Tuesday, July 24, 2012

News from my neck of the woods

From Cheryl's home page
I just finished a wonderful book. I first learned about it last week when one of my Senior Trailblazers, Peggy, told me she was reading the book and was enjoying it immensely. Although she offered me a chance to borrow it from her once she was finished, I was too impatient to wait and went online and ordered it from Amazon for my iPad. Although I first went to my local library, I learned that it already had 150 holds ahead of me! That meant it would be sometime next year before I had a chance to read it. For $13 I could have it right away. Amazon makes it awfully easy to order these things: in less than a minute it was downloaded onto my iPad.

However, it was a good move. The New York Times reviewer Dwight Garner had written a piece that made me even more impatient to read it, not to mention that I'm not exactly a patient person to begin with. Yesterday I finished it and will continue to think about it and read other things by the author.

Cheryl spent three months on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 1995, and the book is about her experiences. She was lost in many ways, since her beloved mother had died at the age of 45 from lung cancer a few years before and her marriage had fallen apart. She decided to hike the trail alone, although she had never even spent a night backpacking prior to this. Her writing style just kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Although I'm not sure why it took her so many years to finally write this book, I'm so glad she did. If you decide to spring for it, I don't think you'll be sorry, although it's only available in hardback and it's a bit pricey, unless you go the electronic route.

Yesterday here in Bellingham we had a weather record of our own. I've been watching the awful scorching and dry weather that most of the rest of the country has been going through, and I'm grateful for the cooler weather here in the Pacific Northwest. However, yesterday in Bellingham we had the lowest high temperature for the date, by two degrees. It only made it to 61 degrees F (16 C) and was downright cold. We are already a month into the summer season and have had below-normal temperatures for most of it. That said, it's still a better summer than last year. Who knows if this is because of climate change or just normal variation? Hopefully at least some of what we are all going through is not permanent.

And finally, the other news from my neck of the woods is that my fisherman friend Gene has returned from Alaska. He goes up there for around two months every summer to fish on his boat. We not only don't see him at the coffee shop, but his lady friend Paula and his twenty-year-old parrot don't visit us either. Now everybody is back. I sure enjoyed taking this picture.
Paula with Poop-Stain
Gene says that the bird has the best summer of his life, since Gene used to take him to a bird sitter's home and he didn't get a lot of attention. Paula put a cage for him in her place, and he grew quite attached to her, as you can see. Since they don't live together (Paula and Gene), the bird now has two homes and gets plenty of tender loving care. He's also getting on in years and sleeps much more than he did even a year ago. Both of them speculate that he might have had a small stroke, since he has rather abruptly lost his squawk and is much more docile. I don't know, but I am enjoying seeing the three of them reunited at the coffee shop.

Well, as they say, that's the news from Bellingham, the City of Subdued Excitement, my neck of the woods.
:-)

24 comments:

  1. nice...that book sounds wonderful...right up your alley but def interesting for me as well...wow on the cold weather...still smoking here...even followed me on vacation...though i hear they are getting pelted back home....hail and high winds again....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am . . . taken by the little birdie. Such pretty colors and a good cuddler, too! I hope he has many comfortable and happy years left.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Placing the book on my must-read list. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Subdued excitement" - Lol. Well, lady, you have a much more exciting life than I do. Nothing much going on in my neck of the woods.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The book sounds good. My ex-husband and my son talked of hiking this trail together for years. Unfortunately, neither ever did. I can only imagine all that the writer must have learned about herself and about life.

    ReplyDelete
  6. sweet little parrot - he looks very much at home on her shoulder. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. That book has been on my radar for quite a while now. I requested an advanced reader copy from two sources but had a feeling it was going to be very popular. Looks like I might have to buy this one. Thanks for the review DJan.

    The little parrot is so cute. Glad he is well loved.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A 61 high is quite a record!
    We have had two very heavy thunderstorms the last two days.
    I can see right away why you would identify with this book. Great that you liked it so much!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What pretty bird! Sounds like a smart bird, too.

    That sounds like a book written just for you. I was so excited to learn that you could now "borrow" books from the library for your Kindle, but all the books I want have a super long hold list.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I almost had myself convinced that I don't need any more books... Dang!

    We have had too warm days with no rain. This is the first cool day in a long while. Wish it would rain!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hmm. I'm thinking there's a book in you, DJan, about your skydives, your hikes, your travels. Sign me up.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Now that sounds like a book I would like! I'll have to put it on my list to read, whenever that might happen!
    I'm liking the "subdued excitement" line. I may borrow it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. 61..I could take that for a few days..although we cool off to the 70's at night. This is one of the warmest Summers in Minnesota history. Love that name Poop Stain..and I can see that he is comforted by her hair! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Cool weather, and seeing friends again. That sounds like pretty good news from your part of the Pacific coast.

    "Subdued excitement." Isn't that an oxymoron?

    ReplyDelete
  15. record breaking COOL temperatures....color me green with envy here in the blistering heat [I know, I know...we moved here and no one forced us.] But still!!!!

    Poop Stain....cute name for a parrot.

    I bet that book is filled with some wonderful happenstances, AND revelations after what she had gone through in her life in the recent past.

    ReplyDelete
  16. It is so exciting to find a good book that appeals to our interests. It certainly sounds like your kind of book. I'm impressed that you always find a way to enjoy and live the most in the present. I started watching a new TV show called "Perception" on TNT. The main character was making the point to his class that living in the present is the most important thing they can do and to forget about the past and the future, except for the 12 page paper they had to write :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. We've had the same temperatures as you lately and I suppose I got used to it being cold, wet and windy! However, not so good for July huh! Now it's gone hot and humid and I don't like that at all. There's no pleasing me, is there.
    That book sounds perfect for you D-Jan. I'm so glad you bought it and got stuck into it.
    What a sweet parrot. I hope he still has some years of life left. I've heard that they live a long, long time,or can do and your friend doesn't seem at all bothered that she's just been pooped on.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'll have to order that book. I have an abiding fondness for the Pacific Crest Trail, having hiked various portions over the last 40 something years! At one time a friend and I planned to hike the entire trail, but it never happened. Lots of talk about it though in my younger days!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll download it today as I've just finished a book. I'm still holding on to a plan to accomplish a long-term hike like this.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dwight Garner's book review would be enough for me to want to read this book, but your post has put me at the must-read place. I will order this on Amazon today, and if it is as good as I think it will be, I will recommend this book to my book club.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear DJan, I don't use the word "precious" much because a writer I once edited used it so often in her manuscript that it lost its meaning for me. But Poop-Stain is precious in that photograph. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
  22. After I read A Walk in the Woods and Three Thousand Steps I didn't think any other long hike book would measure up so I had been studiously avoiding this book, now I am going to have to read it! Hopefully the library will have it in time to finish before my course starts in the fall... eek !

    ReplyDelete
  23. Book looks interesting.
    Gotta love a bird named Poop Stain!!
    Waves from Fargo as I pass through. :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Jan, my brother is in seattle and is also a fisherman-salmon. will have to check out the book

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments! If you see a word verification box here, just ignore it. I don't use the darn thing and Blogger is trying to get us to use it, I guess. Ignore it and your comment will still appear.