A pretty scene, but we have a Frost Advisory for tonight.
I’m not ready, thank you very much. I’m especially not ready to haul my plants inside or try to protect all the porch plants with tarps. I’ll keep an eye on the weather forecast as the day goes on. Hopefully, it will change.
That being said, sometimes I think: Just let them be. What happens, happens. But so many of the porch plants, including the hanging plants are so healthy right now and I know they have at least a few more weeks of warmish weather ahead of them. So, I’ll cave, I’m sure.
This little zinnia, though a bit ragged, is so adorable! Completely unexpected and a delight.
Warning: Spoiler alert. If you’ve at all interesting in watching The Politician on Netflix, skip ahead.
We gave up on The Politician last night. I almost threw a shoe at the screen (but I’m not that crazy. I did, however, throw Gone Girl across the room in disgust.) It’s done by the same guys who masterminded Glee and the only thing, in my opinion, that Glee had going for it were the musical talents of the actors. It’s done in a highly stylized manner and it’s a parody of politics today. I get that, but it involves high school students who speak in a rapid-fire, very adult manner that I’ve never seen from anyone that age, including myself (and I was known for speaking way too fast). Most of the characters are unlikeable, save one. They’re self-absorbed to an intolerable degree.
When a show becomes all about the self-perceived cleverness of the writers and loses any depth of character and heart, I’m gone.
And there you have it. There’s only one actor who is completely real on the screen. Maybe it’s written that way. Ironically, it’s the role of the student who commits suicide, and keeps reappearing in the story.
Our quotes about it this morning:
Don: It’s not as good as it thinks it is.
Claudia: It’s too full of itself.
End of sort-of review.
It’s sunny and windy today. I may clean the windows. I may not. I find it a frustrating task around here, because no matter what method I use, there are always streaks. And the weather is so windy when it rains that they get dirty again almost immediately.
I finished Down in the Woods. It was very good. I’ve now started The Treatment by Mo Hayder, the second in the Jack Caffery series, checked out from my local library. I also spent several hours looking at miniatures on eBay and Etsy yesterday, so there’s that.
Happy Friday.
Just go ahead and cover your plants…you’ll feel so much better if you do. As a rule, I try and cover my plants til around the middle of October…after that, it doesn’t matter to me as much I guess.
Glad you are getting a lot of reading in these days. I’ve spent my days catching up on things that I neglected while we were out adventuring. Tomorrow, we are going to a Badger football game with friends, and they are predicting rain, again. I’m begging Mother Nature to stop with the rain….it’s starting to flood again around here.
Hope you have a pleasant day reading…or browsing miniatures, lol! ;)
I hope the advisory gets dropped – that would be the perfect solution! Thanks, Donna.
hope the frost stays away for a good long while. we-who-live-north know what comes next!
that zinnia is unusual (to me) in a very pretty way. nice photo, as usual!
as you’ve been looking for miniatures, i’ve been looking for books for my sister and me. even though i really don’t have much time for reading right now, i check on books, add them to my wish-list … and yesterday saw prices on some books (mostly catalogs from art exhibits) shot up drastically in the last couple weeks because they are either out of print (with used copies being sold on that massive seller’s site that i had to use because my local bookstore couldn’t get the books i want) or not being reprinted and there were only a couple left in stock … so i “had to” get them. heehee. hope you found whatever you were looking for!
i am glad and grateful it’s friday. hope you have a nice weekend.
kathy in iowa
Glad you got your books, Kathy! Have a great day.
I thought from your title that you were talking about the news. I am saying no to the politician constantly. The daily barrage of trampling the Constitution has me avoiding television news. I have to read online to keep myself sane but just cannot watch.
I usually have until January before I have to start covering plants. I am looking forward to my first open window day mid week.
I hope you save the seeds from that zinnia flower. It is a definite keeper.
It’s getting worse, unfortunately. If I was referring to That Man, I wouldn’t use the word politician. Huckster, Carnival Barker, Corrupt Liar, yest.
Thanks, Brenda!
Life is too short to spend time watching (or reading) stuff that doesn’t give you pleasure or makes you think or has personal value. I always say, “If I were to have my last breath tonight, would I be glad I spent two hours watching this or reading that.” And if the answer is no, then it’s off!
Exactly! Thanks, Jeanie!
I appreciate your movie and book tips. I am looking forward to watching Luther.
I agree about Windows. I wash and wash but they still have streaks. I probably wait too long between cleanings since I hate doing it.
Enjoy the cool weather. Plants in Florida are kind of ragged too from the heat.
I hate doing it, too. And I ended up not doing it today!
Thanks, Kay.
I put my big, old christmas cactus out on the deck to kill it. It just about doubled in size. Now I have to find a bigger plant stand for it in the house.
The best laid plans…
Thanks, Jan!
