Someone’s watching… March 30, 2012

The patient is watching….

Zulu with Michael Caine

Year: 1964

He wanted some distraction because his arm hurts.

The bandaging came off yesterday, but turning his hand still hurts pretty bad.

Driving or cycling is still not posible.

——————–

Company

Tomorrow five ladies are coming over. Yeehah!

When I reminded the patient, there was a particular look on his face. Shock? Terror? I’m not sure.

Somehow, I don’t think this concept triggered an image of a peaceful, quiet evening of recuperation for him.

Improvement… March 27, 2012

The patient is much better today.

Since all the chores have already been done, the patient is now relaxing and enjoying the drinks and the food I’m serving.

And later today: Fries, hamburgers and icecream for dinner!

The birthday trip to Germany has been postponed to April.

(the friendly staff at the hotel has allowed us to move the dates, even though the booking was nonrefundable!)

Odd… March 25, 2012

This is odd….

Isn´t someone with a (temporary) handicap supposed to be quiet and docile?

And shouldn’t this person just be still, read a book, and let me do the chores?

Well, this hasn’t happened yet.

My patient is mopping the floor with one hand, giving me instructions about sorting the laundry, commenting on the way I hang the wet clothes to dry, and basically, just using me as an assistant.

Somehow this doesn’t seem right… ??

Watched…

Strangers on a Train

By Alfred Hitchcock

Year: 1951

On this dvd both the American (shorter) version and the British (longer) version (supposedly homoerotic suggestive footage was taken out of the US version. We watched the UK version, and nothing struck us as homoerotic, so that must have been a sign of the times.

Great Hitchcock classic, about two people on a train, one of them suggesting they murder someone, the other person wants to get rid of. The wife-who-doesn-t-want-to-divorce for the one man, a tyrannic father for the other. However, the guy who suggests it carries out his murder, he murders the other man’s wife, but the other one thought the plan was just a joke. What to do now?

Where Eagles Dare

With Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood

Year: 1968

A group of spies land in Germany, and need to infiltrate a castle to rescue an American general. A leading role for Burton, his part could have been a bit smaller, though. Eastwood had only a handful of lines to say.

Note: Were there really helicopters in WWII? We’ll look into that.

UPDATE:

From imdb.com:

The Luftwaffe did not fly American-made Bell helicopters during World War II. Yet, we see one landing in the castle square. The helicopter shown was in fact, a Bell model 47G, built in Hurst (Fort Worth) Texas and wasn’t even introduced until 1953. It can be recognized by the full bubble canopy, exposed welded-tube tail boom, saddle fuel tanks, and skid landing gear. The Luftwaffe never even saw or touched one, let alone had them in their fleet. The US Army had some operational Sikorsky R-4 helicopters late in the war, but except for a few prototypes in test mode, Germany had none.

Snow… December 17, 2010

Here a picture of the prune tree at the front of our house…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished…

The Client by John Grisham (highly recommended) 

Second Fiddle by Mary Wesley 

Bloom… October 31, 2010

One of our plants, which has been with me for years and years, keeps making these wonderful flowers twice a year.

oct2010

Also,

there is now a compact review of Run by Ann Patchett under Reviews

Watched… October 23, 2010

While tidying up the house during the day, we watched movies in the evenings:

This is Spinal Tap

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 

 

Good Morning by Japanese director Ozu 

 

Indiana Jones: it has its moments, but it’s not as good as the ‘classics’.

Spinal Tap: Great start, when you watch the menu, you can hear the guys discussing it (“when you choose this button, can you watch other films as well?” you have to watch that bit when you get the chance)

Good Morning: Very nice film. A bit of a westernized Japanese setting, where two boys want to force their parents to buy a television by not speaking until they do. They are also experts in farting. Ha! The consequences of gossiping are also very amusing.

Home, sweet home! October 19, 2010

We are home again, as of Sunday night.

I told him I had a day off, which we spent very productively, filling shelves with clothes, tidying up all other parts of the house which were full with clothes and old furniture that has been replaced.

I haven’t yet mentioned the fact that I have the rest of the week off as well.

He already asked me once what time I start tomorrow, and I said I’d check.

When he asks me again I think  I will let him know I have one more day off. Or shall I inform him of the entire week straight away? Neh. Let’s stretch it a bit.

I discovered the birthday calendar was stuck on August. Sorry all you September/October birthday people.

It is a lot of fun finding bags with purchases made two months ago! I have never had that experience before…

Clothes…

Clothing (not MINE, but that might be obvious)

As mentioned, the bedroom and the shelves are coming along nicely. I discovered I outnumber his clothes about 4 to 1. Oops.

I can either buy him loads of stuff to get a better balance, or I have to lose some. Due to lack of funds at the moment, I’ll start with the last option.

 

 

Homesick… September 6, 2010

I think I want to go home now.

Sure, we go home regularly, but after getting some work done, we go away again.

I am now really looking forward to evenings at home, with my own stuff (all of it!) and my own books, and my own music, and everything.

But I can’t complain. With such a great handyman, getting so much work done, I have to be patient. The room is going to be just lovely, I’m sure of it. Another week or two, three?

Anyone have a calming mantra I can use?

—–

p.s. no religion intended!

Screaming… September 6, 2010

We woke up hearing lots of high pitched screams.

Lots and lots of screams, all sounding terrified.

—

Oh right, forgot about that: the house where we are staying now is nearby an amusement park.

And the weather being so great this Sunday, there were lots of people screaming their lungs out.

Fitting room… August 26, 2010

On one of my few outings,

(I don’t get out much since we’re staying on the other side of town, there is no bicycle!), I was in a secondhand (one word) shop today.

There was only one fitting room, and there was a man in it, with the curtain open. I had several items to try on, so I positioned myself closeby but not too close, he was trying something on after all, so he might take it off at some point.

He was dressed in a large shirt with a loud print, and he was looking at himself in the mirror, putting the collar up, and down, straightening the sleeves and everything.

After two minutes or so he just turned around and casually walked away. In passing I mumbled “Are you all done?” but he didn’t even look. He was mighty pleased with himself and was simply strolling along as if he had just taken a small break from charming the world, blessing us with his presence. Just making sure he was still looking as good as he thought he was.

On another note: my selection fitted pretty well also, and I bought it all!

My other trip today was to the dentist. Passed with flying colours…