traditional floral wreath shapes, but the most exotic Jello flavor we use is lime or peach (usually reserved for the brain mold).

>85 quondame: I know that Jell-o did make a coffee flavored gelatin that was discontinued. I would have tried it, and the maple syrup flavor too. Those actually sound good.
:-D Yeah, I'd rather just make less coffee or throw out the old. If I had to guess, where these ladies Midwestern? I'm married to a guy from Michigan and the ladies in his family tend to repurpose things I'd never thought of.

>86 alcottacre: Oh, come on, Stasia. Just close one eye completely and squint real hard with the other. See? Now it looks good.
Have a great week!

>87 drneutron: What pushed it over the edge for you? The olive eyes or the whatever the hell that is that makes up the spinal cord? Whoever made this was a Picasso working in gelatin and canned salmon. This is their Guernica.

>88 CassieBash: Just a little bite to be polite.
I used to have that floral mold. If I had a brain mold I'd be turning ice cream and tuna salad into brains.
I really like the lime, orange or cherry flavors, but Mike will only eat red. That's his flavor, though he doesn't care for jello much. I'm going to ask my sister if she knows peach jello exists because she eats peach anything.

Just posting this because Larry wanted to see my Doug Horne print. This is the only size I could find.

>89 mstrust: You use a certain type of canned milk and a bit of food coloring (we like green—gives it a gray color) to make the Jello opaque. Admittedly, I much prefer ice cream to Jello and would definitely eat more of it if it were molded ice cream.

Just popping in to thank you for the reminder about Night Vale, Jennifer.

Sweet jumpin' granny smith apples, that is AWESOME!!!! I love the Bride of Frankenstein! I think I remember that, but vaguely? Wow, Jennifer, that is gorgeous! What have you done with it?

>91 CassieBash: I asked my sister if she knew about peach jello, and she said yes, they mix it with raspberry vodka for jello shots.

>92 SirThomas: Happy to remind you! I'm going to end up collecting everything they put out.

>93 SomeGuyInVirginia: Isn't it? We bought our print at the Tiki Oasis in 2019, and the next oasis is in two weeks! And to answer your question, this print, along with some antique botanical prints and some gold wire wall shelves, are leaning against the fireplace in the den. We have yet to hang any of them.
Horne is the guy we just happened to run into in the parking lot of an Office Depot a few months ago. He'd been in line at the register ahead of us but didn't recognize him, and it wasn't until we were walking through the parking lot and he called out to us because Mike was wearing his Frankie's Tiki Room t-shirt. So we went over and talked and I told him that we'd bought this print from him at the oasis and we talked about tiki bars, and we're having a good ol' time, and then he mentions that he's staying with his elderly parents for a while because his dad isn't doing well, and he motions, and I look across the parking lot and see that his mom is sitting on the sidewalk in the chair he'd just bought, and his dad is clutching a signpost and waving like a chopper is circling his life raft, so he had to go. I hope to see him at the oasis.

>89 mstrust: It was the eyes...

>89 mstrust: They were New Englanders, probably as use-it-up/make-it-do/do-without as anyone in the Midwest.

>89 mstrust:, >95 drneutron: See, now, if the eyes are what I think they are (green olives), those are the best part!

>94 mstrust: All alcohol has a medicinal taste to me (think very cheap Robitussin) so I wouldn’t know that particular use for peach Jello. That explains, perhaps, why they still make it. I can’t imagine it’s a very popular stand-alone flavor.

>64 quondame: I have the first of the Expanse books, Leviathan Wakes, so I should give it a nudge and get started on the series!

>98 DeltaQueen50: I saw a couple in you library which is why I thought it might suit.

>89 mstrust: Whoever made this was a Picasso working in gelatin and canned salmon. This is their Guernica.

As in, that image shows a crime against humanity? I agree.

>95 drneutron: If it didn't have eyes it wouldn't look like it was pleading for its life as realistically.

>96 quondame: Ah, New Englanders also have that "use every part" gene. I actually have to admire the determination to make use of old coffee. I just use the spent grounds in my gardening.

>97 CassieBash: Mike loves green olives. He might pull those "eyes" out and eat them.
If there's a way to turn something innocuous into a party drink, someone in my sister's house will figure it out. But I might try her jello shot idea this summer, it sounds good to me.

>98 DeltaQueen50: >99 quondame: Glad to see some sci-fi recs!

>100 ursula: I wonder if someone on set for this photo shoot took it home for the family, or if it was thrown into a trash bin from a distance. Did someone yell "Ewww!" as it splushed against the sides or did some helpless kids have to eat it for dinner that night? We'll never know.

