June flowers and garden news

Front porch flowers today

 I was taken by surprise this morning when I walked to the bus. Yesterday's rain was supposed to be finished, with just a slight chance of showers. I foolishly believed the forecast and made all the wrong choices about what to wear. Just in case of a little rain, I wore my raincoat but instead of waterproof shoes, I wore my sneakers. Bad choices all around: it was misting when I walked out the door, but before two minutes had passed, I was in a light rain. Then it wasn't so light, and by the time I had walked the fifteen minutes to the bus stop, I was soaked. My shoes even squished.

Our flowers and gardens love all this rain, which should be completely gone before the end of the week, but for now it's kind of pretty and the mild temperatures make me want to be outdoors. If I go out again today, I'll dress properly. But first a quick foray into the garden, since the rain has stopped.

My garden spot, with massive potato greens

I tried to get a picture of the entire plot, but I couldn't show you one end without giving you the big story of my potatoes, which have become wild and unruly, and way too close together for proper "hilling" technique. So, I'll just let them go and see what I end up with when it's time for harvesting. My kale, lettuce, nasturtiums, beets and zucchini (not shown) are also going great guns. I've harvested the Russian kale and am amazed at how quickly it grows back (right in front of the potatoes in this picture).

Sort of orchid-like

Walking out the gate, I saw this delightful flower and was pleased to see it looking so pretty with the heavy raindrops pulling it down. I don't know what it is, do you? And while I was out looking at the garden, it began to rain again. Darn! Just when I thought the skies were clearing, giving me a chance to get in today's steps.

We might actually make it to 66°F today, about the temperature we hit yesterday. When I read about the heat in much of the rest of the country, I feel real gratitude for the mild temperatures and high humidity we have here. The flowers, wildlife, and all the rest of the June abundance loves it. 

I sat down to read a new book yesterday, and by the time I had read the first hundred pages, I realized I had read it before. And not that long ago, either, since it was written in 2015. Since I remember so little about it, I'll enjoy the second read, probably even more than the first one. I went ahead and re-read the last chapter, and the entire book came back to me. Now I'll enjoy a slow immersion into the rest of it, as I currently learned that the ending is a satisfying one. Do you ever forget a book like that? I never did when I was young, but now... 

:-)

Forty years ago today

Mt St Helens blowing its top

I didn't live in Washington State when Mt St Helens erupted, forty years ago today. I was at work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, with no thought that I might move to the Pacific Northwest in my future. That was a long time ago, and even thinking about retirement wasn't in my mind. I hadn't even started skydiving (that happened in 1990, ten years later.) But I sure remember the event.

We didn't have instantaneous news at that time, before cell phones became smart. We did have little wireless phones back then, but we used them for (gasp!) telephone calls. Somehow, though, the word got around the office about the eruption, and at home that evening we all learned that it was not only a major eruption, but due to the largest landslide in recorded history, the mountain lost 1,300 feet of its elevation.

Within three minutes of the volcanic eruption, the lateral blast, which traveled at more than 300 miles per hour, scorched 230 square miles of forest. More than 900,000 tons of ash was cleaned up from areas around Washington. (CNN)

Today in a Zoom class sponsored by the Y, the instructors asked everyone where they were that day. Of course, if you were younger than forty, you could not answer the question, but since this was a senior class, it was fascinating to hear what people who lived around here remember from that time. I was one of the few non-natives, it turns out.

Yesterday I stayed up longer than usual to finish the latest book on my Kindle, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. I learned a ton from the book and went to the author's website (David Quammen) and found that he has written fifteen books so far and is still going strong. He discusses various diseases throughout time that have jumped from animal hosts into humans (called zoonosis). Although this one is scary, I was truly frightened to learn about some other viruses that didn't become pandemics, thank heavens, because they were way more lethal than this one. Quammen offers a few nuggets to help us understand how today's coronavirus pandemic came about (Orion Magazine).

1. Prepare for the worst, while hoping for the best.
2. Zoonotic spillovers will keep coming, as long as we drag wild animals to us and split them open.
3. A tropical forest, with its vast diversity of visible creatures and microbes, is like a beautiful old barn: knock it over with a bulldozer and viruses will rise in the air like dust.
4. Leave bats, in particular, the hell alone. 

On that cheery note, I have to say I was truly fascinated by the book and what I learned from it. I will continue to wash my hands and follow social distancing guidelines and wear a mask for the foreseeable future. I hope you will, too.

