Ailantha - Blog

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and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
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(Sigh). So then, where did I leave off in the on-going saga (Comedy? Tragedy? High Drama? All of the above?) of my kitchen remodel?
I believe it was back on November 15 (https://www.ailantha.com/blog/out-out-dang-spot-or-send-in-the-poultices) that I related that, all the treatments and ministrations by the stone doctors to remedy the ugly seams in my new countertop having come to naught,

...the determination was reached by said stone doctors that my countertop would have to be taken out and would be replaced by a new seamless one. After this new countertop was installed my backsplash could then be installed and the project finished. That was on November 15.
A few days later I received a call from the stone company. They could remove the old new countertop and install the new new countertop on Wednesday, November 24, which was the day before Thanksgiving. They admitted that the only problem for me might be that the kitchen plumbing - sink and dishwasher - would have to be undone for the installation of the countertop and, as this was the day before a long-weekend holiday, there would be no plumber available to reattach the plumbing until the following week. This would mean I'd have no functioning kitchen sink or dishwasher over Thanksgiving, However if I opted not to take this opening for the installation of my countertop the next available opening would be Judgment Day. I thought about it for two seconds then said, "Fine," I knew I couldn't fix a turkey dinner in a kitchen without a sink, but maybe Thanksgiving pizza would be a fresh change.
As it turned out, Tom, Theresa, and I were invited over by Tommy and Emily for a vegetarian Thanksgiving, which was quite delicious.

I provided the pies, which came out of the oven shockingly ugly,

...but tasted fine all the same, and a fine time was had by all,

....including my grand-pup Ronan,

...for whom I brought a Snif-Snax doggie treat Advent calendar.

But I digress.
As the days went by the stain around the seam began mysteriously swelling, until it looked positively pythonesque.

On Wednesday, November 24, a plumber arrived at 8:15 am to detach the pipes then be on his way to his next job. The countertop guys were scheduled to arrive at 9 am.
At 8:45 am my cell phone rang. Oh no, I thought as I recognized the number as that of the stone company.
To my not-surprise, the countertop could not be installed that day. The stone had not yet sufficiently dried out. The stone company rep seemed to wish to bend my ear with apologies but I had no time to oblige him; I had to grab the plumber who had finished taking apart my kitchen sink and was packed up and on his way out the door.
"Can you, uh, put my sink back together?" I sheepishly asked the plumber.
Fortunately the over-booked but kindly plumber agreed to put back together what he had just spent half an hour taking apart.
And so my replacement countertop that was supposed to arrive November 24 is now due to arrive on the afternoon of Friday, December 3. I expect the beleaguered plumber will return on Friday morning to take apart my sink again and probably return sometime next week to put it back together. And then sometime after that the backsplash will be installed and I'll have a whole kitchen. Maybe. In the meantime the stain around the seam continues to grow. Now it looks more like a blob.

Or maybe a really fat python.

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Invasion Of The Omicron

11/27/2021

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Now, it wasn't that I had never heard before yesterday about some new coronavirus variant that had turned up somewhere in southern Africa. But it seemed like just another ripple in the constant stream of COVID chatter flowing across the internet to which I wasn't paying any serious attention.
Then yesterday, Black Friday afternoon, Tom and I ventured out to a movie theater for only the second time since the onset of the COVID epidemic to see a flick that I was really chomping at the bit to see: "House of Gucci" with Lady Gaga and Adam Driver,

...which, alas, turned out to be 'waaay too long and incohesive and tiresome.
But anyway, we went to a 1:20 pm matinee and exited the theater three long, bleary-eyed hours later. During the drive home I checked my texts to see that there had been some activity on the family thread:

I turned to Tom, who was doing the driving. "What's omicron?" I asked him.
He thought a moment then replied, "I don't know."
"The kids are talking about it on the family text," I said.
"Never heard of it," he said.
"Guess I'll google it," I said. "Oh, no," I said a moment later.
It was as if during the three hours that we were in the movie theater the world had been invaded by a juggernaut army of killer mutants,

...which, indeed, aptly enough describes the newest iteration of COVID-19 to launch a full-scale invasion against mankind. And the hyper-contagious Omicron, with its 50-headed spikes all the better to make war on the human body with, is as terrifying in form as anything that could be dreamed up by the most darkly imaginative creator of science-fiction.

