Of This and That and quiet things~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well we had a deluge of rain this past few days, and now we are sort of drying out but more to come.

Mud slides, flooding, power outages, auto accidents all because of the rain.  But if it rains and then we have a period to dry out --- then repeat, etc.--- it might be manageable.    Although what has happened in Montecito is horribly tragic. 

Mr. Rodgers was a bit frustrated because of the rain, he likes his walks with the dogs but instead contented himself with helping Doyle check the attic for any possible leaks, although the roof is only 5 years old, but it pays to be on the safe side.

While up in the attic they came across some old portraits in their frames,  I think they are family members at least their names are written on the back with dates,  one is of an adorable baby girl, and the other of a dapper young man wearing a snap brim hat in an old style racing car called a “cut down”.

I’m pretty sure they are related, I have a book that my Great Aunt kept tracing family members so I may have some distant cousins I’m not aware of or they of me.  

Another thing they found was a hair wreath, with the names and dates of people when they were born and died, also contained in a glass enclosed frame,  so with the rains pouring down during the day, Mrs. Rodgers and I carefully cleaned the glass and dusted the frames and wrote down the names and dates.

The next thing is to figure out where to hang them,  I have wall space going up the stairs as well as the upstairs hall,  or some place in the formal parlor,  I do need to make careful decisions on that since we’ll be nailing into wall paper and once punched there’s no repair.

Poor Coralline and Christopher have come down with the flu even though they had the shots it is only 10% effective, they are completely miserable.  The twins however seem to be remarkably healthy, maybe all that outdoor soccer playing.  The best thing is to rest, drink fluids, and take Tynoldo.   I’ve been going to the school to get their assignments to help out their mother, but I don’t think they have the energy to do anything about it.   It’s frustrating to see them so helpless. But rest is the best medicine.

The one advantage  about rainy nights is that it’s  a perfect time to read good gothic novels,  I finish the Lady of Ashes book and am going to get the rest in that series, how it describes the fashion and work of being an Undertaker is a good addition to a good story.   But for now with my next rain storm I’m going to re-read “The Hound of the Baskervilles”  I think it would be perfect.

I really do like Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers, they love the style of the house and Doyle’s and my lifestyle, quiet, genteel, and a little quirky.   But they insist on doing what they can to help out, just a couple of days ago, Mr. Rodgers (with Doyle’s help) was in the attic and came across an old rocking chair, so he and Doyle took it to the garage and he began to restore it, it has a old needle point back and seat, Mrs. Rodgers has duplicated the pattern because the old one was falling apart, almost crumbling.

So besides walking the dogs he is working on restoring stuff, Mrs. Rodgers told me that it’s good therapy for him because he lost his work shop due to the fires up North.   Their Son is trying to get things done on their burnt out property but the rains are making things difficult.  But Mrs. Rodgers confessed that she and her husband would prefer to stay with me and Doyle and pay rent and something towards the utilities and food.

I spoke to Sis about this and she said it’s because the atmosphere of the house gives them much needed comfort and security, something they feel they may lose if they go back North, so it might be a good thing. 

So now more rains are coming just perfect for a Gothic mood,  but Sis and I are going to be going to the Film Noir Festival and I know that everything at home will be well in hand.

Later Darklings 

Of the Dog Days of Summer, Open House and Vampire Cowboys~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well it is the “Dog Days of Summer”,  and we’ve been having heat with monsoon humidity and now it’s just warm with a breeze.

But during our heat wave both Belladonna and Weiner Dog, were panting even with the fan on them and water close at hand with ice cubes in it.    Everything with the humidity felt sticky,  so cool cotton, and large sun hats were needed.

I haven’t been posting much of late, getting called in to cover for staffers, but now with vacation almost over and parents buying clothes and supplies for their children things are creeping back to normal.

We had a grass fire up in the hills and sad to note that it was arson caused,  the smoke made breathing difficult, I was sneezing a lot, fortunately Cal-Fire got it knocked down quickly, but still it’s frightening.

