Message 416

Last night Joshua brought in Chinese food for dinner. I asked him if he would be able to pick up Jamie and his family at SFO when they return from Sandbridge, but he said he was going to be up at Lake Tahoe. I am taking them to the San Jose airport tomorrow at dawn, but they arrive at SFO hours ahead of us.

After Josh left I watched a DVD of the movie Revolutionary Road. I had read the book years ago, and they followed to book pretty closely. It is a painful movie for me to watch because it depicts the mind sets of the 1950s so well. It is well done, but I only give it three stars because it is such a downer. I am getting my condo ready for Orlindo's Janitorial crew to come in at 10 AM, so I still have things I need to do.

Messgae 415

Last night I watched a DVD of another French movie entitled (in translation) Water Lilies. It is about teenaged girls doing water ballet. It was interesting, but strange. I could not understand what was going on some of the time. I guess too much gets lost in translation.

This afternoon I have an appointment with my dermatologist to freeze of this thing just below my lower lip that turned out not to be cancerous.

Message 414

I just got back from what has become my usual Tuesday routine. Annie and I took Beech to school and then met Vanessa at Heidi's Pies for breakfast. Afterwards I took Annie to the park in San Mateo where she has a great time swinging and playing with other kids. I picked up Beech at school at 12:40 PM and took him to Burger King for lunch. After lunch he said he did not want to go to gymnastics, so I took him home.

Yesterday I went with Vanessa and the kids to Fremont Park where Jason, Julian, and Joshua all practiced soccer when I was coaching. Beech had his friend Justin with him, and Justin forgot his sweatshirt at the park. I just stopped by the park on my way home and found his shirt and a container of sunscreen. I will pass them on to Vanessa the next time I see them.

Last night I watched a DVD of the French movie Secret Things. I give it three stars. I liked the nudity, but the motivations of the characters were incomprehensible to me.

Message 413

Yesterday I worked for a few hours on my memoirs. It has been quite a while since I have done anything with it. I did a lot of review of the early chapters, and the I finally got started on the seventh grade and my life in Springfield, Illinois.

In the evening I watched Miss Marple on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. After the news I turned in early at midnight, which is early for me

Message 412

Yesterday was another quiet day at home. I almost finished reading The Economist. In the evening I watched the 4th of July celebration on PBS. The movie How I won the War was then shown on PBS. It is a British anti-war satire and is of no consequence except that is stars a young John Lennon in a supporting role.

Message 411

Happy 4th of July. I just got back from my usual Saturday morning coffee at Starbucks. In two weeks I and a Happy 4th of July. I just got back from my usual Saturday morning coffee at Starbucks. In two weeks I and all of you will be in Sandbridge for our reunion. I can hardly wait. Yesterday was another quiet day at home. In the evening after watching my PBS shows I started reading The Economist. For a change I did not watch a DVD.

Message 410

Yesterday was another quiet day at home. I got an interesting letter in the mail from Marrietta Matthews, who turns out to be a relative in South Carolina. She was interested in learning about our mutual genealogies, so I scanned the stuff Chris did years ago on the Anderson side of our family. If any of you are interested in this stuff I will send you copies of all of this.

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie Little Children. It turns out I had seen it before, but had forgotten about it. I have been watching a lot of Jennifer Connolly movies lately, which must be why I ordered it from Netflix. She plays a supporting role in this movie, and I was not familiar with her when I saw it before. Little Children is about people who are in various stages of arrested development, and thus are little children in adult bodies. It is not a pleasant movie to watch, but I give it four stars anyway. It is very well done, and Kate Windslet is especially good. I liked the movie better the second time I watched it, but I do not accept the thesis that everybody has a messed up life. It is made clear in the movie that Kate Windsletts character is like Madam Bovary, but it is not clear that she will ever manage to salvage much of anything from her life.