Father’s Day 2022

Listening to Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine.

It is son’s FIRST FATHER’S DAY, WOO HOO! Where does the time go.

Jumbotron on Jefferson Avenue says: SEVERE DROUGHT. LIMIT WATERING TO TWO DAYS A WEEK.

This is why self does all her watering by hand. And only at 10 p.m.

This morning, she was at the 9:35 a.m. screening of Top Gun: Maverick at the local Century 20. There were lots of people. She got peeved when someone came in late and sat right next to her. She prefers to keep at least one empty seat between her and the next person. So she moved. We are still in a pandemic!

After the movie (Really great. What a good actor Miles Teller is. And Jennifer Connolly is fantastic and beautiful. How many people know that she was an undergrad at Stanford? She was a transfer from Yale), self drove to Menlo Park Library and checked out yet another Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery.

Went home, resumed reading The Chalk Pit, which might be her favorite of the entire series (14 books and counting). p. 267, Nelson interviews a local theater director in his flat. The same director who is staging an Alice in Wonderland play featuring an adult Alice tripped out on acid (The staging of this play is one of the biggest running gags in this book)

It is pushing midnight. A local woman’s gone missing. The woman just happens to be the partner of one of self’s favorite minor characters, DI David Clough.

“All the cast get on well. Cassie seems close to Adrian Linley, who plays the Caterpillar, her father in the play. Flora Frampton, who plays the Queen of Hearts, she mothers everybody, and Darrell Shaw . . . ” he pauses.

“Yes? What about Darrell Shaw?”

“He’s a young actor. Very talented. Plays the Gryphon, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. I just have a feeling that he has rather a crush on Cassie.”

“Does she have a crush back?”

“No.” Leo sounds quite shocked. “She seems blissfully happy with that oafish policeman partner.” He stops. “Oh, I’m sorry . . . “

Nelson hangs on to his stiff upper lip. LOL LOL LOL

Waiting in some excitement for the Juneteenth concert at the Hollywood Bowl to begin. CNN is carrying it live.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

The Pleasure of the Throw-Away Line

The Dr. Ruth Galloway series are about gender politics.

There are alpha males galore in the police departments of the various locales. But there are women just itching to unseat them. Such as DI Judy Johnson, who is in the forefront of the investigation in The Chalk Circle (Dr. Ruth Galloway # 9).

Here, Judy Johnson and her partner, a likeable but very alpha Dave Clough, interview a witness in a missing woman case. The missing woman’s name is Sam.

“When did you last see Sam?”

“It must have been on Monday,” says Meg. “The mother and baby group is Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I’m pretty sure Sam was here on Monday.”

“Can you check?” says Clough. “Do you take a register?”

Meg laughs. “No, it’s quite free and easy, Inspector.” Judy notes Clough doesn’t correct her about his rank.

— The Chalk Circle, p. 202

That last sentence!

David Clough’s main characteristic is that he has to be constantly stuffing his face with junk food. But when it comes to interviewing a witness, apparently the man gets all the respect. He and Judy Johnson are friends, but — Clough doesn’t correct the witness when she calls him “Inspector.”

Stay tuned.