Ponder: Drunk on Love

I have read half a dozen romance novels by Jasmine Guillory, a relatively recent NewYork Times best selling author. Most of these books have settings in the Los Angeles or Oakland area of California, with characters who are young professionals and interconnected to each other. (See 8/30/22 Romance novels 1-3  and 9/12/22 Romance novels 4-6 .) Jasmine Guillory's seventh book Drunk on Love ©2022 still takes place in California, but in the Napa wine country. There is no association with characters from the first six books and I found that absence a bit disappointing. I tend to like series where there is familiarity and continuity among family or friends. 

New characters Margot and her brother inherited a working winery from their uncle. After a hot first time encounter with new casual acquaintance, Luke, Margo discovers the following morning that her brother has hired Luke to work in the tasting room. Margot and Luke's attraction to each other makes the situation at their mutual place of employment awkward. The love making in this book is more explicit than in the earlier novels. The verbal banter is amusing but less in quantity than in the earlier books. That physical versus mental balance makes this book less appealing to me rather than more so; consequently, I dropped my rating by one star to two stars. The winery details lent some interest, but not in enough detail to make the setting worthwhile. I think I will hold off on Jasmine Guillory's future books for a while. I may be saturated or she may be morphing her style to something less attractive to me.

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it

Two Bankhead Theatre Visits

Frank and I attended two shows at our local Livermore Bankhead Theatre within one week: a matinee puppet show with Alex on Sunday, October 16th and an evening concert show Friday, October 21st. The theatre is a one mile walk or five minute drive from our house, so an afternoon or evening performance is easy-peasy.

AFTERNOON WITH PUPPETS
With Alex we watched a show we have actually seen before (post for February 19, 2018), a DLUX puppet performance of Alice in Wonderland. It was so good then that we thought is was worth repeating. Some of the novelty had faded, and perhaps Alex's interests have morphed, but it was not as stellar the second time around. But we are always on the lookout for bowling alternatives to do with Alex on our Sunday visits and this fit the bill fairly well. I was surprised that the husband and wife team of Derek and Lauren Lux are still doing this show, although the company DLUX puppets, is now based in Las Vegas.

In the Feb 2018 post I featured the puppets for Rabbit and the Red Queen. This post I feature the Caterpillar who has no feature song (he's not a singing kind of guy) and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee who are Happy Together 🎶. By the way, the 1967 hit by the Turtles, Happy Together 🎶, was the exit song my daughter and son-in-law used at the close of their wedding ceremony.

Here is a three minute trailer that conveys the flavor of the show well and showcases all the huge creative puppets involved.

EVENING OF MONKEES MEMORIES
Later in the same week, Friday night, October 25th, Frank and I went to see a performance by Micky Dolenz the last surviving member of the 1960's rock band The Monkees. Dolenz had six other musicians with him on the stage as backup or as an occasional lead singer (his sister Coco, for example). 

While the performance was going on, there was a huge backdrop with projected scenes from the TV show or some of the live performances of the original foursome. I remember some of those scenes from the TV show that I faithfully watched in my youth. The Monkees NBC sitcom ran for two seasons in 1966-68. Per Monkees Fandom

The Monkees were a rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose line-up consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the situation comedy series of the same name (described by Dolenz as "a TV show about an imaginary band ... that wanted to be the Beatles ... [but] was never successful".)

Davy Jones was reputed to be the heart throb of the band but I remember liking Micky best because he had the best hair. By the way... that was what first attracted me to my husband Frank – his great thick hair that he wore neatly clipped, not in the long straggly hippies style of the times. Frank's side burns were huge mutton chops, however, and his mustache was rather large. It could strain spaghetti.

The majority of the songs Micky Dolenz performed with his backup musicians were from the Monkees' TV show and albums; I enjoyed the familiarity of those tunes. At points the music was really LOUD, given my present age, too loud, but that was usually for songs I did not necessarily attribute to the Monkees. The songs were interspersed with stories Micky told. During their visit with the Beatles, John Lennon greeted him as "Mohnkey Mahn (with British Accent). In one tale Micky spoke of introducing himself to Glenn Campbell. Glenn reminded Micky that Glenn had played backup guitar for one of Micky's recordings. Whoops! (Glenn Campbell's guitar skills are renown for their excellence and there are many, many recordings where Glenn is not the star but the unsung incredible backup.)

