The Aviary

One of my favorite things* about Dark Shadows is that you have this run of episodes that are all vampire, vampire, vampire, all dark and creepy locking people in basements and brainwashing them into thinking that they're actually completely other women who have been dead for years and also, by the way, in love with the vampire. And you'll end one of the episodes on a cliffhanger where, I don't know, possibly someone might die or something and then...

The next episode is back in the other plotline about people being blackmailed into marrying conmen and their daughters disapproving and dating ridiculous 60's bikers.

Possibly, that is less jarring if one is watching the show the way it was broadcast: one episode a day. But if you watch it in marathon chunks, it is pretty hilarious.




*There are a lot of other favorite things, but mostly, OMG, Willie Loomis. Hi, Willie, you are my favorite Renfield since the original, where have you been all my life?

Hey, guess what I forgot to mention: I am on vacation! Mom and I are in a little rented cottage near Ocean Shores, bumming around till Wednesday. It is great.

Yesterday, we drove here through all the weather. Seriously, there was wind, there was rain, hail, sleet, everything. It apparently snowed last night. We had all the weather. Also, we stopped at many thrift and antique stores. At one of them, I bought a copy of The Dispossessed for 50 cents. At another, we found an issue of a vintage nudist magazine. Although that was hilarious, I did not buy it because it was eight dollars. I did take a picture of the cover, though.

Today, we walked on the beach (very cold, though not precipitating in any way) and drove to Ocean Shores for lunch. Also, we went to a couple more thrift/antique stores. And then we came back to the cottage and decided to do nothing for the afternoon/evening. So Mom has been chilling in her room and I have been chilling in mine, knitting and watching absurd amounts of Dark Shadows. Because if vacation doesn't mean yarn crafts and ridiculous vampires, I don't know what it's for.

(Note to vampires and other monsters: You cannot kidnap random people and brainwash them into being your dead girlfriend. It is not going to work out and will end in blood and tears for everyone concerned. Also, I realize that people would notice and probably object, but is there no way that we cannot feed the irritating child actor to the vampire already? Apparently not.)

Vacation = pretty awesome.

Things I have done this weekend:

- Celebrated my grandmother's 86th birthday! My Auntie Lamb came out for it and everything. We bought a ridiculous pink cake because we are still used to having a five-person household and not a three-person-plus-Granny-who-doesn't-eat-much one. There is so much cake.

- Went thrifting with my mom and my aunt. Which is an endurance event, let me tell you. They are not quite the kind of people who have to touch everything in a thrift shop, but they have to touch 75% of the stuff, yes. Yesterday, we went to a St Vincents, a Value Village, and a little antique store that I didn't catch the name of, as well as the grocery store. And we almost went to a Pyrex museum (!) but it was closed. I'm not sure if I'm sorry about that or not.

- Gave my aunt my Wolfman monster doll. Let's face it, I have never really been a werewolf person. Larry was fun to make, but I don't love him like I love my vampires or mad scientists, so he never got taken anywhere fun. But Auntie Lamb thought he was adorable and then carried him about with her all weekend, so I know he's going to a good home. He'll be happier with her, I think.

- Finished the torso of the sweater I'm working on. I bound it off too tight the first time and thus had to unbind it and then bind off again (using a larger needle and a different bind-off to boot), but now I just have to do the sleeves and the neckline and it's done! Hopefully before it gets too warm to wear it.

- Watched a somewhat ridiculous amount of Dark Shadows. You guys, did you know that part of that is streaming on Netflix? It is pretty great knitting tv, as it's quite talky and if you miss anything important, they'll tell you about it in the next episode. Also, vampires. Well, a vampire. Not that he has done any onscreen vampiring as yet. But he does have a lovely Renfield. I am enjoying it immensely.* Also it's really interesting on a how-different-people-watch-tv level, because I have never really watched a soap opera before and am far more accustomed to other genres of tv, like sci-fi or crime procedurals. Those genres always have a quest of some sort, something for the characters to be aiming at. Not to say that these characters don't have things they're trying to accomplish, because they certainly do. It's just that those wants don't necessarily lead in one direction and it's perfectly okay to sort of pause the action for an episode and talk about their relationships. I keep having to adjust my expectations as to how the story's going to work, which is kinda neat.






*I am, however, a little glad that I didn't get around to watching any with my mom and my aunt (who, like every mid-50's woman I know, have stories about rushing home from school everyday to watch Dark Shadows), because it's always a little weird being around while they're revisiting childhood fandoms that I now share. I always feel like I'm retroactively destroying their childhoods or something. I had the same problem with Man From UNCLE.