I wanted to do something with my strawberry mint yesterday, it's doing so well. So I put a big sprig in lemonade and more in plain seltzer, good in both. Then, of course, I melted dark chocolate and coated some of the larger leaves and put them in the fridge to firm up. It was good, and really interesting. There's the flavor of green strawberry first, then mint, and an aftertaste of ripe strawberry. I thought Mike would have just one to appease me but he finished off the plate of them. And the chocolate covered mini marshmallows I'd made too.

37. Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. Private detective Philip Marlowe can't walk down the street without finding trouble. He meets recently released sociopath Moose Malloy while just standing on the sidewalk, with the giant ex-con dragging Marlowe into a bar to watch him bust the place up and murder the owner. Now Marlowe is a witness and tries to help the police find Malloy, but he's quickly sidetracked to a paying job, hired to escort a strange man paying a big ransom for a stolen rare jade necklace. Because nothing goes smoothly for Marlowe, no matter how much he does his research, the trade doesn't happen and he's involved in another murder. Things get more complex and dangerous from there.
This is a wild ride through L.A. and the surrounding cities. It's a true hardboiled novel. Published in 1940. I finally read this for the MysteryKit this month. 4.5 stars

>102 mstrust: That sounds like a fun, mysterious mess! Perfect. : )

Marlowe is certainly having a rough time here. Poor guy!

Coral went into surgery at 4:30 this morning to have a lump removed from her side. We've got her home now, though she can't settle down and rest, instead pacing and panting. The incision is longer than we expected.
And last night I shot myself in the eye with some antibacterial soap, and I do mean shot because it came out like a bullet from a gun. The spout had gotten clogged and that stuff burned. I made it worse by trying to flush it with Visine, and it burned the rest of the night. So I have a red swollen eye this morning.

Hey Jennifer, I've been really really busy so I missed the jello mold chatter.
I have a weird memory of some one in my distant past actually hanging their jello molds on the kitchen wall as if they were trophies! Just the thought of it makes me gag.
Hope you're having a good week.

You know, I think that might have been a thing years ago, because I've seen tv shows that have jello molds on the wall. I think Roseanne did.
My week has started out rough but I expect it will get better!

>104 mstrust: xoxo to you and Coral!

Poor Coral, I hope she recovers quickly! Parker will turn 8 this August and though he doesn't seem to be slowing down, his black fur is starting to gray. And stop shooting yourself in the eye!

>107 PaperbackPirate: Thanks, Nicole! My eye is back to normal, and Coral is working on forgiveness.

>108 SomeGuyInVirginia: She came downstairs for breakfast and her meds, then went back upstairs to go back to sleep. Like a hairy Norma Desmond.
We got her in late 2015, and they said she was either two or three at the time, so she's either nine or ten now and her muzzle is going gray. Still races through the house every morning.
I know, you'd think I would have learned not to shoot what is basically rubbing alcohol into my eye. I must be a slow learner.

My spice of the month arrived. I didn't get my first pick, which was bulgogi seasoning, but I got an Ecuadorian stew seasoning called fanesca and Middle Eastern Za' atar, plus a packet of sumac blend that can be sprinkled on vegetables or cheese, or made into a dip.

The space age Googie architecture of LAX:


Read about Googie style here: https://blog.retroplanet.com/googie-architecture/

>90 mstrust: Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein in Chinese garb? Who would have thought. . .

>102 mstrust: It has probably been 40 years since I read that one. I probably should re-read it at some point.

>104 mstrust: I hope that the eye is better now and that Coral is doing OK.

>110 mstrust: It looks like something from a futuristic sci-fi B movie.

Happy Wednesday, Jennifer!

>106 mstrust: I think so too. My wife used to collect cookie cutters and had them hanging above the cabinets in the kitchen.

>111 alcottacre: Elsa's been tikified! I love it!
My eye is much better, thanks. It was scratchy yesterday and I could see the irritation, but seems fine now. Coral will take a week or more to heal enough to forget. It will leave a big scar, but this dog has so many scars on her that her grandma called her "Frankenstein dog".
That's the control tower at LAX, and I remember seeing it as a child and thinking it was the most fantastic and exciting thing I'd ever seen, and I felt lucky to go there. Now I see a War of the Worlds vibe.
You have a good day!

>112 hredwards: Makes sense to hang them if it's your collection, or if you use them a lot and need to whip out some cookies fast.

>113 mstrust: I love Googie style, but you know that we've been friends for years. A Googie House wasn't available when I was looking, but there is a classic mid-century house that sold about 6 months before I started looking and it's less than a quarter of a mile from my traditional mid-century ranch neighborhood. One thing Googie style emphasized was outdoor living and social living. I mention this because the house had a personal office that was only accessible through a ladder in the master bedroom closet that led to a second floor snug, and it was completely surrounded by windows. It was really lovely! It must make an awesome office! The one thing that I hated about all the mid-century modern houses I saw in Lynchburg?! They all had windows that followed the roof line down to about the 9-ft mark, so you either have to get custom designed curtains or you will be up at 6:00 a.m. every. damn. Morning. When I lived in Alexandria there was an enclave of mid-century modern houses. I went to a football party at 1:00 and was really struck on how the whole house was set up to accommodate visitors. There was a natural flow to the outdoor space, there was a room off the dining room that can only be a cocktail reception room, and although there were walls separating each room from all the other rooms, each room slowed into the rooms next to it so that there was a circular flow around the whole house. It was really touching, because whoever designed that house designed it for the people living in it to really enjoy life. Whatever. I'm blathering.

