Sunday, November 01, 2020

Of RIPs and Life

In the past week or so I have lost 2 long time blog buddies.

The first was Ann of Twilight. Learning Curve on the Eliptic was a fountain of knowledge on the stars, on politics and on life in general. I always enjoyed her posts.

Today, was the awful news that Ronni Bennett of As Time Goes By died last evening. She and I started blogging around the same time. Her honest reports on aging and insightful commentaries on its process was the first blog to deal with the "real" side of aging - with all its ailments, challenges and discomforts. I exchanged several emails with her over the years. She was an enormous help to her huge community and was unstinting in her communication about her own dying. Gawd how I'll miss her.

Highlights of the weekend:

Daughter came in and stayed for the weekend. We had planned to watch The Queen's Gambit together - me for the second time, she for the first. But that never happened as we laughed our way through Halloween and into the small hours of the morning. The more we age together, the more we enjoy each other but we also recognise that this is extraordinarly rare. One of the topics was rate your worst dates ever. Gawd did we have a feast on that one.

But don't miss The Queen's Gambit. 10/10 from me on IMDB, a rare thing. Trust me.

I'm reading "Catch and Kill" by Ronan Farrow. Which has my hair standing on end. It reads like one of the best crime novels, with underworld spies, threats, blackmail and dark web stuff but it's all true.

Please don't grieve that POS Sean Connery. A wife beater who bragged about slapping women about. A friend of Trump's and over all horrible subhuman.

Sean Connery "An open-handed slap is justified – if all other alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning. If a woman is a bitch, or hysterical, or bloody-minded continually, then I'd do it." — Playboy magazine, 1965. "There are women who take it to the wire. That's what they are looking for, the ultimate confrontation. They want a smack." — Interview with Barbara Walters, December 1987

A dinner of moose was dropped off by a friend tonight. Here it is in all its glory. I will get 3 meals out of it. It is to die.

30 comments:

  1. I've only lost one blogmate that I know of and sadly she was quite young. I'm sorry about yours.
    Good that mother and daughter had fun. I think when your children reach perhaps forty of so, you can start being a little more frank with them about delicate matters.
    All I know about Sean Connery is he is Scottish and James Bond. Thanks for the illustration of his unfortunate character.

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    1. The Real SC was sublimated by all the praise rocking his way. I suppose a common occurrence when someone famous dies. The white washing begins.

      Forty is a good bench mark I think. Also when their own parenting is finished. And time becomes free again.

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  2. I have lost a few blogmates (including the one that Andrew referred to). It hurts. Who knew that people we have never met and probably will never meet could become so very dear to us.
    I loved hearing that you and your daughter had a heap of fun.
    I didn't know that at Sean Connery but I am not surprised. Going at ninety in your sleep isn't a bad way to leave either. I certainly wouldn't class it as a tragedy (but that may be hard-hearted hannah talking).

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    1. I believe we truly get to know others on blogs, EC, especially when we've been writing for years and also some of us cross over into personal contact.

      it's a genuine loss when they die.

      No, not a tragedy when that wife batterer died.

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  3. I did not know that about Sean Connery. I've been a fan for decades and now may not be able to watch any of his movies ever again. They will be spoiled forever for me.

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    1. I hope not a bad thing, River? I knew about this in the sixties and never watched another film of his. Hearsay he was much worse than what he disclosed. As the old saying goes "How I do one thing is how I do all things."

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  4. I’m in the middle of Queen’s Gambit now and it is very good. I like that the characters are not the half-expected stereotypes, like the orphanage janitor for example. Your moose dinner looks great! NL is lucky to have an abundance of moose, although I imagine a lot of drivers don’t consider that lucky :-D

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    1. The moose is organic, of course, but they are not indigenous to the province and the annual culling (the legal hunt) keeps numbers off the roads. But they still manage to maim and kill many. They are terrifying when they cross the highway. I've had a few encounters myself, as you know.

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  5. I wish that my friends would do such nice things like dropping off food to last me for three meals. I salute them for being such good friends to you.

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    1. I was so grateful Ramana. She even included a tablecloth of a pot of beets and a pot of jam and a bowl of delicious gravy. I haven't had that kind of meal in a long time. Though Daughter supplies me with stir fries and chili.

