Just After Sunset

Just After Sunset- call it dusk cal it twilight, it's a time when human intercourse takes on an unnatural cast, when nothing is quite as it appears, when the imagination begins to reach for shadows as they dissipate to darkness and living daylight can be scared right out of you. it's the perfect time for Stephen King.

And who but Stephen King can turn a Port-O-San into a slimy birth canal, or a roadside honky-tonk into a place for endless love? A book salesman with a grievance might pick up a mute hitchhiker, not knowing the silent man in the passenger seat listens altogether too well. Or an exercise routine on a stationary bicycle might takes its rider on a captivating- and then terrifying journey. I loved all these stories and more that are in this book.

What ever happened to global warming?

Another foot of snow. I am running out of places to shovel it to from the front porch, it is higher that the porch on the sides! I have to say, it was darn clever of me to have Gary buy the power shovel last summer, it is a toy to him and so I didn't have to do the bulk of the snow on the deck, just the 4" that fell after! Cripes we have pathways for everyone. One for the propane guy, one for the PSNH guy, one for the water softener guy, and one for the dog! The temp only got to 28 today, but, the sun felt warm on my face and I had to take my coat off to finish shoveling. that's pretty scary when 28 feels like a heat wave! We'll be in shorts on Monday when it gets to the high 30's. :)

It is 1 degree here right now, when I got up this morning it was -7. Ugh. Just ugh. I hate when the cold seems never-ending in the dredges of January. Needless to say I did not do a lot this past weekend. Brooke and I went to Sam's Club on Saturday, and this definitely is a first for me, I did not find a lot that i needed to buy! I got out of there for under $50. Another first, well, not first but I haven't done it in a long time is an hour on the treadmill, usually I talk myself off after 40 minutes at the most. Brooke's friend Ryan from the campground came up Saturday night to see her. They had a good time playing Guitar Hero and watching a movie. We did not go anywhere yesterday. I actually cooked breakfast, french toast and sausage. Then I cleaned out my bathroom cabinets and my makeup drawer. i am a product junkie and it really needed to be culled. Brooke was thrilled to go through what i was getting rid of though. We watched some movies, and played Sorry. I seriously suck at that game and we had to play 5 times before I could win. For dinner we had appetizers. I was supposed to make them for next Sunday but we are going out to eat with friends so we decided to have them yesterday. Coconut shrimp, pizza rolls and potato rounds and sushi. Brooke spit out her first bite of sushi, Gary refused to try it, and I spit my first bite out, but only because I dipped it into this avocado stuff that ominously looked like green baby poo. It was SPICY hot and I was not having any of that! I dipped it into the ginger-plum dip that went with the shrimp and it was okay. I can't say that I will rush to eat it again. We went in the hot tub after eating, it was probably about 7 to 10 degrees out, and it felt wonderful. The stars were all out and i love looking at them from the warm cocoon of water. THEN, i had to get out. BRRRRR.
Brooke was not feeling well this morning, very nauseous. She has a head cold, but also was feeling achy over the weekend and her forehead was cool and clammy this morning. She took my car to school because Gary too her car in for an oil change. I just prayed that she wouldn't barf all over the interior of my car. I could just picture trying to get that out of all the little crevices. She must have felt better once she got going because she hasn't returned from school. Not much going on this week at all. God, I hate winter!

Tribute

Virginia's Shenandoah Valley is a long way from Hollywood and that's exactly how Cilla McGowan likes it.

Cilla, a former child star, has found a more satisfying life working with her hands to restore homes. She has come back to her grandmother's farmhouse, to rescue it from ruin. Sadly, no one had been able to save her grandmother, the legendary Janet Hardy. An actress with a golden voice and a tumultuous past. She died of an overdose in the farmhouse 30 years ago.

Plunging into the house with gusto, Cilla is almost too busy to notice her neighbor, graphic novelist Ford Sawyer- but his lanky form, green eyes and easy, unflappable humor (not to mention his delightfully ugly dog, Spock) are hard to ignore.

In the cluttered attic of the house, Cilla finds a cache of unsigned letters, suggesting that Janet hardy was pregnant when she died- and that the father was a local married man. The mystery deepens with a series of cruel and intimidating acts and a frightening violent assault. If Cilla and Ford can't find out who is targeting her and why, she may be cut down in the prime of her life as was her grandmother.

this was a great book. Couldn't put it down!

