What Is On My Nightstand

I read a couple of great books this past year, but also a couple of clinkers. They are advertising hell out of Beneath A Scarlet Sky and making a movie about it but I thought it stunk. The story was about an Italian kid, seemingly with super powers, who is able to infiltrate the German army and become a spy for the Allies. It had about every possible cliché ever about WWII, Germans, and love. The kid is an expert skier at 15, a renowned spy at 17 and a great lover throughout. Gee, what a nothing burger. And the writing was terrible. I don't know how anyone could have kept a straight face with some of the blather. Don't get it - its nothing special. Maybe Hollywood can make it better but Mark Sullivan, its author, struck out.

Even worse, if that is possible, is this little book, Norwegian Night, I bought that I thought might be a good grandfather - grandkid survival story. It is the story of a cranky old codger who befriends a young boy after his mother has been murdered. The kid is from Kosovo so they don't have the ability to converse with each other. The old man is hiding him out in the woods to prevent those who killed his mother finding him and silencing him as well. Sounds good, right? Lot's of possibilities here, I stupidly thought. Too bad the author, Derek Miller decided to load it down with all kinds of silly plot twists that diluted what could have been a good coming-of-age story; things like the old man being a sniper in the Korean War, only his wife and son never knew about it. Things like his son dying a few years abacka nd they never had a chance to reconcile their differences. Things like his daughter just having a miscarriage, or that they are living in Norway and the old cranky guy has lost his wife and no where else to live. And that the old guy is Jewish and, oh, well, you get the idea. Like my buddy always says, "...keep it simple."

The best book this year was Gentleman From Moscow, by Amir Towles. I sure hope I find a couple of those this year.

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Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week. Except for me. I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers. These pics need no words. Why muddy the waters? They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley. The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter. If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one. But, please, no more.

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida. There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife. In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride. He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much. He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A. But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying. He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed. Note the propeller

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