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Chopsticks

Jan10

atlwhole

“The waitress arrived with their drinks and Paul ordered for them. He seemed pretty knowledgeable so Colleen sipped her coconut milk. It was very sweet despite its suspicious dirty dishwater color. She pulled out her chopsticks and studied them. They were attached at one end. How was she supposed to get food between them if they were attached?

“Here, you hold them like this.” Paul pulled his out of their paper wrapper and broke them apart. Colleen studied the way he held them and tried to copy it. “Let me show you.” He reached across the table and formed her hands around the sticks. “See, this bottom one stays still. You use the top one to pinch the bite of food you want.” He closed his hands around hers to demonstrate.

“Oh, I see.” She wiggled the sticks. “I hope I can manage to make them work with food.”

 

This past summer I went to Disney World to meet up with a friend and her daughter. One of the places her daughter had gotten reservations for us was Teppan Edo. It’s a one of those places where they cook the food in front of you and you sit with strangers. There were three of us, a family of three with a small child, and an older couple. The older couple looked at the chopsticks with fear, but I lived in Korea for two years and have taught kindergarten for five so I was up to the task of teaching these people to eat with chopsticks. It was a valiant effort, but they gave up about half way through the meal. I—being unconscionably stubborn—ate the entire meal with chopstick clutched in my out-of-practice fingers. Ow, ow, ow.

Cold

Jan3

atlwhole

‘“Cold.” Colleen chuckled as she walked into the kitchen for a glass to put the flowers in. Gee, the way her life was shaping up, she might have it invest in a vase. “You Californians just don’t understand cold.”

“It can get pretty chilly. I lived in the desert when I was growing up.” Paul leaned on the doorway, watching her move around the small room. “Some days it would be hundred degrees at noon and drop to forty at night.”

“Heck of a drop, but still not cold.” Colleen half-filled a glass with water and arranged the flowers in it. “Cold is when it’s been below zero for a month, the wind chill is thirty below, and it’s only November.” She carried the flowers out to the table. “But I’ll take your advice and get a sweater.”‘

 

I grew up and once again live in Ohio where we are experiencing a real winter. I know cold. However, I spent 4 years living in Abu Dhabi where cold was a nighttime low of 50 degrees. So I also understand “cold.” The struggle is real. My family used to laugh at me when I came home in July and August and wore sweatshirts because I was cold.

 

Part one of Addicted To Love is on sale now on Amazon.

What I’m Watching: Blunt Talk

Dec28

Patrick Stewart foul mouthed and slightly insane? I am so there. This promises to be hysterical. And Brent Spiner is in it too!

“Blunt Talk,” a 10-episode half-hour series, set in Los Angeles, follows Walter Blunt, played by Patrick Stewart, a British import intent on conquering the world of American cable news. Through the platform of his nightly news show, Blunt is on a mission to impart his wisdom and guidance on how Americans should live, think and behave. Besieged by network bosses, a dysfunctional news staff, numerous ex-wives, children of all ages, and his own well-intentioned, but sometimes misguided decisions, Blunt’s only support is in the form of the heavy-drinking, devoted manservant he transplanted from the U.K. The cast is led by Patrick Stewart in the role of Walter Blunt, Jacki Weaver as Rosalie, Blunt’s tough and motherly producer-manager and Adrian Scarborough as Harry, Blunt’s manservant. Dolly Wells who plays Celia, Blunt’s senior producer and head writer and Timm Sharp who plays Jim, Blunt’s head writer, round out the cast. The series from MRC is executive produced by Seth MacFarlane, Jonathan Ames (Creator and Showrunner), Stephanie Davis and Tristram Shapeero.

The Lost, Lamented Borders

Dec27

atlwholePaul Luis pulled open the inside foyer door and held it for Jack. “Man, look at the size of this place. It’s huge.”

Inside the foyer there were piles of books. Through the inside doors were two long tables stacked with more books. To the right were book shelves that went on to the café against the far wall. To the right, an information desk and behind it more shelves.

“There’s a coffee shop in here,” Paul said.

“Yeah, we have to check that, too.” Jack headed for the information, weaving around long blond oak tables piled with more books, so Paul followed. “Hello, we’re here from the fire department and we need to inspect the premises.”

The heavyset blond woman behind the desk stared at him for a moment before she blinked. “Let me get a manager for you.” She leaned over a paper under the glass counter top and picked up the phone. “Colleen, please call two, two, two. Colleen, two, two, two,” she said over the PA system. Then she stared at the phone intently for a minute before jabbing a button. “Colleen, there’s some firemen here.… They need to inspect the premises.… Okay.”

 

I worked for 10 years at Borders Books & Music. I loved it there. Had the opportunity to go overseas to teach English not come up, I would have been there until the day the doors closed. Actually I was at my old store a couple of days before the store closed because one of my life’s goals had been to have a picture of myself at the information desk holding my book and I just barely got it, but it’s the photo on my FB page. I loved working at Borders. In fact, we just had a reunion this summer, 6 years after the store closed. Not that this books store is exactly that bookstore. <cough> Not entirely.

What I’m Watching: Noel

Dec21

I saved this one for closer to the holiday because I have higher hopes for it. Good director, good cast (Robin Williams even!) There has got to be a reason I haven’t heard of it before now.

A contemporary romantic drama borrowing inspiration from It’s a Wonderful Life, this thought-provoking holiday film explores the lives of five strangers as they intersect at a crossroads of forgiveness and redemption. In his directorial debut, Chazz Palminteri lends a delicate hand to allow his talent-laden cast creative latitude to portray a handful of odd bedfellows who share little in common but loneliness on Christmas Eve. Susan Sarandon is remarkable as Rose Harrison, a divorced book editor who spends the holidays at a nursing home with her mother deep in the clutches of Alzheimer’s. Although Rose’s own story bleeds pathos, she shows genuine compassion toward others—whether it’s the abandoned, mysterious patient across the hall, or the desperate fiancée, Nina (Penélope Cruz) who broke her engagement to her beloved Mike (Paul Walker) because of his suffocating jealousy. In separate subplots soon to collide, a strange bartender (Alan Arkin) divulges how his past was forever altered by someone he thinks is Mike, while another Alzheimer’s visitor, Charlie Boyd (Robin Williams, uncredited) helps Rose accept the possibility of miracles in an uplifting climatic twist. Though some of the storylines inch toward the improbable, the film manages to veer just to the right of maudlin. Instead, it arrives as a heartwarming, life-affirming tale that tugs at the heartstrings (with a haunting musical score by the famed Alan Menken). Grab some ‘nog and a hanky. (Rated PG for sensuality, language, and some intense thematic material) –Lynn Gibson

What I’m Watching: Christmas Lodge

Dec14

Another of my inexplicable attachments to odd television actors is Michael Shanks. Which brings me to Thomas Kinkade Presents Christmas Lodge. I predict a higher than average chance of schmaltz, but I will clutch my popcorn and hot chocolate as I dab my eyes anyway. Available on Prime if you are inclined.

Mary Tobin has wonderful memories of family gatherings at the Christmas Lodge. When she arrives for a weekend vacation, she quickly realizes that the lodge that she loves has fallen into serious disrepair. With a lack of funds and a looming deadline, she not only restores the Christmas lodge’s charm but finds love along the way.