An American Crime

This movie is based on the same true story as The Girl Next Door, only this one was based on the actual story where the Girl Next Door was based on a book about the story. It was not too different though, psycho-mom goes off on this poor innocent girl and ends up killing her. Only it shows the real ending where the mother is put in prison for 20 years and all the kids involved get charged too. Ellen Page (Juno) does a great job in this movie, as does Catherine Keener.

Hancock

I like to see Will Smith in ANY movie, but i was not looking forward to this one. I do not necessarily like super-hero stuff. We actually saw this at the movies last summer but watched it again this past weekend. And it totally surprised me, I really liked it.

More Snow

I believe we got another 9 inches of snow yesterday and last night. So yes, that means yesterday, when I believed that the snow was finished, I shoveled the cursed stuff. This morning when I got up, there was another 3 inches that I will need to clear away. Who wants to see another picture of it on my deck? not me.

Salvation in Death

In the year 2060, cutting-edge investigative tools can help catch a killer. At the most solemn moment of a Catholic funeral Mass, the priest brings the chalice to his lips. Seconds later, he is dead on the alter.

For the mourners packed into the pews, Father Miguel Flore's sudden demise is an unimaginable shock. When Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas confirms that the consecrated wine contained enough potassium cyanide to kill a rhino, she's prepared to plunge in and find out why.

This is the ongoing story of Eve Dallas and her cases, and her billionaire husband Roarke. Always fast-paced and excellent reading.

Jumper

This movie was awesome! In it a 15-year old boy discovers he can teleport to different places, whereever he wants. Once he gets the hang of it where do you suppose a 15-year old boy would go? yea, right in a bank vault. Lots of action and very exciting.

The Women

We watched this last night. It was pretty good. But I didn't realize until almost the end that they didn't show any guys in this movie. I wanted to see the cheating husband's face when she told him she knew!
Shocked by the discovery that their pal Mary's (Meg Ryan) husband is having an affair with a beautiful young shop girl (Eva Mendes), a tight-knit circle of New York socialites comes up with a devious plan to help Mary win back her man. Cast also includes: Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Debra Messing, Bette Midler and Candice Bergen.

Cute!!

Congratulations Brooke

Brooke has been accepted

at UMaine with a $3,000

scholarship. She hasn't decided

yet and is still waiting to hear

from more. Way to go Brooke!

More Snow and a Full Moon

Well, the good news is we did not get as much snow as they had predicted, only about 3 to 4 inches. The bad news is I still had to shovel the deck. It's no wonder I rarely go on the deck in the summer, I see it enough all winter. Then there was a full moon this weekend, I tried to get a picture of it rising but for all you know that is a streetlight! Really , it is the moon. Brooke was away for the weekend, so we had the joy of Louie in bed with us all weekend. I don't know what i will do when Brooke goes to college and he has to sleep with us every night. I do NOT get a good night's sleep at all with him in there. My mom and dad left early this morning for Florida in their motor home. LUCKY'S! They won't be back for 3 months. Usually we have the camping show in Boston to look forward to in January but it has been cancelled this year. So January drags on.....

Ghost Town

British funnyman Ricky Gervais stars in his first feature film lead as Bertram Pincus, a hapless gent who's pronounced dead, only to be brought back to life with an unexpected gift: a newfound ability to see ghosts. When Bertram crosses paths with the recently departed Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), he gets pulled into Frank's desperate bid to break up his widowed wife's (Tea Leoni) pending marriage to another man.

This was a pretty funny movie, and why is it so funny to see someone gag in a movie or on TV? I don't know, but it cracks me up. This guy is pretty good at it.

The Pagan Stone

Book Three of the Sign of Seven Trilogy.

This was excellent. Much much better than the second book, but of course this one reveals how it all ends so of course it was more exciting.

Blood and Death, Fire and Madness loom over the town of Hawkins Hollow. Every seven years , the seventh day of the seventh month portends seven days of violence and mayhem. This year, the darkness is stronger than ever. And only friendship and family, promise and passion can stop it....

The Girl Next Door

This was a bizarre movie. And creepy. And gross. And based on a true story which makes all that worse.

Set in 1958, it follows the harrowing story of two adolescent girls who upon losing their parents in an accident are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth, a sadistic psychopath. Unbeknownst to the residents of the small New Jersey suburb, the girls endure unthinkable punishment at the hands of their aunt and three cousins.

Now this movie is based on Jack Ketchum's book, which is based on the true story but is not told exactly how it happened. There is another movie called An American Crime which more closely follows the actual events.

