I bought a Tempur-Pedic mattress some years ago. At that time, one of the selling points was that this mattress would last 20 years. “Wow, it will last twenty years! That’s great.” Got it home, and started using it. Several years into sleeping on this mattress, the thought came to me, “Why would I want a mattress for 20 years?” That thought comes from the idea that with daily use a mattress becomes a sponge or dirt magnet for all sorts of sweat and grunginess. Mattresses don’t come cheap, but probably 10 or at most 12 years might be what I think I should keep a mattress before buying a new one. *So, I’m well over due for a new mattress.

The pillows that came with my new Tempur-Pedic were of the “Neck Pillow” style. I like these because I can turn them in opposite directions depending upon how I want my head to rest on the pillow.

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I bought some pork chops at Lee’s Farm Market near Benson, NC a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t repackage them and put them in the freezer right away, and when I did, I noted an “off” smell. The first one that I cooked had a strong smell, and I thought, “did I let this spoil.” But, I cooked it and it didn’t taste bad. Several years ago, at I think it was called the “New York Cafe,” in Fayetteville, I had breakfast and some of the bacon had a similar, “off” smell, which smelled like urine. After this aroma recurred during repeated breakfasts, I think I asked about this. I think I was told that during certain times of the year, the meat took on this off smell, but the meat was still good. *And, I didn’t get sick off of three different pork chops that I cooked from Lee’s. However, I didn’t like this aroma, and I decided to buy some pork chops her in Fayetteville. I think I bought the pork chops at the IGA across town. They were thinly cut, maybe only 2 oz. per chop. Although they didn’t have that overpowering “taint” smell, they did have a hint of the smell. So, for the first chops I cooked today, I made some buttermilk (add a little vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk) and marinated them for a couple of hours, as I went about town getting groceries, drugs and money from First Citizens, before cooking. The soaking in buttermilk did make the aroma almost unnoticeable, and I will probably do this again.

I’ve made homemade buttermilk about 3 or 4 times since I read online how to do this and I’ve been very happy about the results. The milk thickens up and has a little tartness to it. For years, I’ve read about using buttermilk to marinate various meats, and I’ve done this a few times, but the problem was always that even a quart of buttermilk, meant that most of it would go bad before I used it again. Now I can make a cup or half-cup of buttermilk, use it, and not have to worry about wasting any left over.

OUR PETS

They come along,

and then they go.

They come along,

and then they go.

They come along,

and then you go.

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For years I have loved driving through a “well to do” neighborhood. There are many nice, old homes and there are streets which travel along the edge of a small lake. On a single morning, I have seen a hundred ducks, most floating end to end in a crisp October morning. I have seen the lake, frozen over with snow on the ground. And, not too long afterwards, I have seen the lake almost completely drained, mostly mud, with just a very narrow channel of water flowing from it’s high end, and on down to the dam at the low end. There are two Little Community Libraries, but only one of them that I drive by quite often.

And then there was a large old home, two storied, that had a couple of full-sized dog statues standing out, in the front yard, next to the short, crescent shaped drive way. As I passed by, I could look past the house and see the lake, behind the home. For years, I drove by this house and looked at the two dog statues, one white and one black, standing faithfully in place. The statues had not been put out front at the same time, and so I had come to believe that each had been erected as a memorial to a long loved pet that had gone beyond the veil. And, after years, and years, one day I saw the statues had been removed, and the home began to look unlived in. Then the thought came to me. Our pets come into our lives. We love them, but eventually they die. At some point we usually acquire another pet, we love them in a different way, but they die also. Maybe we put up a reminder of this beloved pet. But, if we live long enough, it is us that die, and the pet lives on. At least for a while.

Our pets normally do not erect life-like likenesses of us, in our memory.

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[NOTE 05/04/24]: I just started watching a movie, “The Judge,” and a lawyer’s mother has just died and he has returned to Carlinville, IN to attend her funeral. So, he is driving through town, and he’s turning to cross a small bridge across a small river, and I start to see a few things, like a footbridge, running “catty cornered” to the street & bridge. But, there is enough here for me to start asking myself if I have ever watched this movie before. I’m almost positive that I had not seen this movie, but that got me to Google Maps searching on Carlinville, IN. So, I pull up the map and almost immediately note that there is no river going through this small town. Then I google for filming locations for “The Judge,” and see that it was filmed in Shelburne Falls, MA. I don’t recall the name, but then I go to Google Maps for Shelburne Falls. And, there is the diagonal foot bridge crossing the river, and as I use Street View and cross the automobile bridge, I see familiar filming locations. I’ve looked at this town before, on Google Maps, but, not for this movie. I then google for other things that have been filmed in Shelburne Falls, MA. And surprisingly, to me, there are about eight different other movies or shows, one of them being Dexter. And, I watched several episodes of Dexter, and that is where I first became acquainted with Shelburne Falls. Without looking back at Dexter, I recall that there was a cafe, just across the bridge, that apparently was not an actual cafe.

