Each week Cee of Cee’s Photography challenges bloggers with a fun prompt. This week we’re to share photos of boats, a great way to get around — their parts or as a whole.
Beijing, Hou Hai
What will you choose to share?
Click here to see more fun photos, click here.
Each week Cee of Cee’s Photography challenges bloggers with a fun prompt. This week we’re to share photos of cars and trucks — their parts or as a whole. I went for whimsy this week.
What will you choose to share?
Click here to see more fun photos, click here.
Here are some home decorations from the Northfield and Northbrook 4th of July Reverse Parades. Due to CCP Virus restrictions, rather than the usual 4th of July festivities, some towns hosted Reverse Parades. These neighboring communities had Reverse Parades where people decorate their homes and spectators can walk, ride or drive by to enjoy them.
Participants vie for gift card prizes from local businesses. In Northfield, winners are chosen by popular vote. You must live in Northfield to vote. Northbrook has a panel of judges consisting of the Police Chief, Fire Marshall, school principals, the Library Director, etc.
This home is my favorite. Not only did they decorate their home and yard well, but they played patriotic music too. Such creativity.
More from the home shown above. On the table they had hand sanitizer, and free flags or lollipops.
I like what they did with the stairs.
How to Squirrel-Proof your bird feeder, sort of.
I love Mark Rober’s videos and this was no exception. Mark designs and builds an amazing maze for squirrels to test how hard a squirrel will work to get some tasty walnuts. I have a whole new respect for squirrels.
If I knew engineering school would enable me to make this sort of mischief I would have been all in.
This is far more entertaining tham most TV shows. Trust me.
A fun family makes the best of the quarantine.
While P.G. Wodehouse’s The Small Bachelor doesn’t feature Jeeves or Bertie Wooster, it contains the main features readers enjoy in his writing — charming wit and wordplay, a supercilious butler, a bumbling young man, a bit of romance and a bothersome aunt-like character.
The story starts:
On the roof of the Sheridan Apartment House, near Washington Square, New York, is a “small bachelor apartment, penthouse style”, and the small bachelor who owns it is amateur artist George Finch, who is rich due to an inheritance. He falls in love with Molly Waddington at first sight, but is too shy to approach her until he retrieves her dog. George’s authoritative friend J. Hamilton Beamish, author of self-help books, is helping mild-mannered policeman Garroway become a poet. Garroway recognizes George’s valet, Frederick Mullett, an ex-convict who served time for burglary, though Mullett is now reformed. Mullett is engaged to former pickpocket Fanny Welch, who is somewhat less reformed.
George is invited into Molly’s home by her father, Sigsbee H. Waddington; Mr. Waddington, who has been influenced by Western films and novels, longs to go out West and takes a liking to George, since George is from East Gilead, Idaho. Though once wealthy, Mr. Waddington cannot afford to go out West because he is now financially dependent on his rich wife, Molly’s step-mother, socially ambitious Mrs. Waddington. She dislikes George, believing his morals are suspect because he lives in an unconventional artist neighborhood, and wants Molly to marry the tall and handsome Lord Hunstanton. However, Molly finds Lord Hunstanton stiff and loves George. Hamilton Beamish gets help for George from Madame Eulalie, Mrs. Waddington’s palmist and fortune teller, who tells Mrs. Waddington that disaster will strike if Molly marries Hunstanton. Beamish also falls in love with Madame Eulalie. Molly gets engaged to George, though Mrs. Waddington still dislikes him.
The Small Bachelor Plot. Wikipedia.org Retrieved on February 23, 2020.
Of course, more hijinks ensue in this fast-paced story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the audio version narrated by my favorite Jonathon Cecil, who crafts the best characters with his voices.
The story was a joy to listen to and made me laugh out loud. Wodehouse delivers everything I’ve come to expect in terms of a fun story.
I learned about Charles Finch’s A Beautiful Blue Death at Citizen Reader’s blog. Again her recommendation was spot on. Finch’s first novel, a mystery introduced me to amateur detective Charles Lennox. Lennox’s friend Lady Jane asks him to look into the death of her former maid Prudence Smith.