The 1966-1968 NBS TV sitcom series with 2 seasons and 58 episodes is currently not available to stream from any platform. When it is, I will indulge my nostalgia and watch some episodes. Here is the information for the Monkees who have passed on. Davy Jones died in 2012 (age 66 of heart attack), Peter Tork died in 2019 (age 77 of cancer), and Mike Nesmith recently died in 2021 (age 78 of heart failure) shortly after completing a 2021 tour with Micky Dolenz. Born March 8, 1945, Micky Dolenz, the last surviving member of the Monkees is 78 and still dazzled our audience with a bit of fancy footwork as he quick-stepped across the stage and belted out some oldies but goodies. It is the closing of an era. I am glad I got to see it.

Ponder: Two Nicholas Sparks Books

Although, as a fan, I thought I had read all the Nicholas Sparks novels, but I came across a notation about these two books for which I had no recollection and no blog post to jog my memory. True Believer was ©April 2005 and At First Sight was ©October 2005. With his most recent novel Dreamland  ©2022 just out, I decided to check these 2005 books out of the library so my reading of his publications would be complete. They share the characters of Lexie and Jeremy and second is a continuation of the first.

Both books were disappointments. Jeremy hails from New York City and Lexie lives in a small lazy town in North Carolina. These different home backgrounds did lend some interesting conflict, but it seems Sparks forgot that novels need a storyline as well as lengthy character and setting descriptions. True Believer is about finding a logical explanation for mysterious lights in a cemetery while Jeremy learns he is in love with Lexie.  I truly believe I had never read True Believer although I did find the striped lighthouse front cover enticing. At First Sight continues the Jeremy/Lexie relationship and seems to have no other plot other than Jeremy's struggles with his writer's block as a professional journalist and his communications with Lexie. The first half or more of the book merely re-tells the True Believer book. Once I got toward the end of At First Sight I recalled, "Oh, yes, I have read this before," and Sparks' typical end twist was spoiled for me. I believe a reading of the complete works of Nicholas Sparks would not suffer at all if these two books were omitted. I rate both these novels two stars. I sure hope Dreamland will be better.

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished them

Joan's Pumpkin Farm with Alex

Sunday, October 9th Frank and I took Alex to Joan's Farm and Pumpkin Patch in Livermore. We have lived in Livermore 45+ years and we'd never gone there until this season.  The farm and pumpkin patch is located 4 miles beyond central downtown Livermore and the route rambles along beside and beyond some of the various vineyards, labeled in orange on the map.

 

Shortly after the entry we came upon several pumpkin patches scattered throughout the farm. They were more or less populated by similarly sized pumpkins. Unique resting benches were formed from tractor seats and the contoured seats were comfortable, even if they were made of metal and not padded.

There were animals, live to watch and wooden to look at. I absently commented, "Oh, look. That bull is nursing a calf!" Frank pointed out it could not be a bull. Farm girl I am not, but I do know the difference and merely misspoke. I could also tell that the sheep in the foreground was not real but that the barbed wire behind Frank and Alex was real leaning would be unwise. Frank's shirt and a wooden turkey placard were a great match. Alex did inform us that a turkey says, "Gobble, Gobble". 

Alex did also give a donkey a brief pat on its back. Donkey? Burro? Mule? I am not sure. Definitely smaller than a horse but not a pony. I just looked it up and burro is the Spanish word for donkey. A burro may be slightly smaller with shaggier hair, but burros and donkeys are the same species. And a mule? Even I know they do not have the same skill set as a bull.

We wandered through a few quaint stores in a small western town mock up. Then we feasted on a lunch of hot dogs and chili dogs, and chips. The sign by the concession stand was amusing, and I could understand it for the potatoes and corn in our chips and the beans on our chili dogs. It was new to me however, that hot dogs grew out of the earth!

