No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 14, 2015

Who’s birthday I remember because it is on flag day.

My family and friends will tell you that I stink at remembering dates like birthdays and anniversaries.

But I remember Sheila running around the house at Ridgewood giggling. We roomed together there.

I remember how happy she was when she found out that she was getting her own bedroom in our new house on Lullwater.

I remember dragooning her and Patrick for a theater production. I think they both had fun.

I remember when she informed me that she was going off to Japan for a while. I was thunderstruck but she did it and has all kinds of stories from her time there.

Sheila tends to get things done that she puts her mind to.

She has run poetry slams and has a quick wit. She is a good writer and someone should publish her novel.

She is still working on her flower project and I believe she will complete it.

I love her very much and wish her all the best on her birthday.

I am very grateful that Sheila is my sister.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 14, 2015

I can use my left hand again pretty much normally. Where the bruise is still being absorbed, there is some pain if there is impact. I have my wedding ring back on so that’s good. Typing is pretty much back to normal. Grip strength is getting there.

Caroline and her girl scout troop cleaned up a local beach yesterday morning. It was amazing what they found in the sand. No condoms thank goodness but lots of other things to suggest there was one heck of a party there last night. It included spend fireworks, plastic bottles that once held booze, plastic cups, and a number of socks.

Peter went to a signing in York Pennsylvania with his Crazy 8 buddies. He’s glad that he got a chance to hang out with them but he is so over traveling right now. He got back late last night watched the last episode of Phineas and Ferb and went to bed.

Today we may venture to the movie theater to see Jurassic World but that is it for travel today.

I managed to figure out what was wrong with the AC unit and got it working which dropped the humidity in the house to something approaching reasonable.

Still working on my ant problem in the kitchen but it now seems to be down to some strays rather than trails of ants. Got all the food packaged up so there is nothing tempting on the counter.

I have two projects I want to tackle today. Part of one sort of dovetails into the other. Let’s see if I can get it done.

I swear the cardboard boxes are mating to create more of themselves.

May have to take Millie to get shaved as his fur is to matted. He has a very thick undercoat that has always been a bit of a problem but now is a real mess. Use to do this for Treat and he loved it.

Inky is my first long haired cat I have had. And her white fur is rather distinctive. She keeps herself well groomed but her fur is creating all kinds of dust bunnies that have to be dealt with.

Caroline has her first set of final exams next week. She has been studying hard but is a little concerned about them. She is also working on a couple of creative projects on her own.

So that is what has been going on here at Casa David.

I am grateful that I can type for longer without pain.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 11, 2015

His voice was distinctive. His look was imposing. Christopher Lee made an impression that never went away.

And he would show up in film or on television in some of the oddest places but you knew you were going to get one hëll of a performance.

I think my favorite was Scaramanga in Man with the Gold Gun. Lee created a Bond villain that staying in people’s memory. You wanted to go to dinner with him but knew that you would be dead by dessert. However Rochefort, Three Musketeers, is a very close second with Lord Summerisle, the Wickerman, close behind. His Mycroft and Sherlock were good too. Caroline’s is King Haggard in Last Unicorn.

I never got to see him on stage but those who did said that his stage presence was immense. You were drawn to him and his voice.

Which is sort of funny considering that he came to prominence in the US with the Hammer Dracula films were he had no dialogue.

He was a renaissance man in the truest sense of the phrase. He was fluent in five languages and had more than a passing familiarity with another three. His knowledge of music was immense. His knowledge of art was excellent according to Vincent Price. He was in the SAS. He hunted down Nazi War criminals after World War II. He was a man’s man.

His life was a long and interesting one with many parts that we know about and a number that we don’t and probably never will.

My sympathies to his wife and family and friends.

He was one of the greats who like we will probably not see again.

I am grateful for the varied career of Christopher Lee.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 10, 2015

We all had a great time at the special edition 2015 of the NYCC held at Pier 94 this year. The venue was fine once the AC really started working. Our space was the usual B 5. Caroline made money. Peter made money. I had a couple of people ask why I don’t sell puppets at conventions so I am going to revisit that.

It was a time to hang with old friends and newer friends and new friends.

The fans were polite. The crowd only got a little on the heavy side to get around a couple of times. We plotted carefully as to when to get food however they had this very clever app that allowed you to order food and then they would text you when your order was ready to go.

We found a good price on a room and stayed overnight rather than schlepping all the way home and back.

This allowed us to spend sometime in the city not at the convention.

Sunday morning Caroline and I went to FAO Schwartz to say good bye to that specific location since it is shutting down July 15th. We got there at opening so we saw the opening speech with the doorman. We wandered around and looked at things and I took a lot of pictures of the things at the What-Not workshop.

We then walked from there to 81st street through Central Park at a leisurely pace looking at what we wanted to look at. Caroline was rather amazed at how she could hear bird song and people laughing but not the traffic.

We met up with my parents who were in town for the weekend and spent the rest of the morning and the early afternoon exploring the new exhibits of the Metropolitan Museum of Art including one about fashion and Chinese art and culture and a very small Van Gogh (4 paintings) exhibit which did show the changes in his art over time.

We took a cab back to the convention and spent the rest of the afternoon and then had to plot our way home very carefully since traffic was a bit of a snarl.

We got home in time to see the Tonys, which I can’t say I was enamored with at all. The hosts were working hard with what they were given but what they were given wasn’t that good. They looked uncomfortable at times. Also how many awards were given while we were dealing with endless commercials? We use to see parts of plays as well as musical numbers. We use to hear from the designers. The previous winners use to give away the awards to the next winner. Stop trying to be the Oscars and let it be the Tonys. Let theater have its night to shine and not be one big crass commercial.

Monday I was so tired that I asked Peter to drive because I didn’t trust myself to drive.

Tuesday I spent restocking the larder since we have been basically gone a month and a bit and were out of just about everything.

Today is a bit of clean up and a bit of puppetry work.

I am grateful for heads of sections of conventions who really do care about how things are going in their section.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 5, 2015

Well the left hand, which had been doing so nicely, had a bit of a set back in that I tried snap my fingers at the cat and ended up in a world of hand pain. Don’t know why exactly but I won’t be doing that too soon.

My grip is also tentative I think anticipating pain that might or might not happen. I do know that I don’t have my full strength grip back nor will I for a while.

Typing and sewing are still limited activities but I am not dropping things with my left hand so there’s a positive.

NYCC special edition is this weekend at Pier 94. I believe Caroline and I will be there Saturday but not much of Sunday as my parents are in town on one of their rare visits. Yes, I will be bringing puppets along. Might pull out some oldie but goodies from the collection.

Have a list of things I need to do before we leave and have a few off the list as well.

We had another round of kitty politics with a lot of hissing and growling but now everyone is settled in their usual morning nap positions. I have no idea what started it but I am glad that it is settled.

Had my first non-ocular migraine in a while. It took a while to get it under control and I lost most of the day. However this morning I am almost feeling human again with the residual headache and sensitivity but I can function so win for me. I haven’t a clue what set it off.

Caroline’s class had a science field trip yesterday over to Fire Island. She had fun and didn’t get sunburned. She did come home with bug bites on both elbows and that’s it.

Today looks like rain. (Checks forecast) Nope just cloudy and a comfortable temperature. Rather nice for June. There is a pollen warning for today.

I have the song “It’s hard to be the Bard” from Something Rotten stuck in my head. Might go listen to Queen to get it out since it is the same kind of song.

Need more coffee. This isn’t making even a dent in the brain fog.

I am grateful for what thoughts I can get together in my brain.

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