This is one of the recent recognitions that I have come across where I’ve come to know a place through Google Maps / Street View and then later, recognize the place in some other realm. A Harry Bosch location from one of his novels, and then a video clip of an actual police chase where the person fleeing runs into a fountain in the middle of a traffic circle and damages it. Or, the Vincent Thomas Bridge near the Port of LA. I was watching a Dodge car commercial and recognized the bridge they were crossing. And, later in the commercial the cars are racing past a Port of Los Angeles Warehouse #1. I look and this warehouse is at the entrance of the Port.

And the first instance I recall is from Connelly’s description of the Hightower Apartments. I recalled seeing an old private detective movie from years ago, and the fictional detective lived at the Hightower Apartments, but I didn’t recall that name. What I did recall was the iconic elevator tower which was probably about 3 or 4 stories high, from ground (where there were rows of small garages on each side of the street). In Connelly’s book one of these small garages was used to house a victim’s, a young woman’s, car. *I went back and found the movie was “The Long Goodbye” from 1973, which originally was a Raymond Chandler novel about the fictional detective, Phillip Marlowe, and in the movie Marlowe is played by Elliott Gould. **There are many shots of the tower, elevator and the apartments both interior and exterior, and even a short clip of a car driving past some of the small garages, seen from above in Marlowe’s apartment. [end NOTE]

So, I’m watching an infomercial for Meaningful Beauty, by Cindy Crawford. Early in the commercial, they put two melons side by side and somehow the product they are selling protects their melon from normal decay, while the other melon quickly (with timelapse) decays. And then it came to me… If you want your melons to look as good as Cindy Crawford’s then use Meaningful Beauty;-)

Cindy Crawford is 58 years old, which is the same age of Brooke Shields.

So Harry wants to know what she has learned from her autopsy that she performed on Calexico Moore. She tells him she can’t, or that if she does, he can’t repeat it because she is currently an “interim” Chief Medical Examiner, and that might jeopardize her becoming permanent. Harry eagerly agrees to not relay the info she is about to give him. She tells him, the Moore case may not be a suicide. They make love and later she goes to take a shower. She hasn’t even finished washing his stink off of her when he has the phone calling a reporter friend of his, to let the reporter know that he, the reporter, should look into the Moore autopsy as to whether it is a suicide or a homocide. And, without telling her, Harry heads off to Mexico. *When I read that, my first thought was that if Harry and I worked together, and I had gotten a promise from him not to share info, and that he knew it might jeopardize me getting or keeping a job that was very important to me, I would never trust that “lying sack of shit” ever again. And, Bosch could call me up at all hours of the day looking for favors, and if I had caller ID, I wouldn’t answer his calls until “normal working hours & days” and when he finally did talk to me, I would put his request “in the queue” and not give him a damned thing more advantage than anyone else.

Now, I didn’t read the Bosch novels in the order they were published. I actually read “The Black Ice” just before I read “City of Bones” and these books were eight years apart. In “City of Bones” Harry calls up Teresa asking for a favor, not during regular business hours. It is New Years and Teresa is preparing to go to an event, but she agrees to let Harry come over to show her a bone. She meets him at the door, inspects the bone and identifies it as human, and she abruptly brushes him off to go through other channels. And she tells Harry not to call her again, but to go through channels. Having read the two books so close together, my memory and Teresa’s memory would probably be very close to what a “wronged” person would remember, even eight years later.

Harry Bosch is a lying sack of dog shit. Not to be trusted. And definitely not someone that is owed anything. No cutting in line. No, “you know Harry.” Yes, I know Harry. “That lying sack of dog shit, Harry Bosch,” can’t be trusted.

In “City of Bones” there is a young police detective, partnered with Kiz, that released confidential info to a reporter friend of his. This info is published, and as a direct result a man commits suicide. Now Harry can become incensed at this action. The only problem is that Harry doesn’t remember that he did the same thing to Teresa just eight years ago. She kept her job, but that doesn’t make Harry any more trustworthy. Because remember, Harry Bosch is a “lying sack of dog shit.”