And so the beleaguered human race, wracked, sick, and dying by the thousands every day from the still on-going attack of the Delta variant, is now under a new attack by the Omicron.
To every human being who hasn't yet joined in the battle, who hasn't yet stepped up to do their part to save our our people and take back our planet, I say now is the time to enlist in the fight to defeat the Omicron and all the COVID-19 mutants: GET VACCINATED!

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Solace In The Midst Of Woe

11/25/2021

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

SOLACE IN THE MIDST OF WOE

Yesterday I was out doing some last-minute Thanksgiving shopping when I heard it on my car radio: Ahmaud Arbery's killers were found guilty.
I caught my breath then heaved a sigh of relief. This was news. "Oh, thank God, thank God," I said out loud.
Three men in a small Georgia town caught sight of a young man in a tee shirt and running shorts jogging down their street. They grabbed their shotguns and pistols, jumped into their pickup trucks then chased him down as if they were hunting an animal. They kept after him as he tried time and again to escape them. They finally trapped their exhausted prey and shot him multiple times, leaving him to bleed out on the ground. And they filmed their torment and murder of this human being in a gruesome snuff film,

...that, both ironically and fortunately, ultimately served to convict them.
So why should there have been such great relief and why should it even have been all that newsworthy that these three cruel predators actually ended up being convicted by the jury that tried them? Why should there have been the least doubt of the outcome of their trial, the least fear that they would not be found guilty of murder?
Because they're white men from a small Georgia town,

...and their victim was Black.

And because the local police and prosecutor had no interest in charging these three white men with the murder of a black man until the crime reached national attention, which it might never have except for the work of moral, dedicated journalists and not a little luck.
So the guilty verdict brought relief to many of us. But not joy. Because the conviction of Ahmaud Arbery's murderers will not return him to his mother,

...or his father,

...or his friends and family.

We don't even know if the conviction will change the minds and hearts of the people who scorn the concept that Black lives matter, who can't conceive that mothers and fathers of color cherish their children as much as white mothers and fathers do or that the loss of a child shatters any heart, no matter the color of the skin beneath which it beats.
But the conviction of the murderers of Ahmaud Arbery, if it does not bring joy or change, does bring justice. And I hope on this Thanksgiving Day that justice will in turn bring to the ones who loved and still grieve over Ahmaud Arbery those things prayed for in the words of a Catholic prayer I still recall from my childhood:
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
Rest in peace, Ahmaud Arbery.

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Immersed In Van Gogh

11/22/2021

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

IMMERSED IN VAN GOGH

Like so many of my fellow Americans, I was introduced to the Immersive Van Gogh moving light show while watching that memorable episode of the Netflix comedy series "Emily n Paris" in which Emily, a hapless young American in Paris, visits the Van Gogh show and, as usual, finds herself having to negotiate yet another of the awkward situations that never cease to befall her.

And yet in this particular episode the heroine's dilemma du jour takes a back seat to the gorgeous background scenes of the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit.

Dang, thought I as I sat gazing at my television screen, I wish I could go to that place.
As it turned out, by good fortune that place came to me when the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit opened at the end of October in Columbus at the Lighthouse ArtSpace on Polaris Parkway.

I procured four tickets early in 2021, as soon as I heard of the Immersive Van Gogh and realized that it was the very "Emily in Paris" thing that I'd jonesed over while sitting in front of my TV. I bought tickets for Tom, myself,

...my son Tommy and my soon-to-be-daughter-in-law Emily,

...and on Tuesday, November 16, we headed up to Polaris Parkway,

...and experienced the Immersive Van Gogh.

In truth, I wasn't sure how the whole modus operandi of the exhibit worked. I assumed it was a more traditional museum set-up, where one walked from room to room. But no, the show takes place in one vast hall where one snags oneself a spot within one of the COVID rings (as we called them) on the floor,

...or against the wall,

...while giant light images of Van Gogh's works float around the walls and across the floor to the strains of beautiful music,

...and one becomes immersed in Van Gogh.

The show plays out in a constantly-running a thirty-five-minute loop, and one is permitted to arrive within a generous time window before or after the arrival time printed on one's ticket. One may then stay, re-watching the Van Gogh loop if one wishes, for two hours. We stayed for two loops.
Me, I could have stayed for three.

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Hooray For The Infrastructure Bill!

11/17/2021

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

HOORAY FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURE BILL!

