Monday, November 16, 2015

Brrr!

On Saturday, we had nice weather, cool but sunny.  Here's more autumn color.

Then a minor cold front blew in on Sunday bringing rain with it.  Since we're in high desert country, rain is always welcome.  (Just not when I'm walking to and from my car at the ABQ main library for their book sale.)

Today, more wind, more cold, more rain then snow.  After sitting out in the cold, I guess the car's battery was affected because it took a bit longer than usual to turn over.  It cranked, but didn't start up right away.  Panic, followed by relief.

I got home OK.  Here are a couple of trees in the front yard.


Wet roads plus overnight temps below freezing - not looking forward to the morning commute.  I'm really hoping work delays opening tomorrow.

Papillon


Saturday, November 14, 2015

This busy (for me) week

On Wednesday, I had my 6 month teeth cleaning.  Not fun, but lots of clean teeth afterwards. 

Friday night I went to see Penn & Teller perform.  I'm not sure what I expected, but it was an interesting and fun show.

To start with, it was held at the Route 66 Casino.  I've only been there once before, a whole bunch of years ago.  Which meant I'd forgotten it's 17 miles (or so) west of Albuquerque.  It's not in the middle of nowhere, but you can see the middle from their parking lot.  Essentially it was set up to provide food & gambling for people who stop at their truck stop for gas.

I do have a bit of a gripe about their auditorium.  The seating needs to be 'raked' a bit more.  It's flatter than it could be & means it can be hard to find a clear sight line to the stage.  I managed, but it was an effort.  It helped they had a couple of large screens on either side of the stage.  But I didn't want to watch them on a screen, I wanted to watch them on the stage.

The show was part fun and part a discussion of Penn & Teller's philosophy regarding illusion, sleight of hand, putting on a 'magic' show and life.  The pace is leisurely.  I enjoyed it and am happy that I've been able to see them live.  They do include audience participation which was amusing (since the jokes were on other people).  Note:  they're not 'cruel' to the audience participants, but they do joke around.  It's fun to see them do a trick and then show you how they do it.  Teller did a sleight of hand involving a lit cigarette, a pencil and a fake lighter.  He did the trick, then did the trick showing you exactly how it's done, and then faked you out doing the trick again.

I was disappointed because they didn't do their usual meet-and-greet after the show.  The casino is a casino, after all and so they have slots almost up to the front door of the auditorium.  I have a couple of books written by Penn and was hoping to get them signed.  No luck there.  Rats!

Tomorrow is the biannual ABQ main library's clear-the-shelves book sale.  $5 per bag of books - you get to pick the books from the tables they've set up.  LOVE it!

I know.  For many folks, this would not be a busy week.  I'm not most folks.

Papillon