Pentagenarians & Beyond: W/B 8/30

We are having the same issue with Netflix. HOC seemed available, and now there's a wait on several disks. Same with OITNB. we started it, and now there's a wait for several disks. I'm ambivalent on this one. I have to say, it definitely grosses me out some times. I assume it's reality in womens prisons but yuck. the actor is david oyeleo( not spelled right). we saw him in a british series called MI-5 before he started showing up in American films. I liked him a lot on Selma.
Lori we propped the tomatoes back up, and have so many this year it wouldn't even have mattered. the corn, can't prop it up, we harvested some and the rest will be "leaning" until we pick or not. some years we are just getting corn now, but this year it's almost the end of the harvest.

We did a ride yesterday, only about 15 miles. we had a break in rain for a while, and we fit a ride in. my neighbor went shortly after we did, we saw them heading to the trailhead as we returned, and got caught in a downpour. timing was everything.

will be packing and planning today. plan on going to Wyoming for hiking and mt biking.

I don't know if you've read this op/ed. so sad and so spot on accurate. Every time there's another senseless shooting, I compare it to Sandy Hook .... my last futile hope that anything could actually change. I found it almost laughable in a twisted, hopeless way.... that the father of the latest victim thinks he will be able to change anything.... I'm not the only one who has unhappily arrived at this most unsettling spot.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article33250299.html
 
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Hi everyone--

This morning I did AB (54:00).

Deb, Five Days is a five-hour investigation into a missing persons case. Each hour is devoted to a day when something important happens in the case. Obviously the first day is the day when persons go missing and the reactions to it. The later episodes skip forward in time, because it takes about three months before the case is resolved. There are some early clues--bits of information that are not explained at the time and become clear later when things fall into place. It's hard not to binge watch because you want to know what happened and what happens.

Valerie, there's a series of episodes from NPR's This American Life on the everyday shooting of teenagers by one another in Chicago. It doesn't even seem gang-related at times. Very disturbing interviews with both the kids and their parents who seem to be enmeshed in a cycle of violence they don't really understand. I don't think anything will be done either. It's hopeless. Anyone can get a gun and go anywhere with it and that's the way the NRA and gun manufacturers want it to stay. Weird--I didn't have any trouble getting OITNB. The disks came very quickly. Stick with it--I think you will love the finale.

Lori, it sounds like a wonderful time with your brothers.

I read a fascinating piece in the New Yorker about Whistler and the painting, so now I'm enthused about taking a closer look . I was more interested in the Van Gogh's I have never seen, but now I think I will like the whole exhibition. I have been to the Clark so many times, so I am familiar with their holdings, but I love these special shows where they bring in stuff from other museums.
 
Good morning,

Well, it's Friday and the trial work starts today. Yesterday I took Kylee to the assisted living place where my uncle lives. He liked seeing her, and so did some of the other residents. They have 2 separate glassed in finch aviaries that she was fascinated with. She didn't attempt to go after the birds, she just sat and watched them with her head tilting...so cute. I want to get a pic of her next time.

Valerie, do you do Netflix by streaming or do you have the disks sent to you? I have never tried it, always use Prime or the library. How long drive is it to where you are going in Wyoming?

Lynda, that show with Whistler's painting sounds great, so nice that you have something like that so close to you. Thanks for the info on 5 days...I checked it out...Will watch that after Mad Men is finished.

Hi to Lori, Judy & Josie,

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Take care,
 
When we put OITNB to the top, there was no wait. after we got the first disk , "short wait" appeared on several. It happened with House of Cards too. with a series Netflix won't send out disks out of order, so if disk #1 has a wait, they won't send #2.
Deb, we get the disks by mail. we are not signed up for Netflix streaming although possible in the future. we like to have the disks when we travel. usually no service of any sort where we go ...maybe cell service. there's a bigger selection by mail than streaming although netflix makes it hard to find out directly. It's 2 days drive to where we want to go. new place, never been there. bighorn mountains.

Is that a trait of fox terriers? cocking the head to the side? it seems so typical of the breed.

