More Nature

I am Marlon Perkins. This was in our backyard as we were eating dinner this evening:




I took a movie of it as well but our stupid computer won't upload it. The deer hung around for a couple of minutes and kept looking over at us because it could hear the girls squealing and talking about it. It was about to start munching on our neighbor's garden when something startled it and it took off for the woods.

Nature

Here are a few photos of Maryn and Avery exploring the set of Jim Henson's 1982 film The Dark Crystal. When it's not being used for film fantasy lands, it's known as Mathiessen State Park and it's about ten minutes from our house. We took advantage of the cool weather yesterday and walked around to enjoy nature. Suzanne's pregnant and I'm as out of shape as a streched out sweater so it was quite a workout. The scenery was worth it though.

Cool

Over the weekend, the humidity lowered and the heatwave finally broke. We slept last night with our windows open and, this morning, I was actually a little bit chilly when I got out of bed. It's both funny and not funny at all how the weather turns on a dime here. Last night, Suzanne and I sat on the porch and watched Maryn and Avery run around with plastic cups trying to catch fireflies. There was a little breeze and the lightning bugs were glowing everywhere. It was this really lovely moment that almost made up for the outright suckiness for the last week.

The temps are supposed to be low for a few days so we're going to try to get out and take advantage of it while we can. You never know when the thermometer is going to start reading, "You don't even want to know, fool" again.

It's been a while since I reported on my movie watching progress and, for most of you, that's probably okay. Nevertheless, here are a few updates:



Magnificent Obsession - the Douglas Sirk melodramas of the 50s are just really fascinating to me. Aesthetically and thematically they're really, really formulaic. You know exactly what you're getting when you watch one - how they're going to look, what they're going to be about, etc. Magnificent Obsession is probably the apex of all melodramas. Robert Merrick is a careless, selfish playboy millionaire who, through a series of events, causes the death of a much beloved doctor. Later, in the process of frantically trying to make amends to the doctor's widow, he causes her to get hit by a car and lose her sight. After that, he becomes consumed with the "magnificent obsession" of making amends to her. In addition to paying off her debts and medical bills (secretly), he arranges for her to meet with the leading doctors in the world in hopes of restoring her sight. When that doesn't work, he becomes a brain surgeon himself and eventually restores her sight. Got that? He. Becomes. A. Brain. Surgeon.

Of course, he and the widow also fall in love along the way and when he asks to marry her, she runs away because she loves him too much to ever be a burden to him. Seriously.

It's sort of unintentionally hilarious in parts but still more interesting and more watchable than a lot of the more "serious" films I have to see. Jane Wyman was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as the world's most cheerful, selfless blind woman.



Night Nurse and Annie Oakley - What can I say? I love Barbara Stanwyck. Night Nurse was pre-code and so it's racier and more brutal than you would expect - children being starved, wild alcohol-fueled parties, women getting punched in the face, etc. but, of course, by today's standards it's pretty tame. Annie Oakley was just fun. It reminded me of Yankee Doodle Dandy, another hagiography of an quintessential American character. It's far from anything other than just a Hollywood fluff piece - but Stanwyck is charming and Moroni Olsen's performance as Buffalo Bill was a lot of fun. (By the way, with a name like Moroni Olsen, do you think he might be Mormon? Oh yeah. Check it out here. He was the voice of the Magic Mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Who knew?)

Battleground - Good. Saving Private Ryan owes it a lot.
12 O'Clock High - Good. Gregory Peck as a hardcore general is good stuff.
Pork Chop Hill - Bad. Long, listless, and boring. Gregory Peck as a mushy, uncertain captain is not good stuff.
The Defiant Ones - Meh. Sidney Poitier is the man. Tony Curtis just isn't.
How Green Was My Valley - My dad has been trying for years to get me to see it and so I finally have. It's about Welsh coal miners and most of our ancestors were Welsh coal miners so it was interesting that respect. It's super sentimental and melodramatic but that's okay. John Ford frames a mean shot and it was interesting to see that young Roddy McDowall looked exactly like old Roddy McDowall.

I'm actually nearing the end of my movie quest. I'm supposed to have watched about 80 movies for the QE and I think I'm within 5 or 10 of that goal. So sooner rather than later I can go back to watching movies in color. How about that?

Hot Hot Hot

I know I complain about the weather a lot and that it probably seems like I am a big baby. To this I respond, "That's Mister Big Baby to you."

I know it's probably not that interesting to hear me whine about how hot/cold/rainy/etc. it is but you're the one who logs onto this blog so I guess you already know what you're in for.