Your house is gorgeous, I think you got a good one.
You're right, the mid-century homes often had big patios and gardens, and big living rooms. I'd never thought about it, but it must have been because people had cocktail parties back then. My house was built in the early 70's and three people fill up the dining room, so I guess the idea of entertaining wasn't the thing then.
I enjoy your blathering.

With my sudden interest in gardening lately, I finally turned my attention to a tree on the east side of our backyard this morning. It grew along the fence about six or seven years ago, not pretty but didn't take any effort on my part so I ignored it. This morning I put on gloves and went out and trim it a bit. After breakfast I had Mike come out and help me pick up the cut branches, and of course he refused to wear the gloves I offered. I wore gloves. Later on I put a pic of the tree in PlantNet, the identifying app. It's African Sumac, every part of it is poisonous to the touch, bringing up a red rash that can last three weeks. The rash starts about eight hours after contact. I called Mike at work and told him, but he thinks he'll be alright because he's already washed his hands with pumice soap a few times. I hope.
I bought a very tall rosemary plant this morning, and another packet of French radish seeds and red cored Chantenay carrot seeds. I went to the nursery looking for grape or blackberry vines.

38. Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office by Brian Baumgartner and Ben Silverman. This looks at everything that went on behind the cameras, from the negotiations to create an American version of the U.K. hit, to getting a little network interest, casting, the writer's room, and what was happening throughout each of the nine seasons of what has turned out to be one of the most popular shows ever made.
Baumgartner played Kevin on the show while Silverman was a producer, so this book includes interviews with many of the people who worked on the show, along with the authors own memories and recollections. And there are some surprises, such as learning that their first two seasons were greenlighted in drips, with orders for one or two episodes at a time because the ratings were so bad. That producer/director Greg Daniels fought to have Dwight ride a horse over Niagara Falls in the Jim & Pam wedding episode, or that the season of James Spader playing Robert California wasn't a favorite with the cast. While this book doesn't explore everything that went on in nine seasons (no discussion at all of my favorite episode, "Threat Level Midnight", or of some long-time cast members) it comes close and features the thoughts of the main cast, producers and directors. 4 stars

Nice! Srsly, you need a podcast.

I'm calling your bluff!

Dropping in to wish you a wonderful easter weekend!

39. The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. Chester the cricket jumps into a picnic basket near his home in Connecticut and is mistakenly brought to Times Square, a place he'd only heard of. He quickly makes friends with locals Harry the cat and Tucker Mouse, and adopted by Mario, a little boy who helps his parents run their newsstand. Though Chester has a hard time adjusting to city life, his amazing musical talent eventually makes him a star.
Published in 1960, it's a children's book that doesn't talk down to the reader. Chester plays opera and classical music.
3.5 stars

Happy Easter!

Happy belated Easter! I recreated Night of the Living Dead using Peeps, as is my wont.

>121 mstrust: You know, in 1960 I think children would have been exposed to a great deal of classical music and opera. I know when I was a kid my grandparents gave me a lot of records and they were all of classical music. When my mom was a kid she would listen to a rhythm and blues station out of Roanoke I believe, but that was only at night and only when she thought my grandparents wouldn't hear. To this day, Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev still can absolutely terrify me.

I recreated Night of the Living Dead using Peeps, as is my wont.
I assume you tore them into pieces and drizzled with chunky strawberry jam? Roasted two of them to recreate the young couple in the gas station explosion? It's nice to pay homage to the greats.
I agree that children were exposed to more high-brow music, and literature, back then. Those kids were given a good foundation in Shakespeare too, but I don't know at what age. I saw that doc series on Fran Lebowitz from Netflix that I told you about and that I recommend to everyone because she's such fun, and she talked about a show she'd loved as a child in the 50's, a weekly classical concert for children in which the conductor explained all the instruments and then the orchestra played.

My fiancé always watches “The Exorcist” on Easter.

Ha, I've never heard of that as an Easter ritual!

We went to another nursery on Easter, where I bought a Roma tomato plant, a banana pepper, a very lush Italian parsley and a salvia that has a long stock and lots of flowers that the bees love.
We went for a seafood lunch, and I had a fun talk with Larry. Then made a pizza.

>102 mstrust: Thanks for the reminder, I have since read it too and was thrilled.
Have a wonderful day, Jennifer!

