All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
2025, Kids, Music, State Fair

Happy Together

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While I love the State Fair, I’m not all that big on the grandstand shows.  Not sure why – just not my thing.  Every now and then I go to a show – last one before this year was Garrison Keillor, back in 2017.  

Back in the spring, the Happy Together tour was announced in an email from the State Fair folks.  Later that same day, my friend Lori, who loves the fair as much as I do, emailed me with the dates she and her husband were going to be on the fairgrounds (she lives in Chicago now).  For some reason, the grandstand show and Lori being in town seemed like a sign.  We texted back and forth a bit about going together and then I bought the tickets.

When I was leaving for the fairgrounds on Monday night, YA said “will you know any of the songs?”  Her opinion of my musical knowledge is that I don’t know anything written in the last thirty years.  She might be correct, but I assured her that the 60s and 70s are another thing entirely.

Here was the line-up:  the Cowsills, the Vogues, Gary Puckett, Little Anthony, Jay & the Americans and the Turtles.  Each group got four songs – they all did their most popular and on the fourth song, videos of each group back in the day was aired on the big screens. 

It was a fun show and I DID know all the words to all the songs – and sang them unashamedly (along with everyone else in the grandstand).  It was a little bittersweet though as the 60s is now too long ago for these performers to still be stumping around.  None of the bands had all their original members; only the Cowsills were all Cowsills, just fewer of them.  The Turtles were actually represented by Ron Dante, who was a member of the Archies, but was never a Turtle.  (This turned out to be fun because there was an extra song for that set – Sugar, Sugar, which is one of my favorites.)  And the single performers (Gary P, Little Anthony) were struggling.   And while I know all the words to the Gary Puckett songs (Young Girl, Woman, This Girl is a Woman Now and Lady Willpower), listening to the lyrics in 2025 is a bit…. squirmy. 

If another Happy Together tour comes around and it again features the 60s, I think I’ll take a pass.  Unless it’s for the 70s – then I might give that a go!

Any favorite tune from the 60s?

2025, Baboon Achievers, Food, gardening, home, Nature

Tomato Land

43 Comments

My bales look sorry this summer.  Saggy and disintegrating looking.  Ben explained to me how this can happen – kinda made sense.

But saggy and disintegrating doesn’t seem to be a problem for my veggies.  We’re having a bumper crop of everything.  Basil, chives, rosemary, cilantro, poblano peppers, hot macho peppers, mint and 4 kinds of tomatoes.  Romas, some heirloom, sweet 100 cherry and in a summer surprise, I’ve actually gotten a couple of Santa tomatoes from the plant that I grew from a seed.  I’m sure there’s more out there but I haven’t harvested for a couple of days.

Santa Tomatoes

I used up all the cilantro already.  Four jars of pesto so far, an ice cube tray of chopped mint with lime juice, another ice cube tray of chopped basil with olive oil.  Eight containers of tomato sauce.  Gifts of tomatoes to neighbors and friends.

And lots and lots of tomato recipes.  (This was all going on while I had a MASSIVE zucchini to deal with as well.)   I’ve made my favorite pasta with cherry tomatoes a couple of times.  Made tomato butter that was terrific on the zucchini corn bread.  This weekend I’m making panzanella, tomato basil soup and some tomato rice.  Probably time to consign some of the tomatoes to the freezer as well.  Whole tomatoes right into freezer bags for use this winter. 

Gosh – I feel like Renee and Chris with all this produce and cooking!

Any ideas for too many tomatoes?  Or peppers?

2025, Fantasy, Movies, Mysteries

Godzilla – Again

37 Comments

You all know I have an affinity for Godzilla movies.  I don’t know why.  Most of them aren’t all that well made and of course they are pretty violent.  But like many of the mysteries in life, Godzilla and I seem to keep crossing paths.

It happened again last week when I stumbled across Godzilla Minus One, which came out in 2023, written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki.  This is the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen most of them.  While Minus One got great reviews, I wasn’t holding my breath. 