Lennox is very much cut from the same cloth as Sherlock Holmes, though he’s polished his social skill more than Benedict Cumberbach’s Sherlock. His right hand man is Dr. Mitchell, these amateur detectives are shrewd to have a close friend who can analyze poison, dead bodies and such. Graham is Lennox’s butler who’s willing to go to the ends of the earth for his boss.
Strong, fascinating female characters include
“Pru” is an interesting victim. She entrances me and as Lennox investigates he keeps learning of yet another lover. She appears to have been a strong woman who spoke up for herself and for what’s right, which is how she wound dead.
Following the Holmesian path, Lennox must deal with an inept Scotland Yard and that’s lead by Exeter, who’s about 5 steps behind Lennox vis-a-vis science and logic.
A Beautiful Blue Death has a smooth style and kept surprising me till the very last pages. Though Finch is American, his tone and style were very British. I’ll read more in this smart, delightful series.
I learned about Cover Girl from 4 Star Film Fan, here you can always discover wonderful film classics. Starring Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly an, Eve Arden and Phil Silver, Cover Girl shows Hayworth as Rusty Parker, a captivating beauty and talented dancer who performs in her boyfriend, Danny McGuire’s Brooklyn club. Silver is a comic and the pair’s buddy. Rusty is down to earth but when she hears about a magazine contest she becomes curious about the big time.
Mix ups and show tunes ensue. Danny hopes Rusty will stay in Brooklyn. Briefly he stands in her way, but soon figures Rusty doesn’t really love him if she’s so impressed by the Manhattan set. Of course, Rusty wins the contest. It turns out that the sponsoring magazine is run by a man who fell in love with Rusty’s grandma, who turned him down, married an ordinary piano player and led a happy life.
The emotions were convincing. You hope that Danny will declare his love and that Rusty doesn’t settle for the high life rather than try love. I enjoyed the joking and friendly traditions Hayworth, Silver and Kelly’s characters share. Some numbers ran a little long, but the dancing was solid. I particularly enjoyed Kelly in a scene with his conscience who tries to advise him. You just don’t see such scenes carried off well nowadays.
Cover Girl’s a fun film well worth your time.
In the new books section at the library, a little book called Päntsdrunk (Kalsariänni) by Miska Rantanen beckoned. The illustrated book reminded me of The Little Book of Hygge so I took it home. Päntsdrunk is a Finnish word to describe the sloth and aimlessness of activities like hanging around the house after work drinking alcohol in your underwear. As that’s not exactly my thing even when I’m stressed, I didn’t love the book. However, it’s written with dry wit and is a quick read so I didn’t hate it either. It’s a gentle poke at Denmark’s hygge culture. It won’t make you laugh out loud and didn’t make me want to book a trip to Helsinki, but it’s cute.
I don’t usually read adventure or fantasy novels, but I enjoyed Andrew Klavan’s The Good Great Thing, so I thought since he made his name writing adventurous thrillers, I’d give his latest book a chance. In Another Kingdom, twenty-something Austin Lively’s screenwriting career is tanking. His parents are highly successful as is his older brother and Austin dreads spending time with them. He’s close with his sister Riley, a fragile, imaginative girl who’s big into conspiracy theories and needs a Catcher in the Rye.
Austin doesn’t have the time to moan about dinner with his successful family members because out of the blue Austin mysteriously finds himself in some fantastic medieval-type world. It’s all the more puzzling because in this land, called Galiana, Austin is on trial for murder. Totally disoriented, Austin has no idea what to do to escape prison so he can avoid torture followed most assuredly by a slow, excruciating death. Boom, he’s back in Tinseltown at the local hipster coffeeshop or the studio. All’s not safe in L.A. though because soon some goons employed by a maniacal billionaire who’s after the novel Another Kingdom, that Austin’s studio wanted him to cover before his boss mysteriously recalled the assignment. Nothing makes sense. Everything’s over the top. Danger’s everywhere and Austin’s life is a series of volley’s from Galiana to L.A.
Klavan’s style is sly and witty, full of wisecracks. The plot is brisk, full of twists and turns to keep you guessing. All in all, it’s a fun summer read. I haven’t been sold on thrillers or fantasy, but Another Kingdom entertains.
Ruined for Life: Phoenix Edition 