Happy to point you towards such a great book!
Thank you, and have a wonderful day yourself! We're dipping down to around 89F today.

40. The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. These are the episodes from the second season of Welcome to Night Vale, along with commentary for each episode by the writers or guest writers.
In this season, The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your House is running for public office, and Dana the Intern, who has been lost in the dog park for months, is able to make sporadic contact with Cecil at the radio station. Also, Megan, the little girl whose body is the severed hand of an adult man, is determined to find a way to communicate, and Tamika Flynn leads a child uprising against the librarians. 4.2 stars

>124 mstrust: okay, that's just spooky, how did you know?!

Yes! I remember you recommending the Fran Lebowitz special and I did watch the shows! They're really great! Do you remember when she was looking at a new apartment and the realtor asked why she needed such a large space, and she said because she had a lot of books? Haha!

okay, that's just spooky, how did you know?!
It's the most obvious thing to do with Peeps. Besides melting them down to pour on the floor and walk barefoot through them. But maybe I'm in a rut.
Yes, I remember her talking about that, ha! I can picture her just barely stopping herself from yelling, "Don't you have thousands of books too, you dolt?"

"That was my air conditioner! Why did my sister marry you?!"

I hate it when my appliances turn out to be rogue Transformers. And then the one thing you would just naturally assume was a Transformer turns out to be just a Swiss army knife.

Doesn't that clip seem like the Transformer inventor must have seen this movie?
I need a transformer that turns from a spatula into a ground tiller.

I need a Transformer that turns from a Lamborghini into Hugh Jackman. I mean Hugh Jackman then, not Hugh Jackman now.

Also, I'd like to have an ice tray that turned into a universal remote. Or practically anything that would turn into a universal remote. There are two things I am always in need of - universal remote and a box in which to put the universal remote so that the cat doesn't knock the floor and it gets kicked under things and lost me.

Just catching up here. Peeps, classical music, young Hugh Jackman...Happy Tuesday!

>135 SomeGuyInVirginia: With gas prices what they are, Hugh Jackman would be cheaper to ri-... never mind. Get your mind out of the gutter!

>136 Berly: Happy Tuesday to you! We do get up to all kinds of things here. I'm still eating Easter Peeps.

And I have been distracted by plenty of things lately. Still reading though I'm not even close to being finished with any of the books I'm juggling. Gardening, working on another writing project, and oh, I find myself watching too much of the Depp/Heard trial. I didn't expect to be this enthralled, but have you seen it? Fighting like wet cats in a bag, screaming, cussing, mountains of drugs, gallons of alcohol, island retreats and a severed fingertip. It's got everything.

I'm delighted to show you my first ever blooming cactus. Known as both a "spider cactus" and "dwarf chin cactus", I bought this at the botanical garden about five months ago. It's grown enough to be repotted, but it's still only about four inches high.

>121 mstrust: Oh boy, does that bring back memories!

Happy Tuesday, Jennifer!

Somehow I'd never heard of it. But apparently my elementary school library didn't carry the same books as most schools, because I find myself discovering books that have been read by generations.
Happy Tuesday to you!

Coral just came home from having her stitches out. Everything's good!

Happy Catch-up Tuesday!
>117 mstrust: Sounds like I need to check out Welcome to Dunder Mifflin. I've been listening to Office Ladies podcast for quite some time. I'm sure there's oodles more info to be had out there.

As a one who spent my first 8 years in the 60's I don't recall any classical music in my life. Lots of Lawrence Welk, Mitch Miller and my mom loved popular piano tunes. Hehehe, Don't judge me

>129 mstrust: I just finished this one and returned it to the library yesterday. I still have volumes 3 & 4 and several novels. Their imagination is endless.

>138 mstrust: Awe! Your beautiful cactus has eyes! I tend to over water cactus/cacti?. Is there a rule of thumb as to how much water is too much?

>140 mstrust: Glad to read Coral is coming along!

>138 mstrust: Beautiful!

>141 Carmenere: I listen to the Office Ladies sometimes too. The Office was a great show. Did you hear that Baumgarten (Kevin) made a million dollars on Cameo last year?
My parents didn't do classical either. I grew up Listening to Hank Williams and The Osborne Brothers.
I really admire their ability to write strange sentences.
A third flower bud has appeared. Really beautiful red flowers! I just water young cactus more than older ones, like twice a week, and add a few drops of Schultz's. My older cactus and succulents get Schultz cactus food and water once a week, but the succulents get watered twice a week. Make sure you know if it's a cactus or succulent, they can fool you. And I discovered what a big difference it makes to use cactus and succulent soil. I used to just throw regular potting soil in and cross my fingers.

>138 mstrust: iI's the little things that bring a lot of happiness - thank you for the beautiful picture!

