NOAH

What was I thinking? Seeing this overlong and ponderously righteous movie was like being back in religion class at St. Simon Grammar School.

Noah played fiercely by Russell Crowe was a real prick having convinced himself that he had received messages and a mandate direct from god (though that name is never used in the movie; instead The Creator is used.) that all of humankind was evil and the only innocents were animals. His job was to herd all the animals onto a boat (the ark) so they could be saved when the "creator" started a flood. After this job was done by Noah helped by his family (the adopted daughter was Emma Watson from the Harry Potter series and she was pretty good; the wife was Jennifer Connelly who acted her usual vapid martyr role; slowly caressing the cheeks of her husband and sons and smiling or crying a lot.), then they would die out with no children being born and i guess the world would spring back to life populated by a lot of reindeer and polluted by piles of dog shit.

However, the adopted daughter who supposedly was barren had that condition reversed by Noah's grandfather, Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) so Noah let it be known that this was NOT part of the creator's plan so he would kill the babies if they were girls and naturally they were girls - twins.

There was no tension in the movie because you knew Noah would build the ark and that there was going to be a lot of water and the ark would be filled with animals and they would make it to land safely and Noah would not kill the babies. I guess at the last minute when Noah had the knife poised over them; the creator said "oh never mind; just fuckin' with ya".

Another thing that bothered me about the movie was the insertion of video game like battles between sci-fi terminator like stone monsters; also there was an endless battle between the king of the land who wanted to be on that ark  and Noah who shined in all his judgmental splendor proclaiming the unworthiness of this king and undeserving of a boat ticket.

I rated it a 4 and Bill gave it a 5.

JIM 'N NICK'S COMMUNITY BAR-B-Q - SMYRNA, GEORGIA

Smyrna is a suburb of Atlanta and where we are staying for 6 nights; gloriously settled in; a respite from a different motel per night; a temporary nesting. I like the breakfast buffet bars in motels (quality inn so far is our favorite; and everyone has biscuits and gravy) and the small lotions and soaps (the brand used in Big Bend was the best; an aloe and jojoba combo which smelled wonderful.) but i'm not fond of the moving in and out of the truck (which has developed a leak inside the canopy towards the cab end) or noisy arguing motel room neighbors. I think i'll get a pr. of earplugs because when we make our way from the Michigan and Chicago area back to Portland, we will be staying in a lot of motels. But that's not till July.

Anyway, we ate at this bar-b-q place which is close to the airbnb place we are renting and it was THE BEST baby back ribs we have ever had. The place was crowded and noisy but the service was fast and friendly. We shared half a rack and our 2 sides were potato salad and baked beans (unfortunately, they were out of the vegetable of the day which was green beans). The meat was so tender and literally fell off the bone and it was the only time i could completely clean that rib off and lay it back on my plate gleaming and shiny and devoid of any meat.

The beans were spicy and the potato salad good. They also bring to the table a basket of their famous cheese biscuits; oh mi god. full of butter and cheese and softness and everything else that is good. i didn't even need butter to put on them which is highly unusual.

tonight we are eating in - spaghetti and a salad. Its raining which is how we found out that the canopy is still leaking. We did a major duct tape job in Arkansas but obviously it wasn't adequate.

Ah, the perils of the road.

10+ VISIT WITH BOB AND MOIREA IN HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS

 In Garvan Gardens with Bob. It was a lovely sunny day with a cool breeze. The smell from these hyacinths was incredible. There were fields and fields of daffodils and jonquils plus the camelia bushes were all blooming. The tulips were just starting to open. It made my heart happy to see so many spring bulbs which i haven't seen since moving to the desert.

 Peacock in the gardens

this was the trail we did. All the trees were bare though there were a few tiny wildflowers.

Moirea unfortunately was sick throughout our stay however we still got a lot of visiting and talking time in and on Sunday she made a delicious crockpot pork dinner with fantastic bi-color corn on the cob which is one of my all time favorite vegetables.

Lots of laughs and family tales and funny stories from bob and bill's childhood and school days. The house is very comfortable and has a big deck looking out onto Lake Hamilton.