Gratuitous Llama Bachelor Blogging (TM)

Yes, indeed. As is usual at this time of the year, the Missus and the Llama-ettes have bugged out for Connecticut and the Hamptons for a couple weeks, leaving yours truly to go it alone for a spell.

They left about seven o'clock this morning. Unfortunately, both the Missus and I have been reyther badly distracted the past day or two and completely forgot that, given the impending holiday, everybody else and his brother also left at seven this morning. I got a call from the Missus just a while ago - she was still crawling towards the GW Bridge at the top of the Jersey Turnpike. With normal traffic, the entire trip to her parents' place in Connecticut can be done in about five hours from here. Frustration reigned. At the same time, the four year old was becoming increasingly insistent that she had to go potty. Of course, there's no place to realistically stop once you're past the Vince Lombardi plaza going north on I-95 until you hit the Connecticut line. The Missus had reached that point of resignation that says, "Oh, what the hell - pee in your undies and we'll get you cleaned up once we get there."

Meanwhile, I had to do a double cut of the lawn today since we've had so much rain recently and I didn't get a chance to mow last weekend. It can be hard work, especially when it's hot, but at the same time there are few activities I can name that are so inducive of meditative thought. I spent the entire time mulling over a response to an opposing party's latest letter in some ongoing settlement negotiations I'm handling. By the time I was done, I had a reply nicely reasoned out and ready to be served up that'll pin the other side like an assagi. If I were in private practice at the moment, bet your backside I'd have billed the client for the time. Heh.

Anyhoo, I've got myself a nice steak dinner all mapped out, served up with oven-roasted potatoes in oil and salad and accompanied by a nice Moulin-A-Vent. I've got a fistfull of raspberries and blueberries right off the bushes for afters, as well. I'll be starting out with some Madeira (just by way of a change from my usual Tio Pepe) and finishing up with either some port or a nice glass of Laphroig 10 year old and I just may have to break into my ceegar stash.

I was all set to watch a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni tonight. It's the Zeffirelli one put on by the Met a few years ago and starring Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming. I saw about five minutes of it when PBS originally broadcast it and remember thinking that, despite the fact that he sang wonderfully, Terfel looked too loutish and thuggy for the part of the Don. Unfortunately, it's a two-DVD set and Netflix, in its infinite wisdom, has only sent the second act, so I'll have to put that on hold. Of course, I'll be sure to post on it once I've seen it.

Meanwhile, my Conan Film Fest DVD's also haven't arrived yet. I'm doing both the originals, plus The Rock's Scorpion King (which I consider to be worthy of inclusion in the canon). I'm also giving Kevin Sorbo's Kull the Conqueror a try, although I strongly suspect it won't make the cut. And don't tell me to include Red Sonja in the mix. That pic, far from being a Truly Bad Film, is simply a waste of celluloid.