My brother and family have come back from their long vacation up north staying mostly coast side to take advantage of the cooler weather, but up in Canada there was a million acre fire burn and in one phone call from them it was difficult to breath at one point so the drove closer to the coast where the ocean breeze helped.

They’re back now, getting uniforms, going to appointments, getting school schedules, but they plan on going south for the weekend to the Beach Board walk in Santa Cruz, get in some of that old-fashion Summer-time fun.   But the children promised to go no further than up to their knees because there might be sharks coming closer inland.

I showed the children what I’ve been able to get for their lockers and in school supplies, My brother reimbursed me, but Christopher was happy with what he can do to organize his locker and Coralline was thrilled I was able to find the same things in Gold as well as the battery operated chandelier to light up the interior of her locker.   

Coralline is getting around a lot better with the compression cross-brace but she has to ice her ankle every night, it still swells up from time to time.   She and Christopher are looking forward to this school year, to see how things will go, but the twins are not looking forward to it, moaning that they can’t have fun and instead are going to be doing the dreaded homework.  

I’m feeling a bit sad today,  one of our long time neighbors are selling their house and going to move to Idaho, to a small town that has what they are looking for low crime, good schools, good after-school programs for the grandchildren,  affordable, good medical and a quaintness that has been lost in big city living.    Their son and daughter in law and their two children had been living with them for over a year, they had to leave their apartment because the rent went up and they couldn’t find an affordable place to live.   The Grandparents were fed-up with the craziness happening in this state and when Anthem-Blue Cross said it was leaving the state they too felt it was time to get out of town.

So today was open house for their property, so many people looking but one thing that is a bit off-putting for the house is that it does not have off-street parking, the new owner would have to park their car(s) on the street, so I’ll see who will be willing to buy the house, but I heard it had a sale price of nearly ¾’s of a million dollars, that nearly made me faint.   But it also told me that I’d have to plan my estate very carefully to see who will get my Great-Aunt’s home.

Our neighbors Crazy Son is home again, and for the last few months had been behaving himself, taking his medication,  but last week he went off the rails again ranting and carrying on, at 1 in the morning.  I called the Police because he was disturbing the peace and his sister was having a hard time with him.  The police took care of him, taking him in for evaluation.

I talked to the sister and she said her Father wanted him home thinking he’d be fine, so he was discharged,  Lovely I thought.   So we’ll see if he has to go back into the care facility.

At the end of September if I can I think I’ll do another wine tour but just a week I think,  I want to be home in October to decorate for Halloween.

But I have been discouraged at not finding more Gothic things.

Although last night on TV on Svengoolie he showed a vampire western---yes Dear Darklings a Vampire Western,   it was called “Curse of the Undead” 1959, with Eric Fleming (of Rawhide)  and Michael Pate as the  gun fighting vampire.    I have to say that the plot line was good as well as the acting there was nothing “cheesy” about it.   It did what “Billy the Kid Vs Dracula” (1966) couldn’t do.   Michael Pate even made the cowboy vampire seem both to be pitied and yet feared.  And he had a great line "Oh the dead don't bother me, it's the living that gives me trouble".

I’m not sure if I have it among my collection of vampire movies, but if not then I’m going to get a copy.  Who thought a cowboy Western Vampire movie could be so Gothic.  But this one is.

And now Sis has come by with dinner for us, take out Chinese, yes when you don’t feel like cooking but don’t mind driving take out Chinese is the way to go.

Later Darklings

                                                                      

I just found out I can buy a reprint of this poster,  I think I will and have it framed.

Of the HEAT!! The Bone Melting HEAT!!

Hello Darklings,

We are having a heat wave, triple digits inland,  and don't get me talking about Death Valley, but it has and is bone melting heat, enough to make a person melt like Margret Hamilton in "the Wizard of Oz"

Yesterday was horrible,  I had misters and fans going on in the back porch, I always knew where to find the dogs,  and I had fans going on all over the house to circulate the air.

