City Walk

It was a beautiful day for the thirteen walkers this morning.

Dining Out

Louise hosted Dining Out tonight at Thai - Sakura in Palm Beach Gardens. Sixteen attended.

Two Movies - Pirate Radio & This Is It

Last night at Muvico we attended a prescreening of Pirate Radio, a period comedy about an illegal radio station in the North Sea in the 1960's. I've seen worse but usually only by accident. I expected something more of a documentary nature including more of the political history. I was put off by the crude language and too-frequent sexual situations. The unsophisticated feeble comedy was a turn-off too. For some, the redeeming quality will be the rock and roll music. No doubt, some would rate it highly. I found it only mildly entertaining.

Following Pirate Radio, we saw about the last half of This Is It. I was never a fan of Michael Jackson nor did I have anything but minimal interest in his career. But I must say I was favorably impressed by what I saw of this movie and would like to see it all.

Veterans Day

Today we went to a most enjoyable concert by a navy band in Palm Beach Gardens. The band was good and the delightfully varied program suited us just fine. Last night we did our weekly ushering at the Kravis Center for the musical, "Grease". It was sold out and people seemed to enjoy it. It was a good production but not a show I cared for. Sunday we went downtown West Palm Beach for the veterans parade. It was longer than I expected but a pretty bad parade. Saturday we took my sister and Sidney to the county historical museum and they bought our lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Last Thursday we joined our frugal dining out group at One Thai in Palm Beach Gardens.

Louane and Sidney's Visit

This week my sister, Louane, and her husband, Sidney, have been visiting here from Red Lodge, Montana. We've been seeing the sights, most of which are new from when they lived here fifty years ago. Yesterday we went to The Wakodahatchee Wetlands. Here are two pictures: (The Great Blue Heron is Jane's photo.)

Halloween

Last night there were more people on Clematis Street than I've ever seen there. It was a wild time. Here below is just a small sample of what we saw.

Saturday

We walked on the Lake Trail this morning and I took this picture of our little town from across the lake,

Clematis by Fright

We went down to Clematis Street last night to see some of the horseing around.

Fall's Arrival

The long-overdue end to the oppressive summer miseries has finally come and we all welcome that. We've pretty well recovered from our summer adventures. Now we need to get some things accomplished. (We say that but we seem to always put fun ahead of accomplishment.) Getting caught up on medical matters takes more time every year. Tomorrow's colonoscopy (speaking of fun) is an event to put behind me.
Jane's Ladies Tea was yesterday hosted by Kathy Dull. See Album.

Saturday Evening

Helen Coffey hosted dining out at Tiki Hut in Riviera Beach last evening. There were nine of us.
Following dinner, Jane and I hosted the game party pictured below.

Two Good Movies

Last night at Muvico we viewed "The Informant" starring Matt Damon. It is the story about a whistle-blowing executive in ADM and its price-fixing. The reviews are mixed but I recommend it based on the casting and direction. It was nearly flawless.

Also last night we saw Michael Moore's new movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story."
I strongly recommend it. It contained a lot of both vintage and recent video. I always enjoy that. It was long but I stayed fully engaged and emotionally involved. I was surprised at how current it was -- just like the news of the day. Micheal Moore can really get across his message -- celebrating democracy and bemoaning the control by moneyed interests.

Monday night we attended an excellent lecture by Deborah Pollack, author of Laura Woodward: The Artist Behind the Innovator Who Developed Palm Beach. It was the first in this season's Historical Society of Palm Beach lecture series.

Back Home Again

We arrived home Saturday night. On the return we tented out in New Jersey, Delaware, and South Carolina and stayed with Evergreeners, Bob & Annajean Chapman in Mills River, NC. We had to stay in a motel in Orangeburg, SC for an auto repair.

Sunday in Hartford, Connecticut

Tonight we're visiting my friend, Caroline White in Hartford, Connecticut. We had a really good time on our cruise. The weather could have been better for our visits to Boston and Saint John but everything else was great. We've had a good cruise so far. The nightly stage shows were fabulous.

Tuesday - Saint John, New Brunswick

We're in the public library in Saint John, New Brunswick this morning because it is rainy. We've had a good cruise so far. Last night's show was fabulous -- one of the best I've seen. Previously we had a day in both Boston & Portland, ME.

Thursday in Connecticut

We stayed in Brookfield, CT last night with our friends, Jerry and Margot Cirigliano. We had a very good drive up. The two night stopover in and Rockville, MD allowed a day and a half in Washington, DC. to see what Jane wanted at the Smithsonian -- Julia's kitchen and what I wanted -- The Air & Space Museum at Dulles airport. It was terrific. One could easily spend two days there. Saturday we'll take the train into NYC to board our Carnival cruise.

Tuesday in Rockville, Maryland

Tonight we're in Rockville, Maryland staying for two nights with Evergreener, Leva Lessure.
Our Evergreen hosts last night in Raleigh, North Carolina were Bill & Mary Nennstiel, pictured below. We stayed in Savannah Sunday night with Evergreeners, Jeff and Ann Klein, pictured below.

Leaving Tomorrow

Jane and I are getting ready to leave tomorrow morning, September 20. We'll be driving to New York to begin our seven-night Carnival cruise with six friends to New England and Canada. We're planning to visit in Washington for a day on the drive up and do camping out on the return if it isn't too cold. We should be home before the middle of October.

Love Happens

Last night we went to a prescreening of the movie, Love Happens, staring Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart. The love story, improbable and unrealistic, was only mildly entertaining and easily forgettable. A chance meeting, leading to ups and downs, hopes and disappointments, concluded happily. As we were walking out, Jane said, "I'm glad I didn't pay for it." I felt it wasn't worth the drive out to Regal in Royal Palm Beach.

This afternoon we lunched with Al Barash in The Leopard Room of The Chesterfield Hotel.

Beyond Balderdash

We played Beyond Balderdash tonight.

President Obama's Speech

Did you listen last night to President Obama's speech to the congress? We thought it was wonderful. It's hard to imagine it being any better. I think most of the resistance to health-care reform is coming from insurance interests fearing reduced profit and from partisan political interests who wish for failure of the presidential initiatives whatever they are.