>142 drneutron: Thank you, Jim! Those flower buds appeared, grew and bloomed very quickly, in the space of maybe two weeks. I was so surprised to see those beautiful red flowers because I actually thought it was propagating more pincushions.

>144 SirThomas: Thank you for coming over to look! I do get a thrill from seeing my plants thriving now when I've spent years killing them. I need to stop bragging because we're going into summer and this will be the real challenge.

I pulled two red mini cherry tomatoes this morning. About the size of cranberries.

>138 mstrust: Wow, that is really beautiful! I've always loved flowering cactuses (cacti?,) because they don't seem like the kinds of plants that would flower and when they do it's kind of magic.

>137 mstrust: Wait. What writing project? Can you tell?

I agree, the contradiction of the dangerous needles and big, bright flowers is strange.
I've been writing short stories again lately, which is how I started in writing. Just entertaining myself.

My cactus is a succulent. I didn't know some cacti were succulents. It has a big red bulb on top and 2 or 3 green little bulbs on the sides. Interesting.

>147 mstrust: one has the transmitter and one has a receiver. Oh great, so even when we get taken over by war of the worlds I'm still going to have to invite b***** gay couples over for drinks. Ta!

>148 Carmenere: I had to google the difference between cactus and succulent. I'd always just looked at one and differentiated without thinking about it much, so I needed a firm answer. My favorite answer was "succulents look succulent and juicy." But it turns out that cactus, not succulents, have aureoles, those bumps that the needles and spikes are centered in. That's the difference:

>149 SomeGuyInVirginia: The upside is that they aren't speaking out loud. They'll still be judging you but you won't know what item of your attire or piece of furniture they're hating.

>138 mstrust: What wonderful blooms!

>150 mstrust: That one looks cool, too!! : ) I have some succulents I brought indoors for the winter, but I am afraid I didn't water them enough. Oops.

>152 figsfromthistle: Thanks! Turns out that it has to be in direct sunlight to bloom. If I move it to the shaded side of the porch the blooms remain closed.
>153 Berly: I think it's cool too! Very unusual ribbing.
It's taken me years to get the hang of cactus and succulents. I keep in mind that succulents need enough water to look plump and juicy. During the winter, probably once a week watering will do.

The AZ Tiki Oasis starts today. We'll be attended our first seminar tomorrow, Tiki in Pop Art, lead by Big Toe. Fun!

A Big Toe mug.

OH! MY! GOAD! Pics or it didn't happen!

It certainly DID happen, but I have just one pic from yesterday. We go back tomorrow and I'll have more to post all at once.
The local news sent a guy to the hotel yesterday, I just happened to catch it around 5:30.
How's your weekend so far? Working on the house?

Okay, Tiki Oasis 2022 pics:

Little vintage car in the Valley Ho parking lot this morning that had been turned into a moving cocktail with fruit and straw.

Friday's seminar on Tiki Pop art in Surrealism lead by painter and tiki mug designer Big Toe, on the left. Holding the mic is event organizer Otto:


And Big Toe today at his booth:

This year, we bought prints. No mugs, t-shirts, cocktail mixers. Just artwork.

The largest is a limited edition from Doug Horn called "Cocktail Queen", the 2nd print of a run of 50. The long print of Karen Black and the voodoo doll is a scene from the movie Trilogy of Terror, which Mike wanted because he was terrified as a child by this movie. The print is by James Owens.
The colorful print at the top right is of a tiki mug that we own. Both the print and mug design is by Big Toe. The three smaller prints along the left are by Pat Art by Kevin. They are depictions of the little motels that used to be around Disneyland when I was growing up. He and I turn out to have lived and worked in the same spots around the same time, so it was great to talk to him. In fact, we bought everything right from the artists who created them.
We also attended a seminar this morning about the tiki art of Walt Disney, so much of it was about The Enchanted Tiki Room, but there was a lot of info that made the room buzz.

41. Witch: The True Story of Las Vegas's Most Notorious Female Killer by Glenn Puit. In 2001, North Las Vegas police were called to a storage facility, which had been opened by employees because of the terrible smell. When the police discovered the source, a trash bin that had been duct taped shut, they removed the bin to their forensic lab. Inside, they discovered the jellied remains of sixty-five year old Christine Smith, a Texan who had resided in Central California for decades.
Learning that the storage unit belonged to Smith's middle-aged daughter, Brookey Lee West, the detectives began unraveling the history of a remarkably dysfunctional and dangerous family.
The title says this is a Las Vegas story, though very little of it actually took place there, the Smith/West family lives most of the time in Bakersfield and other small central cities. 3.5 stars

>157 mstrust: Wow that is a dinky little car - I want one!

I think it may have been a 60's era Fiat? I'm not good at identifying cars, but it was tiny.

>157 mstrust: Too cute!

