“Moving Week”
When I left you last week, the Cowboys were about to play the New York Giants. I was nervous as they tend to lose these games when heavily favoured. It must have been Campbell and Honey’s support that drove them to a solid win, 44-20, and a 4-1 lead in their division.
There was quite a storm on Sunday night with very high winds. Lots of big trees broken when we had our run on Monday morning.
Movers arrived on Tuesday to help Finn and me move the big items (sofa, bed, TV unit) from storage to his apartment. He’s in a ground floor apartment just a few miles from storage, so it didn’t take too long. We worked on Wednesday to get the internet installed (did it all ourselves), and to do a deep clean on the sofa. Finn learned how to assemble the Bissell cleaning machine and how to use it.
We borrowed Jens’s SUV on Thursday and moved the rest of the stuff. And finally the place was ready for Finn to spend the night by himself. He said that he slept really well and is enjoying the place.
I treated him to a pumpkin spice latte at Duino after all our work moving things over and getting organized. He does like the sweet drinks for sure.
Friday was employee appreciation day at Market Street and Finn was very happy with the gift card he won, and the burgers and hotdogs that were served for lunch. He made the comment that the place he worked in Los Gatos would never dream of having an appreciation day. It’s amazing how far a little thank you goes.
We booked appointments to get flu shots on Saturday morning and hoped to add on COVID booster shots when we got there. Success – we’re all boosted and ready for the winter.
A stop at Market Street on the way home from our jabs allowed us to observe Finn in action – here he’s stocking the “specialty produce section”. We met his boss who was raving about what a great addition Finn has been to the team.
Finn is coming over to watch the Cowboys play the New England Patriots later this afternoon and Diana has promised to make us some sliders. Hoping for another strong Cowboys performance.
Not too much reading this week with all the moving activity. I did start “Harlem Shuffle” by Colson Whitehead, and I think I’m going to enjoy it quite a bit. Whitehead is famous for “The Underground Railroad”, which I haven’t read yet.
I enjoyed this descriptive paragraph:
“This first hot spell of the year was a rehearsal for the summer to come. Everyone a bit rusty but it was coming back, their parts in the symphony and assigned solos. On the corner, two white cops recapped the fire hydrant, cursing. Kids had been running in and out of the spray for days. Threadbare blankets lined fire escapes. The stoops bustled with men in undershirts drinking beer and jiving over the noise from transistor radios, the DJs piping up between songs like friends with bad advice. Anything to delay the return to sweltering rooms, the busted sinks and clotted flypaper, the accumulated reminders of your place in the order. Unseen on the rooftops, the denizens of tar beaches pointed to the lights of bridges and night planes.”
A pair of new live albums caught my attention this week – both involving Donald Fagen. The first is “The Nightfly Live” – the original is such a fantastic sounding album, and the live version is also excellent.
The second is Steely Dan Live (Fagen was co-founder with the late Walter Becker). Listen to how great the band sounds on this track:
We’ve been enjoying Jeff Daniels in the “American Rust” TV series. This great Randy Newman song was featured on the last episode. I love the unusual chord structures.
Speaking of Jeff Daniels, I discovered live streams that he’s been doing over the last year. The monologue about his role as Atticus Finch in the Broadway production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is really interesting. And he’s an excellent blues guitar picker.
https://www.jeffdaniels.com/category/videos/
Stay safe and kind!