Autumn is Here!

Good Morning Folks,

My second favorite season arrived yesterday. However, it does lead to my favorite, Winter. The problem with the warmer times (and it has gotten relatively warmer again in Flag) is that there is only so much you can do to get cooler. The same is true for taking off your clothes. Even if cultural convention allowed it, taking all your clothes off does not necessarily make you cool in hot weather. Now, in winter, you can just keep adding layers. All of this is very elemental but this blog has probably never succeeded in getting beyond the mundane anyway.

I almost titled this blog "Neighbors" as I have been contemplating the vagaries of getting new one's because some of the condos around me are rentals. I had the delusion when buying this place that others would be doing the same to live in, and make them their homes. Boy was I mistaken! It seems a number of folks bought in to have rental properties, hence my current dilemma.

For the past couple of years the condo below was rented by young females and they were good neighbors. We had a conversation about noise levels and I told them if I was too loud (TV, etc) that they should let me know. My thing is to subtly, or maybe not so much so, communicate my sensitivity to the sound issue by putting it on me hoping they get the hint. Well, my new neighbors are "Testosterone" laden young college age males who have commenced to play the bass on their stereo loud enough to rattle my teeth. I have warned them several time that they need to turn it down, at least the bass. My final edict was to threaten to go to the HOA and eventually get them evicted if necessary. So far they have grudgingly complied. But they slam there door every time they come and go, it happens all night long. I do not think they do that on purpose but just do not think about the effect on others. What happened to common courtesy?

Too continue in this curmudgeonly vein, what did happen to courtesy? It is my biggest pet peeve these days. It seems to have exited the culture at some point. Look at the disrespect for the President. You can disagree with him but why all the discourtesy? There are numerous other small examples in daily life. People do not do the simplest things to be courteous. I guess the blame has to go to the 60s generation for which I am a member (also known as the "me" generation). We worked on trying to "free up " society but I think it went too far. Respect, common decency, and to a very large extent courtesy went out the window. It is all "I want mine," and screw everybody else. Yep, we changed the world and then lost it!

Enough of that . . . Monday I depart for a car camping and hiking trip to the North Rim of Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Cedar Breaks National Monument. In addition, I will stop off to see a couple of plays at the Utah Shakespeare Festivals fall presentations. This trip traces the route my youngest daughter, Natasha, and I often took on our summer forays into the west and its parks. We hit the road every summer from when she was about 9 through 16 or 17 years old. These were some of our best times together. Now I will trace these steps solo this time.

Movies: I have seen several films since those last ones that were marginally reviewed here. Yesterday it was Killer Elite with DeNiro, Stathum, and Clive Owen; an entertaining but overly long and violent international "thriller." The remake of the old and controversial Dustin Hoffman film Straw Dogs is probably not worth seeing. The original was much better. However, Drive, with Ryan Gosling, an equally violent film is very good with a strong cast and script. But, as I have often said, not for everyone. Contagion is interesting and again, the cast is strong, but the subject matter concerning the spread of a virus may be a bit too much for some. None of these films are what I would call "uppers," in that they may not give one a great feeling upon leaving the theater.

That's about it from beautiful downtown Flagstaff the mountain jewel of the Arid Zone.

Adios until next time!

Addendum to movies . . . just discovered I neglected to mention two excellent films I saw the first part of this waning month. Rachel Weitz did a wonderful portrayal of a policewoman sent to Bosnia during their problems. She discovers a cover-up of a UN peacekeepers running a white slaving operation. It was good but again a "downer." The film was The Whistle Blower." The other was an Irish film with Brenden Gleesen as policeman with the Garda, Irish police force. Don Cheadle was good as well as the American FBI agent. It was both a humorous and somewhat serious "heist" film. Both were great.