:-}

Peeking inside their homes

Nice kitchen

It's been so interesting to see the homes of the people I usually see in studio settings, and they all tell a different story of who they are. Claire McCaskill is always in her kitchen, and I noticed right away that all her plates seem to be homemade, not stacking up perfectly, and that there's no way to keep these dishes from getting dusty. Makes for plenty of work for somebody; I wonder if she has a housekeeper. Probably. If you look online, you can see the rest of her lovely kitchen, but this is where she always stands for the camera.

I noticed my guy standing close to the TV one day, with his head cocked to one side. He was reading, or trying to read, the titles of the books on shelves behind some anchor or another. Then I started looking myself. This guy, a Princeton scholar, rearranges his books periodically, so I realize he knows there are lots of people like me who are interested in what people are reading.

Eddie Glaude at home

The other thing that interests me are the number of people I admire who have pets. I got hooked on looking for the cat in William Brangham's home. The black cat is almost always in the same place on the couch, so when I noticed he was gone one day, I realized how much I missed seeing him. And often meteorologists working from home have dogs that ham it up in front of the camera, which always gives me a chance to smile.

Peeking into the homes of media celebrities has become a "thing." It's more fun than listening to the news, for sure!
:-)

A new cafe and more

Shirlee behind the counter

After the walk with the ladies this morning, my friend Gene took us out for breakfast at one of his favorite places, the Shirlee Bird Cafe in Fairhaven. He had already introduced us to the incredible yummy bear claws she makes in her cafe, but this time we got to see the whole place, such as it is.

t's a very tiny little area, as you can see, but once you walk through the door in the back, it opens up to a place shared by dozens of different shops, and there are many more places to sit than just the counter and the one booth where Lily and I sat while we had a great breakfast. Lily saw the Marlon Bundo book on the side and picked it up. She loved it and read the entire thing before we were served. If you don't know about it, you can find out more right here.

I had seen the book advertised on the John Oliver show, and be forewarned if you know little or nothing about the book. Marlon Bundo is a bunny who fell in love with another male. The saga tells the story of how the two same-sex critters decided to get married against all odds. I just ordered it from the above link.

4Ocean website

And just yesterday, while visiting a couple apartment friends, I noticed they were both wearing sweet little bracelets. It turns out that they had ordered them from 4Ocean, which is an amazing organization.  I had a hard time deciding which bracelet to order for myself and finally went with the dolphin bracelet.

When you purchase the 4ocean Dolphin Bracelet, we’ll remove one pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines. We’ll also help protect dolphins, porpoises, and their habitats from ocean plastic and other threats. This bracelet represents your support.

For a $20 donation, you get a cool bracelet and it's a great way to help clean up our oceans. So, for a small amount of money, I have helped to pull a pound of trash from the ocean and bought a controversial but delightful book!
:-)

Sunny and warmer

Two colors of rhododendrons

I took this snapshot of a beautiful sunny morning on our walk last Saturday. Every bush is sprouting flowers these days. Rhododendrons are the Washington state flower; I've seen wild ones in the forests and cultivated ones everywhere else.

It's a little after noon on yet another fine sunny day. I just finished my yoga class and have two hours between when it finished and my acupuncture appointment, just a block away. So it made sense to come up to my favorite restaurant above the bookstore and have a bowl of soup while I write my regular Tuesday post. I ordered a curry-lentil bowl, which I've never tasted before, but I guarantee I will definitely order it again. My mouth is a bit tingly from the curry, not in a bad way at all.

We have about a week of above-normal temperatures, with full sun and climbing from the mid-sixties all the way up to around 80°F by the weekend. That's a bit on the warm side for me, but I'll muddle through. By Sunday it should begin to return to normal temperatures again. This is a very lovely time of year in the Pacific Northwest. Some of my blogging friends in the southern states enjoy (or at least I hope they do) much warmer temperature than we ever get around here.

Now that I'm letting my nice lunch settle, the wrestling with whether or not to have a scoop of ice cream to finish things off is busy going on inside my head. My favorite might not be there today, and if that happens, I'll skip it. Otherwise...
:-)

Love story for the ages

Lucy and John

It is one of my favorite things: to find an unforgettable memoir that just grabs me and gives me a lot to think about. And yesterday, I finished one that I can recommend without reservation: The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs. I not only enjoy all memoirs, but especially those that are written in extremis. Nina was a gifted writer and had the easiest way of talking about everything, with humor, as well as dying of breast cancer at 39. So, of course, I went online to find out more about Nina. I learned about her husband and children, and how much love was present in them all and for each other.

