Things I didn't expect last week:....
Jan. 26th, 2020 11:44 am* The death of another Python:(
The Original Six is now down to four, as we mourned the loss of Terry Jones last week. He was perhaps the groupiest member of the group- not as likely to star in a scene or film as Cleese or Chapman, not the standout American that Terry Gilliam is, more likely to be one of the One Of The's- Spanish Inquisitors, Pepperpots, what have you. He also found fame behind the camera, directing or co-directing all three of the classic MP films as well as a few non-Python projects.
A couple of nights after his passing, I stopped for some grape at the corner liquor store. Behind the counter was our favorite cashier, who I know to be a Python lover. She had a basket of these 3-buck whiskies at her register, so I asked if she would share one with me in Terry’s memory. We did twoish shots apiece, with appropriate quotes:

Farewell, old friend. Say hi to Brian for us:)
----
* Having a stormtrooper around the house.
During the course of the week, I finished the first season of The Mandalorian, the Disney series following the Star Wars story of a lone bounty hunter. Before Episode Five, though, I got word from Eleanor: her foot arthritis was really feeling like something worse, and she was taking time off to get it checked out. Turns out it's another stress fracture, this time down there. Their prescription was a very stormtrooper-looking walking boot, which she's had on most waking hours since Tuesday afternoon. They think they got this remedy going in time for it to heal without any further procedures. Our only other hope is she won't have to shoot at anything, because, as the series is now openly joking about, stormtroopers can't hit the side of a barn;)
----
* Losing everything up to, if not including, my mind.
Work promised to be a heavy court week following the Monday holiday, but Tuesday's got postponed about a half hour before it was scheduled for, and Friday's, postponed late the day before. That left two straight Rochester days; I didn't want to overnight with this new medical Thing having come up, so both days I packed up my stuff, including my office laptop, and drove in for 9:00 hearings both days.....
and wound up, after the first of them, in a mild panic. I'd loaded up my briefcase with a ton of stuff for that hearing and other things I needed to work on during the day, so I didn't notice, until looking for it after the hearing, that my laptop was missing. Had I taken it out at home? Eleanor looked around and confirmed, no. I returned to the places in the courthouse I'd been- nothing. Now I began to worry it had been swiped from the bag in the two minutes I took for a potty break before the client arrived (implausible- federal buildings are armed camps with surveillance cameras everywhere), but I had no other theory to go on- until I did. A quick call to the office here proved it had never left my desk; I did pack it up, but only then did I remember taking it out to answer one final email the night before and never put it back.
Wednesday night, I made damn sure it was in the bag, and the bag in my car, before hitting the road. For what it's worth, both court hearings went well, once I had all my wits about me.
----
* This crazed weather:
After a bit of actual snowfall the previous weekend, we headed into an early week that was dry but still cold- Eleanor checks temperatures before leaving for work (she's literally two feet away from an exit door), and the single-digit predictions require multiple layers. But by the end of the week, the cold was gone, temps were approaching 60F, and boy are the trees confused around here:

Usually, the Isotoners aren't in bloom until mid-April;)
It's back closer to freezing this weekend, but there's enough of a muddy mess to keep the dog park closed. Pepper and I took an alternate walk along an old rail trail, which wound up being close to three miles down and back of sniffs and assorted wildlife.
----
* Wrong numbers can be weird:
I woke up to this text on Friday morning: for some morbid reason, I've been thinking about calling the guy back;)

