After all the excitement of the last couple of days, we resume normal service around here. At least for a while. Continuing our intermittent series of pop tunes being given the jazz treatment, here’s a particularly juicy one – on video, to boot. Pat Metheny is (little-known fact) Missouri-born and bred – I saw him a while back here in …
Special Relationship?
No postings on the World Cup yet, although I’ve been watching as much as I can and enjoying most of it, except for 90 minutes last Saturday afternoon. Thanks to the England goalkeeper’s utterly bizarre howler, I have been on the receiving end of much gleeful teasing – cute email references to “dropping the ball”, and the like. Oh, how …
Diabolical Genius? Or Just a 5 Year-Old?
Exciting episode on Sunday evening. We’d had a lovely weekend – two trips to the swimming pool, a water-fight in the yard, lots of home-cooked food, the original Muppet Movie… all in all, a very relaxing, family-focused time, just the four of us. Catherine’s bedtime was approaching and as usual we were all crammed on to her bed listening to …
Keeping a Straight Face
Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. It’s about an Englishman – a successful corporate attorney, who works in a big law firm in one of the most exciting, vibrant cities on earth. He’s married to a glamorous American wife. Suddenly, against his will, he finds himself transported to a small town in the middle of rural America, where …
Cartoons Imitating Life
A few months ago, I turned forty. I wasn’t especially bothered by the milestone. There was no spectacular midlife crisis/meltdown, save for a resolution to go to the gym more. I even signed up for an intensive 30 day series of workouts with an instructor. I’ve been meaning to write about it for ages. I had in mind a vaguely …
Magic.
Just before I left for Chicago, I popped into Get Lost Bookshop and bought The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies for something to read on the train (and, as it turned out, during the three hour delay at the station at La Plata, MO.) I was delighted to discover that one of the characters in the first novel, Fifth Business, …
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Thought I would try and cheer up your Monday mornings by resurrecting this occasional series of pop tunes receiving a jazzier treatment. This is a delightful version of the Paul Simon classic by Sophie Milman. Sophie Milman is an absolutely cracking singer, with a gorgeous, smoky contralto. Occasionally she swallows a word or two and sometimes sounds as if she …
A Wonderful Town
We spent last weekend in Chicago. Man, I love that town. Not even a three hour delay waiting for the train in La Plata, MO, was going to dampen our spirits. Why? Because we were on our own. Sunday was our twelfth wedding anniversary, and this was our little celebration. (The children were with their grandparents for the weekend.) Our …
Cinco de Mayo
No, my English friends, this is not a celebration of the mighty Hellman’s condiment. As any fule know, Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, and usually sees a spike in Tequila consumption across the United States. Today also marks the nine year …
Please Switch Off Your Book
I wrote in this post about my mixed feelings about the Barnes & Noble Nook – which I eventually returned. I know that the emergence of this new format is more or less inevitable over time, and while I was in New York I went into an Apple store and played with an iPad, which was irritatingly impressive – but …