There is much more of a human element to this one, although seeing the aftermath of WWII on the ordinary Japanese citizen was depressing.  Then this massive, basically indestructible monster comes and destroys what little is left.  And, as always, nobody can ever say why Godzilla does what he does. 

I noticed right away that this Godzilla is a really good match for the earlier Godzillas.  Of course, much better CGI and photography but his spiny back and the shape of his head and neck were just like the classic.  And then towards the end, I thought “this music sounds so familiar”.  After the movie was over, I found the original 1954 Godzilla with soundtrack composed by Akira Ifukube.  This is apparently now known as The Ifukube March and has been used in several of the movies over the years:

The composer for Godzilla Minus One (Naoki Sato) did a great salute by incorporating the march into the final “battle scene”:

If you had suggested to me when I was younger that someday I would know enough about Godzilla to recognize his classic form and his classic music, I would have laughed until I cried.  Guess I’d better get out the tissues.

Seen any good movies lately?  Any stinkers?

2025, home, Movies, pets, State Fair

Why Bother with a Pillow?

47 Comments

When I went to bed the night before Opening Day (do I need to say, of State Fair?), I was ready! 

I had the alarm set for 5:40; I wanted to have enough time to do my leg exercises before we left for the fair.  We normally get home around dinner time and I didn’t figure I would do both sets of exercises at night. 

The turtle bag was packed – everything on the packing list crossed off – cash, coupon booklets, tickets, Tylenol, bandaids, wipes, container for cookies, fan, hat:

Packed and ready to go

I went to bed a smidge earlier than normal, but not too much.  I pet the cat and then snuggled down.  That’s when the trouble started.

Apparently several episodes of Death in Paradise was a bit much for evening viewing.  Woke up from a weird intense dream of bodies floating in the Caribbean.  Dozing off again did not come easily and I ended up turning on “To Catch a Thief”.  Then woke up to the dog whining at 1 a.m. – one of the smoke alarms was squeaking.  Took a few minutes to figure out if it was my room or the hallway and then we had to dig out batteries.  Dozing off again did not come easily.  Ended up reciting A is for antelope, B is for baboon, C is for capybara…. got all the way to the end of the alphabet – twice.    Woke up at 2:30 to make a trip to the bathroom.  This time I ended up turning on Murder on the Orient Express.  At 5:15 I rolled over and when I looked at the time, I just gave it up.  Plenty of time to do my exercises, pick up a bit, feed the critters, water the bales. 

I can’t recall the last time I had such a rough night.  Obviously opening day was clearly keeping me a little over-wired!  Luckily it didn’t keep me from enjoying my first day at the fair and I slept exceedingly well that night.  But I do wonder if I need an updated “go back to sleep” routine?

Why couldn’t Goldilocks sleep?

2025, Automotive, Travel

Vehicle Bound

44 Comments

You’ve probably heard me say that the only good things to come out of Covid were working from home and drive-up service.  I know that many businesses are making people come back into the office but hopefully drive-up service is here to stay.

With a sore knee, running errands wasn’t the top of my to-do list the last couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, you can’t just keep putting off errands or else your household starts to sag at the edges.  As I started to list things that just needed to get done, I realized that drive-through was going to be my friend.  Here’s what I managed to do without getting out of the car:

  • Aldis
  • Target
  • Value Village (this was a drop-off, not a pick-up)
  • Post office (again, a drop-off)
  • Bank ATM
  • Dunkin’ Donuts
  • Caribou Coffee

There was one more errand that did require me to get out of the car – returning a library book.  The only library with a drive-through return in the Hennepin system was the Southdale Library – and as of this past week, the drive-through is no longer available:

I can’t remember a time when I had so many things I could do without exiting my vehicle.  I do like drive-up and drive-through!!

Do you do any drive-up or drive-through?

 

 

 

 

2025, Family, gardening, Mysteries, Nature

Weed Whacking

21 Comments

Mothers’ warnings and bits of advice run through my head.  I’m assuming (hoping?) I’m not the only one.

Don’t run with scissors.  You sound like a cow chewing her cud (usually with gum).  You two girls quit fighting – you sound like fishwives.  Close the door – were you raised in a barn?  Money doesn’t grow on trees.  If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?  Your face with freeze that way.  All of these were heard during my childhood.