----
* And poetry slams are not the same as poetry readings. They're better.
At least this one was. We've been going to a series of poetry readings for a little over a year now on alternating Wednesday nights, but one of the regulars was also scheduled to appear in a poetry slam at a local theater company last night. This is a semi-competitive venture, where two or three poets at a time take turns reading anything from extended pieces to, in one event, a Haiku Death Match. Applause and other audience noise determines the winner of each round, and two rounds out of three produce a champion. The range of ages, genders, ethnicities and persuasions was amazing. I found it closer to a theatrical performance than a poetry reading, fitting for taking place on a theatrical stage, but the words, and the emotions expressed in then, were always the important thing. We left happy, tired, but plainly inspired.
----
Now to see what this week brings. Nah, not even going to try to guess....
The Original Six is now down to four, as we mourned the loss of Terry Jones last week. He was perhaps the groupiest member of the group- not as likely to star in a scene or film as Cleese or Chapman, not the standout American that Terry Gilliam is, more likely to be one of the One Of The's- Spanish Inquisitors, Pepperpots, what have you. He also found fame behind the camera, directing or co-directing all three of the classic MP films as well as a few non-Python projects.
A couple of nights after his passing, I stopped for some grape at the corner liquor store. Behind the counter was our favorite cashier, who I know to be a Python lover. She had a basket of these 3-buck whiskies at her register, so I asked if she would share one with me in Terry’s memory. We did twoish shots apiece, with appropriate quotes:

Farewell, old friend. Say hi to Brian for us:)
----
* Having a stormtrooper around the house.
During the course of the week, I finished the first season of The Mandalorian, the Disney series following the Star Wars story of a lone bounty hunter. Before Episode Five, though, I got word from Eleanor: her foot arthritis was really feeling like something worse, and she was taking time off to get it checked out. Turns out it's another stress fracture, this time down there. Their prescription was a very stormtrooper-looking walking boot, which she's had on most waking hours since Tuesday afternoon. They think they got this remedy going in time for it to heal without any further procedures. Our only other hope is she won't have to shoot at anything, because, as the series is now openly joking about, stormtroopers can't hit the side of a barn;)
----
* Losing everything up to, if not including, my mind.
Work promised to be a heavy court week following the Monday holiday, but Tuesday's got postponed about a half hour before it was scheduled for, and Friday's, postponed late the day before. That left two straight Rochester days; I didn't want to overnight with this new medical Thing having come up, so both days I packed up my stuff, including my office laptop, and drove in for 9:00 hearings both days.....
and wound up, after the first of them, in a mild panic. I'd loaded up my briefcase with a ton of stuff for that hearing and other things I needed to work on during the day, so I didn't notice, until looking for it after the hearing, that my laptop was missing. Had I taken it out at home? Eleanor looked around and confirmed, no. I returned to the places in the courthouse I'd been- nothing. Now I began to worry it had been swiped from the bag in the two minutes I took for a potty break before the client arrived (implausible- federal buildings are armed camps with surveillance cameras everywhere), but I had no other theory to go on- until I did. A quick call to the office here proved it had never left my desk; I did pack it up, but only then did I remember taking it out to answer one final email the night before and never put it back.
Wednesday night, I made damn sure it was in the bag, and the bag in my car, before hitting the road. For what it's worth, both court hearings went well, once I had all my wits about me.
----
* This crazed weather:
After a bit of actual snowfall the previous weekend, we headed into an early week that was dry but still cold- Eleanor checks temperatures before leaving for work (she's literally two feet away from an exit door), and the single-digit predictions require multiple layers. But by the end of the week, the cold was gone, temps were approaching 60F, and boy are the trees confused around here:

Usually, the Isotoners aren't in bloom until mid-April;)
It's back closer to freezing this weekend, but there's enough of a muddy mess to keep the dog park closed. Pepper and I took an alternate walk along an old rail trail, which wound up being close to three miles down and back of sniffs and assorted wildlife.
----
* Wrong numbers can be weird:
I woke up to this text on Friday morning: for some morbid reason, I've been thinking about calling the guy back;)

----
* And poetry slams are not the same as poetry readings. They're better.
At least this one was. We've been going to a series of poetry readings for a little over a year now on alternating Wednesday nights, but one of the regulars was also scheduled to appear in a poetry slam at a local theater company last night. This is a semi-competitive venture, where two or three poets at a time take turns reading anything from extended pieces to, in one event, a Haiku Death Match. Applause and other audience noise determines the winner of each round, and two rounds out of three produce a champion. The range of ages, genders, ethnicities and persuasions was amazing. I found it closer to a theatrical performance than a poetry reading, fitting for taking place on a theatrical stage, but the words, and the emotions expressed in then, were always the important thing. We left happy, tired, but plainly inspired.
----
Now to see what this week brings. Nah, not even going to try to guess....