I don't know if everyone else in the U.S. is as happy as I am about the infrastructure bill that was signed - finally! - on Monday by President Biden.
Looks like everybody who was at the signing was pretty happy about it.

Though I honestly doubt that more than a few of those folks in the photo op have ever lain awake at night worrying about infrastructure the way I have.
Well, all right, the truth is that I am an inveterate insomniac and when I'm lying awake at night for hours on end I end up worrying about all kinds of things, mostly just to kill time. But the fact is, infrastructure is a worthy subject for worry.
I mean, just knowing that any one of us could be driving over a dilapidated bridge at the moment it finally gives up the ghost or on a pot-hole-ridded roadway when it cracks open into a yawning sink-hole beneath us...And how far off is the moment when our frazzled electric grid finally fizzles and all life as we know it goes down like the Titanic?
Really, when it comes to infrastructure in this country, what's not to stay awake at night worrying about?
And that's not even counting the national shame we should have over the state of some of our international airports. The last time I returned from Spain via the Philadelphia airport the international arrival area was so run-down and dirty that I wanted to shrink from mortification at the thought of all the foreign travelers whose first glimpse of our country was this disreputable corridor. Especially since I'd just come from the ultra-modern, ultra-passenger-friendly Madrid airport.

(Me in 2015 fiddling with my hiking boot in the Madrid airport).

In fact, if there was one issue that I fully agreed with Donald Trump on it was that the airports of many of our foreign neighbors put our airports to shame. And after Trump was elected President, I honestly did hope that he would at least do what he promised to do in his uncharacteristically harmonious victory speech: "rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports...rebuild our infrastructure...and put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it."
Of course as it turned out with Trump the harmony didn't last beyond the victory speech and, as we all know, the highways, bridges, tunnels and airports continued to crumble for four more years.
But that period of our nation's history is, thankfully, over, and now, finally, finally, our national infrastructure will soon be on the mend, with the allocation of money for projects expected to begin within six months.

And so, while there's still plenty enough worries for us insomniacs of the world to fill our sleepless hours, we Americans can all at least put our anxiety and shame over our deteriorating infrastructure to rest.

Reference
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/09/politics/biden-infrastructure-bill-spending-economy/index.html

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Out, Out, Dang Spot! Or, Send In The Poultices

11/15/2021

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

OUT, OUT, DANG SPOT! OR, SEND IN THE POULTICES

My West Coast trip interlude being over, now back to my continuing kitchen drama (See post from 10/16/2021, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-gremlin-in-my-countertops).
I left off the story at the day before my trip, October 13. The mysterious stains in my brand new kitchen countertops had responded to neither several days of drying out nor to treatments with industrial heat and denatured alcohol,

...nor even to one of the tech's incantations to the stone gods.

After I left Tom stayed behind in Columbus for a few days before joining me in Los Angeles, and during that time one of the stone company higher-ups came by the house to have a look at the stains. He still seemed to think that the stains around the edge of the counters would dry up given a bit more time.

But as for the stains along the seam,

...those were a more troublesome matter. The stone exec seemed to think that these spots were caused by the wrong type of caulking being used on this type of stone, and now the oil from the caulking was leaching into the stone (Or some such thing). The oil might dissipate in the weeks we'd be away. Or it might not. He said to contact the stone company with an update on the state of our countertop when we returned from our trip.
When we returned home from our trip on November 2, the stains around the edges of the countertops had miraculously disappeared, just as the stone company intelligentsia had predicted they would.
Not so the spots along the seam. They were still there.

The following day, Wednesday, November 3, I called the stone company. On Friday, November 4, we received a visit from one of the stone mangers who gave the seam another - unsuccessful - heat treatment. He said he'd return the following Monday to apply a poultice to the stain. This would be our last treatment option.
Now, to me, the term "poultice" sounds like something one's old great-granny might whip up by stuffing a cotton sock with Vick's Vapo-Rub and hanging it around someone's neck. However, for a stain on a stone applying a poultice made of acetone and baking soda is apparently the equivalent of sending in the Marines. Or so I was made to understand.
So the stone manager arrived on Monday to lay a poultice treatment on my countertops. He applied poultices in two places then he covered the poultices (poultici?) with bandages of plastic and tape.