A couple of years ago, I read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, which is along the same lines: Paul was only 37 when he died of lung cancer, never smoked, and was a renowned neurosurgical resident at Stanford. I have read his book twice now and will, I'm sure, read it again. He and his wife decided to visit a sperm bank in order to help his wife get pregnant before he died. He was very ill when his daughter, Cady, was born, but he lived long enough to be there. It's a tremendously inspiring book, too. I also recommend it highly.

But the love story: Nina was so worried about how John would be able to deal with her death that she asked him to get ahold of Lucy Kalanithi, who had been through the same experience that he was facing, and could possibly help him. Nina and Lucy were already friends because of an essay Nina had published in The Washington Post. Lucy had written her a fan letter and wrote a glowing blurb for the unpublished book, and sent Nina a private email two days before Nina died in a hospice. John read the email to her, and Nina begged him to get ahold of her afterward.

John did, and over the period of several months of intense emails, they decided to meet. Lucy was scheduled to come to a conference less than an hour away from John's home. That was the beginning of this part of the love story. The Washington Post wrote a wonderful article about it, which you can read in its entirety here. (Note: I subscribe to the Post, so I don't have a limit on what I can see. Please let me know if you have a problem reading it, and I'll try to find another way.)

For me, it was a Valentine's Day reward, a wonderful book and a real-life love story all at once. (P.S. I found, after some more digging, that the couple broke it off last summer, so the love story might not be still happening. Too soon?)
:-)

It won't be long now

One of my three zucchini plants

I think there will be enough zucchini if they continue along at this pace for me to feed the entire community. I'm so pleased to see them doing so well, since last year they didn't flourish like this. Hence, my decision to have three plants this year. I remember the first time I grew zucchini, I saw an enormous yellow blossom and was thrilled. The next day when I went into the garden, it was beginning to shrivel up. Why, I wondered, is it not working? Well, that is when I discovered that the zucchini emerges from the flower itself. I am a much more experienced gardener this year, and our bounty will be shared so that nothing is wasted.

First raspberries beginning to turn color

And look! Our raspberries are continuing to ripen, and I'd guess that in another week I'll be harvesting some of them. I love this gardening business, I really do.

Too many books

I also put in a request on line at the library website when there is a book I'd like to read. Sometimes I know it will be a long wait because the book is new or popular, but most of the above books were recommended by someone, and suddenly they all showed up at once! If no one else has requested a book, I can renew it, but if anybody wants it, I cannot. So, between puttering in the garden and my regular exercise routine, I'll have at least one of these going for the next few weeks.
:-)

Cloudy and cool Saturday

John and Gene at Avellino's

I stopped by Avellino's for my regulation latte before heading out to join the ladies for our Saturday morning walk. These two crusty old guys were already there, enjoying their own coffee and using the free wifi. Gene will be leaving for Alaska to begin his fishing season next Tuesday. John and I will both miss him while he's gone, but when he comes back we will all get plenty of fresh Alaskan salmon.

Our walk this morning was lovely. We were all ready with raincoats, but it was cool, breezy and dry as we navigated the hilly walk in Northridge Park for somewhere around five miles or more. I wasn't feeling all that energetic so I mostly brought up the rear of the eleven of us. I could barely see Cindy (our leader), who was far ahead of me most of the time. Judith kept me company, though.

Now I'm home and resting up in my favorite chair and will soon return to my book that kept me up so late last night. My friend Judy bought it awhile back and lent it to me. If you'd like a good read, try Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History. It's so well written that I couldn't put it down. Maybe that's part of why I was so tired this morning on the walk. I'll finish the book today.
:-)

Leo is seven

Leo blowing out his seven candles

Last night I went to my friend Leo's birthday party. As hard as it is to believe, he is now seven years old, reads books, and is almost too old to consider playing with me any more. We now are developing a new relationship with one another, since he's got new interests. His parents allow him to decide what kind of birthday cake he wants, and this one was chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Here's a closeup.

Cake with dinosaur eggs on top

The dinosaur eggs were filled with creme and quite tasty, but nowhere near as tasty as the cake itself. He also wanted calamari to decorate the top (that's squid) but his mom talked him into serving it separately, and it was perfect that way (whew!). Mixing calamari with chocolate would have been tough to take. Although come to think of it, everything ends up in the same place anyway.

John reading Leo's new book

Leo received this present, "The Dangerous Book for Boys," and John said he wished they had made books like this one when he was a kid. It was fun to look through it, even though I've never been a boy myself. I bought Leo a book about birds of the Puget Sound region.