The problem is this: it's going to be 94 degrees here today with 100% humidity. My readers in the West may ask, "Say Mark, what's that like? We don't have humidity here in the high desert. Can you tell us a little about what it feels like to be in those kinds of conditions."

I respond, "Yes, yes, I can. It feels bad. Really bad."

To be a little more detailed, being outside in this kind of weather (or being inside for that matter seeing as how we don't have central air at our house) feels like I have a washcloth soaked in hot water tied across my mouth and nose and like I am carrying around a sweaty, fat man named Frank on my shoulders. It's oppressive, sticky, energy-sapping, and generally miserable.

I have a getaway. My work is pleasantly air conditioned and I can't tell when it's 70 degrees outside or 700 degrees. Unfortunately, Suzanne and the girls don't have as much of an escape hatch. We've installed two different air conditioners in addition to the one that was there when we bought the house - but they have to work pretty hard to keep up with the heat and humidity once it gets in the house. This would be bad enough if Suzanne weren't pregnant but since she is, things are about a million times more uncomfortable for her. I feel bad and wish there was more we could do. We need to make friends with some of the people in town who have a pool, I guess.

Anyway, other than the heat like a wool blanket, the other news is that school has started. I'm teaching two classes, a 1001 and a 1002, plus working in the writing lab for an hour a day. Summer students are almost always smarter and more invested than the average school year bunch. So usually it's a really nice experience. This term seems to be very much the same. Good kids who want to learn. That's one small solace I can take from the daily humidity bath.

A Few Photos

Why Mark Isn't A Cameraman For The Discovery Channel

This Makes Me Laugh

Back Home

We returned to a shaggy lawn, weeds in the garden, spiders in the bathroom, and a stack of mail the size of loaf of bread. Other than those basic side effects of being gone for ten days, the house was in good shape and things were in order. No one broke in, the flowers didn't die, and we even have a couple of green peppers starting in the garden.

We watered the garden, mowed the lawn, and shopped for groceries today. When we got in the van to go shopping, both girls freaked and started whining, saying, "NO! Not the car again!" I don't blame them. Yesterday in particular was a long drive. Coming back always seems to take longer than driving out.

It was an excellent trip though, despite how long it took to get back. I loved seeing my mom. It was good to see for myself that, though she's physically weak, her spirits are high and her mind is clear. Spending time with my brothers, their wives, and their kids was also a real highlight. It was well worth the drive both there and back.

I tried to upload photos but our camera ran out of batteries so the slideshow will have to wait another day or two.

And We're Back (from Yellowstone)

Once we're back in Illinois, there will be photos of bison and movies of paint pots. Yes, you will see moose, mule deer, clouds of noxious steam, Maryn in a cowboy hat, crows the size of turkeys - alla that.

Needless to say, it was a good trip. Footloose was fun. The weather in the park was nice. We saw more than our fair share of wildlife. The girls were pretty happy and cooperative throughout the drive. Good times.

The van is mostly packed. We hope to head off tomorrow morning no later than 8 or 8:30. We'll lose an hour going east but we still would like to make it to North Platte before it's too terribly late. We'll see, I guess.

My mom felt a little better this morning apparently. She was up and around for about an hour and a half before her energy left. She made a pan of chocolate chip dream bars (one of my faves) and started some slow-cooking dinner for us. I'm glad she felt well enough to be active today and I hope she has more days like that.

I hope we'll make it back to IL by Sunday night. Summer classes start this coming Wednesday and I've got some prep to do. If we take into consideration at least one day for unpacking, decompression, mowing the lawn, etc., I'll be left with about 24 hours to get things in order. No problem.

The Next Part of the Trip

It's a rainy, overcast day here in Idaho but that's no shock because practically every day since we've been here has been rainy and overcast. That beautiful, opalescent weather that I've come to expect from Idaho in June has been non-existent. Ah well.



Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone. We'll leave after breakfast and take our time heading up there. After seeing the Playmill production of Footloose in the evening, we'll stay the night at the Greywolf Inn. For those who are familiar with the nightmarish story of our honeymoon, the Greywolf is the hotel we transferred to after our little cabin at the Hibernation Station froze solid. So going back there will be a blast from the past.

Friday, we'll drive through the park. I doubt we'll go around the whole loop -- too much time -- but we'll probably circle the lower loop and check out the paint pots, Old Faithful, and hopefully some bison. We'll drive back to Rexburg that evening, stay the night, and then start back for Illinois Saturday morning.