He then gave me specific instructions:
Leave the poultices alone until Wednesday. Then on Wednesday afternoon pull back the tape from one corner of the each of the poultices to let some air in.
On Thursday night pull off the tape and plastic to let the poultices dry out.
On Friday morning brush away the dried poultice. If the treatment has worked, the stains will be gone.
"And that's it?" I asked.
"That's it," he said. "One way or another, in one week we'll know what the outcome is going to be. Do you understand what you need to do?"
"Yes, Doctor," I almost said.
I followed the stone doctor's orders meticulously. Over the days I frequently visited my countertop because I couldn't stop looking at those poultices and wondering what was going on underneath. On Wednesday I pulled back the taped corners, worrying whether I had pulled them back too far or not far enough. On Thursday night I removed the plastic bandages, being careful not to disturb the poultices. I stopped just short of offering thoughts and prayers for my countertop's recovery.
On Friday morning with trembling hand I brushed away the dried poultices. Here's what I saw:

Today I received word from the stone company rep that, sadly, all their efforts to save my countertop had failed and they would now have to perform a countertopectomy.
All right, what he said was that they were going to replace the countertop. They are going to try and put in the new one without a seam.
I'm both relieved and anxious.

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The Bird In My Bag

11/11/2021

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

THE BIRD IN MY BAG

I returned home to Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, November 2 after having spent close to three weeks on the West Coast visiting my sister in Oregon,

...and my daughter, son-in-law, and grand daughters in Los Angeles.

The following day after I'd unpacked from the trip I found hidden in the bottom of my backpack a little toy bird.

I guessed right away that the bird was a little surprise left by my younger grand daughter, who loves little jokes and surprises.

And though it was just a small toy, the funny little bird that I thought my granddaughter left for me to find after I returned home - to make me laugh? To make me think of her? - did make me laugh and think of her and called to mind all the everyday things, the unremarkable daily moments that I most want to remember from the time we spent together.
There was my granddaughters' Lego world,

...that they spent time building and re-building every day,

....as well as all the other little worlds they always seemed to be building and re-building,

...and discovering.

There were the ordinary scenes of life around the house,

...and the pretty scenery outside,

...including the tall palm tree in the back yard that the girls named Mrs. Leafy,

...all the scenes of life that are nothing special and yet somehow so special all the same,

...all these were brought back to me by that little bird in my bag.

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...And Halloween Tricked

11/8/2021

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"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

...AND HALLOWEEN TRICKED

...Continued from yesterday:
As it turned out, our granddaughters and their parents had plans for Halloween night. They generally spend Halloween at the house of some friends who throw a little costume party followed by some trick-or-treating around the friends' neighborhood. But no problem. Tom and I would see our grandchildren off dressed in their costumes then they could go to their party while Tom and I would stay behind to enjoy handing out the candy to the neighborhood witches, ghosts, princesses and superheroes .
"I really don't know how popping our street will be," my daughter said. She didn't know because they didn't go trick-or-treating in their own neighborhood.
"No matter," said I. "I know there are at least a few kids around here."
As party time approached the girls got into their costumes with a friend who came over to get ready for the party with them.

Hamming it up,

....and getting into character.

Soon after they left Tom and I set up our trick-or-treaters' station.

Perhaps we were jumping the gun just a hair; the sun hadn't yet set, but we did want to be ready for the first little beggars.
And so we waited,

...and waited.

Finally two little goblins came hurrying by with a lady who appeared to be their mom. They did stop just long enough to open their bags to receive the handfuls of candy I offered them, but in truth they didn't appear to be actively trick-or-treating at that moment; they looked to be on their way to somewhere else.

That's when it occurred to me: Not only was there a dearth of trick-or-treaters on this street; none of the residences - other than ours - looked to be opened for trick-or-treating business.
How, I wondered, on a street that puts on the Halloween dog like this one does,

...could trick-or-treaters not be welcome?
The sun went down, the moon came up, and still no action,

...except for one time when we heard some footsteps coming down the street,

...but it turned out to be a couple walking a dog. I sort of offered them some candy. They sort of just kept walking.

Later that evening when the family arrived home from their wonderful night of Halloween fun,

...we told them about how we'd just been through Night of the Living Dead without the zombies.
"Oh yeah, that" said our son-in-law. He told us that he learned that night from some other parents that in their community certain streets are deemed Trick-or-Treat streets, and these streets are closed off to traffic so that children can trick-or-treat safely.
I agreed that was great for the kids.
Bummer for me.

