Blog Post to Murder?

So we just had our first rehearsal for Donation to Murder.  At least, I think that is the title we agreed on.  How embarrassing that I do not know for sure, and how really embarrassing that I did not have a definite title when I wrote it.  Titles are hard.  Some writers know all about titles.  I know one fellow who told me that everything he ever wrote had a specific title that had a special meaning. Then again, I never read anything he wrote and have reason to believe he was NOT as good a writer as he believed himself to be.  That is neither here nor there.

As a matter of fact, I still do not have a lot of details on the murder mystery that will be presented at Herkimer Elks Lodge on Sept. 15, 2018.  I thought I would find out some stuff at today’s rehearsal, but we were so busy talking about our characters, costumes, props, and the script, that other details just kind of got lost.  These things happen, I suppose

In the meantime, it is Wuss-out Wednesday, so I guess this is my wuss out post.  I had fun at rehearsal and am mostly looking forward to less humidity tomorrow, which several meteorologists have promised me.  Meteorologists have disappointed me before.  Maybe next I shall write a murder mystery about a blogger who murders a weather predictor.

 

Thank Goodness It’s a Blog Post!

Actually, I had no pleasant delusion today about it being any day but Tuesday.

You knew I was going to have a Tired Tuesday post, didn’t you?  Any local readers might have guessed it based on the level of heat and humidity we all were dealing with here in the Mohawk Valley (YES, I’m whining about it and will probably continue to do so, if you do not want to listen, just move on!).

More astute readers may guess by that parenthetical comment that I am a little sensitive these days to accusations of whining.  A work friend kept yelling at me to quit my whining and I didn’t think I WAS whining but merely observing some unpleasant circumstances.  I have not spoken to him for two days, because I figured I would actually whine.

Where was I?  Ah yes, whining.  I always say, go with your strengths. No, no, I don’t want to whine but rather to make a respectable blog post.  I am making it before rehearsal tonight.  There is more costume work to be done!  Pieces to be looked for, stuff to be put away, people to talk to, plans to be made.  I was telling another work friend about going to rehearsal and he said, “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”  No, I cannot.

I found this on Facebook just now.

At the risk of repeating what is on the above graphic:  performance dates for Shattered Angel are Sept. 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 16 and 23 at 2 p.m. at Ilion Little Theatre, 13 Remington Ave, Ilion, NY (directly behind Remington Arms).  Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 for students and can be purchased by mail by sending a check to: Herkimer Historical Society, 400 N. Main Street, Herkimer, NY 13350, or by calling 315-866-6413 or by stopping by the historical society during their hours of operation, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.  PLEASE NOTE: “Shattered Angel” is a special, additional production in conjunction with the Herkimer County Historical Society and is NOT part of the regular 2018-2019 theatrical season. Thus, subscriptions and memberships are not accepted for these performances.

Tomorrow I have rehearsal for my as yet untitled murder mystery, which will be presented at the Herkimer Elks Lodge on Sept. 15 (another reason I could not audition for Angel).  I’ll have more information on that production soon.

In the meantime, I shall close with a monster picture I could have used yesterday.  In a comment, Pouring My Art Out said Great White Sharks were monsters too. I agree.

How would you like to brush his teeth?

 

 

Waiting for the Chocolate Shake

One should have made one’s blog post earlier (one being me).

I am sitting with a paused movie in my DVD player while my husband, Steven, runs to Stewart’s to get us a couple of chocolate shakes.  If there was an ice cream place on our side of State Street (which is Route 5), we could have walked for our treat, but then I would not be typing in my post, so I guess everything has its advantages (I don’t think that is a run-on sentence).

My first intention was to do a Running Commentary post this morning.  I fell off the running wagon in a big way this week.  You see, I had an awesome long run last Saturday and was all set to register for the Falling Leaves 14K in Utica, NY, on Sept. 23.  Luckily I talked to my mother first and found out a big family thing had just been scheduled for that day.  Family first!  I had not been running since.  In my defense, that was not the only reason. I had a bear of a busy week (didn’t even get all my stuff done), and the weather was SO humid.  As regular readers know, I am prone to heat injuries (which really are a thing, so quit shaking your head) (you know who you are).

