My sister Mary and brother-in-law Dennis came to visit for a couple of days, the first of my siblings to visit since we’ve been married. I hope more visits will follow. More sisters too.
All of Donna’s sisters and brothers have visited over the years. Some even lived with us for extended periods of time. Nieces and nephews too. On my side, it’s been just my mother and father, and later on my father and Lois, his second wife. It’s not that we Woodford siblings have cold relationships, but for whatever reason the only times we’ve managed to see my sisters have been during visits to my dad’s place in Missouri.
Well, that’s changed now with Mary’s visit, and as I say I hope it breaks the logjam. Mary and Dennis, by the way, farm an ungodly number of acres of wheat in northeastern Montana.
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Mary and Dennis left Saturday morning. Sunday I went riding with motorcycle friends Dave and Cherie. Cherie’s sister Sally was visiting and rode along on my back seat. Along the way we visited two southern Arizona cultural landmarks: the site of silent film star Tom Mix’s death in a car crash and the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument near Coolidge. Tom died on Arizona Highway 79 in 1940. The ruins are what’s left of a complex of buildings and grain storage structures built by prehistoric desert dwellers and abandoned some time during the 1400s, probably after an extended drought. The main structure is a four-story adobe house, heavily decorated with graffiti left by cavalry troops in the second half of the 1800s. If you’re interested, there are several more photos on my Flickr page.
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I review all the books I read on Goodreads. Sometime last year Goodreads told me I’m a “starred reviewer,” probably because I write a lot of reviews. A few months ago a representative of Tor asked if I’d be interested in reviewing books for them, and I said yes. Hey, free books, right? I always think of Tor as a science fiction & fantasy publisher, but the first book they sent me to read & review was an action thriller about Navy SEALs. You can read my review here and judge for yourself how likely it is Tor will continue to send me books.
The movie on the left was heavily hyped in the motorcycling community, heralded as another On Any Sunday, the famous 1971 documentary about motorcycles and their riders. Why We Ride didn’t hit the theaters, but there were private screenings around the country, and one was scheduled for Tucson late last year. I guess they didn’t get the advanced ticket sales they wanted, so the Tucson screening was canceled. I decided to pop for the Blu-Ray DVD. Twenty-four dollars later, I’m sorry to say it was a disappointment.
Why We Ride interleaves brief scenes of motorcycling with talking heads. Some of interviewees are well-known figures within the sport, racers and land speed record holders; some are unknowns with interesting stories to tell. But they are still talking heads, and if I wanted to watch talking heads I could have watched any cheesy documentary on the Military Channel. I wanted something that captured the excitement and allure of motorcycling. Watching someone’s lips move is the opposite of that.
If you’re looking for a good movie about motorcycling, On Any Sunday is still the best, along with the epic Ewan McGregor/Charlie Boorman motorcycle adventure documentaries Long Way Round and Long Way Down.