Weekly Journal 4.5.26

Reading

As I finished Traveling, the Joni Mitchell quasi-biography, I felt silly for not listening to more of Joni's music along the way. I still haven't had time to delve much into her discography beyond Blue and Ladies of the Canyon. I played the album Hejira during a family road trip, and liked it, but realized it wasn't the best fit for a freeway drive. Joni's voice is so high and distinctive that it overpowered the instrumentation, which blended into the highway noise and made the vocals sound a bit shrill.

Anyway, I moved onto Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller, and finished it within a couple days. I was a fan of his show Somebody Somewhere, on which he played a sweet and loveable character. I also knew that he was sweet and loveable because he guest-starred once or twice on the Gilmore Guys podcast. It is a known fact that the Gilmore Girls fanbase is a bunch of snuggly kittens. His book was super enjoyable, and Jeff also writes occasionally on Substack.

This may have been the first celebrity memoir by a man that I've read, come to think of it. I've read the memoirs of Kelly Bishop, Mindy Kaling, Tina Fey, Busy Philipps, Diane Keaton, Abbi Jacobson, Kim Gordon, Ani DiFranco, Neko Case, and Brandi Carlile ... oh wait ... also Bob Odenkirk and Steve Martin.

Watching

This is a note of appreciation for Rick Steves and his European travel show, which runs often on the PBS Travel channel on our Samsung TV. I haven't seen another travel host who treats his subjects with so much genuine curiosity, enjoyment, and honesty. It's been 20 years since I visited Europe, and even if I was more familiar with the continent I think I'd still learn a lot from Rick about local history and art and culture. I find it comforting to turn on his show and enjoy vicarious travel to beautiful places without some of the grating elements of the modern media aesthetic, like over-exaggeration, cynical humor, and short scenes with fast cuts.

He's also a good dude—for instance, read his thoughts about Washington's millionaire tax.

Cooking

This was a not-very-notable week for my cooking. There was a lot of takeout and a lot of clearing leftovers out of the fridge, which is one of the worst chores in the house. It had to be done before we left town for the weekend. I had to light an "island breeze" scented candle to cover up the smell of rancid gym socks that filled the kitchen when I opened neglected, month-old containers of food. Our fridge looks quite a bit lighter now.

I've concocted a few espresso tonics lately. Did you know about mixing tonic water with coffee/espresso? I first tried this a few years ago, and wasn't fully on board with the tart, minerally taste blended with coffee, but I'm on a kick right now. My local coffeehouse recently made a cranberry version and followed that up with a tamarind variant; I thought about those for days after drinking them. At home, I make it with lime or lemon. I put a slice of citrus at the bottom of a glass and sprinkle about half a teaspoon of sugar on top, then fill the glass about halfway with tonic water. Then I pour a shot of espresso over ice and add it to the drinking glass. This makes the whole beverage foam up, so leave a small amount of headroom.

Doing

I was compelled to clean out the fridge because we spent the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge, a woodland-themed pleasure palace for kids and families. I first heard about this chain on an episode of Undercover Boss, when someone from the company's top brass spent a few days anonymously working with frontline staff. I remember that boss learning the meaning of AFR: "accidental fecal release" in one of the indoor swimming pools. I was a long way off from being pregnant with my son when I saw that episode, and still I thought about it the whole time I was swimming at the water park with my now-seven-year-old. If any AFR's occurred near us, they weren't announced; for my sanity, I have to assume the times they kicked us out of the pool were for regular cleaning.

It was a long road to get there, metaphorically speaking. We had to reschedule twice due to illnesses in the family. And my sometimes-agoraphobic son was not excited about going. A few days before we left, he literally pleaded with me to cancel, and he whined when we talked about trip preparations within his earshot. I promised that if he didn't like it, we'd never have to go there again. Now, after the swimming and candy and ice cream and furry wolf ears and custom stuffed axolotl, he wishes we could live there. I had a great time too! It had been decades since I last enjoyed a wave pool; that used to be my favorite part of Waterworld USA in Sacramento.

Listening

Glen Hansard was recently a guest on one of the podcasts I listen to, CBB-FM, and I got to hear a couple of excellent songs from his upcoming album. I loved the music he played with his partner in the movie Once, which is a sweet film that I probably should watch again sometime, but only if I want "Falling Slowly" stuck in my head for weeks. Glen has had a long career with several bands, and I prefer The Frames' version of "Falling Slowly."