Even the children came over and rested on the back porch to keep cool,  my sister in law was sick with the heat, we had to keep her hydrated, and we could barely eat anything. 

I made veggie salads with lemon juice for dressing, and had chilled water and plenty of ice for everyone.

Doyle was a hero and went to the store and bought lemon and orange sherbet, grapes, tangerines and oranges, cherries and strawberries and I put them all on ice to keep chilled. 

I made sure I wore my Neutragena  Sun Gard  SPF 110 even indoors, and always wore my wide brim out if I went outdoors.

I was up at 5:30 a.m. just as dawn was cracking to walk the dogs,  never have I felt so much like a vampire keeping away from the sun.

It's been miserable for Coralline because of her broken ankle but she got some good news today, she's been upgraded to a figure 8 cross brace, no more with that Frankenstinian boot,  and her friends from school have been supportive knowing she has to be held back a year, but Coralline is taking it very well.   She does have to go back and do physical therapy to relearn to walk with not one, not two but 7 screws and a metal plate in her ankle.  

But with school part of the problem is she may have to do a substitution for Phys Ed.  she cannot do dance nor any of the sports,  but she's not the only one, it seems another girl and a boy are in the same situation, so they are thinking special exercise classes as well as writing papers on health,   but Coralline says that as long as she can work on the school paper as part of her extra credit for English she's happy.

Her parents are having to adjust their vacation schedule because of the physical therapy,  and the extreme heat but are hoping to take a vacation North again, going into the Oregon Coast, then plan on traveling south in the fall,  they want to take in some of the California Missions in the South,  I might go with them.    When the heat wave breaks they want to go back to Coloma and visit old Dan again, I know Coralline and Chris will be happy to see him.   Dan is stabling a couple of rescue horses and said he'd show the children how to ride and care for them.  

How long this Heat Wave will last we're not sure, the weatherman said that by next weekend it should start to cool down.   I hope so,  otherwise I shall have to live my life as if I was living in Spain, do things early in the morning---long siesta in the afternoon and do things in the evening and late at night---hmmm that wouldn't be bad for an Elder Goth.

Later Darklings 

Of house maintenance, T.V. Shows and everything else~~~

Hello My Darklings,

I have been busy, I finally got the repairs and painting done to the house and I’ve commissioned someone to redo the lead work on the stain glass windows.

It was hard getting it done, we’d have dry days and then rain and then dry days and more rain but then we got a good break in the weather and I am so happy,  the windows will take a little longer because I have to put removable clear glass panes on hinges to be able to clean them but it will protect the stain glass from the weather.   And it will be worth it.

And my old job is keeping me busy, one of my former co-workers is out for some time it seems, for very aggressive cancer treatments, so I’ve been contracted to come back to work as a free-lance worker.  But it seems like I never left.

I only went in for a half day today, I said I needed a little time off, and I come home and I’m so tired that I can’t even lift my fingers to type.

However I’ve encountered some interesting young people and well I’d almost have to do an entire post on them,  I had never seen skin so pale on these young ladies that it sort of glows, and it puzzled me.  It’s almost as if they are imitating the looks of the actress on iZombie with ‘sparkling vampires’  we’re going to get together for lunch on Sunday, so it should prove to be interesting.

And speaking of interesting I had a chance to see “Blacklist” last night and it was a very emotionally reveling episode, I kept having the feeling that she was a ghost in a way, especially when she called him by name, and there still was a bit of humor when Reddington came in and showed that he had to ‘kill a kite’ that was threatening to murder them.   It was such a departure from their usual episodes which makes me feel the possibility of a few more unusual ones to sort of break out of the mold for the show.

And don’t get me going about “Lucifer”!!!   I Love the whole premise of this show and the ‘tongue in cheek’ humor with it, the last episode where Lucifer says “What is this about goats!  I don’t even like their cheese!”   And Tom Ellis!  Well I don’t know if he’s everyone’s type but if I was 30 years younger I’d rip off his clothes, throw him on my bed, tie him to my bedposts and have my wicked way with him!!  Heck I’d do it now!