Where was I?  Ah yes, nowhere but still trying to make a blog post.  I went for a short(ish) run this morning.  Steven and I went to a couple of places in Little Falls: The Old Barn Marketplace and Ruggiero’s Trattoria.  We came home, and I took a nap.  Sorry for even more whining (then again, I do always say go with your strengths), but I had a terrible headache.  It is finally easing off, so Phew!

Here are the shakes!  While I might not be any great shakes at blogging (see what I did there?), I will enjoy this!  Steven is re-starting the movie (Double Indemnity, one of my favorites!), so I am going to call this a Scattered Saturday, hit Publish and drive on.

I just happened to have an illustration in my Media Library.

Sprint Distance, Marathon Pace

That describes today’s run in a nutshell.  The only problem with the headline is that it might sound like a shout-out to the phone company called “Sprint.”  Never mind.  I’m making a Running Commentary instead of a Non-Sequitur Thursday post, and, like the run itself, I will try to keep it short.

I have not run for three days for what seemed like good reasons at the time.  I did not dare skip today as well, because I will not have time to run tomorrow before the Little Falls Canal Celebration Parade.  Five days is too many even for a wuss-out like me.  It was hot and sunny, but according to the weather forecast humidity levels were less.  Still not in the comfortable range, but less.  No matter.  I could go for a short run.  I did not rule out running longer, but I wanted to go for at least 20 minutes.

It took a lot of determination to not rule out running longer right away.  It took a lot of determination to keep running at all.  Luckily I had a sufficiency of determination for the project.  Also, I just tried not to think about it.  I thought about my murder mystery instead.  I started writing the script today (don’t judge me that it took so long), and it seems to be going well.  I’ll write more about that later (preview of coming attractions).

I changed my mind about which way to run several times.  I don’t know why certain sidewalks seemed so unappealing, but I kept thinking, “I just can’t run that way today!”  I ran a different way.  Slowly.  I never got the hang of it.

I’m not getting the hang of writing about it either, it seems.  Sorry, folks.  I continued to run (which I insist on calling it) for 22 minutes, my favorite number.  The 10-minute cool-down walk felt good, especially when I was in the shade and a breeze blew.  At least I did it.

And I wrote some semblance of a blog post.  We’ll see if I can do better tomorrow on Lame Post Friday.  As always, no promises, but I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

Another Parade! What to Wear?

Regular readers may recall that LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company, is not doing a Shakespeare play this summer.  This has rendered the summer a less busy and a little sad.  This weekend is the Little Falls Canal Celebration,  one of the venues we perform at.  However, LiFT will have a presence at the parade on Friday, Aug. 10.

Last year I did not participate when LiFT marched.  I just felt too tired.  Of course I regretted it, because they had a fun time, and I do love a parade.  So when I received an email saying we were going to participate this year, I jumped at the chance! (Metaphorically speaking, of course.)

But what to wear?  I could NOT wear my wizard costume again!  I wore it for the Doodah Parade in Ilion.  It would be a faux pas to wear it again so soon, even if I switched back to the wizard hat I wore for the March of Dimes in May.

And, yes, I did pretty much have a silly expression on my face most of the time I wore the outfit.

I append a couple of pictures for those of you who missed my wizard-attired exploits (and to pep up the post, like I did yesterday).  The above was a rehearsal of the outfit for March of Dimes March for Babies.  I also made myself a wizard wand with a knitting needle, a few odds and ends, and a hot glue gun.  I can be dangerous with a hot glue gun. I modified the outfit slightly to march in the Ilion Days Doodah Parade.

I was a hit with the crowd, if I do say so.

