Abbie's Real Life Blog

This weather is why I haven’t switched out my winter clothes for my summer clothes.  In August, in the middle of the hottest part of summer, when I think back and wonder why I was still wearing sweaters in mid-May, I am kind of astonished at the idea.  It’s just hard to fathom, as it is in the middle of February when I think back to my summer wardrobe.  And I am a little bit tired of my winter clothes.  But I am not ready for thin cotton blouses and sandals, and I have only a couple more weeks until I’ll have to switch everything out.  Maybe I will wait a little longer this year, since I will be in the mountains for my trip in early June.  I will need to take a lot of layers of sweaters and jackets for that trip.  Did you know that it can and does snow in July in Yellowstone?

So, despite the fact that it’s chilly and rainy, I have had a lot of sinus headaches this week.  I tried switching to generic Zyrtec to save some cash, but it ended up being a waste of money.  Those pills made me drowsy and then didn’t actually do much to fix my allergies.  So frustrating.  But I can recommend Excedrin Sinus Headache.  Those are pretty good.

I had a really unbalanced weekend, not doing anything of particular note on Saturday (except watching a Netflix movie almost exclusively so that I could return it- anybody else do that?  I mean, I wanted to see the movie [Marathon Man] or I would have just sent the DVD back unwatched, but I had to watch it so that I could get it out of the house) so I had to run around on Sunday to get things done and take advantage of the time.

I did manage to finish my first book in months, Adventures in Yellowstone: Early Travelers Tell Their Tales, which I ran across on the shelves of the local library while looking at guidebooks.  This was a collection of diary entries written by visitors to the Yellowstone region between the 1840s and 1905 (beginning with mountain men and ending with early tourists).  I read a similar book a few years ago called Worlds to Explore: Classic Tales of Travel and Adventure from National Geographic.  It was a much larger collection, with essays from all around the world, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.  It’s fascinating to read about how difficult it was to do what is now considered fairly minor traveling.  Anyway, I’m glad I finished the Yellowstone book.  It was good background reading.  And many of those earlier travelers referred to the area as Wonderland.  I like thinking that I’m taking a vacation to Wonderland.

My trip is coming up- I leave two weeks from Saturday, and I’ve finally nailed down more plans in my itinerary.  I had to make lodging reservations in the park back in February, but I didn’t make any other reservations until this week when I discovered cabins for rent in a nearby state park in Montana.  Yay!  So far, I’m only staying in places where ‘electricity’ and ‘lights’ are considered amenities, and restroom accommodations will involve sandals and flashlight.  Headlamp, actually!  I am trying not to buy anything much for this trip, to keep my costs down, but I did get a headlamp, bear spray, and a bear bell.  Well, I’d rather have them than wish I had them, too late, right?  I also need to figure out whether I am going to take plates and cups and silverware or be wasteful with paper & plastic (well, the compostable stuff made of corn, anyway.  Still wasteful, but less hassle than washing and drying after every meal, I guess).

Went to see Iron Man 2 last night and quite enjoyed it.  (I like that they didn’t fuck around with a subtitle, you know?  Another movie would put a colon after the 2 and follow it with a pithy pun.)  All due to a well-written script with a nice amount of humor, good direction, and, of course, stellar performance by Robert Downey, Jr., in a role that is perfect for him.  Sam Rockwell was good, too.  Unfortunately, he does the same kind of evil manic energy thing that Robert Downey, Jr., does, only not quite as well.  They kind of clashed in that regard.  But I love both of them.  My only complaint is how stupid the female characters in this franchise are.  Both Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson only exist here to be eye candy.  The worst action sequence belonged solely to Scarlett.  Robin Hood comes out this weekend, and I will probably see it, but I am torn on whether it will be any good or not.  I don’t hate Russell Crowe and I love Cate Blanchett, but they both seem kind of old for the roles.  And if Maid Marian is turned into some kind of deadly assassin on horseback, I will be irritated.  I’m sick to death of recent movies rewriting historical characters as more enlightened than they were back then.  There is a line somewhere between making Maid Marian a warrior princess and letting Gwyneth Paltrow do little more than squawk and bitch and look pretty.