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[Jane]

but not great. The three narrators were all British or Irish, and sadly they pronounced "guards" and "gods" the same way: "gawds." That wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that the author used both words liberally.

[Jane]

On Sunday, I made a combined birthday dinner for Mom and Dad. I made garlic-stuffed lamb, which is one of his favorites, as well as some oven-roasted Greek potatoes with garlic and oregano as well as a Greek salad and some snap peas with garlic.

You are a good son

I dunno. I took their car.

That was probably the best thing you could have done considering the circumstances.  When it became apparent my dad was no longer safe behind the wheel we persuaded him to "lend" it to  the Vixter (whom he adored)  so she could get to work and school

We had a similar experience with my Mom.  She gave us her car for Rob, when he was about to start his first college co-op, in exchange for the golf cart we bought for her to tootle around the retirement community.  She's been asking recently what happened to her car and lamenting that she had a lot of friends as long as she could drive them around.

It was difficult for me to deal emotionally with my father's dementia, yet he never made heartbreaking comments like this.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, DR Jane.

When Rob visited her while I was in Chicago, she asked him if he had a girlfriend.

 

[Jeanne]

Probably not profitable, but still interesting. 

Highlights from:  POPULAR AND FOLK TUNES AND TV TUNES
http://freds-parody-musical.blogspot.com/2017/07/some-popular-folk-tunes-and-tv-tunes.html


Highlights from:  SHOW TUNES & AMERICAN SONGBOOK TUNES
http://freds-parody-musical.blogspot.com/2017/07/show-tunes-american-songbook-tunes.html

My personal favorites are HEY, BIG TALKER, TRUMP IS HERE, and HEY, SO WHAT, SO WHAT.

Fred, I hope you'll be posting some of these here with vocals.

[Jeanne]

John G, how are your parents doing? Apart from driving, are they able to get around OK?

I'm sure they loved the nice dinner you prepared for them.

[Jeanne]

I'd like to see a version of Uber or Lyft geared to older or disabled folks. Both Uber and Lyft have time limits on how long a passenger can take to get to the car. I know I need a few minutes to maybe put on a jacket, lock up, and make it down the stairs. That said, my two experiences with Lyft were quite positive. I'd like to see them branch out a bit for those who need a little extra assistance.

[Jeanne]

The garden was glad to get a second watering today. Most of the plants survived, but several didn't. I think my oregano is dead. It was time for the marigolds; it's just too hot. But the tomatillo is surprisingly resilient. I don't know if there will be any fruit, but the leaves are coming back.

The habanero is covered with ripe fruit. I need to harvest them tonight.

I've never heard of anyone growing their own tomatillos. Do many people in your area grow them?

I love verde sauce. I recall my days in San Diego when I obtained a recipe for a restaurant's verde sauce and looked high and low for tomatillos in the grocery stores.  I probably could have grown my own then, but it never occurred to me.

[Jeanne]

On a cheerier note, we thoroughly enjoyed Rick's Independence Day carillon concert and had a nice chat with him afterwards.  Richard and I had a late lunch/early dinner at Izzy's deli on Red Bank Road on the way home.

There's an Izzy's here, in Santa Monica, but it isn't particularly good. Is yours good, DR Ginny?

[Jeanne]

Continued SMOOTH SAILING vibes to Jrand!

[FJL]

Probably not profitable, but still interesting. 

Highlights from:  POPULAR AND FOLK TUNES AND TV TUNES
http://freds-parody-musical.blogspot.com/2017/07/some-popular-folk-tunes-and-tv-tunes.html


Highlights from:  SHOW TUNES & AMERICAN SONGBOOK TUNES
http://freds-parody-musical.blogspot.com/2017/07/show-tunes-american-songbook-tunes.html

My personal favorites are HEY, BIG TALKER, TRUMP IS HERE, and HEY, SO WHAT, SO WHAT.

Fred, I hope you'll be putting posting some of these here with vocals.

That's great.  Thanks for letting me know, Jeanne. 

(I'm not planning on recording the ones in the book, though. I'm getting the sense YouTube is over-saturated with Trump-themed videos.)

[Jeanne]

Factor's Deli, where BK, Jane and Keith, and I had dinner was quite good, I thought.

[Jeanne]

Probably not profitable, but still interesting. 

