A lazy Saturday...

...and there aren't too many of those in the inventory.

It took me about 30 seconds to fill up a page of to-do items to get done before I leave, but between the heat and a natural inclination to take it easy, I probably only got 1/3 of them done or started.

I put together the care package the old man asked for yesterday, and brought it by the rehab center. He was sitting in a chair, dressed, and dozing. His roommate was absent, either temporarily or permanently. I put the stuff I brought away in my dad's locker and then sat down with a paper to kill some time until he woke up, which he did shortly into the paper.

We had a pretty good conversation, and I'd say he appeared to be in very good shape and spirits. Hopefully, there'll be some good news from the people who run the place when they do an evaluation next Friday.

* * *I think I can understand the restless some people get when they're exposed to too much civilization; it has to do with the level of control you have to get used to. For example, I took Shiloh to the beach, figuring that if I couldn't take her across the bridge to the community beach (I remember that sign from among the many at the beach, including "No Smoking" and "No Motorcycles"), we could walk toward the outlet leading to the Sound on this side of the beach.

No dice.

It turns out there's an impressive "Keep Out" sign on this side of the bridge, too.

There are "No Parking" signs galore, and I even spied a "No Parking Anywhere Along the Street" sign, intended to keep the hoi polloi from annoying the residents of a community that's not upwardly mobile enough to afford gated access. And if New York State made right-turn-on-red legal some time ago, Nassau County is simply goofy about reversing that as much as possible, planting "No Turn On Red" signs at almost every light that I've contemplated doing a right-on-red maneuver.

* * *I got to thinking about favorite movies the other night, when I was watching Bad Day at Black Rock, with Spencer Tracy. And not in the sense of just movies I've enjoyed, such as My Favorite Year, with Peter O'Toole, or Singin' in the Rain, with Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds, which I can watch again and again, or movies that had an impact on me, such as The Bridge on the River Quai, with Alec Guinness, or even À la folie... pas du tout, with Audrey Tautou (betcha didn't see that one coming!).

If I had to characterize this list, maybe it'd be "movies that make me glad to be part of the human race." It didn't take me long to come up with a half-dozen entries:

• Bad Day at Black Rock (1955, with an incredible cast, in my opinion, including five actors (Spencer Tracy, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine, and Lee Marvin) who had won or would eventually win Oscars)


• Cyrano de Bergerac (1950, with José Ferrer in the title role. Sorry, Gérard)


• Inherit the Wind (1960, with Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly)


• Casablanca (1942, Bogie, Ingrid, and Paul.)


• Remember the Titans (2000. My favorite line: You make sure they remember forever the night they played the Titans!)


• Admiral Ushakov (1953, a Soviet-era film based on a historical personage)

I shall have to make sure I turn to on the remaining items tomorrow, to clear the decks for any possible work that comes in on Monday for Tuesday. If work comes in with any other deadline, I'll be in a pickle.

Actually, no, I won't be. I'll simply have to pass.

Cheers...