Summer Begins

I don't know what happened to May. Did anyone else see it?

We've decided not to go camping the last few Memorial Day weekends, partially because of my work schedule, and partially because we got sick of camping in cold rain. We are among the last hold-outs among our camping friends who still camp in something other than a nice house on wheels. Going from a tent to a pop-up was a huge deal for us, but this is still like real camping. A pop-up still has canvas and screen between you and the sky. It has no bathroom and no shower. No TV with DVD player and VCR. It's small enough inside that you really don't want to spend a lot of time in there. As in, you go outside. Where camping actually takes place.

Our friends can have their nice 5th wheels and travel trailers. They've got places to keep them on their own property. They know how to pull them. They apparently don't mind the maintenance and upkeep and endless filling of water tanks and the nasty dumping of waste water tanks at the end of each camping trip. And they are more than willing to let us hang out in them when the weather really sucks.

So that's why we just visited everyone for a few hours on Sunday morning. We knew 8 families camped at Bay City State Park, about an hour and 20 minutes north of us. We talked with everyone, had a beer or two, and Dave made us an awesome breakfast. He took cinnamon swirl bread, made french toast out of it, and then sandwiched chopped milk chocolate between two pieces of toast. He topped the whole thing with sliced strawberries, a drizzle of strawberry syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar. It rocked. And he said he made it with me specifically in mind. I was quite honored. Good as it was, I'm already thinking of ways to deviate. How about using challah bread? What about sugared raspberries and bittersweet chocolate? What about using Nutella between the french toast?? Yee-haaaaa!!

I've got almost all my flowers and garden in. Almost. I need two more tomato plants, and my sage and lavender did not survive the harsh winter. So I need to replace those. And I really need some purple basil and any other herbs I find that look worth trying. I had to bomb my existing tomato plants with cayenne pepper because something kept uprooting them and flinging them aside every night. I consider myself an animal and nature lover but it's crap like this that makes me really think about buying a rifle. Something apparently found the degradable pots the tomatoes came in irresistable, because every morning I'd find tomato plants pathetically laying there and the pots shredded. The cayenne seems to be working because it's been 4 days now, and they are untouched.

I was going to try some pots on the back patio this year, too. The trick is finding something inedible to the wildlife. Last year, my flowers back there lasted about 3 nights before everything was eaten down to the soil. I got sick of sweeping up dirt and picking up overturned pots all last summer, too. Every year it's the same optimism met with nature's hungry, excavating, destructive fury.

I went to see 'Kingdom of Heaven' yesterday afternoon. Some notes:

Oh, Liam. *shakes head* You excel at roles in which you die. Is this some kind of thing in your contract? Still, I'll take them. All of them. I'm sure this isn't the last one you'll do. (Oh, did you die in 'Kinsey'? I didn't get out to see that one) I fully expect you to be killed in 'Batman Begins', too. But I'll slavishly go see you in that, too. I digress...

Yes, unfortunately Liam Neeson is hale and hearty all too brief a time in the film, but with the ushaven face and sword in hand, it was like coming home. The man is aging, but even with the deepening lines, it's still the same good old Liam.

Orlando fans will have scads of material to make screencaps out of. Toward the end, I was like 'enough already!!' with the closeups of the pensive, thoughtful face of Balian. Still, he isn't too hard on the eyes. Not one damn bit.

I don't recall one time where the differences between Christianity and the Muslim faith are brought into the story. It's like it didn't matter. I guess we are just supposed to take for granted the crusades simply happened for the hell of it. Maybe that was the point: it didn't matter in the context of the story, it was about one man's struggle to be a good man, his journey to find what the Kingdom of Heaven is truly all about.

Jeremy Irons is always a delight to gaze upon. Craggy, scar-marked face and all.

Violence? Yep, plenty of it. Flying dirt, gushing blood, falling horses, the whole works. I couldn't help but thinking of the battle of Minas Tirith in ROTK during the Jerusalem siege scenes.

I was already intrigued about the film after I heard an interview on NPR with Ghassan Massoud, the Syrian actor who plays Saladin. No one really knows what Saladin looked like or what kind of man he was, but I think he did an admirable job. Or I guess I just have a thing for craggy faces and piercing eyes.

No, I haven't jotted down any thoughts on Ep III. Maybe after I see it again. Let me just say that I agree with most of what I've read other people posting. How's that for lame?