Highlights from:  POPULAR AND FOLK TUNES AND TV TUNES
http://freds-parody-musical.blogspot.com/2017/07/some-popular-folk-tunes-and-tv-tunes.html


Highlights from:  SHOW TUNES & AMERICAN SONGBOOK TUNES
http://freds-parody-musical.blogspot.com/2017/07/show-tunes-american-songbook-tunes.html

My personal favorites are HEY, BIG TALKER, TRUMP IS HERE, and HEY, SO WHAT, SO WHAT.

Fred, I hope you'll be putting posting some of these here with vocals.

That's great.  Thanks for letting me know, Jeanne. 

(I'm not planning on recording the ones in the book, though. I'm getting the sense YouTube is over-saturated with Trump-themed videos.)

I'm sure that's true. He's certainly given the satirists and comedians a lot to work with.

[Jeanne]

I have a zagillion projects around the apartment I've been wanting to take care of. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it all at once, but I did want to get some of it done today. I did some of it, plus some laundry. The rest of the day is mine.

[Jeanne]

TTFN.

[Ginny]

On a cheerier note, we thoroughly enjoyed Rick's Independence Day carillon concert and had a nice chat with him afterwards.  Richard and I had a late lunch/early dinner at Izzy's deli on Red Bank Road on the way home.

There's an Izzy's here, in Santa Monica, but it isn't particularly good. Is yours good, DR Ginny?

Ours is a beloved Cincinnati institution.

[John G.]

John G, how are your parents doing? Apart from driving, are they able to get around OK?

I'm sure they loved the nice dinner you prepared for them.

Mom is still going strong. Some mix of anger, bile and venom keeps her going. She did a yard project recently that is far beyond a woman of her age, but she said she channeled all the anger she felt at her past into it. In a way, it's really rather sad.

Dad is now a prisoner of his diabetes meds, some of which leave him suffering memory loss. It is dementia, but it's still fairly early and only when his blood sugar gets out of whack. It happened once while I was there. He was having a conversation with my sister Linda and forgot who she was.

[John G.]

Linda now seems to be taking the lead on the housing situation. She was going to talk with a real estate agent about what they might get for the house, which needs work. I hope it works. My mom is usually opposed to such things and might have a fit when it happens.

Linda also forced Mom to realize that Dad and she would likely have to leave Louisville when the house is sold, a move that really saddened Mom. But Mom did agree that they don't have many friends left, so they would do best to go to Lexington, San Antonio or Richmond, where one of their kids lives. She chose Richmond. Honestly, I don't think my dad cares, though he was sad to see his car go.

[elmore3003]

On the way back yesterday, I listened to the new Stephen King novella, Gwendy's Button Box. Decent little story, nicely read.

The other book was called House of Names by Colm Tobin, the man who wrote Brooklyn. It's a retelling of the Oresteia. Very good, but not great. The three narrators were all British or Irish, and sadly they pronounced "guards" and "gods" the same way: "gawds." That wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that the author used both words liberally.

I remember reading the Oresteia back in ninth grade and being taken with the bloody tale of Clytemnestra killing husband Agamemnon before son Orestes kills mom. Such passion, such hate, such gore.

I was going through some books earlier and found a Ted Hughes translation of the Oresteia. Guess I know what I'm going to read when I finish Proust.
 

Now read O'Neil's Mourning Becomes Electra.

[John G.]

On the way back yesterday, I listened to the new Stephen King novella, Gwendy's Button Box. Decent little story, nicely read.

The other book was called House of Names by Colm Tobin, the man who wrote Brooklyn. It's a retelling of the Oresteia. Very good, but not great. The three narrators were all British or Irish, and sadly they pronounced "guards" and "gods" the same way: "gawds." That wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that the author used both words liberally.

I remember reading the Oresteia back in ninth grade and being taken with the bloody tale of Clytemnestra killing husband Agamemnon before son Orestes kills mom. Such passion, such hate, such gore.

I was going through some books earlier and found a Ted Hughes translation of the Oresteia. Guess I know what I'm going to read when I finish Proust.
 

Now read O'Neil's Mourning Becomes Electra.

I remember an amazing TV version of that in the 70s with Roberta Maxwell. I'd love to see it again. Well, it was amazing to me as a teenager.

[John G.]

Excellent production of Follies with Brent Barrett giving a really fine performance as Ben. His Live, Laugh, Love was great. But it was the very dead voice of Sally saying a flat, "It is tomorrow" at the end that really gave me shivers.

[Laura]

DR Laura do you plan to foster kittens again? 

I don't know. I've thought about it. The room they would be in is pretty much a storage room now.

