Wild Chase Scene, The Chalk Pit

Self knows these Ruth Galloway posts of hers are much less popular than her posts of flowers. Nevertheless.

Every Ruth Galloway book ends with a chase scene. Self should know, this is her ninth.

Why does she keep reading? Why?

Who knows? Maybe it’s those goodreads reviews that said there was a hook-up between the two Mains, that ends on a cliff-y.

What? Another cliff-y? She can’t believe it. For the nth time, a cliff-y? But here she is.

Also, if she had a penny for every time Ruth calls Nelson (although Ruth, mind you, always always always feels such trepidation for doing so, he being married to someone else after all) and he answers, “Ruth? What’s wrong? Is it Katie?” — ! She’s becoming quite fond of this way of answering the phone, though. (Where is that promised hook-up? There’s only 50 pages left!) In fact, if Nelson were ever to answer the phone without saying, “What’s wrong? Is it Katie?” self would be very disappointed.

He has just said it again, unfortunately this time Ruth isn’t alone, she’s in the middle of a wild car chase with Nelson’s boss at the wheel, and they’re on speakerphone. To her credit, Nelson’s boss is very poker-faced. Or maybe she’s just British. Who knows.

Nelson’s boss drives a Porsche. Wow, self did not realize that police superintendents made that much money! Also, this woman wears skinny jeans but can rugby-tackle like nobody’s business.

Onward.

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.

One Word Sunday: EGG

HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER, WORLD!

Paul brought a bunch of chocolates for the residents this morning.

I snagged this lovely prize, which put me in mind of Travel with Intent’s One Word Sunday prompt for today: EGG.

These, btw, are NOT Nestlé product. Checked the fine print just to make sure.

citysonnet’s March Colors and Letters: ‘K’

March 12 is a Letter, the Letter K.

Here’s the full list of March Colors and Letters.

Self’s letter K is KRAKEN.

Specifically, KRAKEN COFFEE COMPANY, which has a store on Avila Beach, in Central California.

Avila Beach, which she remembers from when son was in college in San Luis Obispo. She visited again last summer, her first stop when California’s mandatory lockdown ended. (And already, last summer feels sooooo long ago)

Avila Beach was a little more crowded, a little more commercial than she remembered from 15 years ago. But she went early, and found parking right in front of the beach. She entered the coffeeshop and asked the young woman behind the counter, “Is it too early for ice cream?” The young woman responded, “It’s never too early for ice cream.”

SquareOdds #21: Cheeky Brits

Tomorrow is the last day of the SquareOdds Challenge. It has been so much fun. Thank you, Becky for dreaming up The Squares Challenge!

Here are some cheeky pictures from London:

Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD): A New Rose

Gorgeous morning (now, it’s blustery and cold, but this morning it was gorgeous).

Self hopped across the bay to Regan’s Nursery in Fremont.

This place is, hands down, the best place to buy roses in the San Francisco Bay Area. The roses are arranged by type: floribunda, hybrid tea, David Austin, Weeks etc etc etc It is so much fun to wander up and down the rows, like growing through a rose dictionary, but with actual specimens in front of you. Self leans towards pinks or reds. She saw Ketchup & Mustard, Barbra Streisand, Chihuly, Just Joey, Candy Cane Cocktail, Chicago Peace, Julio Iglesias.

But her Flower of the Day is Moonlight Romantica! Because that’s the rose she went home with. Ironically, it’s YELLOW:

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC): Fun with Other Challenges

This week’s CFFC spotlight is MONDAY WINDOWS.

Self loves Monday Windows.

Here’s the front window of Mendocino Chocolate Company on Main Street in Mendocino Village. If anyone’s within driving distance, highly recommend!

Me

Bonus window: The Gallery Bookshop is one of self’s favorite bookstores. Also on Main Street in Mendocino Village, it is open every day until 6 p.m. Self took this picture in the late afternoon, on a cloudy day in December.

Gallery Bookshop, Main Street, Mendocino, California

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC): Week of 22 June

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is:

Ground: sand, dirt, paths, walks, trails, roads

Self woke up this morning in beautiful, calming Paso Robles and decided to explore the paths winding around the gardens of her Inn. It’s in a great location: right in the heart of downtown Paso Robles. Across the street is a public park. This morning, there was a wee farmers market and even though self was not in the least bit hungry, she couldn’t resist buying a few cookies after she found out they were mango-oatmeal cookies.

The footbridge crosses a narrow stream filled with some fat carp.

There is a short “reflexology path.” She would love to walk barefoot along the stones!

A sign explains what a reflexology path is:

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

Summer 2021 Read # 2: FIND YOU FIRST

Scorching hot day. Downtown, everyone’s in t-shirts. Yes, it is summer. Kids ran madly around the lobby of the Century 20. Self has been sleeping an average of four hours a night, thinking much of Dear Departed Mum. But today, she is determined to keep ambulatory. Hence, the movie (Raya and the Last Dragon), the books. After the movie, a stop at Go Poke. Movies are back, restaurants are back, even traffic is back.

Oak Flat: The Fight for Sacred Land in the American West was a great book. Her next, Find You First, is, according to Stephen King, “the best book” of Linwood Barclay’s career.

For self, all thrillers must be measured against the beginning of Eddie’s Boy, by Thomas Perry. Page one of Eddie’s Boy, there were already three bodies in the trunk of the main character’s Bentley and he hadn’t even broken into a sweat.

This one begins rather slow, with a loser grifter and his pathetic burner phone. Next is a young documentarian in an old folks’ home; sadly, the chapter does not slay. Then we have the millionaire/billionaire with the boring name of Miles Cookson, receiving a diagnosis of Huntington’s which is dementia mixed with Parkinson’s mixed with something else, and next he’s driving 90 in his speedster Porsche and being pulled over. A Porsche, btw, is a really really boring car. Leather bucket seats? So what else is new. She sees a lot of them around here, but it would be better to have a Tesla. Or some sort of hybrid luxury ride, like a Lexus SUV.

That’s all self has read so far. (Maybe the cop will try to kill the millionaire/billionaire? Let’s hope!)

Stay cool, dear blog readers. Stay cool.

Lean, Mean, Killing Machine

Jason Statham is back in his own star vehicle, Wrath of Man. The man who The New York Times‘s Michiko Kakutani once called a “bullet-headed looker” is back.

You know who else is back? Josh Hartnett. Yup, that’s right, Josh Hartnett, who self hasn’t seen on the big screen since The Faculty (1998!). When not required to be a heartthrob, the guy can act. Self means, really act.

And you know who else is in this movie? Clint Eastwood’s son Scott Eastwood. Who plays the badest badass she’s ever seen in a movie in a while. The kind of bad guy you’d cheer to see vivisected. Good turn, Scott Eastwood! (From certain angles, she swears she almost thought it was Clint)

The final set-piece, self didn’t think she took a breath once. It was all action, and the action had the remorselessness of a yakuza movie. Or of The Raid.

Who is that actor who plays Jason Statham’s son in the movie? Self has never seen him in her life, but he is well cast. She looks him up later — he has that kind of fey quality some British actors have when very young, but the actor turns out to be from OREGON. Big surprise! Turns out Americans are capable of turning out their own fey, young actors. LOL

There is no “closure,” not really.

Self would say she still liked Mortal Kombat better, since Wrath of Man is so unrelentingly grim. But she liked it ever so much more than Here Today, which put her to sleep.

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.