BAD ADVENTURES

 Regular followers of this silly blog will recognize the BAD as "Beautiful Artistic Daughter", aka Gayle.

And recent followers will know that she took an accidental tumble whilst coming away from an appointment and managed to break a bone in her elbow.

Since then her dominant arm has been hampered by having to wear a large and unwieldy brace.

But she's a stubborn girl.

As stubborn as her mother.

She lives alone and is an artist but also somewhat of a pot gardener.

And when she decided her outdoor plants needed some protection from the upcoming elements, she assembled a sort of greenhouse on her patio.

Now how a lady with a broken arm, sporting a cast, does all that is more than I can understand.

But when I asked her she said "Well, I can't just sit around doing nothing."

But at least the plants are protected.

Tomorrow perhaps I'll show you some of the art she's been producing in her "handicapped" state.

WELCOMING FALL WITH A TORTE

 No, no, no, get your minds out of the gutter.

I didn't say "welcoming fall with a tart"!

Other than the NSFW thoughts some of you may have had, I learned that a tart is a contained concoction, like a pie, while a torte is more like a cake, being a free-standing confection.

So what I created yesterday was a plum torte.

The recipe came from the New York Times, which says it was printed every September from 1983 to 1989.

When editors decided that was enough they were flooded with letters demanding it be returned to the annual appearance.

And so it was.

Many adaptions have been offered but this torte from the Taylor Family Kitchen was baked from the original recipe.

And . . . It. Is. Delicious!

Taking Judy's warning that it might be a little tart for my taste, I capped my slice with whipped topping.

But I found it quite sweet enough and devoured my piece in seconds.

And then thought about "seconds".

But I resisted the thought for the evening and went to bed "with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head." 

AUTUMN HAS FALLEN

We made it once again. 

Autumn arrived just before midnight last night.

As I woke and checked the weather I see it is cool(ish) and damp outside.

The temperature at 6:30 a.m. is 61 degrees F. (16 C.) and the Weather Gods say there are showers in the vicinity.

One of my most faithful and consistent humor suppliers, Wacky Wally, sent me this meme this morning.

So the season of those insufferable Pumpkin Spice Everythings has arrived.

Halloween and even CHRISTMAS decorations are prominent in stores and some people are already decorating, with the spooky night still over a month away.

In one of my doctor's offices a small artificial tree has stood for years.

It is decorated by the office manager and members of the staff for whatever season or holiday might be approaching.

The other day when I was there I noticed it was decorated for the Fall Season.

It's clever and perhaps brings a smile to the faces of people waiting (and waiting and waiting) to receive their medical consultations.

Happy Autumn, everyone*!

( * - except for my friend River in South Australia and others in the Southern Hemisphere who have Springtime staring them in the face.)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

It's been quite a week around here.

Judy's knee is so bad that she can't put hardly any weight on it so I've been hauling her wheelchair in and out of the car as we make our way to various doctor appointments.

She has to get surgery clearances from a couple of medicos before the orthopaedic surgeon will even schedule her knee replacement.

Suffice it to say that I've been getting a workout even though she tries to insist on doing "stuff" in spite of her bone on bone pain.

But never let it be said that will keep me from my weekly appointed task - trying to make YOU laugh.

This week, once again, we're doing an almost totally cartoon-free edition as the words are speaking louder than pictures in the old humor bank,.

So, brace yourselves for some not-so-heavy reading.

Hey, how did those guys get in here?

Oh, that's right, they're Trekkies.

I guess they just beamed in.

Well that's it for another week, Good Friends and Gentle Readers.

Now try your ding-dang-darndest to have a great weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

You know, even the mighty oak was once a nut like you.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . oh joy.   Not.  )

SHEET, YES!

SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) would tell you there's nothing new about it.

But various and sundry cooking newspaper columnists, web pages, t.v. food shows and what not seem to think it's an idea whose time has come.

I'm talking here about Sheet Pan meals.

It's where the main course and all the side dishes are cooked all together spread out on the trusty sheet pan, protected with a sheet of foil.

Like this.

That's pieces of chicken breast coated with barbecue sauce, potatoes, mini sweet peppers, sliced carrots and onions liberally spiced and headed for a hot oven.

And here's the "after" picture.

Scorched to perfection and mouth-wateringly good.

All hail the mighty sheet pan!

BASICALLY BILL

If you want to see a great acting performance, watch Bill Nighy in "Living", on Netflix.

The accomplished British actor is at his best in this quiet movie, an adaptation of the 1952 film "Ikiru" by Akira Kurosawa, which was based on a novel by Leo Tolstoy.

Pretty good names with which to be connected.

It is the story of a bureaucrat in England, shuffling papers endlessly, who learns that he has a terminal illness and then begins to live his life.

Nighy is amazing, displaying an entire range of emotions, especially in a scene in a darkened living room where he relives moments from his life telling each story with only his facial expressions.

As I said to Judy last night as we watched, "Now *that's* acting!"

But you don't need to take my word for it.

Nighy is nominated this year in the Best Actor category for the Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award, and a BAFTA (Britain's equivalent of an Oscar) by the British Film Association.

I've long been a fan of Nighy but he proves his worth in this film.

RETRO REDFORD

 Now there's no argument with the claim that Robert Redford is a very good looking man.

Or that he has made a lot of entertaining movies.

But after watching four of his films in a week, I think I'll give him a rest for awhile.

Last night, Judy and I watched "The Company You Keep", his movie about a 1960's radical who's been blamed for being part of a gang that killed a guard while pulling off a bank robbery.

But he's been living his life under an assumed name all these years as a responsible attorney.

The story tells of a young newspaper reporter (Shia LeBeouf) trying to uncover his background and then prove him innocent.

The movie is a cavalcade of cameos.

Along with Redford and LeBeouf, there are short appearances by Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Sam Elliott, Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins and Stanley Tucci.

Longer appearances include Julie Christie and Terrence Howard.

It's great seeing all those old familiar faces but, as I told my friend Mike (who suggested the movie) in an email, while entertaining I felt the film with its feel-good ending was a bit of a fairy tale.

The other Redford movies I watched this past week were "The Electric Horseman" (pretty good), "The Great Waldo Pepper" (not so great), and "Our Souls at Night" (thoughtful).

Now, as much as I like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (I've enjoyed it several times over the years), I think I'll take a Redford break.