You’d think that with all these tropes running through my head, that I would be more careful. 

Between YA being out of the country and me having blown my knee out, the grass got out of control.  YA was eager to get to it last Friday and I was happy she wanted to work on it.  Since my knee was tender from going to State Fair the day before, I did the knee-friendly stuff.  Moved the aidirondack chairs and little table, wound up the hose and then the exciting poop patrol.  I headed out in my shorts and zorries.  Easy peasy.

Since it had been so long between mowings, the grass has overgrown the sidewalk so I decided that I would do some trimming.  No knee bending for this.  You’d think that getting an electric edger out of the garage would set off some of my mom’s advice in my head, but…. Nope.  While YA was still mowing, I started on a few edges along the flower gardens.  Almost immediately a piece of cedar mulch whipped up and took a chunk out of my ankle.  I decided to move to the sidewalk at that point.  After I did the sidewalk, I tackled the little patio.  It was then that I twisted a bit and in reacting to the knee objecting to this move, I ran the edger over my toe.  Ouch was an understatement.  Luckily no nearby little children were out in their yards to hear me swearing.  The cut wasn’t deep but was about two inches long, going from the tip of my big toe, diagonally down the length of the whole toe. 

I have two pairs of gardening shoes that live on the back porch.  If a smart person were living at my house, they would have grabbed a pair of those shoes before plugging in the weed whacker.  And if my mother had been around she also would have admonished me to put on a pair of those shoes.  But once again, no Nonny and no smart person either!  I liberally applied antibiotic cream and bandages for the first day or so and both injuries are healing up nicely.  But I feel a little sheepish admitting this. 

Done anything silly/stupid lately that you should have know better about? 

2025, Health, Medicine, Technology

Keeping Occupied

33 Comments

The orthopedic folks thought that an MRI would be a good idea after my knee injury.   Was expecting to have to wait longer but they do this stuff on the weekends these days, so I was able to score an early Sunday morning appointment.   

I had an MRI years ago so knew a little bit of what to expect.  The last time I was given anti-anxiety meds as I was a bit worried about claustrophobia.  I also made the decision to run through one of my favorite movies in my head, scene by scene; I got almost to the end.  But it kept my brain occupied so I figured I’d do that same this time, although I skipped the meds since it was my knee.

The technician gave me headphones and they were quite loud and I was surprised to realize that when I play the movie in my head, the soundtrack is a big part of that.  I had to consciously block out the headphone music.  I even thought about asking her to remove them but I didn’t want to stop the process or have to start over.

Luckily it was all done in about 15 minutes.  I hardly got through the first part of the movie in my mind – Danielle had just dropped John Robie off at the beach club at Cannes!  Sometimes I worry about how many times I’ve watched “To Catch a Thief” but it sure comes in handy every now and then.

Do you have a favorite Cary Grant movie?  Grace Kelly?

2025, books, Fantasy, Media, Movies, TV

All For One….

31 Comments

When we talked about esoteric knowledge the other day, I would not have said that The Three Musketeers was a particular interest of mine.  Then I stumbled upon a tv series from 2014-2016, a British production.  Binge-watching is a perfect occupation when you’re nursing a knee. 

This particular series is a little darker than I like, but I realize that I’ve seen quite a few of the musketeer movies over the years, so it’s intriguing to see this one.  The production values are quite good – costumes and dialog seem more realistic than a lot of historical dramas.  Of course, there seems to be at least one nubile young woman each episode who manages to fall for one of the musketeers in just a day or so.  Then there’s the fact that all of the musketeers except D’Artagnan (the only character played by an actor who I recognize – Santiago Cabrera) have old, unhealed loved tragedies in their past.  Athos in particular can’t seem to get over his.

And it’s VERY violent.  I find myself listening more than watching every now and then.  I’m not surprised that there were only three seasons.  I’m about half way through the second season and I’m starting to wonder if Paris is going to run out of population, so many people get murdered each episode.  Last night I actually muted it for about five minutes while Captain Treville was getting operated on.  (Thank goodness I live in an age with anesthetic.)  It’s another show that I can’t watch up until bedtime or I have dreams that are much too intense.

