I liked this pretty butterfly flying across the front of the Sunday paper.
Also, notice how small the time change reminder is? It used to take up as much room as the butterfly does. Now that we have phones and watches that change the time for us, it’s much harder to forget to spring forward or fall back..
For some reason, my purchase of frozen spinach brought to mind a time when all of the frozen vegetables came in these little cardboard containers with a paper label wrapped around them. When did the changeover to plastic bags happen? Why is spinach the only thing still in a box?
I’ve driven by this park several times when I take an alternate route to the airport and today we decided to explore it.
You can see the beavers have been busy, and the humans have been busy thwarting the beavers.
Birds on the wing.
The pond!
This was another pond that was separate from the main pond.
The foundation of a house has been turned into a mural.
More pond.
Us and pond.
Someone is happy warm spring days are here. Antares can never get enough of the sun.
This struck me as amusing for a reason that five of my friends will understand.
When your friend group in high school has a name that isn’t cool to say out loud anymore…
And the puns continue!
Sara reports that she has a letter writing station set up, but did not get to letter writing over spring break because they were hosting visitors. She sends good wishes.
?Directed by Justin Reardon?
?Written by Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair?
Chris Evans plays “me” a man who has been burned by love so severely he’s sworn it off until the day he runs into “her” played by Michele Monaghan* and sparks fly. Only problem is, she’s in a relationship. Evans and his merry band of friends** stumble through love that doesn’t go quite right in this stylized romantic comedy that was much better than I expected.***
Cost: Disney+/Hulu bundle monthly cost $12.99
Where watched: at home
*My main reason for watching this movie. She’s good in everything!
**Supporting cast = very good. Aubrey Plaza! Luke Wilson! Martin Starr! Topher Grace! Plus Anthony Mackie!
***I seem to be in the minority though. The Metacritic score is 30/100. Ah. I see the problem. Of ten reviews, only one was written by a woman. She didn’t like it either.
At the end of the movie, Me (Chris Evans) is seen tap dancing. Evans’s mother owned a dance studio and taught him to tap. He has admitted in interviews that he does it when he is nervous.
(And here I thought they used a double)
By double teaming on separate computers, Matt and I got appointments for both my mom and my Aunt Pat at the drive-through vaccination clinic at the airport. My Aunt Carol was willing to go to the main clinic at the Convention Center, so we secured her appointment last week, thus giving us the skills to grab the coveted drive-through clinic slots.
It was very easy to find the clinic at the Red Lot at the Portland airport, and we were guided into place by many people in reflective vests waving batons. There were five lines with maybe 30-60 cards in each line. This photo was taken at 2:41, though I think we got there at 2:00 . Once there, we sat. And sat.
After quite a while with nothing happening one line at a time was moved forward. This was taken at 3:36 and we haven’t yet made it into the tent to check in.
From the check-in tent, we were guided on a very long U-shaped track that inched forward. The check-in tent is in the back left of the photo and this photo was taken at 3:47, so you can see how the line was moving.
We’ve made it to the tent where the shot would be given! Time stamp: 4:09
And now we’re done with shots. Time stamp, 4:16 p.m.
It was nice to have two out of three people in the car vaccinated.
Then we were directed over to a new line where we sat for 10 minutes. Neither patient had any reactions, so off we drove.
I drove them both home and my mom sent me off with some macaroni and cheese balls with meatballs in the middle. Delicious!
We later learned that this was an unusual day and the worst day for wait times. So we had not-great timing in that realm. But it was good to get two shots in arms.
?Directed by Frank Tuttle?
?Written by Albert Maltz, W.R. Burnett?
Well this is a delightful mishmash of oddities.* Alan Ladd plays it tough as Raven, who has no room for anyone** and is the titular gun for hire. Veronica Lake doesn’t exactly dazzle as a performer, though she does make an impression*** and when the two come together, they do capture the eye.
Cost: $3.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home
*It’s noir, there are two full music and dance numbers, there’s a spy plot, and a wealthy and weird rich guy.
**Though he does like cats.****
***Singing, dancing, and magic tricks? So many things crammed into one routine. This was my first time seeing a Veronica Lake performance. After hearing about her glamour for 40+ years, I have to say I was underwhelmed. Yes to the amazing hair. But she also looks like one of those underfed kids from Appalachia. Beauty standards. They don’t hold.
****Speaking of cats, one of them will be killed in the course of this movie. It happens off screen and didn’t bug me the way things like this usually do.
In Graham Greene’s novel, Raven’s psychological motivation for becoming a killer was that his mother disfigured his face. Paramount could not mess up Ladd’s handsome mug, so it was changed to his aunt disfiguring his wrist with a red hot poker.
I needed to send a picture of Antares’s eye to the vet. It’s still a little filmy, but much better than what it had been.
And then I took a picture of big kitty for good measure.
Such good kitties!