Thank you so much for the great pictures, Jennifer - I love it.
>162 mstrust: Google lens says it's a Vespa 400 built 1957-1961 - you're right, it's an Italian car.
Have a great start to the week!

>159 mstrust: Big Toe Is the bomb! If I had been there I would have just stood standing and giggled. And Mike is right, that episode from Trilogy of Terror absolutely scared that crap out of me. I've spoken with several people in my life and they all say the same thing, they didn't see it because 70s television was almost uniformly horrendous and then Karen Black happened and decades after watching the show they still vividly remember it.g

>160 mstrust: Got me with that one!

>160 mstrust: That sounds very interesting!!

>163 quondame: I'm glad I went back and took the pic. Who would have been able to picture this just from a description?

>164 SirThomas: Glad you liked them! A Vespa? I never would have come up with that, thanks!

>165 SomeGuyInVirginia: We talked to Big Toe for a while, he was alone in the booth when we walked up, but after five minutes or so his friends started dropping in.He was sold out of a Ratfink style hot rod print that Mike wanted, but we may get it through Big Toe's website. But he was very friendly and we talked about his seminar.
I saw Trilogy of Terror a few years ago and it didn't leave any impression on me, but Mike has mentioned before how this Karen Black scene scared the beejezus out of him at six years old. I guess I should rewatch it and pay closer attention. The artist said that he hears that from lots of people who recognize the scene.
I should mention that the hotel did some signature cocktails that weekend, one being the Pacifica Margarita, which I had. Then as we walked into the Friday seminar we were handed mini mugs of Liqueur 43 with a head of heavy cream on top. Yesterday, at 10am, we were given a choice of Bacardi canned cocktails as we went into the seminar. I had a mojito, Mike had rum punch. I was surprised by their natural flavor. I kind of expected a strong fake mint, but it was subtle. Anyway, I'm bragging that all the seminars are sponsored by a liquor company and you get to drink during the seminars. Top that!

>166 drneutron: Good! Finally gotcha!

>167 hredwards: It is, and highly researched. This family was messed up.

Read two short stories that I'll lump together as -

42. Murder in Wax by Cornell Woolrich. A noir tale of a woman whose husband punches her in the face, then leaves her for a femme fatale, who is promptly found dead. The husband is arrested, but his wife is determined to prove him innocent and get him back. Engaging story about a smart, determined woman wasting her wits on a bum.

My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood. We meet the narrator at fifteen years-old, enduring the embarrassment of having a mother who is known for practicing witchcraft, making money by placing curses and blessings. While the daughter believes her mother has no real gift, over the years she does acknowledge that coincidences tend to happen when her mother is involved. This is a story of a complicated mother-daughter relationship more than witchcraft.
I read this for this month's ScaredyKit short story theme.

Tiki Oasis looks like a blast. Yup, cute little car!
Did they serve any interesting cocktails at the Tiki event?

Hi Jennifer, I see you managed to squeeze in a Cornell Woolrich! Murder in Wax sounds good.

>170 Carmenere: It was fun and I look forward to it every year!
Yes, they are generous with the liquor in the seminars and the Valley Ho bar had specialty drinks for the event. Look up at my comments to Larry in >168 mstrust: to read about the cocktails. And we didn't even attend the luau, the rooftop cocktail hours or the tasting seminar of Arizona liquor makers and distillers. I'll bet some bad choices were made over the weekend.

>171 DeltaQueen50: I did, and was well rewarded!

Here's a little three minute taste of the Oasis. Each year they have bands that play nightly at the restaurant, the rooftop and the pool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yFW25qDc-s

43. Al Capone Throws Me A Curve by Gennifer Choldenko. In the last book of the "Tales from Alcatraz" series, Moose is now thirteen and his autistic sister Natalie turns seventeen. Their mother is forced to face the fact that Natalie is maturing and wants to look her age, and she has a crush on a boy. But when Moose is forced to keep watch over both Natalie and the prison warden's bratty daughter one afternoon, Moose and all the other kids on the baseball field discover that Natalie picks up on bits of conversation that make Moose's life as her brother even harder.
I like this series a whole lot as it's written with historical accuracy and realism. It's partly about growing up on Alcatraz and following the many rules for safety and dealing with the prisoners, but it's also placed during the Depression, and Moose's family also has the issue of Natalie's autism in a time when the understanding about this was rare. 4 stars

Love the Tiki artwork and the mini cocktail car. Laughed out loud the you were handed cocktails at 10 in the morning -- glad they were yummy! I read Atwood's short story, too; thought it was pretty good. Happy weekend.

We were surprised by the 10am cocktail too, but then Mike started paying attention as other seminars were starting and noticed that each class was sponsored by a liquor company. They handed out little cocktails last year too. That's the way to do tiki.
I liked Atwood's story too, but I went into it thinking it would be a different type of story. Glad I read it as I haven't read Atwood in a long time.

Happy Mother's Day!

