Paul Thomas Anderson said he loved to take character actors and turn them into leading actors, and Philip Baker Hall was a great example. Dead at 90, a good run.
Goodbye to Bemused Senior
Mr. Bemused Senior wrote to me last night to share the sad news that his beloved wife had passed away on Sunday.
Robert told me that he knew Carol felt kinship with us Jackals, so he wanted to let us know. We felt a kinship with Carol, too, though of course we knew her as Bemused Senior.
We are losing a friend, but maybe we will gain a new friend in Mr. Bemused Senior, just as we found Laura Too after her uncle, our beloved Schlemezal, left us.
I invited Mr. Bemused Senior to join us in the comments, and I am hoping he will take us up on that. Robert, Schlemezal fought a long fight, too, before we lost him. Perhaps you would find some comfort in talking to Laura Too.
Sgt. Pepper – their beautiful cat – is in this year’s pet calendar. Carol told me that Sgt. Pepper’s personality had blossomed by becoming the house’s only pet.
I believe that Mr. Bemused Senior joined us for the Adam Schiff zoom, so I think that technically makes him a jackal already, right?
Rest in peace, Carol. You will be missed.
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Honor Where Due
President Joe Biden remembers former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and describes her as someone who changed the tide of history https://t.co/dPK3zMxRuH pic.twitter.com/Hgx2WXJl4e
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 27, 2022
Thursday Morning Open Thread: Honor Where DuePost + Comments (101)
Mary G’s Obit
Satby has directed me to Mary G’s obituary, and I wanted to share it with you.
Such a delightful woman.
Remembering Mary G: A Collection of Posts
Mary G embodied all the best virtues of jackals on Balloon Juice and seemingly had none of our vices. Her resourcefulness was impressive and her good humor was always on display.
Here’s a collection of some of the classic posts we’ve been remembering as we think about Mary G.
The Rescue: Mary & Higgs Boson’s Mate (2013)
The L.A. Meetup in 2014
The 4-part Garden Chat series in March and April 2014, from Mary G and Higgs Boson’s Mate
West Coast Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Sweet Peas & Sweet Pets
And a Garden Chat update from Mary & Higgs Boson’s Mate in June 2014
911 Episode (2016)
Mary G. On the Road, though technically it was a cruise (2017)
Open thread.
Remembering Mary G: A Collection of PostsPost + Comments (36)
RIP, Mary G
Some horrible news via Satby, and I am upset to inform you that beloved longtime commenter Mary G has passed. Mary G has been here forever, and was a terribly sweet and kind and funny person. She had suffered from RA for a long time, and passed the other day.
There are a ton of Mary G stories, and I hope you all share them in the comments as well as memories of your interactions with her, but my personal favorite is when she fell in the bathroom without her phone, but had her tablet with her, and she notified people in the comments section that she had fallen and could not get up but could not reach 911. Within minutes, commenters had figured out which emergency services to contact in California, and lit up the switchboard to the point that when the paramedics arrived, they asked her to tell her friends to stop calling 911.
RIP, Mary. You will be missed.
My Sweet Tucker
I lost my sweet Tucker a week ago. It was all very sudden. Perfectly fine in the morning, gone by evening.
It was a normal morning, and my sweet boy was his usual happy self. At 9:30 we left for the vet, not a big deal, just a follow-up appointment for something totally unrelated to what followed. But when they brought Tucker out to the car after the appointment, something was very wrong.
I said something to the girl who had walked him out and she said he was just stressed from the noisy clinic. So we went home. Tucker didn’t want to eat or drink, and I called the vet 3 times over a couple of hours, but they assured me that the vet was unconcerned; the clinic was very noisy and he was just stressed. Tucker started to relax, and in the afternoon Tucker rallied, drank some water and scarfed down some green beans and some cheese, went outside, so I started to think maybe the vet was right.
Fast forward two more hours, and we were on the way to the emergency clinic at the University of Illinois Vet School. Tucker was able to walk to the car and he jumped in, and when we got there he wanted to smell everything outside, even in his slightly wobbly state. I didn’t know this was the end, but maybe he did. An x-ray showed that Tucker had fluid in his chest, not his lungs, but his chest. They did a needle aspiration to determine whether it was a mass or an infection, and it was the worst possible news. Tucker was bleeding into his chest cavity.
My little Henry looked to Tucker for everything, so I asked a friend to bring Henry to the clinic so Henry would understand what was happening with his Tucker. I got to be with Tucker for a few minutes, but we didn’t get a real goodbye because Tucker was on painkillers and couldn’t even make eye contact. Henry seemed totally clueless, acting almost as though Tucker wasn’t even there, and Tucker didn’t react to Henry, either, so I think Tucker was already starting to leave us. But Henry hasn’t looked for Tucker even once, so in spite of his apparent cluelessness, I know he somehow understood that Tucker is gone.
I knew something was very wrong when they brought Tucker out after his appointment, but I let the vet convince me I was wrong, and I would have made so many different choices that day if I hadn’t. That wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but Tucker would have suffered less, and we could have said our goodbyes. Regrets.
So my sweet boy is gone and my heart is breaking. It’s been a week and I still don’t have it in me to write the post that my wonderful boy Tucker deserves, honoring him with the testament he deserves, telling you stories and sharing photos of my sweet, handsome boy. I will do that when I feel I can, but for today, here’s video from the day Tucker met Henry. Tucker was full of life, full of energy, full of love. That was Tucker through and through, until the day he left us.
When Tucker Met Henry
My friend Carol had gotten a new puppy the day before, and she called me, totally overwhelmed. I told her to pack up the pup (who is now my Henry) and the pen and the toys and come over so we could help her through those first days. They stayed with me and Tucker and the kitties for nearly two weeks until I left for Thanksgiving weekend, and then Carol was on her own for the long weekend. I returned on Monday, and Carol called to say that it was too hard on her own, that she was taking the little guy back to the rescue.
But Tucker and Henry had bonded the minute they met, so that wasn’t an option. Henry came to live with us and Tucker got the little brother he never knew he needed, until the second they first met.
Yes, there’s a tarp on the floor for the new pup, the house is a wreck, there’s a bra on the couch, but this was probably the best day of Tucker’s life, the day he got the little brother he didn’t know he needed.
The day they met.
Crazy love.