On another subject: A couple of days before we left for our trip, I had the TV on the Discovery Channel and it was featuring a documentary about the volcano Krakatoa. Avery walked in and later Maryn did too and, for whatever reason, they were absolutely fascinated. The show had some cool footage of actual volcanos and some CGI recreations of what the Krakatoa eruption might have looked at. Since then we've been talking about volcanos and lava and calderas and all that.

Well, yesterday we stopped to visit my Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob. Bob is an amatuer geologist and has all sorts of really cool rocks that he's collected from around the state. He gave Avery a big piece of quartz crystal and Maryn a big chunk of a lava bomb. Maryn in particular was thrilled. She named her rock "Krakatoa" and treated it like her pet.

Earlier today, I heard a wail coming from downstairs that sounded like something serious was wrong. It was Maryn and I could tell the cry was a genuine one and not just one of annoyance or anger. What had happened was she had put Krakatoa in a little wagon and was pulling it around when it fell out and broke into two pieces. She was heartbroken that her beloved lava bomb was broken.

Got that? My daughter was tremendously sad because her lava rock broke.

I felt bad for her because she was sad but I was quietly proud of her for being a weird, little nerd like her father. She's a kindred spirit alright.

Anyway, one aspect of the Yellowstone trip that she's excited about is that Uncle Bob told her that the park caldera makes Krakatoa (the volcano, not the pet rock) look like nothing. So Maryn's all fired up to go into a caldera and see all the hot stuff coming up through the surface.

Where Are You?

My sister-in-law Amy asked "Where are you?" as a comment on my last post. She wondered if perhaps I'd been sucked up by the paint monster that was devouring my soul last week. Happily, such is not the case.

We are in Idaho. I'm writing this post while sitting on my mother's couch in the living room in Rigby, Idaho. We made the trip in two days, stopping on Wednesday night in North Platte, Nebraska and pulling into Rigby at about 9:30 on Thursday evening. It was a mercifully quick and uneventful trip. In fact, the only outright bad part of it was eating at Little America in Wyoming. Take it from me: you should only eat there if you have time to kill, money to spare, and taste buds like tiles on the Space Shuttle. There just ain't nothing good about it.

Anyway, being here has been wonderful. It's the first time in probably four years that everyone has been in the same house at the same time. It's been ridiculously loud and chaotic but a lot of fun nevertheless. My newest nephews, Blake and Cameron, are a blast and the slightly less new nieces and nephews are pretty great as well. We've had some family dinners, had some long talks, shared some tears, gone to church together, and generally had a good time.

As I write this, Maryn and Avery are downstairs having a sleepover with a few of their cousins. They've had such a good time playing dress up and putting on plays and parades with their cousins I'm afraid it will take an act of Congress to get them out of here in a few days.

Mom, Mindy, Shalee, and Melanie threw a baby shower for Suzanne on Saturday and a ton of our nearby relatives showed up to support her. The menfolk were mostly banished to other parts of the house but we heard a lot of laughter (Suzanne's cackle carries over long distances). Aunts Fay and Nan provided the wonderful spread and we got lots of good stuff. It's a little funny to have a baby shower at age 35 with two kids already - but we're definitely not complaining. We appreciate everyone who arranged it and everyone who came. It was a lot of fun.

My mom is doing well considering everything. She's very weak physically and needs help walking but otherwise is still very much Mom. She puts up with the brothers' stupid jokes and loves on her grandkids with elemental force. She's just really happy that we're all here. She keeps saying that having all her grandkids (and I suppose she means her kids too) nearby is the best medicine.

She started radiation therapy last week and will continue for a couple of weeks. After that, she and the doctors will reassess and decide on the next step. Most recently she was told that the radiation won't give her any more days than she already has but it will make the days she does have better. Whether or not she goes through with the gamma knife treatment remains to be seen. Largely, it will be a question of quality of life. Mom has said repeatedly that she doesn't want to rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic and that she's not interested in staying alive at the cost of her ability to function and communicate and relate to her family. So we'll wait and see how the radiation affects the four tumors on her brain and go from there.

Vacation-wise, we still have a few things on deck for this week such as a trip to BYUI to look around and reminisce about how much its changed, lunch at Fongs (which is a really fun name to say. Say it with me: "Fongs!"), possibly a trip to see UP, a production of Footloose at the Playmill, a day in Yellowstone park, and then pointing our van east and heading back to the land of corn and birds.

I'll try to check in again before we head back. I'd hate for my loyal readers to feel abandoned.