O.K. IT'S NOW OFFICIAL

Finally!  I got a call from our realtor a short time ago and he said it is finally official.  We got our new home in Phoenix.  It's a three year lease rental and we've been on pins and needles for days now.  We'll make a trip to pay the deposits, get the keys and put a carload of fragile stuff in the house and take some measurements and then we'll be happy.  Here's a picture or two.

That's a raised patio in the back yard from which one can see a small portion of the nearby golf course.

I can remember many decades ago when my boss in Bismarck, North Dakota moved to suburban San Francisco to take a new job.  The thing he was most excited about, I think, was that he had a lemon tree in his yard.

That tree on the right in our new back yard is . . . a lemon tree!  And I'm as excited as he was.

Quite obviously we have a lot to do before we're settled in.  But stay tuned.  We'll keep you posted.

GLOOMY GUS

"Man, all this sitting around with everything in boxes, just waiting for something to happen, is driving me crazy!"

HE'S WAITING, TOO

The BRD says cats always relate back to their jungle ancestors and will find a high spot on which to perch.  Blackwell has found his sleeping place, even after I moved it up a box yesterday.  He loves that pillow.

ARE WE MOVING?

Hard to say.  We have found the house of our dreams (temporarily) and have made an application to rent it.  We have submitted paper of various types.  And now we wait.  Our realtor had told us he hoped to have an answer for us by today.  Nothing.

SWMBO is confident.  I retain my normal pessimistic outlook.  But it is Sunday, after all, and in spite of my loving wife's confident assurance that realtors work every day of the week . . . we have heard nothing.

We have probably two-thirds of our possessions already in boxes.  Waiting.  Like me.  Waiting.

The place looks ideal.  It is very close to several shopping centers that will have nearly everything that we need.  Closer than we have had in some years.  It is a gated community.  It is nicely landscaped. It seems quiet.

But.  We wait.

Stay tuned.  I certainly will.

THE MASTER

I finally saw "The Master" yesterday, via Netflix.  Many who have viewed it ahead of me talked about the mastery of Joaquin Phoenix in his role.  While I thought he was good, I failed to see the mastery. What I did notice was his strange hands-on-hips posture and his equally strange tittering laugh when he seemed nervous about something.  His violent rages I did not understand, other than that they seemed an exertation of anger at how his "master" was being mistreated.  But that didn't seem to hold true as he abandoned him at several points in the film.

The silliness of the mental routines for Phoenix (and others) didn't hold true for me although SWMBO said it was very similar to the mind-bending employed by the leaders of the Scientology movement, which many say this movie is based on.  Since I have never studied Scientology, I can't say.  But the accusations of one person in the movie, a John More, seem to go to the narrow focus of the cult.  But, is it a cult?

Scientology certainly seems to be and the followers of Lancaster Dodd and his wife certainly seem to be.

But back to the movie.  Is it good?  I'd give it about a 5 on a scale of 10.  It's fascinating but it doesn't seem to provide any truths.

Hooray for Hollywood!

A $5 A DAY STORMY MONDAY

I watched a movie from Netflix today.  "$5 A Day" with Christopher Walken, Alessandro Nivola, and a very hot looking Sharon Stone.  Considering the movie was released in 2008, she is holding together very well.  Walken, of course, is the centerpiece of this entertaining story of a lifelong con artist.  Very enjoyable.

As is this Monday song.

I AIN'T GOT NO HOME TO GO TO

No luck yet in our search for a new home but we're headed back down to the Big Valley this week with our heads held high and hopes intact.  

Meanwhile . . . 

And one more . . .