Problems with our alarm system& modem. so may have to delay a few days. yesterday our smoke alarm went off for no reason, followed by the phone line going dead on /off, plus a system failure at the alarm company itself. so 3 issues all at once, involving two different companies. no way to sort out all the variables. we are probably getting a replacement modem today, where we think the issue is. the modem belongs to the cable company (land line & Internet service) and a wired alarm system so we can't go buy one ourselves..they supply it.. but need to rely on them. we may need to wait a few days to make sure all is working properly. this year it seemed all summer like very time we plan something, some unrelated thing goes wrong. we hope we can switch soon to wireless monitoring although it seems every method has it's problems.
It's close to the 1 yr "anniversary" of our local school shooting, with 5 people killed. really got me thinking about the gun issue again. after the last "on air" shooting, only the father of the slain woman calling for revamping gun laws, not a peep out of anyone else. It's like after Newtown, everyone just gave up trying.

I've again had a few days of not doing much. we planned a hike today but need to be here for the modem replacement and they give a window of 9 am to 8 pm. Great. how convenient.
 
Hi everyone--

This morning I did Cardio Supersets (41:30).

The exhibitions yesterday were fascinating. So many Van Gogh's I have never seen and the exhibition was chronological, so you could see the progression. Some really nice work, too, with showing influences as he moved from his childhood home to Paris, Provence, hospitals. His paintings just seem to vibrate. Extraordinary! We had to take a shuttle to the Whistler exhibition, and I am so glad I read that piece because I could see the strangeness of her proportions (legs that would have been good for an NBA player) and I found his signature butterfly in the curtain. He really resented the title "Whistler's Mother," and regarded it as a study in black and white, claiming that he could not understand why anyone would be interested in a portrait of his mother other than himself. There was a part of the exhibition devoted to how ubiquitous this image is in American popular culture--stamps, magazine covers, etc. There were a couple rooms devoted to smaller pieces that were almost all portraits of street people, relatives, friends. Not as great a talent or as relentlessly driven to produce as Van Gogh, but still a fine little exhibition of an artist who probably became too involved with decadent friends like Swinburne and Wilde and wasted some of his talent.

Deb, my veterinary friend has videos of swimming fish that her cats love to watch. Hilarious! Good luck with the double K's!

Well, Valerie, I wonder what's coming next if not HOC, from Netflix. I think it's Vermeer's Light or something like that. Frustrating that you can't get away when you planned.

My younger son is coming with his girlfriend this weekend. He's golfing and she's running in preparation for a marathon, but we will have a little cookout on Saturday, and another on Sunday with his grandparents as well. A lot of East Mountain Farm meat on the grill.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!
 
Good evening ladies!

Last night I did Cathe's newest Live which was Fit and Firm. Nice little workout. Today was Live Long Strong Legs then Chester and I went for a little walk. I have been working a ton of ours and told the ladies it will be hit or miss with me joining the lunch workouts. They seem to miss me. :). After the conference then it will be easier.

We have Netflix streaming and love it. I can see why you would want DVD's Valerie with all the traveling you do. Hope you get the alarm fixed so you can take off. Very odd thing to happen.

Deb...oh Kylee sounds adorable. I bet they just loved her. Very nice of your to bring her. We are really getting excited about Mexico. My spanish lessons are going well!

Lynda...that show sounds amazing. I would love seeing the progression too. This weekend is going to be nice for a cookout. I bet with all that great meat people do not turn down an invite from you!

Leaving in the morning for Utica and coming home Monday. Gps says it is about 4 hours so hoping we make good time. Hoping I can get a workout in or two. I mentioned to my son's GF to make sure she brings her workout clothes! The dress I am wearing is really special to me. Madeline gave it to me when I was visiting her in July. It no longer fit her and she knew I would love it and she was right. It fits me perfectly too. Sleeveless, black with little white dots, narrow at the waist and flows just a little as it moves down to the mid calf.

Well..I am off to pack. I always wait to the last minute - drives my DH nuts as he was packed yesterday!

Hi to Josie and Judy!
 
Back again... got our new modem, but still very unclear what happened. it was upsetting about the smoke alarm. it's about 7 yo but not in a dusty place. we blew it out with air yesterday, new battery. nothing apparently wrong with it. has not "shorted" out again, but OMG what a mess if it did while we were gone. I mean, does the FD chop down your front door it an alarm is going off and they can't reach anyone? we will put off our trip for this week to make sure it settles down OK. not 100% but what is?