Also, I have discovered some new cats in the back yard. There were two toms, but I have seen some small adults that are ear-tipped, meaning they have been spayed/neutered. I learned from Nextdoor.com that a nearby neighbor has trapped and neutered a few.

There are also kittens. Sandra wants to catch them and keep them. I don't know. I have appointments at the clinic to take them to be fixed if I can catch them.

Good luck with catching them all, and to Sandra on socializing the kittens so they are adoptable.

They won't be adoptable unless we keep them. The foster kittens we had in the past belonged to the shelter. These would be mine. They will be fixed and returned to the yard. I may see if one of them might be calm enough to be tamed. I don't know.

[Laura]

John, the hot pepper plants I planted over a year ago keep producing. I give them all away. I can't grow anything that I myself would eat -- it all dies.

[Jane]

The garden was glad to get a second watering today. Most of the plants survived, but several didn't. I think my oregano is dead. It was time for the marigolds; it's just too hot. But the tomatillo is surprisingly resilient. I don't know if there will be any fruit, but the leaves are coming back.

The habanero is covered with ripe fruit. I need to harvest them tonight.

I've never heard of anyone growing their own tomatillos. Do many people in your area grow them?

I love verde sauce. I recall my days in San Diego when I obtained a recipe for a restaurant's verde sauce and looked high and low for tomatillos in the grocery stores.  I probably could have grown my own then, but it never occurred to me.

I wish I had asked the owner of Rebozo's on Pico Blvd for his recipe, the best ever.  I was a favorite of his and he would have given it to me.

[Jane]

Factor's Deli, where BK, Jane and Keith, and I had dinner was quite good, I thought.

I am still enjoying my rye bread.

[Jane]

Linda now seems to be taking the lead on the housing situation. She was going to talk with a real estate agent about what they might get for the house, which needs work. I hope it works. My mom is usually opposed to such things and might have a fit when it happens.

Linda also forced Mom to realize that Dad and she would likely have to leave Louisville when the house is sold, a move that really saddened Mom. But Mom did agree that they don't have many friends left, so they would do best to go to Lexington, San Antonio or Richmond, where one of their kids lives. She chose Richmond. Honestly, I don't think my dad cares, though he was sad to see his car go.

It is sad about your mother's anger.  Good vibes selling the house and moving goes well.  Is your mother able to help your father keep track of his sugar levels?

[Jane]

On the 4th of July I always recall walking to Rancho Park, going on the rides, and then watching the fireworks. 

[John G.]

John, the hot pepper plants I planted over a year ago keep producing. I give them all away. I can't grow anything that I myself would eat -- it all dies.

That is sad. I'm getting ready for the pickling. But I have to finish up a couple of cleaning projects I started first. And the Negroni that I treated myself to.

[John G.]

The garden was glad to get a second watering today. Most of the plants survived, but several didn't. I think my oregano is dead. It was time for the marigolds; it's just too hot. But the tomatillo is surprisingly resilient. I don't know if there will be any fruit, but the leaves are coming back.

The habanero is covered with ripe fruit. I need to harvest them tonight.

I've never heard of anyone growing their own tomatillos. Do many people in your area grow them?

I love verde sauce. I recall my days in San Diego when I obtained a recipe for a restaurant's verde sauce and looked high and low for tomatillos in the grocery stores.  I probably could have grown my own then, but it never occurred to me.

I don't know. I had never grown them until this year. But whether I get a single fruit from the plant, I won't care. It's beautiful. The fruit look like Japanese lanterns and it's covered with gorgeous little yellow flowers. I think the fruit are gone, though from the week's neglect.

[John G.]

Linda now seems to be taking the lead on the housing situation. She was going to talk with a real estate agent about what they might get for the house, which needs work. I hope it works. My mom is usually opposed to such things and might have a fit when it happens.

Linda also forced Mom to realize that Dad and she would likely have to leave Louisville when the house is sold, a move that really saddened Mom. But Mom did agree that they don't have many friends left, so they would do best to go to Lexington, San Antonio or Richmond, where one of their kids lives. She chose Richmond. Honestly, I don't think my dad cares, though he was sad to see his car go.

It is sad about your mother's anger.  Good vibes selling the house and moving goes well.  Is your mother able to help your father keep track of his sugar levels?

My mother doesn't really understand them. Linda is also a diabetic and she'll be there for two or three more weeks. I think she might help. At least I hope so.

[John G.]

Starting to watch Major Barbara with Wendy Hiller and Rex Harrison.

[John G.]

Let's move on.