But don’t tell Doyle.

My niece and nephews were happy to have a Spring Break and Easter dinner was a very nice and relaxed affair, but it seems that both Coralline and Christopher are doing extra assignments for their respective classes and the twins have discovered soccer.  And it seems that both my brother and sister in law are a lot happier with it as oppose to (I have to say it) American Football, at least as a semi-contact sport for the twins, in a way I can understand my sister in laws concern especially with head trauma, so hopefully this will work out much better.

And Coralline is concerned she is going to be a freshman in high school next school year, the 9^th grade, she feels she may need to put away childish things and I told her not everything, I feel sorry for her growing up is hard for her, it’s like 3 steps forward and 2 back but she has a few friends and she’s enjoying her ballet exercise classes, already I can see her moving far more gracefully,  I informed her that I’m getting tickets to see the San Francisco’s ballet production of “Onegin” I think I want her to see something besides the “Nutcracker”. 

Am I doing anything new to the garden? Well I’ve been having fun finding very dark plants and blubs with tulips and Irises but the heavy rains did pretty much drown most of the garden, so my gardener has been doing yeoman duty to get it ship shape, but we can’t do much with the plantings close to the house, because of the work being done on the house.   But my gardener suggested that we plant a climbing Jasmine at the back of the garden behind the pet cemetery, and have the scent drift through the yard especially at night.

And we’ve had a sad event happen,  Crazy’s son’s Mother passed away from lymphatic cancer, she was 81, poor thing.  But now Crazy goes to the hospital where she died and goes to the business office claiming that the hospital killed him mother, they put a restraining order on him.  So now he goes to the corner when the “fit” it upon him and yells to everyone to not go to “such and such hospital” because they kill you there,  his family have called the police to have them come and talk to him and then try to get him to take his meds.   I was very sad for the family Crazy’s sister came over to talk to me about what is happening to him, and now we don’t know what he’ll do, I suggested grinding up his medication and putting it into chocolate pudding like those pudding cups she said she’ll try tapioca because of those tapioca beads, easier to disguise I guess.   I hope it works for them.

And I can’t even keep up with all the strangeness that’s been happening here in the Bay Area, it’s been too much 4/20 with pot smoking, Chyna and Prince and Doris Rodgers passing away and now Earth Day.  I’m beginning to wonder what is normal or what passes for normal now a days.

My sister thinks we need a spa weekend, and she’s booking one at the Claremont Resort, yes a bit pricey but we are going to spend 4 days and 3 nights there, and just relax.   And I’m looking forward to it.   I’m hoping that at my old job they will bring in someone else to pick up part of the load, that way I won’t feel so tired.

I and my sister did have fun this last weekend at the Friends of the Library Book Sale, I found a number of music CD’s that I’ve been happy to get, and some really good murder mysteries, and an odd book titled “Spook: Science Tackles the After Life”  by Mary Roach, it’s a perfect companion to “Stiff: the curious life of human cadavers” and in perfect condition too.  Oddly enough over in the Fantasy section was a lot of Vampire Romances,  I picked up a few just to see what they are all about one is titled “Nocturne” and another is about the journals of Minna Harker, telling the Dracula story from her point of view. 

Sis of course found some interesting historical works including a book about Social etiquette circa 1900 which should be interesting for the both of us to read,  Doyle was having fun finding westerns.   Then afterwards we picked up dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  My brother and sister in law were going to take the children on Saturday instead of Preview night avoid the frenzy says my brother, he just doesn’t know the art of the hunt for a good book find. 

And now the timer has gone off on the crock pot, dinner is ready, I just have to cook up the rice,  and we will relax Doyle and I with a bottle of wind called “Poizon”  I’ll let you know what I think of it. 

Later Darklings.  

                                    Oh he looks so Cute!!!    The dog is cute too.