Katherine Squire

            This is the beginning of the seventh year of this journal.

            On Monday morning about two thirds of my way through song practice my high E string broke but I didn’t bother interrupting rehearsal to change it. For any other string I would have had to but since there’s a low E the chords are still complete. It just sounds a little dull.

I worked out a few more of the chords for “J’suis snob” by Boris Vian.

            I finished posting the chords for and my translation of “Encore Lui” by Serge Gainsbourg. The next song I’ll learn will be Gainsbourg’s “Puisque je te le dis” or (Just Because I Tell You).

            There was no time to work on my living room floor today.

            I wanted to call my doctor’s office to make an appointment for my annual physical but my phone gave me a message “Network not available for voice calls”. I figured that meant I had to pay for next month’s phone service so I rode over to Freedom Mobile to pay it. When I got home I got the same message, so I went back to Freedom and the clerk restarted my phone to fix it.

            I called Dr Shechtman’s office and asked for an appointment for my physical. The receptionist surprised me by offering me tomorrow. I had to remind her that OHIP requires that the physicals be a year apart. My last appointment was August 24 but that’s a Saturday this year. I asked for August 26 but she could only give me the afternoon. I told her that I wanted a morning appointment because I’d be fasting. She suggested that I just do the blood work the next day but I told her that would mean I’d have to ride downtown two days in a row. She gave me 9:15 on August 28.

            I had cannellini beans with green salsa for lunch and some yogourt with honey.

            I did some exercises for my hip in the afternoon and then took a bike ride to Ossington and Dundas, down to Queen and then home.

            I had been looking forward to getting some things down on the computer but when I got home I discovered that Windows had hijacked my computer for a major Windows 10 update without my permission.

For the next two hours I had to occupy myself with non-digital activities. I cut a leather patch and sewed it onto one of my leaking ankle weights and I put a new E string on my guitar. It occurred to me while installing the string that when I’d changed my B string a couple of weeks ago I’d mistakenly used a 13 gauge string and so now both my E and my B are 13 gauge.

I had nine tiny potatoes, broccoli, my last two drumsticks and some gravy for dinner while watching two “The Veil" stories.

The first begins with Marie telling her lover Edmond that she is leaving him to marry his publisher, Charles. As a parting gift she gives him a crystal ball, not realizing it really works. Every time he looks into it he sees what Marie is doing at that moment and she has the feeling that she is being watched. Charles is going away on a business trip and asks Edmond to visit Marie. Edmond sees that Marie has already taken a lover whom she sees every day. When Charles comes back he comes first to Edmond to announce that he has signed a contact for two more of his books. He asks how Marie is but Edmond is evasive. Charles begins to suspect Edmond of having an affair with her and so Edmond is forced to take Charles to the studio where Maria is visiting her lover. Charles steps into the studio and one assumes he kills them both. Edmond goes home and smashes the crystal ball.

The second story is about the Haney family and their farm. James Haney left the farm in his teens, having stolen all of his father's savings. His older brother John had stayed behind to help maintain the farm and it did well. Now the father is on his deathbed and James returns hoping to get something from the will. The father dies and the will is read by the family lawyer, played by Boris Karloff. The will leaves the farm to John and Emma, his mother is happy about that because she knows John will take care of her. But James pulls from his pocket a later and therefore more valid will that leaves the property to him. He plans to sell the farm and put his mother in an old folk home. A court case ensues but it looks like James is going to win. James kicks John out of the house but he sneaks back to get some things and sees his father’s ghost, which tells him nothing but, “Genesis 27”. Genesis 27 is the story of two brothers Esau and Jacob competing for their dying father’s blessing. Jacob cheats and gets the blessing and the birthright intended for Esau. John figures that his father is talking about a family Bible. He eventually finds his father’s Bible and between the pages of Genesis 27 he finds a more valid will.

Emma was played by Katherine Squire, who was more successful on stage than on screen, but she appeared on several popular TV shows and had recurring roles on a couple of soap operas. She often acted on stage and screen with her husband George Mitchell.