Did x train ch, ba, sh again today, upping weights a little. not all but some. also core 1. got in some garden work too. rained a lot more in the last couple days. the fire danger on the west side is pretty much over although we are still short on total precipitation for the year. east side still dry but slowly getting under control.

Lori streaming is great... but disks for traveling are so nice. watch something for an hour or so to unwind before bed. we try to have a series on hand so we can watch it for several nights. If I don't pack at the last minute, I always need something I packed and have to go dig in to find it. Last minute works for me. Lynda I found the Five Days series on Hulu and we will give it a look this week.
 
Good morning,

Happy Weekend. Lots of work ahead for me the next today and tomorrow. Good thing Monday is a holiday right? Not that it matters when you are retired...but looking forward to relaxing after this weekend and the trial.

Valerie, yes, getting the disks by mail makes sense if you like to take them travelling. Plus, you get to watch on a regular size screen. As for the head cocking, not all of them do it....for us, it has only been the females. We've had 3 males and none of them did it. Too bad about the alarm etc, it sounds like they are all connected....things like this can can be a pain, sometimes, but when they work, they are good. I would be nervous leaving now too if I were you.

Lynda, that exhibition sounds great. I never have studied the painting or knew about those points. I wonder why some animals can "see" things like TV and others not? Meant to ask you before, did you ever finish watching "Catastrophe"? I think I had one more episode to watch and could not take it anymore...something about it...not sure...too much raunchiness? Did you see the new Amazon original coming out? "Hand of God"....I haven't watched the trailer yet.

Lori, I forgot if you mentioned, what is in Utica? So nice that you are able to wear the dress from Madeline.. I watched the clip of that Cathe Live workout, and was thinking that she should record this as a regular DVD etc. It looked really good. What method are you using for the Spanish lessons?

Josie, good luck at the tables!

Judy, what are your plans? Getting a bike ride in?

Have a great weekend!
 
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Deb, my aunt used to have fox terriers. they did the head cocking thing. her son also had one that did it too, that was just how they were shown in pictures. I think they were all females. several "cindy's" and "Lydia" are names I remember. we had one cat who watched the TV screen intensely. he was the hunter/killer and a very smart little guy. he'd sit and watch and go up to the screen and put his paws on the movement. our current little guy is not a TV watcher.

I heard the new Netflix series "Narcs" is good from cousin, who is streaming it. I think eventually we will go with Netflix streaming in addition to Hulu, at least for the trial period. will wait until we're done with fall traveling. we are home much of this weekend. Too busy and weather is very marginal.
Lynda, I never looked at whistlers mother before although I recognize it, of course. so I looked at it. she does seem out of proportion. I never had interest in art and still don't, but I try not to be totally ignorant. Is there a reason why people care about this painting? I don't want to sound snotty/ snarky here, but it's nothing I'd put on my wall.
 
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Hi Everyone,

We don't have any holiday plans. DH thinks the metro park will be too crowded to really enjoy riding this weekend and he is probably right. The weather forecast isn't that great either.
Yesterday I did an indoor ride and today I started STS Meso 2. I did disc 13, Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. I think I will like this better than Meso 1.

Deb-yes, I stream SB's workouts. I've been trying to do 1-2 segments a week. I really like that she has so many 10-15 minute workouts. It's nice to use one as an add-on or to string several together. I really think that barre and floor leg work will be best for me, at least for now.
I look at Pinterest too, you're right, it can suck you in for hours. Between that and Facebook I can spend a lot of time on the computer.

Josie-I'm sorry about your DD's car :( I hope everything works out ok for her.

Lori-DH and I should look into Netflix. We've been watching dvds lately but streaming would be nice. I just got that "Best in Show" dvd, maybe we will watch it this weekend. Hope you have a good trip to Utica.

Valerie-I'm sorry about the problems you are having with your alarms. I hope you get everything working ok. Shadow is a screen watcher. She is sitting on my desk right now and watching the screen as I type :)

Lynda-that art exhibition sounds very interesting. I always liked Van Gogh's paintings. I can imagine they would seem to vibrate, seeing them in person.

Hope everyone has a good holiday weekend!

Judy
 
Good morning,

So tired this morning, a long day yesterday...but Kylee Got her first Open Leg in obedience! I was so happy, she was such a good girl. :) Today we do the team event, with The Wizard of OZ theme.

