The Odyssey

It's supposed to be another scorcher today. Not quite as bad as yesterday, which got up to 93º F (34º C) according to the local weather people. Today will be a few degrees cooler, but only a few.

Yesterday morning wasn't bad, and after I walked the dog, I did some reading and took care of a few online errands. Dave and I had pre-planned to go to "The Odyssey" at the local IMAX theatre, so we left after lunch, with a little uncertainty about how Bailey -- alone in the house for the first time -- would handle our absence.

"Iron in the Fire" dahlias

I really enjoyed "The Odyssey," and it's pretty remarkable, when you think about it, that we are still mining one of humanity's oldest stories -- or series of stories -- for new inspirations. It was big, sweeping, dramatic and LOUD -- too loud, honestly. I covered my ears for parts of it, like the fight with the cyclops in the cave and some of the battles. Dave has a decibel warning monitor on his watch, to alert him when his music room at school is getting too loud, and it was going off like crazy.

I thought the one thing Christopher Nolan could have done better is reinforce the names of the characters -- like, just say their names every now and then so the audience could hear who they are. I know some of the stories in "The Odyssey," at least roughly, but I could not remember the name of Telemachus' mother, and I swear no one called her Penelope until practically the end of the movie. Or maybe I was just overwhelmed by everything else going on.

Anyway, it was a good way to kill off a couple of hours, though expensive. Our tickets were £49, or $66, for the two of us -- and that's before any snacks! Odysseus could have outfitted his whole freaking fleet for that kind of money.

But it got us out of the house and into an air-conditioned environment, which was the goal all along. And when we got home, Bailey was waiting patiently for us, with no evidence of discomfort or anxiety and no damage to the house. Good dog!

And now, as I sit on our garden bench, she's lying on our poor dead grass, and it's time for me to walk her.

Dave made a blueberry pie yesterday, so we now have that for dessert. I teased him for deciding to bake a pie on one of the hottest days of the year, but it did taste good -- so I can't complain too much. We were out of cornstarch to thicken the filling so he used arrowroot, which he read could serve the same purpose. Well, it didn't. (I looked at the container this morning and it expired in 2015, so that could also be part of the problem!)