It’s a mystery

Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?
Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
Hugh Fennyman: How?
Philip Henslowe: I don’t know. It’s a mystery.
– Shakespeare in Love

Good folks of America, may I introduce you to the deep, brown pools of warm chocolate in Detective William Murdoch’s eyes?

Yannick Bisson, aka, Murdoch Source: Google Image Search

If you’re lucky, you’ll look up from your knitting or doomscrolling right when the director pauses on one of his (many) far-off stares that turn into daydreams.

He’s keeping me warm these days as we hit wave 2 of the next round of winter. I mean, pandemic hiding. Last winter was kinda brutal. We thought we were getting six more weeks of it, and then it just carried through into June, July…August we started to feel like we could be alive again (unfrozen), but then September came along and now it’s geting cold again.

I wore my winter coat for the first time this evening. But, that’s not why you’re here.

I went up to a yurt by myself for the first week of September to rest and I broke my ankle on the Saturday, the day before the regular day we rest, but, thankfully, I had already been resting for most of the week. I had minimal phone connection – although, thankfully, just enough bandwidth to signal my help for when the break happened (I waited until morning, because, really, what can you honestly do at 10 pm that you can’t do at 8 or 9 am in the broad light of day? So I went to bed.)

No, I didn’t sleep. My “little grey cells”* worked a little over that night, debating the sprain or the break, going over the moment it happened, and lamenting the fact that I still had to go pee.

So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m knitting a lot of dishclothes and listening to Murdoch solve mysteries in and around my hometown, Hamilton, ON. Mysteries have been my saving grace this entire time because I’ve been trying to write one myself, and I think I’ve just begun thinking about everything in mysteries and puzzles to solve.

God knows, it’s a prettier version of what’s happening in our streets to this day… but still the same old shit, different century. The 18th century is now two centuries ago, by the way, in case you have forgotten. I think that’s the thing that makes me feel the oldest. The centuries are slipping by, lol. And, yes, this is also not how the police actually worked then, I just don’t care. I need some fantasty in my life these days. The news is very grim.

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Tonight I had a delicious thought – what would have happened if I had stayed at the yurt? I heard the wolves the first night. I heard coyotes the third or fourth. What more did I want? I half wondered if I would see something slip past my vantage point in the yurt, but the only things I saw were a couple of squirrels, a few mice, and a startled garter snake. Plus all the beautiful mushrooms.

And the most amazing thing about living in a forest for long enough? You get to watch the mushrooms grow – a whole life cycle of the fruit in double time. Sure, you could watch your fruitbowl, but mushrooms are just more fascinating. Plus, the stars. I sat as long as I could the first evening, watching those stars twinkle into view. I also got to sing to the moon, which, in and of itself, was very special.

I was supposed to go to Telluride, CO this summer for the 40th annual Telluride Mushroom Festival. A gift to myself, purchased in January, at the beginning of the year, during auspicious times when you feel hopeful and grateful for another year. Everything, for the most part, is suspended until next year – so, I could, presumably, still go if I wanted to. But last night’s debate made me doubt my intention seriously. As much as I would love the adventure, I don’t know if it will be possible. And, frankly, I have a lot of healing and body work ahead of me – maybe I’d be up for those hill climb forays, maybe I wouldn’t. I hope I do – it would be a beautiful, magical opportunity to test the strength of my hard work – the hard work that’s ahead of me this coming winter and spring.

I wish I could say that I’m going to hunker down, but I worry that if I hunker down too much, I won’t rehabilitate my ankle to the point where I could, if I wanted to, climb a good forest hill – or, you know, the Swiss Alps, the Julie Andrews hills. So I will be working. I purchased a new bathing suit, I hope it’s suitable for the type of swimming you do in the winter. It’s fire engine red, so, you know, valid question.

Murdoch Mysteries is on Netflix in Canada, btw. I think it’s on Prime in the US?

Why Aren’t You Watching A Young Doctor’s Notebook?

Here are the reasons why you should be watching A Young Doctor’s Notebook.

In 1917 Russia, a young, fresh-faced doctor prepares to take over the Muryovo village hospital, complete with… well, let’s call it a crew for now.
Photo: Sky Arts

It’s not long

Only 23 minutes! 24 if the English bird comes ’round to tell you what’s happening next.

Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm

What an odd but strangely wonderful combination. Miraculously, Radcliffe is pulling himself out of the child-actor muck slowly but surely. Sure, he had to get naked with a horse to do it, but we all need to take baby steps.

And what can I say about Jon Hamm that hasn’t been said before by a more devout follower of Purple Prose? He’s a man-god in the actor scale. He’s almost a George Clooney. And, in case you forgot, GC didn’t really “grow into his role” until he was in his mid-thirties either. Nowadays, I suspect he’s probably shellacking that look into place George Hamilton-style.

Radcliffe and Hamm working together is like watching a fine play unfold. There are moments of quiet. Moments of disturbing imagery. Intrigue. Comedy! Which brings us to…

It’s Funny

Humour in that grand traditionally Russian kind of way. You’ll recognize it if you can see it. And you’ll laugh that snarky half-laugh half-scoff that all Eastern Europeans (apart from the Finns and Estonians) seem to have.

Have you seen Fiddler on the Roof? Now you know what I’m talking about.

And, for the rest of you, Mikhail Bulgakov, whose book A Country Doctor’s Notebook the series is based on, would approve.

It’s Pretty

But sometimes disturbing as well. I won’t even tell you the scene I watched of Radcliffe hacking away at a poor peasant girl’s gangrenous leg in episode two.

You can catch A Young Doctor’s Notebook on Sky Arts in the UK. Hopefully we’ll see it on Netflix in North America soon enough.

GObama and Massachusetts Legalizes Medical Marijuana

The big news is that Obama has won. There’s no question of that. However, along with the opportunity to give diplomacy four more years, six American states also had one of their first opportunity to vote for same-sex marriage laws and to legalize medical marijuana.

Massachusetts legalized it (and, for the record, have had same-sex marriage laws since 2004.)

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

I love this photo.

Just think of how many babies are going to be conceived tonight. July’s a good year to give birth anyway. G’night, America. You earned this one.