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  6. I've never liked Sean Connery nor the way interviewers from the start gave him a pass on hitting women. Si I'm not surprised but I'm glad you brought it up for a bit of balance.

    Sorry about your losses. I've been active online since the mid 90s and have lost several online friends, one very young. It's a big loss, and I miss them.

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    1. Yes, I've lost many now over the years Boud and it always hits my heart as we reveal so much of ourselves in our blogs. I felt I really knew these two. I remember exchanging hairpins with Ronni at one point as she had found the old fashioned kind on the web. They will be missed.

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  7. Sorry to hear about the loss of your friends. Friends made through blogs are not to be sneezed at. They matter.

    Since SC's death I've read that he later evolved and changed his attitudes and presumably his ways. But for me, "What has been seen cannot be unseen."

    Kate

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    1. He also had multiple mistresses and his second wife didn't care. A lot more to his story than meets the eye. And words are cheap.

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  8. I just read about Ronni and am devastated. I started reading her blog in 2008 and it gave me the strength to start mine in 2009. She was quite a lady.

    As for Sean Connery, I did not know his bad sides. But I know that he had dementia during his final years. My husband had Alzheimer’s for 10 years – it is horrible. So maybe that was a type of karma for Sean C.

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    1. I am heartbroken too Vagabonde. What a wonderful person she was. My only regret was not going down to Maine and meeting her when she lived there for a few years before her Oregon move.

      Yes, dementia is horrible to observe. I've been close to a few in my life and you just cry every night.

      Karma. Yes.

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  9. Ronni will be much missed. It's hard to believe she was just posting about adult diapers with lacy trim a few days ago.

    I watched all the episodes of "Queen's Gambit" over a two-day period. I agree with your assessment.

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    1. I know those lacy panties, did me in. I went back and re-read it. And only a couple of days before she decided. She was failing on the YouTube, but I honestly thought she'd stay until the election finalized.

      Wasn't QG a marvel though?

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  10. Oh, for Pete's sake, that moose looks good. I have never tasted moose. As for Connery, I never heard that about him. He was a good actor, though.

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    1. Moose is delicious Gigi and you have adventurous taste buds so you would enjoy it. I could never view him again after the Playboy article. Slimeball.

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  11. I have requested "Catch and Kill" from the library but there were so many hits for "Queen's Gambit" I need more details. Is it a movie and what is IDMB?

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    1. IMDB is a long time website which rates movies and series and documentaries. Just Google it Chris.

      The Queen's Gambit on Netflix is a series and absolutely enthralling about a girl who learns chess from a janitor at her orphanage and then goes on to play championship matches. Riveting.

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    2. It is IMDb, with the small 'b', which is Internet Movie Database, I think.

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  12. Gravy and everything!
    OK, I'll watch Queen's Gambit.
    I watch a Kanye West interview in which he lamented how much men had to fear when "me too" went viral. Can you believe. OK to demean women, hurt them, but now men have to worry about being called out for what they did. Fuck you, Kanye.




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    1. I would add a fuck of my own Joanne, only I ran out of my daily supply today quite early.

      Kanye West is another POS. I think Dave Letterman interviewed him. I avoid that kind of nonsense. Dave should grow up and grow some.

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  13. I too loved Ronni's blog. Started reading it almost from the beginning when she was still in NY. I am from NY and could identify a little. She was so good at researching answers to the very practical issues we face growing old. I will miss her insights and wisdom.

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    1. I also loved, Mary, how she called out ageism so frequently. It helped me a lot when I was doing aging workshops in high schools and different centres. Her wisdom was mighty. And her research so thorough.

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  14. Luckily all my long-standing blog-mates are still very much alive, but as we all get older I fully expect to lose a few over the coming years. You'll miss those "honest reports on aging". Those honest reports are still quite rare as people prefer to gloss over their infirmities.

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    1. She was amazing Nick. Wrote about normally off limit topics like losing hair, incontinence, her cancer, her COPD and her mushroom trip to find a deeper meaning. Plus caring for her elderly mother whom she didn't like very much. A powerhouse of a woman.

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  15. I'm so sorry about your blogmates.

    I'd always kind of liked Sean Connery until I heard about that. Jackass.

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