After lunch we bought some tickets for the activities and started out with a tractor-pulled hayride that circumvented the upper area of the farm.

As we were heading up a slight hill for games, we noticed an interesting fact about the green grass we were walking on. It appeared to be recycled artificial turf, a good idea to keep down dust or mud if it was rainy. My guess is it was perhaps from a football field, maybe donated from a local school or college. The strips were not laid down in order but you could see the occasional number as if it were yard lines out of sequence. We tried to make out the logo of a school but did not have enough continuous turf to figure it out.

There were slides and mazes and other kiddie rides too young for Alex at the top of the hill, but there was Pumpkin Patch Bowling, which he absolutely loved. We bought three rounds of bowling, one each for Frank, Alex, and me. Except for one toss of one pumpkin by Frank, Alex was enamored and we reveled in watching him do all the rest.

Frank was going to show Alex how it was done but Alex would have no part of his help. Alex loved throwing each and every pumpkin himself, three bucketsful, and succeeded in getting some very close, and even through, the square opening at the far end. I was even able to get some action shots.

Alex even like the picking up and gathering part of the pumpkins amassed at the far end. He readily put them in his bucket for another round. We'd only bought tickets for three buckets worth, otherwise I have no idea how long Alex would have continued this activity. He had so much fun!

After the Pumpkin Patch Bowling we wandered a maze made from bales of hay, which was a big snore in Alex's opinion. He saw no point in walking aimlessly around, into blank walls with no real goal, no seating, and no shade in sight. Frank and I agreed. In retrospect we should have apportioned more activity tickets to the bowling and less to the maze. Live and learn. Frank is tall enough that he could peer over the tops and cheat to get us out without further ado. We crossed a field, heading toward the pumpkin patches to select pumpkins for Alex to bring home.

Alex selected two pumpkins, both on the small side. We are lucky he did not want a big one, too big for him to carry and left for Frank and me to haul. He proudly carries his pumpkin choices himself, tucked away in that black tote bag. It was a fun outing, sunny and warm but breezy, and we all had a great afternoon.

Ponder: The Measure

What if you were able to learn how long you will live and when you will die to within a few days accuracy? Would you want to know? What if that were true for everyone around you? How would that change you and the world if you gained that knowledge? 

One morning in March everyone in the world, every adult older than 22, received a small brown box engraved with his name. Where the boxes came from and how they got there is unknown. Each was inscribed with the message The measure of your life lies within. Inside was an indestructible silvery-white string of a length corresponding to the length of that person's life. Thus does Nikki Erlick set the fascinating, creative, thought-provoking stage for The Measure ©2022.

The story continues on from this auspicious beginning, told through the lives of a cast of characters — Nina and Maura, gay partners; Amie, Nina's younger sister; Ben, an architect; Hank a doctor; Jack and Javier, military best friends; Anthony, an aspiring politician — each with a string length unique to them. Chapter titles were each a main character's name. The novel explores the implication of this advance knowledge premise from all angles, at least from all the angles I could think of to query. There were personal emotional responses of fear, anger, desperation, elation, despair, acceptance, as well as more global implications to financial, economic, medical, employability, and insurability considerations.  Would string length now be added to race, gender, sexual preference, or religion prejudices? The author's comfortable writing style urged me to turn page after page and continue to explore the possibilities. 

The novel was very thorough and appealed to the my logical tendencies as I mulled over the possible consequences of having such life/death knowledge. Yet the well-developed characters with their heartwarming, inspirational, but sometimes also dastardly interactions, brought tears to my eyes at several points and raised my blood pressure with rage at others. Initially, I struggled a bit with wondering where all the boxes came from and the mechanism for them so precisely, ubiquitously appearing. But I suspended disbelief and emerged myself in the story. After all, not knowing the logistics of Santa Claus does not preclude enjoying Christmas. I whole heartedly give The Measure 5 stars.

★★★★★ Great! Read it!