I read two short stories yesterday, "Thing in the Bucket" by Eric Esser and "The Mortal Immortal" by Mary Shelley. Shelley 's story is told by a man who is over 300 years old and contemplating suicide. He had been the servant of an isolated philosopher who created a draught that he told the narrator cures love. Since the young servant was being tortured by love himself, he drank the concoction and found that it strengthened love, but at a price.
"Thing in a Bucket" was disturbing in an unexpected way. I thought for sure that the thing in the bucket would be a severed head, but no such luck. This story is set back when barbers were also surgeons, with the main character, the barber, being visited by a thirteen year old girl having her first period. The story gets way more unsettling from there.

Happy Smother's Day! >172 mstrust: I bet you're right about the bad choices. If they're passing out booze at 10:00 a.m. then a lot of people were reviewing their life choices at 10:00 a.m. the next morning.

I don't know what's going on with me but I can hardly keep my eyes open. I got pretty good sleep last night, too.

Maybe you've earned a long nap today. Why not?
We bought lots of planters and a tomato cage today, plus a month's worth of Coral's wet food, groceries, and had Shake Shack for lunch. When we got home I moved all my backyard plants into the shade, then we each picked a couch and conked out for a while.
No one was able to get to Mom's for today. I talked to her this morning and she received our gift a few days ago. Mike is going to take his mom flowers later on.

On Saturday I ordered seeds from Baker Creek in Montana, which specializes in heirloom seeds and has reviews from buyers that lists their zone and the results, making it really handy for me to choose things that gardeners in the Southwest have had success with. I bought Black Strawberry tomatoes, which are about the size of Romas but are purple streaked dark red, Blush Tiger Tomato, a yellow-orange cherry, Black Seeded lettuce, which is green leaves streaked with black, and Texas Early Grano onions, which is an heirloom from the 40's. Also bought Madhu Ras honey melon seeds, a small dusty blue melon from India that does well in the heat.

Holy guacamole! My hat's off to your superior knowledge of things that aren't meat! I would have said vegetables but I don't know if everything on the list was vegetable? I only recently learned to substitute gold Yukon potatoes for Idaho russet potatoes when I'm making vegetable soup because the yukons don't disintegrate into starchy goo.

What are you going to use those in?

I'm still figuring out my garden one plant at a time. This morning I dug up a marigold that I'd put next to the Boxcar Willie tomato just a few days ago because, despite lots of garden sites saying it would be a successful match, this is the second marigold that has curled up next to this tomato plant. I gently pulled it out and found the tomato had stretched roots around the marigold roots. That was fast, like an attempted murder. So that particular tomato wants to spread out.
Tomatoes and melon are fruit, lettuce and onions are veg. So if everything grows and I get some good results, fingers crossed, the melons will be eaten fresh. Mike loves something called musk melon that he grew up eating in Michigan, very similar or the same as cantelope. The Madhu Ras is described as tasting like musk melon.


The tomatoes and lettuce will go into fresh salads. The tomatoes and onions will go into stir fry, as I do a lot of vegetable, garlic and riced cauliflower stir fry. I'm so tempted to go back and order a bunch more seeds already but I'm going to wait and see how the first shipment goes.
They have seeds for something called a toothache plant. Cone shaped yellow flowers that will make your mouth tingle and go numb if eaten, but someone said they rubbed it on ant bites too.

44. Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo. The hitman for a crime boss is given an assignment that doesn't sit well with him. The boss wants his own wife killed, an order that the hitman finds so strange that he decides to observe his target for a while and find out why this woman is to die.
This is well-written and excellently translated, a character driven story of a hitman who is smarter than he claims and more humane than he wants to be. My first Nesbo, I read this for the "Detectives in Translation" MysteryKit theme, and it's a ROOT to boot. 4.2 stars

Nothin' at all to worry about today.

You do know the deeper meaning of Friday the 13th?
It's weekend!
>183 mstrust: And a lucky day for me - another BB hit me - thanks for that!

Brother Fluffy is super cool! Not an evil bone in his body. Newp. (Oh God is he still right behind me?)

My dad was convinced that Friday the 13th was an unlucky day. As proof, he pointed out that his best friend in childhood, his dog, and Mom all died on Friday the 13th. My takeaway was to be nowhere near dad on Friday the 13th.

>185 SirThomas: The deeper meaning is also not to be a counselor at an awesome lakeside camp. The woods are so thick with murderers.
I'm happy to hit you with that BB and hope you like it as much as I did!

>186 SomeGuyInVirginia: Your dad had a very sensible fear of the day if all that death happened on Friday the 13th, and smart of you to notice that he was the connection. But I'm very sorry you just had your Mom's anniversary. That's hard.
Re: Your Evil Cat. I recall hearing you yell "Parker! PARKER! Stop!" Admit it, he was behind you with a knife.

