Where in the World are We ?

 

Comfort Food After a Long Desert Sojourn

 Seeing green trees and real lakes again has given me a desperately needed lift. It's kind of like comfort food for the entire body.

Cypress trees in Lake Ocoee, Tennessee

Getting Caught Up With Some Photos

 I have neglected the blog for weeks, partly because I've not been motivated and partly because my life is pretty boring and I'm not wishing to bore you all with it. I'll just bore you a little: had a hyaluronic acid injection in my left knee yesterday. I'll sum it up by saying that my left knee following much physical therapy was about 95% better and now, after the injection it is about 85% better. The injection was, if not excruciating, very painful for the duration and for some time afterwards. I think the doc was surprised when I told him how painful it was...like maybe it wasn't supposed to be?

So, I'm sitting here this morning taking it a bit easy and I'm posting a few photos from the past few weeks; mostly garden pics because gardening and cooking occupy a large part of my time at home. A few photos from our weekend in Taos are included.

Some 4 O'Clocks whose color variations always delight

 

Not sure what this is

Black-eyed Daisies

Mums

Martha Washington Geranium

At a Neighbors - I'm Too Lazy to Look it up

One Day's Harvest a Couple of Weeks Ago - Sweet and Hot Peppers, Tropea Onions, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Basil, Rosemary

The Dreaded Hornworm

Mini Sweet Peppers Grown From Seed I Saved from Grocery Store Peppers

This year I'm into peperoncini (Peperoncino (plural peperoncini) is the generic Italian name for hot chili peppers, specifically some regional cultivars of the species Capsicum annuum ). I grew several plants from seed I purchased and several more from seed I took out of the "crushed red pepper" condiment like you would find on the table of many Italian pizza restaurants.

I think I will have more hot pepper than I can use.

Peperoncini (Italian/Calabrian Chili Peppers)

Peperoncini and garlic hanging in my kitchen

 I put some of the hot pepper in olive oil instead of drying it.

Peperoncini Sott'olio (Peperoncini under Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

Planted a Fig Tree last year and while is is doing well this year, I have found only one fig on the tree.

There is ONE Baby Fig on My Fig Tree

 Fennel does not want to produce a "bulb" but goes to seed and now is growing wild all over the yard

My newest "experiment" is artichokes. Because this is the first season and I've had really bad experiences in trying to actually cook/prepare artichokes, I decided to let the pods blossom.

Reminds Me of the Little Shop of Horrors

In Santa Fe

The Hubby - Leon

One Morning on the Way to Therapy in Santa Fe

The trip to Taos. Been there several times and actually I'm not thrilled with Taos. But then, I've pretty much lost any thrill with New Mexico overall.

The Muddy Rio Grande

This Would NOT be my Suicide Method of Choice

Don't let my smile fool you...I'm a miserable old crab

A friend of ours is into carving "Santos" so took these photos for him. The gift shop was closed so these were just "window shopping"

And the bottom line is homemade food:

Calzone, Rolls, Bread, Sheet Pizza

Garden to Table: Fried Sweet Mini Peppers and Onions

Green Bean and Tomato Salad

 

And I should mention that I found Benni

PDF File of Did YouEver See A Horse Go By? A Coming Out Memoir by Frank DeFrancesco

I am finally putting this out there for anyone who wishes to read it.

I am definitely in a different place than I was when I wrote the original book in 2014. Looking at it now I find it to be a bit raw. By that I mean I see how emotionally and psychologically revealing I allowed myself to be. And perhaps how vulnerable. It is a little disconcerting to see myself so "naked" in print now. Hey, as the song goes, "I am what I am!"

The other point to be taken here is that the print copy was never anywhere near the success I had naively hoped it to be! (See posts below for the Amazon reviews) And even though several copies were verifiably purchased, I received approximately $20.98 in "royalties" - and I never really knew how many print copies or Kindle or e-copies were sold.  I was dismayed that the print book was way overpriced by the publisher.

I decided not to serialize my memoir as it would require way too much effort to cut and past and do that on a weekly or daily basis. Besides the sections of the book would be in reverse order. So....

Here is the PDF file of the complete book: Did You Ever See A Horse Go By? A Coming Out Memoir  (C) 2014, 2022 Frank DeFrancesco

(This is the Revised, Re-edited edition with New Material and a FEW New Color Photos as I had to delete some because the file was too large)

It is also on the Blog dedicated to the book. 

If you click on the box in the top right hand corner the file will open in a new, larger window which may be easier to read. Then zoom out or in with your browser controls to find your best viewing comfort.

Netflix Disappointments - "Uncoupled" and "Grace and Frankie"

 Gay themed shows on Netflix have become scarcer over the past several years and so when Netflix announced the new (I'm hoping "single-season") series "UnCoupled" we were anxious to view it.

Let me start by saying Neil Patrick Harris should be embarrassed to to have agreed to star in this series. Did he not read the script? 

Tisha Cambell-Martin (does everyone have to have three names now?) is probably the best actor of the bunch and pulls off her lines with great timing and without taking a breath.

But back to the script. The New York based elitist characters (high end real estate brokers, their clients, art gallery owner, TV personalities, etc) when not lamenting their being jilted by husbands and boyfriends, flit around from exclusive parties to exclusive clubs and live a "life-style" that I and my friends could never relate to.

Not only are they all of a class and world that is out of touch with most of reality, but they spew lines that are mere clichés of the last 50 years of gay wit and camp. The gay humor is so tired and droll. 

Leon and I are suffering through the episodes on the outside chance that the series may have some redeeming value.

P.S. My memoir would make better entertainment if I do say so myself. Coming Soon: The free, revised, expanded edition of "Did You Ever See A Horse Go By?" available on the internet - as soon as I do some last minute tweaks and figure out the best format for presentation. (I'm thinking either installments or in its entirety on this or the blog dedicated to the book - suggestions welcome).

My second scathing review goes to Grace and Frankie, a series that started out with some decent script writing and promise of light entertainment - which it did deliver for a while. Then, what happened? I'm guessing it got some new, amateur or low paid writers who were tasked with producing quantity rather than quality.

The show has become a modern "I Love Lucy" full of ridiculous plots and story lines and almost slap-stick situations that I cannot even call comedy. Not to mention dialogue that no real live person would utter unless they were delusional.

Once again I cannot imagine how the actors, all of whom are seasoned and have decent reputations, can deliver such stupid, humorless, senseless lines, episode after episode. Are they not thoroughly embarrassed? I know I am. Don't bother with the popcorn.