Valerie, thanks for the tip on the NARCS program. I will check it out on Amazon.

Judy, I think it unanimous, Meso 2 is everyone's favorite. :). I hear you on the weather...its oppressive here...not nice staying outside for any reason, unless you are swimming.

The trial will end around 2:00, but then it's loading all the equipment on the truck and unloading at the training hall....then it's home for a relaxing cold iced tea.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend,

Take care,
 
Good morning all!

Drive was very nice yesterday. Made it in just about 4 hours. We only stopped once which is great considering we had four people in the car. We are at the holiday inn express and I'll have to say we are pleasently surprised with the accomodations. Pool and gym and free breakfast! Works for us. :). Right now I am the only one up and I am in the lounge area all hooked up...laptop plugged in downloading, I am on my ipad, coffee in hand all while texting my brother and it is so peaceful. I am rather very content at the moment. :)

Deb...my only neice is getting married today. I am so proud of her ...she put herself through Norwich Military Academy in Vermont where she met her soon to be husband. She is beautiful and smart and today is her day. Congrats Kylee!!!!! Have fun today!

Judy...I agree about SB's workouts. They pretty much are all target workouts that are great to tag on or string together. This morning I am going to the gym with my ipad and head set and will be streaming a couple of workouts. A cathe kickbox for sure then will finish with SB most recent advanced lower body which I love! However, if my DS's GF wants to workout (which I would love) I'll need to turn it down a notch otherwise she will never workout with me a again! I love that I am very soon to be 54 and I am worried about a 22 year old keeping up with me. Lol!! Us ladies are amazing! :)

Valerie...hope everything is working. Good to stay back for a while to test out. Makes great sense.

Lynda...happy grilling!

Hi to Josie!
 
Hi everyone--

This morning I did the premix on the RWH legs that includes abs after each contrast training (53:10). Thanks Lori for mentioning how much you liked this premix. I did too.

Deb, I did finish watching Catastrophe but I found the final episode really odd. Didn't seem to go along with the way the characters had behaved before. Congratulations on Kylee's performance! She has really been shining lately.

Lori, your niece sounds both lovely and smart. Hope the wedding goes off beautifully. I don't think I have ever been to Utica. What is it like?

Judy, good for you getting back to that STS challenge. I think meso 2 was my favorite as well. Meso 3, if you follow the time recommendations, is really slooooow.

Valerie, the short answer to your question about Whistler's Mother is that it is more about composition than representation. I'm not an art historian, but I did take a full year of Renaissance art and taught with someone in a course on representations of women in painting and film (As Jessica Rabbit says, at one point, apologizing for her rather voluptuous proportions, "I can't help it. I was drawn this way."). Renaissance portraiture is really all about representation--or composition is just not as important. If you look up some of Holbein's portraits of Henry 8 or Thomas More, or the later iconic portraits of Elizabeth I, they all are filled with details representing how they wanted to be seen. They are fun to look at because they say something about power, or arrogance, or intellectual strength, or spiritual dedication, or the mask of royalty. Whistler's Mother, on the other hand, has no personality. She just seems to be staring vacantly off into space, and the drawing on the wall is another piece by Whistler. The irony is that she has been so sentimentalized as a portrait of motherhood--no doubt irritating for Whistler. I'm sorry you aren't interested in art. It has always given me great pleasure, or surprised me, or, at times, shaken me up. I wouldn't want a lot of Picasso's paintings on my walls either, but Guernica wasn't painted for interior decoration. I still admire it tremendously.
 
Lori only one stop is evidence of great bladder control! congrats to your niece too. who could have imagined women would be welcome and able to get thru military academies, at least how I was raised. More power to her. TRY TRY not to hurt the 22 year old.....she doesn't know what she's dealing with.

I rode 25 yesterday and this today did a premix for x train bis & tris. a little sore from the ch,ba,sh one yet but feeling like this will be OK. going to ride again tomorrow, maybe mt bike.

I always thought whistlers mother looked like a dead person in a coffin, except she's sitting in a chair. roll her backward, straighten her legs, and she's a dead person. no other way to explain what it looks like to me, so not on my living room wall. more tomorrow. need to read over what you said when I'm not so tired.
I like photographs so much better than "art". nature photographs. Love to see what people capture with cameras outdoors.
 

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