StanleyWheeler

The Yuletide festivities have drawn to a close. The tree, the lights, the holiday cards and decorations remain; cold reminders of the joyous celebration played out, they are the empty cask that held the tasty beverage of merriment consumed. We had a full house. It was delightful. We wouldn't trade those joyful days together for anything less than a free oil-change and a bag of chips . Threatening weather, like some two-bit hood with a switchblade, persuaded our guests to head home early. Now the last days of the year that was drip to the frozen December ground. The year began with the water heater replacement; it moved forward with car repairs, motorcycle battery replacement, lawnmower repairs, car purchase, pressure tank replacement, and ended with washing machine repair. The last item, as well as some of the car repairs, I had to outsource; the washing machine repair came at a particularly bad time--see the aforementioned full house. For the most part, the year exceeded exp...

The dark, quadrangular oculus* bid me welcome this week and sought to entertain me with stories both dark and fey. I accepted the challenge as reward for my fair to middling (or less) progress on the new novel. *I know oculus refers to a circular or oval aperture and is therefore inconsistent with quadrangular but I've recently renewed my poetic license and mean to make profligate use thereof. First up was Orson Welles in  Black Magic  from 1949. It's based upon Dumas' novel Joseph Balsamo of which I had neither read nor even heard until now. Welles plays Cagliostro, a man with amazing hypnotic powers which he decides (unsurprisingly) to use for personal gain and influence. His good fortune goes sour when he attempts to substitute a ringer for Marie Antoinette. I'm a little foggy on the details because that is about when I fell asleep the first time. I resumed the movie sometime the next day only to succumb to the muse of snooze once again. I did manage to watch...

When patterns collide:* Mary, Maude, Denise, Sheryl, and Patsy gathered for their first big assignment as undercover fashion police. *I think I got the picture above from a 2012 French clothing catalog like the rest of the photos that follow, but it's possible that I got it from Lileks.com. I don't remember. (A Google image search indicates as a best guess that the picture comes from a Bosnian TV Series . I doubt it.) Even in 2012, I think that wearing this coat is a silent plea for help. A fine selection from the Dork Collection. Apparently they could only get the one guy who was willing to model these outfits. Costumes from the famous play Lion Dork in Winter. The Dork in Summer Collection for high water, rain, and pants optional occasions. Finally, it's the new Dorktor Who look. And for women -- I'm not sure whether these dresses are to-die-for, it's selections from the campaign against women, or styles for the victimized. Maybe...

* This weekend began (and completed) the Christmasification--or is it Christmasization?--of the estate. Fils and his children Kned and Comedienne joined us to erect the brand new yuletide pine constructed of genuine and completely man-made materials. The fun also included the festive luminizing--or is it lumification?--of the exterior timber and mansion house perimeter. A word (or several) about those sobriquets: Fils is self-explanatory; I thought Kned (pronounced either with, or without the vocalized "K" ) sounded better than "dead president;" and Comedienne was the alternative to "Dickens' French girl"--also, she did comedic things like waking us up in the middle of the night several times in order to grace us with renditions of her greatest hits--which sounded a lot like the vocal tracks on a death metal album. She's a scream--literally. We were thrilled to have them. The vocal tracks were inconsequential in comparison to the joy they broug...

A cutter ship is featured in the new novel in progress. Below is picture of a model of a cutter I found on the internet--I can't remember from whence it came. The cutter has taken some serious damage in the recent chapter of book, but I suspect it will recover at some point. The sloop that appears in the first chapter will not recover. The book has progressed to chapter 7 and is paused there while I get Justice Resurgent published. The corrections recommended by the proofreaders are nearly done--20 pages left to go. I thought that I would have it completed yesterday, but reality intervened. Additionally, the story felt flat and somewhat thin on description; I reached out for some feedback regarding my doubts and received encouragement to publish; so it will post sometime next week. I'll put it up initially for $0.99. *** The highlight of the week was this: A local chain store runs a weekly contest. This week we won the treat pictured. I'd never had them...