In the Everyone is Doing More Interesting Stuff Than Me category, my sister is going to Charleston for a week tomorrow for training, and my brother sent me pics from a jazzfest in New Orleans last week, but he wasn't in the audience, no, he was onstage, sitting next to Boz Skaggs of all people. The pics were of Stevie Nicks performing and she looked like she was twelve feet away.

>169 mstrust: Adding Murder in Wax to the BlackHole. Thanks for the mention, Jennifer!

>173 mstrust: The only book in that series that I have read is Al Capone Does My Shirts. I will have to return to it at some point.

>184 mstrust: I am not showing that to my cat, Mallory. I do not want to give him any ideas. He is evil enough already :)

Happy Saturday, Jennifer!

Hello!
I can say that I've liked everything from Cornell that I've read so far. He is reliably good.
I recommend the whole Al Capone series from Choldenko. The story of Moose and his family and the other Alcatraz residents is really interesting to me, and I'd be happy if she wrote more. We do meet Capone in the last book.
Black cats are a little more evil than other cats. They know they'll get away with it because they're so beautiful.
Have a great weekend!

>187 mstrust: Sounds like your brother had an awesome time at the concert! Although I'm not sure I'd want to be sitting onstage with everyone looking in my direction -- I'd feel pressure to look hyper-enthusiastic at all times, haha.

>187 mstrust: WHAT??!! More info, please. Why was your brother on stage?! And Stevie Nicks??!! If I were in the same room with her I would just sit there and giggle alarmingly. That's amazing!

>190 rabbitprincess: Ha, you make a very good point! Oh, the pressure to have a good time!
>191 SomeGuyInVirginia: Ok, so my brother's neighbor and very good friend is a tour manager. He works with lots of different rock acts and has been doing it for decades. When one act's tour ends, he's on to another tour. I suspect he was working for Nicks at the moment and that's why David was sitting onstage. David is the godfather to the tour manager's son. I wish that entailed scary Italian dinners, but they do a lot of scuba diving instead.
I actually don't care for Nicks' music but admire her fashion. He named off all the performers at this jazzfest and not a single one was jazz, but he was definitely having fun.

Okay, I get that. Personally I don't like hippie b*******, and Nick's does skim rather close to the sun on that topic. But I saw Fleetwood Mac during their Rumors tour and they were absolutely... Unreal? It was Barry White for white kids and it was being transmitted directly from the hippie planet of love.

Edited to remove my stupid crap.

Your stupid crap is a favorite of mine, you should have left it. Now I'll have to look in the Pro and Con group to read stupid crap.
Well, the Rumors album was ridiculously good, so I'm sure you saw a great show.

45. When the Mob Ran Vegas by Steve Fischer. Though the book is divided into topics, like Sinatra in Vegas or the history of certain casinos, there are lots of names that run all the way through the book, and they're great names: Wingy Grober, Jimmy the Weasel, Icepick Willie, Beldon Katleman and Lucky Luciano. And Bugsy Siegel. There's the story of how long-time mob mover and shaker Johnny Roselli was finally nabbed by the FBI for his very minor involvement in fixed card games at The Friar's Club in L.A., the creative financing that went into places like The Riviera, and the story of casino boss Carl Cohen punching Sinatra so hard that it knocked out his bridgework and ended Sinatra's long relationship with The Sands.
I quibble with some information being a bit off, such as casino boss Gus Greenbaum and his wife were not decapitated in Phoenix as reported here, but this is one of the few books about Vegas that attempts to explain what happened to the Moulin Rouge casino, which if you're familiar, that mention will get you interested. Lots of dirt on mob guys and their casinos, and a look at the city's past. 4 stars

46. Esio Trot by Roald Dahl. Mr. Hoppy has been in love with the widowed Mrs. Silver for years. He lives in the apartment above hers and grows plants on his balcony, which gives him the excuse to look down and discuss her beloved pet turtle with her. When Mrs. Silver says that she would love nothing more than to see her little Alfie grow into a big turtle, Mr. Hoppy forms a scheme.
Dahl's gentle yet humorous romantic tale. 3.5 stars

1. My car battery died.
2. Mike drove me to Trader Joe's for key lime pie. Yes, it's here and it's the best!
3. My arm. I was sleeping on my left side and early this morning I was awoken by the feeling of a pop in my shoulder. Didn't hurt but it did wake me. I fell back to sleep wondering, and yes! After about seven weeks of weak, painful arms that I though must be strained muscles or a torn ligament, everything is finally back to normal and pain-free. I guess it was a mild dislocation?

You probably charged your arm with your battery...
All the best for your recovery!

Boo on the bad battery. Hurray for Key Lime and a repaired arm! I am jealous of your brother. Happy Thursday with no fear of Friday the 13th to worry about. : )

Come join me all summer long for drinks and bad decisions!