I was just watching a muted commercial and there were two videos playing side by side in small windows. A girl in one video steps out of that video, reaches around and steps back into the other video… and they are playing basketball, and she takes a shot. This was done so smoothly that I immediately thought, “that was slick.”

Not sure how this would be done without a lot of precise planning. The girl has to come up to the screen in one video, the middle video (when she is outside of both of the current videos) has to look like she is stepping out of a window, reaching around, and then stepping into the next window.

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[NOTE 08/06/24]: I think it is an AT&T commercial. A young girl is in a dentist’s chair, and the dentist is sitting nearby with a dental instrument in his hand. Nearby is his dental assistant. I think she is a light skinned black woman, with freckles. But, the little girl’s father is in the room, and he is playing with his new phone, and he is sitting on a horse. The little girl says something about since he got his new phone, he “has been sitting on his high horse.” The doctors says something to about the father sitting in the waiting room. (It is a small dental operating room.) The father then says something about, “I guess I’ll sit in the waiting room,” as the horses black tail swishes the girl in the face. The man then guides the horse to turn and he leans down to open the door. After the door swings open, the man turns the horse in a tight turn so that they can head out through the now opened door. *I may have seen an extended scene where the man bends down to make it through the door, while riding his horse. [end NOTE]

I decided to re-watch the movie, “Hannibal” this morning, early this morning. It’s 3:32 am on Saturday, March 9th, 2024.

I didn’t remember all the interaction between Ray Liotta’s character and Clarice at the start of the movie. But, one thing I noticed right away was how Biltmore looked as Clarice was driving up to the front door. There were large, old trees lining both sides of the front driveway. When I first visited Biltmore in spring of 2004, those trees no longer existed. I have seen another old movie where these trees were still prominent. I think I read that there was some type of “tree disease” and they had to be removed.

I just looked and “Hannibal” was released in 2001, so just three years later those impressive trees would be gone. They change out the garden at least four times a year, and on my first visit the garden was mainly freshly tilled soil (reddish clay maybe, no, fortunately I had a photo, see below). I don’t recall, but it seems like a grounds keeper told me I had just missed the Spring flowers by about four days. I guess I felt cheated. I think my Biltmore ticket cost about $65, although that may have been for a year’s ticket (unlimited visits, but extra for the Christmas tour). Whatever the cost, I decided to pay an extra $35 on top of my daily ticket price with the plan that I would come back to see the different seasonal plantings. And, I did, for summer, fall, winter and then the next spring 2005 to see the flowers I had first missed. I also paid extra for the Christmas tour, but really didn’t think that was worth the cost.

Oh, seems like I bought six extra yearly tickets as presents and gave two to Jim Kelley, Ray Sharpe and Jeff Mitchell. Jeff and Robin Mitchell may have been the only couple that took advantage of these tickets, and Robin was pregnant and the visit apparently more harried than you would like. So, these gifts in my mind, go down as one of the worst presents I ever tried to give my friends. Peppermint Bark was a good gift I gave to another family.

Now, it is March of 2024, and I just realized that I have not revisited Biltmore in twenty years, although I did visit it 5 times in 2004. I have been to Asheville several times since 2004, but never to Biltmore again. But, I haven’t been to Asheville in several years, probably since before Covid. I’m 70 years old, but seem relatively healthy and have been losing weight and keeping my Blood Glucose Levels down.

I also enjoyed Asheville for “Trillium a Bistro” where I enjoyed “Curried Apple” soup, and alligator sausage, gravy and polenta. Not sure if I had ever tried polenta before that time. Trillium didn’t last that long, but I did end up making my version of the apple soup, which is pleasing, both hot and cold, and vegetarian or with chicken. I had a good experience at Dobra Tea where I enjoyed a pot of Assam Bhramaputra without any sugar or cream. I still have a couple of cakes of Pu-Erh tea that I bought there years ago. But, this tea is an acquired taste and something entirely different from the black teas I grew up with. I have visited the WNC Farmers Market in Asheville quite a few times. I first became aware of ramps on one of my early visits. But I also tried various cheeses from another vendor, and eventually tried three different beans from Cara’s Corner Market (also facebook). I wrote about my beans excursion. All three looked delicious in the pictures I took, but the truth was that all three fell short in taste. It made me realize that the popular beans, butter and black eyed peas, had proved “the survival of the fittest.” These less popular bean varieties had failed to be as good flavored as the more popular ones. I bought some “gumbo file” powder there, which I added to some soup and I enjoyed some clove hard candy, which I later found online and still have a good sized jar. I just don’t eat this candy because of the high sugar content, but I do like the flavor. I’ve enjoyed my visits to “New Morning Gallery” in Biltmore Village. I think I’ve bought at least a couple of pottery mugs or bowls there. I’ve enjoyed my visits to the “Southern Highland Craft Guild Center” and getting there from “the back way” along the Blue Ridge Parkway, from Weaverville. I think I may have bought my special “alien” mug there, but I’ve also bought mugs at Mangum Pottery.