I wore the witch’s hat, because it has a brim to offer shade from the sun.  I added the sunglasses for the same reason, and the necklace just because I liked it.  My dear friend, Kim, gave me the wooden wand.  I still had my homemade one, so I used both to cast spells on the crowd as I rode in the back of the pick-up truck.

But I need something different for Friday.  Something light, and light colored.  Maybe a set of wings from the dollar store.  Maybe a quick trip to the Thrift Store. What can I come up with? I spent most of the morning at work pondering options and formulating plans, while trying to stay hydrated and not get too far from a fan, because hot and humid seems to be a way of life these days.

Regarding the latter part of that last sentence, let’s just say I was not successful.  I am susceptible (wow! I spelled susceptible right on the first try!) to heat injuries.  I got too light-headed and nauseous (I had to google nauseous) to handle it, despite the perseverance that has seen me through many difficult runs.  I went home, ignobly calling my husband for a ride, because the nurse didn’t want me to drive and neither did I.

So I am really re-thinking this march through the heat in a costume idea.  However, I hate to let my LiFTer friends down, especially my friend Kim.  And I have lost a whole afternoon I could have been working on a costume, because I am still feeling like crap.  In fact, I wasn’t even going to make a blog post today.  I was going to take a blogger’s sick day.  But look at me, I am over 500 words with two pictures.  That’s one thing I did right today.  Let’s see how I do tomorrow, on Wuss-out Wednesday.

 

It’s Only Tuesday, But I Ran

I thought I should run yesterday in the low humidity, but I felt SO TIRED after work, I thought running Monday in the low humidity would be as onerous as running Tuesday in the high humidity.  The weather report this morning told me the dew point was at “humid” today and would be at “oppressive” tomorrow.  I told everybody at work to enjoy today, tomorrow will be worse.  You see how optimistic I can be.

Be that as it may, I felt after work today that I had to do SOMETHING.   I felt tired and coated with sweat. I felt down.  I felt sad.  I knew sitting on the couch and vegging out in front of Facebook was not the way to go.  I did not want to, but I decided to run.  It might not be a good run.  It might not be a long run.  But I would run.

What can I say?  It was not a good run.  It was not a long run.  I waited in vain for the endorphins to kick in.  Well, you’ll have these runs, especially in the middle of summer (please do NOT take out your calendar and show me precisely where the middle of summer is, I KNOW it is probably not today, stop being so didactic) (you know who you are).  I made up my mind I would continue for at least 20 minutes and I made it for 24.  I walked my full 10 minute cool-down.  We’ll see if it makes me feel better tomorrow.

In the meantime, it is not much of a blog post, is it?  I narrated in my head and tried to notice things as I ran.  I appreciated the grey skies, although I neither expected nor got rain.  The only noteworthy thing I remember was an Amish buggy on Caroline Street.  I said, “A horsey! Hi, horsey!”  The horse nodded his head at me (or perhaps I read into it).

The saddest thing is, I keep thinking, “Well, it is Wuss-out Wednesday,” and have to keep telling myself, “It’s TUESDAY, dammit!  TUESDAY!”  I will get over my disappointment, of course.  Probably tomorrow, when it is Wednesday.  Unless I think it is Thursday.  Damn.

At least I didn’t think it was Friday!

Oh, the Humidity!

Get it?  Like “Oh, the humanity!”  I thought of it while I was at work today, thinking I did NOT want to run, and I felt sure I had used the title before.  However, a quick check of my posts tells me I did not, so here is a Tuesday Running Commentary, and yes, it is also Tired Tuesday.  You see, that I can so multi-task.

As I left work, I felt greeted by the wind.  This was much better than in the building!  Unfortunately, I soon realized that it was not the miracle I was hoping for.  It was hot, it was muggy, I wanted to go someplace air conditioned and cry.  Of course I did nothing of the kind. I went home and put on running clothes.  Changing was not fun, but I will spare you the blow by blow (see? I don’t always overshare).

I told Steven I did not know how far I would run.  You never know:  sometimes you catch a second wind as you go.  Also, if it began to rain, that might feel really good and I would be happy to keep running.  Conversely, it there was thunder, I would sensibly run right back home.  At least I would get a few steps in.

Right away my body was not happy with me.  My legs hurt.  My lungs did not want to breath.  I was sweating already.  Well, runs often begin badly and end well.  Second wind, remember?  Then I thought, here’s a point to ponder: does it count as a second wind if you didn’t have a first wind?  Shouldn’t I start out feeling good, get tired, THEN get a second wind?  I never do anything right.

I did it really wrong this time, because I never felt good, never hit the “I can rock this” stage, and my legs complained pretty much the whole way. I debated to myself how far I would run.  At least 20 minutes.  Of course 30 would be better.  I could turn here. Or wait till the next street.  Or go all the way to the high school!  I was drenched with sweat and sweating sunscreen into my eyes. Ouch!  No matter.  A cold shower awaited.  And my recovery beverage of chocolate milk.  One must earn a recovery beverage, I reminded myself.

I did have one encouraging moment:  I was headed down Park Avenue (ooh!), towards the footbridge over the brook behind the high school.  A man and two women with a couple of baby carriages were headed that way by a parallel street, arriving at the bridge about the same time I did.  The man noticed me.

“She’s coming straight through,” he said to the women.  They stopped.

“Oh, I’m sorry!  I didn’t see you!”  one said.

“You’re fine,” I said.  “Thank you.”

“Keep going!” the man said.

“I’ll try!”

“Good job!” I heard one of the women call as I ran over the bridge.

Well, one must keep going when one has received encouragement.  So keep running I did.  I made it for 23 minutes.  I felt dreadfully tired during my cool-down walk and even considered cutting that part short.  Then I thought, no, I have calories to burn.  As always, I felt happy that I had run.  I was sorry it was such a short run, but you can’t get bogged down in these details.  I ran.  That was the important thing.  Maybe I will run again tomorrow.

 

Moody Monday Run

At work this afternoon, I realized I was in a foul mood.  I said to myself, “Mood swings are a symptom of menopause.  Just wait quietly and it will pass.”  I was still waiting when my shift ended and I came home.  I continued to ignore my irritation as  I put on running clothes and gathered a load of laundry.  Wrestling a sweaty body into spandex shorts and two sports bras did nothing to improve my mood, but I had to feel a little pleased with myself that I hadn’t talked myself out of the run.  For one reason, I needed a blog post and wanted to do a Running Commentary.

It was still warm out but less humid than my place of employment.  My workplace neither cools off nor dries out as quickly as the outside, which is just another reason to be happy when the workday ends.  I started towards German Street and turned right, since I had gone left when I ran on Saturday.  When I ran Saturday, it was after five days of not running, don’t judge.  Then I did not run Sunday, largely because I had also gone for a nice walk including some hills on Saturday.  I am really trying to get back into the habit of running more often.

I was running very slowly.  It was quite the plod.  No matter.  I was moving.  I remembered reading a long time ago that running slowly was a good way to train.  When you run fast, the theory goes, your body reaches toward high-octane fuel, such as the protein you recently ate.  When you run slowly, your body reaches for the low-octane fuel, your fat cells.  This was a nice, slow, fat-burning run, I told myself.  I think the theory has since been debunked, but I could hardly concern myself with that.

There was a lot of traffic, as there often is in the late afternoon.  I turned down Main Street rather than try to cross at the four-way stop.  I was thinking I would prefer not to run into any people, running so slowly and clunkily, but it was such a nice day, I thought there would be people almost any direction I took.  So why not go down Main Street?

Oh, my legs were not happy with me.  Shouldn’t they be warming up and getting into this, I asked myself.  Oh, just keep running, I answered.  One must have these difficult runs to get to the more enjoyable ones.

I did not start to feel really good until I was doing my cool-down walk.  It was then I realized, the irritable mood had passed.  Yes!  Maybe I sweated it out.  Maybe I ran away from it.  No matter.  I felt better, I had burned some calories, and I had something to write a blog post about. Not too bad for a Monday.

