The All of It: November 2016

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

chemistry lesson

I've been doing a little research on the topic of "chemistry" as it applies to people's connection with one another. You know the saying, "They have great chemistry" or they don't. I can think of people in the public eye who have it: the Obamas, for instant. And who don't: the Trumps. Enough of politics.

Let's move from Washington to Hollywood. I'm not a follower of all things Hollywood but I have read a bit about the breakup of the Brangelinas. I know only the tiniest bit of their history together, but I thought it might be an interesting chemistry lesson to watch the two movies they starred in, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and By the Sea. I had not seen either. From what I have read about it, the Smith flick was well received and, more important to my "research" was commented on for its over-the-top, smoke-from-the-screen chemistry. They were having more fun that probably was legal at the time. One was married, but after that film, not for long. Then they took up with each other and the rest is history. Until now.

Leap ahead 12 years and six kids and there's not only a lot of ink but this second movie, By the Sea, written and directed by Jolie. There is not one drop of chemistry between these two, although "he" tries like anything to assure her that there is. Now, it may well be the script, the characters they play, the story, but it was really painful to watch. They were NOT having fun, even in their misery. Maybe because, despite my best efforts, I know what has happened to these two admittedly gifted performers. But chemistry? Not one frame. It was actually painful to watch and only partly because it's a terrible movie.

Think about Cary Grant and his various leading ladies ~ Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Eva Marie Saint, Sophia Loren. Instant and insane chemistry based on how much fun they were all having together. As for women, Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, and the other above-mentioned women. It's rare that when they are in a film there is not chemistry between them and their leading man. Even if they are antagonists or miserable in a relationship, there's still "something" there.

Ok. Chemistry class is over.

Now on to wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are. Be safe on the road or in the air, don't eat or drink too much, and give thanks that, as of yet, we are still in a world that's fairly intact and understandable. This may not last.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

an "in front of the fire" day

It's cold and rainy here in the valley today, a perfect day to sit by the fire with a good read. That would be Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas.

It is about the bizarre confirmation hearing that pit Thomas against Anita Hill. Meticulously researched and documented, the case is laid out almost day by day. When it's all over, he has been elevated to the court and she is left out, but not down. This book affirms what we all knew from the beginning; she was right, it did happen just the way she said it did. Thomas comes off as a Jeckyl-Hyde character, not too bright but extremely shrewd. If you are at all curious about how this all happened, I highly recommend it. Authored by Jane Meyer, who writes for The New Yorker, and Jill Abramson, one-time executive editor of the New York Times.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

the magic carpet

I saw an ad for a Turkish carpet for sale in our neighborhood. Now, my house is completely "rugged out" and the last thing I need is another carpet. We have carpets from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Persia . . . see what I mean? But this beauty called out to me and, after some serious hesitation, I said "Why not? I'll find a place for it" and bought it.

This beauty has an interesting provenance. It was given to the seller as a gift about 25 years ago by her anthropologist uncle who bought it in Turkey. She thinks it is probably about 50 years old. She has never displayed or used it; it has been rolled up in her garage all this time. It is in excellent condition. The colors are bright and clear, the weave is tight and clean. It now graces the floor in our entryway, a gloriously cheerful welcome to our home.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

a toast! (actually four)

In the real world, only two of these toasts mean anything, but we thought we'd add two that are actually sort of frivolous. So first, the two that are serious.

A TOAST! to Mr. C! This week marks the end of the Tonsil War and ten years of being cancer free!

Mr. C taking refreshment in Paris, 2016. To your continued health!

A TOAST! to Gwen Ifill, the sine qua non of reporters. She spoke truth to power without wavering. I had great admiration for her and will miss her every evening at 6 PM when she isn't at her desk on the News Hour.

A TOAST! to the new kitchen floor. We have had a terrible crack in the floor almost since we moved in 35 years ago. We have redone the floor twice but it keeps coming back. In fact, that fissure runs through the whole property, through the pool (more later) and into our neighbor's property. We've lived with it getting progressively worse for about 6 years but since we're not here much of the time we've just tried to ignore it. This year we had had enough. Problem: the tiles we have on the floor are no longer available so it called for new thinking. Solutions: completely new floor in the kitchen but the entire house is tiled with the same product; take up tiles in places they don't show like closet floors and hope we can salvage enough to cover cracked area; do something completely different. I opted for t#3 and went off on the great "tile rug" hunt. Issues, however, included the thickness of the tile so it would all be the same level and the size of the tile so there wouldn't be a lot of cutting. I found some spectacular Moroccan tiles but they were much too thick. Mexican tiles, too, were too thick and too small. But here's the "tile rug" idea I had.

Most of the crack runs down the left side of the rectangle (you can't see it; it's covered by the tiles.) This just shows the area we had to cover. The Mexican tiles are NOT ceramic; they are bara, a very porous clay. Not for the floor. But it would have looked fantastic all mixed together. Tyler the Tiler managed to salvage a few of the original tiles, cleaned up the floor, and repaired the crack with some sort of rubber filler and a very thin membrane meant to stabilized the floor in case of new cracks.

After two months of looking for tiles in person and online, we finally settled on a pattern/color mix that we could live with.

We are very happy with how it looks and, mainly, no more crack. We'll see how it "winters over".

A TOAST! to the pool that we had repaired and refinished to deal with the above-mentioned crack and the very badly stained stucco finish. The pool is 16 years old and looked it. But now it looks gorgeous. Re-stucco'd with a acrylic-based stucco that will not stain, refinished with fiberglass that also will not crack, and repaired the lights.