The WNC Farmers Market

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The North Carolina Arboretum

Mangum Pottery in Weaverville, NC

I enjoyed eating at the eclectic Stony Knob Cafe about three times. I think I first saw a booth upholstered in Ostrich Skin there and thought of having one of my chairs done maybe in red dyed Ostrich.

The Stony Knob Cafe

The “Back Way” from Weaverville to the Blue Ridge Parkway (take a right here)

Walking up to the Southern Highland Craft Guild Center

If you come down the Blue Ridge Parkway (not from Hwy. 70) and turn into the Guild Center you may think you are deep in the forest but in fact you are very near the Veteran’s Hospital, and there is even a nursing home right next to the Center, but you can’t drive around to get to it. Come off the Parkway onto Hwy. 70/Tunnel Rd. and head back toward Asheville, you will quickly come to the VA Hospital and across the street, the East Village Grille.

East Village Grille on the left and the VA Hospital on the right.

I’ve enjoyed several visits to the East Village Grille and had a very good Philly Cheesesteak with fries, and another time, a good Pastrami on Rye and fries. With the Cheesesteak, I noticed another customer had a ruby red sauce, and I asked for some. I think it cost me about 35 cents extra, but they brought out a small black plastic cup of “Tiger Sauce.” It was delicious and I ended up buying some from Amazon, both for myself and for Christmas presents one year. Tiger Sauce had an “original” flavor but later they had a “Habanero – Lime” flavor which I liked even better. I think they discontinued the new flavor, but may have brought it back eventually. I still have several bottles of Tiger Sauce but just don’t use it because of the sugar content. But, if I remember, I may open a bottle for my next hamburger, steak or chicken dish. **Elsewhere I have recorded the VA Hospital “lawnmower man” incident.

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I visited Asheville for a one day trip, staying overnight at a Quality Inn about a month before Hurricane Helene came through and devastated the place. It was a wonderful visit. The motel rooms had been renovated and I even had a quiet flush toilet. I saw black bears on the Blue Ridge Parkway and wild turkeys almost in downtown Asheville the next morning and the morning air was cool which was a welcome change from what it had been back in Fayetteville. And, the last place I visited before leaving town about noon the next day was the New Morning Gallery which is in the Biltmore Village District and where a bunch of water and mud came through five weeks later. What a gift that visit was!

I’ve written about this elsewhere, but I made a leisurely detour up to Asheville and also on the way back. It definitely wasn’t all Interstate. I guess as much of a “leisurely detour” as one can make going from Fayetteville to Asheville in a day, and then then the next day from Asheville back to Fayetteville. I saw a parachute team coming down in Maxton that morning.

I just finished watching Episode 1 of Season 2 of Will Trent. It was enjoyable, but partially through it I realized that it reminded me of another show from a few years back, “The Mentalist.” And, I couldn’t remember the name of the older show, even though I have referenced the opening segment of that show, as enjoying it immensely and saying to myself, “I’m going to like this.” And, I did like it for several seasons until the evil “Red John” character got killed off, and then we found out it wasn’t the “real” Red John. Once that happened I felt betrayed. I realized that I would be forever at the mercy of the writer(s) and that no matter what happened, it could always be changed. If I couldn’t trust, then there was no need to continue watching. If I had been watching “Dallas” when they revealed that the entire previous season had just been a dream, I would have felt so betrayed.

I liked the first season of Will Trent. But, now that I see the similarities with the Mentalist, I’m sure I won’t be invested in the second season. Oh well.

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https://www.google.com/maps/@52.461407,4.6517496,3a,17y,18.34h,92.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjs-e4jskf7FjXyvAi-E_wQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu