Sunday, October 25, 2026

More Halloween in My Neighborhood

Saturday, October 24, 2026

Good Eats

Leek and Potato Soup

We ate this for lunch. It was quite nice. The recipe is from the New York Times.

Black Beans

Recent lunch: black beans and tortillas dished up with my special Halloween spatula.

Halloween Dish Towel

Hanging on the stove handle near the soup pot.

Breakfast Treat

A bit sweeter than our mothers’ blintzes, but not bad. Len made sauteed apples to go with the blintzes.

Friday Lunch at Totoro Sushi

The restaurant is named for the film “My NeighborTotoro” and has themed decor.

Chirashi sushi bowl.

Reading

Much of this book is a repeat of the authors’ earlier works,
but I’m reading on hoping for something new.

Friday, October 23, 2026

Scary Spooky Displays AND Has Agatha Christie been brought back from the dead?

Halloween in Our Neighborhood

My Shadow.

In our neighborhood the elaborate Halloween decor is showing up.

Agatha Christie:

Not Brought Back From the Dead

It must have been magic. Agatha Christie had a magic all her own, and this book, by modern author Lucy Foley, doesn’t have it. Christie’s famous Miss Marple is claimed to be here, though she’s not as vividly portrayed as in the original books. There’s a classically restricted setting — a ski resort that’s temporarily snowed-in. Several of the characters who are present at the resort have a motive for the murder that takes place, and any one of them could have had the opportunity. The method is straightforward — poison in a drink. Method… motive… opportunity: the classic trio. And the author uses a gimmick of having four different narrators — well, it’s gimmicky.

Unfortunately, this sequel just didn’t engage me the way that the original Miss Marple books did. Yes, I read them all — though it was quite a long time ago. As for this one: I ended up not even reading very carefully. I think I’m starting to forget it!

I’m disappointed, I guess, but not really surprised. There will never be another Agatha Christie — she published so many wonderful mysteries until her death in 1976. Even though it’s Halloween, you can’t bring her back.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

A Walk in the Park

Along the Huron River

Only a few people were in the park.
We enjoyed late-afternoon autumn sunshine as we walked along the river.

Two turtles were enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Monday, October 19, 2026

Stage Magic

Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn

On Netflix

We watched "The Magic of Nureyev," a documentary on PBS that premiered on April 11, 2025. The only way to describe this superstar ballet dancer seems to me to be the cliche "larger than life"! Interestingly, we actually saw him on stage in London in 1976. We somehow managed to get last-minute tickets to a sold-out performance, with seats at the extreme left of stage in one of the first rows. It was during an extreme heat wave, and when he did his famous twirls we could see drops of sweat fly off of him, illuminated by the stage lights that were designed to suit the spectators in the center rows. The Netflix special definitely captures the legendary nature of his escape from Russia and his extraordinary fame.