As I’ve been watching the show, it occurs to me that I can’t remember if I ever READ The Three Musketeers.  All the comparisons that I’m making in my mind may be from other movies/series I’ve seen.  And there is still the one big question of why Dumas titled his tome The Three Musketeers when there are clearly four of them?  Maybe the book explains this?  So I put it on hold at the library.  I’ll let you know!

Did you have a play sword as a kid?  Ever taken fencing or shooting lessons?

2025, Art, Kids, Uncategorized

Chalk It Up

25 Comments

This is a late “tradition” story.

Eight years ago, my new neighbors moved in.  Two parents, one daughter; later a second daughter rounded out the family.  Early on it was clear that Minnie (the older daughter) and I had a clear affinity for chalk.  Often when Minnie was out doing chalk artwork on their driveway, I would go over for a bit and join in. 

When my next birthday rolled around, Minnie and her folks came over and did chalkwork all over my front sidewalk.  It was wonderful – lots of colors, flowers and rainbows.  After that, every year, we would have a chalk party.  A couple of other kids in the neighborhood joined in.  I even found glitter chalk online to add to the festivities.

This summer, the family moved a few blocks away and while I briefly thought about asking if the girls wanted to come over, I let it go as they are so busy with camps until school starts.  On Monday afternoon, YA texted me from downstairs (she was working from home and I was upstairs) that Marie (younger daughter) was at the door.  I hurried down and found the whole family outside, working on a spectacular birthday chalk display, down the whole sidewalk, up and down some of the driveway, even on the steps up to the house.

There is a fun “dance zone”

An exhortation to sing

And the obligatory hopscotch

Marie and I did the hopscotch several times and after some more chat and hugs, they all headed home.  That’s when I teared up a little – it was so special that they came over to do this for me.  Hopefully this tradition can keep going for a few more years.  I’m assuming that once Minnie and Marie hit their teenage years, coming over to do art on their “neighborhood gramma’s” sidewalk won’t be all that appealing!

When was the last time you jumped hopscotch?  Any notable chalk artwork in your  past?

2025, Art, books, Fantasy

Galahad, Gawain and Me!

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The legend of King Arthur has always appealed to me.  From an early age I loved the Prince Valiant comic strip (and Robert Wagner in the movie) and when Camelot came out in 1967 I managed to get my folks to take me a couple of times.  I’ve read Mary Stewart’s Crystal Cave series more than once and while the 2011 series isn’t quite to my taste, I have watched it – Joseph Fiennes playing Merlin was fascinating.

Had I lived in the legend, I could not have been a good Guinevere or lady-in-waiting.  Although I’m not crazy about the violence part, I would have loved to be a knight.  Fancy armor, horses, swords, cool knight friends and quests.

I am all about quests.  Set me a quest and I am all in.  So when the Hennepin County Library debuted their passport this summer, I had to play.  The passport is free for all who want to participate, with a page for each of the 41 libraries in the system.  There is a photo of the library and short description and each library has their own passport stamp.  There is also a few blank lines if you want to add any notes.

You know I had to make a spreadsheet of the libraries that I can sort by how far they from my house and their hours.  Don’t want to show up at a library that isn’t open yet!  And of course once I’ve visited a particular library, I can highlight it!  Quests and spreadsheets – I’m in heaven.

It’s been a joy to visit the various libraries (I’m about half way through).  They are each unique, with so many different programs.  Language classes, Lego Labs, chess tournaments, jigsaw puzzles (yes, every time I found one in progress, I had to find a piece or two), even community seed libraries.  And the artwork is wonderful.  There must certainly at some kind of art curator on the library staff.  Whoever it is has done a masterful job. 

Wall in Children’s section of Champlin Library

There isn’t a timetable on my library quest, although I’d like to be done some time in September.  Once it’s cooler, I have lots of indoor projects.  Also, I like stretching it out a bit!

Any quests that you’ve enjoyed?  Any you’re looking forward to?