American Teen

Five high school seniors in Warsaw, Ind., are the focus of this documentary. The film follows their struggles in and out of the classrooms, their friendships and the tough decisions they face. A compelling glimpse into the problems and issues teenagers confront daily.

I put off watching this because even though I heard it was good, watching a documentary just seemed boring. I couldn't have been more wrong, this was a very good film. If you like reality television you will like this. The girl in the front picture? she was my favorite.

Lean Mean Thirteen

Another Stephanie Plum story. This one was really good and full of action and Stephanie's notorious predicaments that she seems to get into in every book. I can't wait to see what she gets into in #14.

Deadly Harvest

My sister gave me this book for Christmas. I saw her in Wal-Mart one day shopping and she had it in her cart. :) (Hi Shell!)

A Dark Legend Comes to Life.

When a young woman is found dead in a field, dressed up as a scarecrow with a slashed grin and a broken neck, the residents of Salem, Massachusetts, begin to fear that the infamous Harvest Man is more than just a rumor.

This is a good mystery, it is also part of a trilogy which I didn't know when I asked for it, but you can read it easily on its own. It did have a slow start for me, but I found that when I got to the middle of the book it became much better.

Donnie Darko

This movie was just strange to me. I like weird movies but I had kind of a hard time following this one. It is about a young man, Jake Gyllenhaal and he is taking meds for some sort of psychiatric issue. He keeps seeing this rabbit, who is anything but cute and fuzzy. (Thank God my kids never saw a picture of this when they still believed in the Easter Bunny!) and the rabbit is telling him things about the future and what he needs to do. I don't know, it was odd. It is also an older movie but Brooke saw it in Psychology and wanted me to see it. Good cast though, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore were also in it.

The Balsams

Our room, and Gary

Lou, Carol and Gary

The beautiful staircase

I love this saying

Me!!

Dinner time

The view outside our window

The hotel from across the lake

This is a ski area on the way home

Crawford Notch

This was the Old Man of the Mountain

So we went to The Balsams for the weekend with our friends Lou and Carol. It is always nice to go there and be pampered and waited on. I didn't know this but the resort has it's own power source and it is steam that I think they keep going with wood chips. So most of the hotel is warm and cozy, the rooms and gathering rooms. There is one hallway that is freezing cold, I don't know why but we had to walk through that particular hall to go to our room. Brrr. The weather cooperated enough to get us up there, but we had to cancel the sleigh ride we were supposed to go on Saturday morning. It was snowing, which is fine, but it was also really windy so that the temp with the wind was below zero. Gary is just getting over his nasty cold and was still coughing quite a bit on Saturday so we just decided not to do it. Instead we all went out for the day, shopping. If you have never been to the Balsams, shopping is a grandiose word for it. You have to drive at least 30 minutes to get to the little tiny town of Errol, and they have a sporting goods store, with an attached convenience store. You know I am desperate if I am shopping in a sporting goods store!! and you would think I had never seen a convenience store the way I walked around that!! There is one little restaurant across the street that we had eaten at the year before and I did not want to go back this year. I swear we heard the banjos from Deliverance playing when we were there last time. So instead we drove all the way to I think, Colebrook. Not sure if that was the name of the town. Where we ended up for lunch was a little place that also was the video rental store. I played it safe with grilled cheese, and it was ok. When we got back to the Balsams we headed for the lounge and had some hot drinks. Mine was called a Hot Apple Pie, and that is exactly what it tasted like. Anything with whipped cream on it is good in my book. We played Polish Poker for a few hours in there, and good thing we didn't play for money, cause I did lousy. Then it was time to change for dinner. Jackets are required for the men, but they usually have them off after their first glass of wine. Dinners were so-so. It is a really classy place, but the food was lacking this year, mainly in warmth! My dinner was cool both nights, however, the desserts made up for that! The weekend was over way too quick and we came home yesterday afternoon. It is always good to come home though, and I really missed my soft bed!

Eagle Eye

This movie was really good. Returning home after the shocking death of his overachieving twin brother, and aimless slacker named Jerry (Shia LaBeouf) finds himself inexplicably linked to a notorious terrorist cell. Now, with the nation's law enforcement agencies hunting them down, Jerry and single-mother Rachel (Michelle Monoghan) who's also been framed , must work around the clock to thwart a political assassination and clear their names in the process. Shia LaBeouf is hot, he was awesome in Disturbia and just as good in this action filled movie.

Happy New Year!