Hathaway wastes a lot of energy in The Last Thing He Wanted

Choosing movies during the never-ending stay-at-home has turned into a Netflix scroll. Oh, look, Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck in a 2020 thriller adapted from a Joan Didion novel. Click for The Last Thing Wanted. Dee Rees directed and co-wrote with Marco Villabos this adventure set in the 1980s. It’s based on the Iran Contra…

Direct from Hot Springs, they remain Dapper and Debonaire

My sister-in-law Lynne and niece Stormy own a cool store in Hot Springs, Ark. Dapper and Debonair. I’d shop there if I lived anywhere near Hot Springs. Oh, wait. They have a website for buying their great products. A ways back, they sent me some fantastic shave soap and brush as a gift. I loved…

Thank you for my Mets mask, Amber

My friend and former big daily colleague Amber sent me a Facebook message asking for an actual address. She makes masks in her free time. This New York Mets mask was produced specifically for me. Yes, she has me pegged. Her wishes that I get to wear it to an actual New York Mets or…

Perennially purple and white

This frontyard combo is another example of why I am the biggest fan of the perennial aisles of our favorite local nursery Ballantyne Gardens. These show up for us every dang year. With good fortune, so will the perennials we pick hereafter. My dear wife Karen does like throw in an annual here and there,…

Bird bath and little guy

We’d love for the pretty cardinals to take a dip in our backyard bird bath. Just saying. My dear wife Karen tells me the shortie purple bloom to the right is new this year, too. Did we put it in, or did nature just occur?

Beautiful blooms for the peony tree

Our backyard peony tree delivered blooms for the first time this year. We put it in the ground three springs ago. The vibrant reds were worth the wait. Now my dear wife Karen and I are worried that it has outgrown this corner. We’re thinking of where and when for the transplanting process to best…

One last push for the lilacs

Before they said bye-bye for another year, our backyard lilacs had one final fantastic day of blooming. Award-winning they were in my eyes. My dear wife Karen agreed. See you next spring.

All the Bright Places brings tenderness, warmth and more than a little darkness

Many movies made from the world of YA fiction have mined the deep wells of young and growing love, awareness, intelligence, joy, yes, sadness. Perhaps you remember the thrill that was The Fault in Our Stars</em> with its wonderful elevator relationship roles for Shailene Woodard and Ensel Egort? Elle Fanning and Justice Smith take their…

Boats are in

Spotted on a short safe walk this week down to the Onondaga Lake Park Marina. Boats. Less than usual for the first week of June, but … … boats, ready for time out on the water.

First roses pop open

My dear wife Karen and I have been wondering which rose bush would deliver our first blooms of the season. Tie! On the same Saturday, we were delivered blooms in back and up front. The backyard bush pushing out its orange petals was a bit of a surprise. The front yard bush is the one…