My Dinner at Bluster's

[kelliem]

ardent_muses and I roadtripped to see bluster this past weekend.

Let me tell you, it was hot in the heartland. I think the heat index temp got up to about 116 F. at one point. Aiieee! I am so not used to humidity. Where I come from, it rarely gets above about 30%. It figures we would pick the hottest weekend of the year to travel.

Fortunately for us, bluster has a lovely home with excellent air conditioning, and we mostly stayed indoors and watched myriad episodes of Stargate Atlantis and Man From UNCLE. Why is it always more fun to watch eps with other fen? We were attempting to pim... er... persuade ardent_muses to be favorably inclined toward SGA but I am not sure we succeeded, time will tell. She's never been a big SciFi fan like bluster and I have so it's harder for her to get into a skiffy fandom. It probably didn't help that bluster and I kept talking over parts of eps and having to back up and replay them, which makes for a choppy viewing experience. Bad fangirls, no donuts.

On the MFU front, we all agreed that there's something about black and white photography that really suits Robert Vaughn. Also that there are a ton of good screencap moments in "The Pieces of Fate Affair" (we indulged ardent_muses's Theo Marcuse fetish by watching that one) and that it was a shame that the copy we have is too poor to screencap. I'd watched it before, but somehow I had never caught this little exchange:

Napoleon (after commenting that it would be a good idea for them to escape before a ton of coal descends upon them): "It might muss my hair."

Illya (casting a jaundiced eye at Napoleon's Brylcreemed do): "Unlikely."

*snerk* Bad boy.

Bluster made us a delightful dinner of pot roast one night, (unlike yours truly she can cook a roast so it's well done on the outer edges, yet rare in the middle... something I have never mastered despite being a certifiable foodie), potato casserole, and refrigerator-pickled fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. She gave us the grand tour of Aurora, Nebraska, and a minitour of Grand Island. She took us to see Mormon Island, a little park where I had set part of my Buried On Sunday/Masterminds crossover, "Crossroads." That was fun! On Sunday she introduced us to Whiskey Creek, an excellent barbeque place. We also discovered Eileen's Cookies ... whose peanut-butter cookies may require online ordering sometime in the near future. We saw many cornfields, soybean fields, the IAMS factory (they have a flag with a paw on it!), and many irrigation systems which ardent_muses wanted to stand under, but we dissuaded her with predictions of mud and possible snakes.

bluster's three cats, Malcolm, Stanley, and Griz, are wonderful friendly boys... though Griz, who is the largest cat (he's got to be part Maine Coon and part Mountain Lion!) I have ever seen in my life, is a little bit skittish but willing to be friendly so long as you stay seated and don't make any sudden moves.

I must say that ardent_muses is an excellent and super-considerate roommate, and even better, she likes to drive. And I apologize for the snoring. :-P

Sadlly, all good things must come to an end and we had to return home. This morning at work I discovered that in the brief two days I was away from work, all heck had broken loose. I should have expected it, since Mercury went Retrograde on Friday.

Comments

[bluster.livejournal.com]

I like to think we didn't make her watch Atlantis unwillingly. She seemed really more than willing to watch more episodes. I would feel badly if she had been too polite to yell Uncle. Heh. *g*

If you want any Eileen's Cookies you just let me know and I'll send a bunch of them to you.

It was so nice to have both of you here. I definitely have to road trip out your way soon because I miss you both already.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

What fun! Sorry I wasn't there to join y'all.
And hey, ain't humidity fun, yo? It's about a million degrees here in New York tonight. Gah.

[shrewreader.livejournal.com]

this sojurn to the south has been brought to you by Southern Sauna manufacturers. Paperwork for PRR status for Canada starts next week. This is for the birds.

[arallara.livejournal.com]

Yay, I'm so glad you guys had fun!

there's something about black and white photography that really suits Robert Vaughn

It's so true! I really liked the black and white episodes. I only watched one color one with Bluster. Ilya looked really good, but Napoleon and Ilya both look amazing in black and white, I think, and I just enjoy the stylized look of it.

[brynwulf]

Maybe now that I will be living closer (especially to the lovely and charming ardent_muses), she and I can do our non-scifi fandom thing while you two skee. :) Seriously, am I the only person in the fandom world not enamoured of SGA? Or even SG1 for that matter?

I couldn't believe it when I heard you guys were going over THIS last weekend to visit. Gah! It was SO hot here and now we're finally getting a bit of coolness, it is a blessing!

See ya soon!