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Halloween Treats

11/7/2021

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

HALLOWEEN TREATS

...Continued from yesterday:
"Grammie, can you come for Rosh Hashanah?" asked my grand daughter, who lives 2200 miles away, during a phone call in early September.
"When is Rosh Hashanah?" I asked.
"On Monday," she said.
That was on Saturday, I told her couldn't make it by Monday.
"Then can you come for Halloween?" she asked.
I told her I'd for sure come for Halloween.
And that is how it came to pass that I abandoned my unfinished kitchen remodeling job - alas, still not resolved to this date (See post from 10/16/2021, "The Gremlin In My Countertops") - to visit my loved ones on the West Coast and spend Halloween with my grand daughters.
Tom and I had never before spent Halloween with our grand daughters, but we were in for a treat: their neighborhood was definitely Halloween Spook Central.
Many of the residents had gone all out creepy-wise; the neighborhood was crawling with giant spiders,

...and skeletons of various sizes,

...and species,

...and involved in various occupations.

There was also an assortment of ghosts and ghouls,

...as well as some spine-tingly tomb-stones.

There were even a couple of yards that offered more friendly displays, which my eight-year-old grand daughter disdainfully referred to as "Halloween for babies."

However, for all the decorations in the yards and on houses, there was only a single Dia de las Muertos - Day of the Dead - skull on display in one yard:

This was in my grand daughters' front yard and had been made by them from a pumpkin, a jar of white paint, and some cardboard cut-outs I had bought for them for that purpose.

Putting on the finishing touches.

One night we visited their other grandparents' neighborhood to see the phenomenal light display that had been set up there.

On the Saturday morning that was the day before Halloween we went for breakfast and brought along a friend to a popular Hermosa Beach breakfast spot called Martha's,

...which offered a view of a cute alleyway.

I had the veggie plate, which was terrific,

...and everyone else declared their meals to be equally yummy.

After breakfast we walked along the crowded Hermosa Beach Strand for a bit,

...where the girls made a friend.

We then drove to the Manhattan Beach Strand, where we'd heard that one of the houses had put up a great Halloween display.

After snapping a few shots of the Halloween house I walked along the Strand and out to the Pier to do some more snapping.

My favorite house along the Manhattan Beach Strand,

...though I like this one, too.

Then we left the beach and headed for home.

But after weeks of enjoying all the local Halloween treats, little did I suspect that I was about to be Halloween tricked.
To be continued...

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Walking, Driving, Eating And Snapping Around The Beach Towns

11/5/2021

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Books By Patti Liszkay
Available On Amazon

"Equal and Opposite Reactions" http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
and the sequel, "Hail Mary" https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
Available on Amazon.

WALKING, DRIVING, EATING AND SNAPPING AROUND THE BEACH TOWNS

...Continued from yesterday:
Weekday mornings started with Tom and I walking our granddaughters up and down the hilly route to school. Or rather, walking with the group of neighborhood children and parents who join up along the way each morning to trek the hills to school together.

Every day when the children returned home from school Tom and I would be called to jump into action to help with homework and chauffeuring to sports practices and other after school activities. But between morning school drop-off and afternoon home drop-off Tom and I had several hours to ourselves, not counting our trips to the local Ralph's,

...home of the world's most beautiful supermarket parking lot (or so say I), thanks to the proliferation of palm trees amidst the parking spaces,

...where we often went to pick up provisions for the evening meals I whipped up,

...sometimes with help.

On half a dozen occasions Tom and I went out for breakfast, one time driving to downtown Manhattan Beach,

...to a breakfast spot called The Local Yolk.

Another morning we drove to nearby Hawthorne to one of our old favorite L.A. eateries, Mandy's.

My favorite Mandy's dish, the Veggie Scramble.

Once we drove to the next beach over, Hermosa Beach,

...to a place called Scotty's,

...which offers a nice view of the beach,

...and where I became hooked on the sublime French Toast.

Tom likewise gave an excellent review of his Mexican Scramble with a heaping side of superb home fries.

We knew we'd have to return to Scotty's for breakfast.
Therefore on two subsequent occasions we decided to walk the two-and-a-half miles from our daughter's house back to Hermosa Beach and Scotty's. During our walks there and back I found myself captivated by many subjects and scenes.