We rarely have a frosty morning in SoCalif but whenever we’ve blown it off and not covered plants like hibiscus or bougainvillea, lantana or ficus, then found them ‘injured’ as we start the next day, we feel guilty that we didn’t do our job. So I err on the side of caution, because I don’t like feeling badly about something I could have prevented! It’s just so dang much work, hauling out tarps and bed sheets and towels and blankets (whatever we’ve got), and we have fruit trees now that I can’t cover because they’re just too tall and angled on a hillside (so my husband will rig up warming lights, almost like decorating a Christmas tree, which is a hard job and I’m always afraid he’ll fall off the ladder on the uneven slope), but the hill’s the only place we could plant them, so we took a risk (avocado, lemon, orange, apple, cherimoya [custard apple]).
Good luck, Claudia; I’m feeling your weather is kinda wild! We’re 80 degrees here at the lunch hour in the West. Nights have been clearer. I like it cooler, but that’s just Fall here; no Santa Anas yet, though.
I can’t seem to get ‘into’ any of the new shows featured on TV, even for the time I’ve recently enjoyed some (limited [no longer have]) HBO. I know I should be checking out Netflix, Amazon et al (live in the 21st century!). I’ve said it before, but I miss the small, handy, paper (I don’t like EVERYthing being online!) TV Guide magazine which would (well in advance) talk about the new Fall schedule, which shows were on what nights, pick one to highlight (usually spot on). I don’t like coming into a new show that’s already in episode 2 or 3.
So, I’m really watching nothing; instead, just random viewing. I used to enjoy the Sunday Morning show on CBS but I’m not, in general, a huge fan of Jane Pauley (her voice grates on me, I don’t know why; she’s probably a very nice person) so I tend to skim thru anything I’ve recorded. (That show just isn’t the same for me anymore. I miss Charles Kuralt and Charlie Osgood!) TV in the evening has sort of become an afterthought whereas I used to really enjoy it as a form of entertainment. I was a big TV viewer.
I get bored with watching the half-hour cooking and garden shows. There’s always Rick Steves, thankfully. I know I’ve missed a lot of good shows on PBS/Masterpiece; never watched Downton Abbey (horrors). More often than not, I turn to TCM. (Love the lack of commercial interruption; I wonder how much longer they can hold on to that perk?) Recently watched TCM’s showing of “Children of a Lesser God” with actor William Hurt. He was in such a string of good movies in the 80s (The Big Chill, Body Heat, Broadcast News). I’d forgotten the moody, stunning landscape/scenes from “Children of a Lesser God”, filmed in Saint John and Beaver Harbor, New Brunswick (beautiful Canada replicating Maine in the story).
Anyway, keep up the reviews, Claudia; you always seem to know what’s worth reading and watching!
Hi Claudia, I just discovered Broadchurch and have been binging on those. I searched and found that you had recommended it way back in February! Can’t stop watching…I am in the second season now and find it very interesting. Thanks again for all of the great reviews you do – books and movies. So helpful!
February of this year? I know I watched it long before February. It’s a great series, Ellen. I’m so glad you’re enjoying it.
We love TCM. I never watched Downton Abbey or Game of Thrones. I like Rick Steves, but I find travel shows sort of boring.
Thanks, Vicki.
Yes, I’ll be outside in about an hour or so covering all my porch plants with a tarp. I have too many plants in the gardens and I just can’t cover them. Cross your fingers for my morning glories.
Fingers crossed in every contortion; your plants/plantings are so gorgeous and many species you have in the yard/woods are so unknown to me as we just have diff stuff out West although you’ve known both from living in SD.
Seems so early for frost to me; although we HAVE had some Novembers in SoCalif which get cold the first week (we’ll just plummet in temps, but then get so hot by Thanksgiving that it’s hard to make an oven meal without overheating the kitchen). I do recall of a boyfriend I had who was traveling the U.S. states in his 20s (living in his van) after starting off in eastern Canada (just after graduation in June, five adventurous months on the road). By the time he got to states which were even ‘way south of New York, he was getting darn cold in his van at night in October. Quite a trek for a ‘kid’ fresh out of college with no money, but he had a heckuva good time until that East Coast autumn weather set in and he just plain had to finally come home!
We’ve had early frosts in October. I remember them. It was very cold this morning. We had to turn on the heat for the first time!
Dear Claudia, I encourage you to clean your windows. You will be so glad you did. I discovered the best way to get windows clean without streaks is to use pieces of old cotton t-shirts instead of paper towels or newspaper. Even if you use a squeegee, the t-shirts pieces will eliminate the edge lines.
They just get dirty again – within hours. We’ll see! But thanks for the tip, Leslie. I appreciate it
Save the plants!!
I’ve been hearing some buzz about The Politician, but I pretty much ignored it because I loathe politics and I’m assuming it has some of that in it. ; )
It has a lot of that, but on the high school level.
Thanks, Suz.