 

Humid with a Chance of Lame

Have I written a post this summer about how it is too damn hot for me to write a blog post?   I know I have written several of those in the past, but have I written any in 2016?  I bet I have.  Well, this is another one, but being as it is Lame Post Friday, I believe I can get away with it.

This whole week has been dreadfully hot and humid.  Unofficial end of summer my ass!  Of course there is no use in complaining about it.  The weather will do what it decides to, whoever is pleased or otherwise.  So, anybody who is saying huffily, “I LIKE summer weather” can just say it to somebody else.

I am going through a downswing.  Mood-wise, writing-wise, blog-wise.  But I must fight the tendency to mope around in a corner.  Oh poor, pitiful me!  Said with one wrist at my forehead, of course.  Perhaps I could manage a swoon.  The problem with that is that you can’t count on somebody being around who will revive you with a glass of brandy.  Why did those ladies in the old time novels push away the brandy?  Where they nuts?

Well, that was kind of a stream of consciousness paragraph, wasn’t it?  That is probably a side effect of stewed brain, which is what I fear is in my skull today.   The only other thing I can share in hopes of offering some entertainment is the following:

When I am cleaning my machines at the end of my work day, I sometimes sing the theme song from The Blob.  “It creeps and leaps and glides and slides across the floor, right through the door and all around the wall, a splotch, a blotch, be wary of the Blob! (Beware of the Blob!)”  That’s it, over and over.  Then I do “dah daah!” and other random syllables for the musical interludes.  Then back into the lyric.  Sometimes I dance a tango step or two.

Today, when I got back to the lyrics for the third or fourth time, I heard myself sing,  “…a splotch, a blotch, be wary of the Blog!”

Wouldn’t that be a great title for a post?  But if I used it for this one, it would spoil the joke.  I’ll keep it in mind for the upcoming Halloween season.  In the meantime, I’m over 300 words.  Happy Friday, everyone.

 

Waaaait a Minute! I Never Got My Beer!

So I ran earlier.  It was a pretty lousy run, but I did not despair of writing a passable Running Commentary post.  The trick is to get to the computer while it is all still fresh in my mind.  Well, I tried, but the damn computer was updating.

Then again, I don’t think I was thinking all that many great thoughts during the run.  Mostly I was gasping for breath in the humidity and wondering why the rain wouldn’t start and give me some relief.  Or does rain get rid of humidity instantaneously?  Perhaps it would not have given me any relief at all.  At least it would not have made me appreciably wetter, because I was covered with sweat before I started.

All of this was no great matter, though, because at least I ran.  And by virtue of running on my Monday holiday, I had only gone two days without running.

I can’t say it was a particularly fun run.  Partway through it I felt that I was not enjoying myself and asked myself why I keep thinking I like to run.  I answered, I like to run on weekend mornings, when it is cool and I feel fresh.  Unfortunately, you cannot only run two days a week with five days break in between.  That would not make for enjoyable weekend runs.  Then I pointed out to myself that when running in hot weather my leg muscles warmed up faster.  My leg had felt quite discouraged at the beginning of the run but were doing better by the end.

I carefully pointed out to myself beautiful flowers in people’s lawns and window boxes.  Scenery always helps.  I envied people who were sitting on their front porches. I would have liked to be sitting still on my front porch, possibly with a beverage.

That was when I thought of beer.  A nice cold beer.  How good would that taste?  I thought, VERY.  So that was the reward I kept in my head for the rest of the run.

I finished the run and my cool-down walk before the rain.  I had a lovely cold shower, ate some food and waited for the computer to cooperate.  Then I wrote this blog post, which I am afraid is not as good of a Running Commentary as I had originally envisioned.  Then again, at least the whole post was not about How I Can’t Write a Post Today.  We’ll save that for Lame Post Friday.  I’m going to call this a Non-Sequitur Thursday and hit Publish.  I hope you’re having a lovely day.