The birthday boy

And here's Leo mugging for the camera, with two finger snakes in his hair. He told me he received over one hundred dollars in gift certificates, which will give him plenty of fun in the stores once he gets to them. I enjoyed myself but am still a  bit in shock at how much my friend has grown in the past year!
:-)

Now this is more like it

Light rain and overcast, no view at all

This morning I woke to the sound of rain on the roof. I knew the entire weekend would be unsuitable for skydiving, so I decided to go on the morning outing with the Fairhaven walking group. Since it was raining, I figured only a few of us would show up. But no, 24 women gathered to head up the Galbraith trails together. We walked around five miles or so, with a light rain at times, and otherwise it was just dark and rather gloomy.

The conversation, however, was anything but. By the time we finished, we were all in a pretty good mood and started our weekends on a very nice note. We were all glad we went, despite the weather. It was a first for this particular trail; we will be going back and maybe seeing a view of Bellingham from that vantage point someday. This weather is way more normal that the weeks of constant sunshine we've been having.

From bottom: arugula, kohlrabi, gourmet salad mix, beets, nasturtiums, borage

Not that I'm complaining. It's just that our summer typically doesn't even begin until July 5th, and there were 17 days in a row at SeaTac without any measurable rain. The sunshine has caused my garden to burst forth in a way that has surprised me. I just took these pictures, showing the abundance of my plants. Those kohlrabi starts were just put in a couple of days ago and I do hope they "take." I took out four of my six red cabbage plants because of an infestation of aphids. When I went to Joe's Garden, he told me how to deal with them, and I realized I didn't have to take them out after all: I could use a natural fungicide made of water, olive oil, and dish soap. He suggested going online and learning what proportions to use. Now I have a spray bottle filled with it and I watch my plants carefully.

My first broccoli

And look! I've got broccoli florets beginning to form, making me so very happy. No aphids or mealy worms on them so far, but I'm watching! I gathered the ripe strawberries for the day while I took these pictures just a few minutes ago. The berries are such a nice treat; yesterday I sliced them and mixed them into some plain greek yogurt. Incredibly good and hardly any calories.

Volunteer squash

We've got this squash plant that nobody is sure about, since it's a volunteer and is going crazy out there in our community garden. The yellow zucchini (which is flowering already) is in the lower right foreground. Comparing the leaves, we've decided it most likely is a pumpkin, but nobody is sure. We didn't have any of those in our community garden last year. Who knows?

Anyway, the rain should help my just-planted kohlrabi and beet seeds to do well. Oh, and I also planted some leeks, from starts, so they are taking over the area where the red cabbage used to be. I don't want to waste even a little bit of space in my tiny garden.

Well, that's it from my little corner of the world. I'll watch another episode or two of "Orange is the New Black" on Netflix and read one of the books I picked up at the library yesterday. As I mentioned happens occasionally, I had several on hold and three became available at the same time. I never remember where I first heard of the books, because I sometimes wait for weeks before I get a message about availability, and that's the story with these: The Dinner, and Time and Chance. Hope they are good!
:-)

Summer's end

Sunflower in our community garden

Seems like I've been seeing lots of pictures of sunflowers on the pages of my fellow bloggers, and it's because these beauties are growing huge now, giving us yet another taste of the last days of summer. Today is Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, as many schools open their doors tomorrow, the school buses will be back on the roads, and in many parts of the country the heat of summer will begin to give way to crisp mornings and cooler temperatures.

Changing leaves and clouds

When I woke this morning, it was a day when nothing I would normally do had a place in the day. No buses were running, no gym to visit since it was closed, and everything felt different. Holidays are like that for me these days, now that I'm retired and cannot follow my usual schedule. I mapped out my day: drive to the coffee shop for my usual latte (since they were open), and then get my scheduled massage. It was wonderful, as usual, although over way too soon. I then headed to Lake Padden for a nice walk around the lake, a two-and-a-half mile trip. I took the above picture there, when I noticed the leaves are already beginning to turn color.

Then I went to the local bookstore to buy a book I've been wanting. Yesterday I finished a library book that I enjoyed very much: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. (The link will take you to a New York Times book review that I enjoyed.) I've read almost everything Kingsolver has written, and I have to say this was one of my favorites. She writes both fiction and nonfiction (this is fiction) and she brought me immediately into the story. I recommend it.

The book I bought today was one I had to wait too long to get at the library, since it was on the bestseller list for many months. It's not yet out in paperback, but I've been hearing about it almost every Thursday, since Peggy read it and has brought up some tidbit from the book while on our hike. It's the only Mary Roach book I haven't read yet, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. She's a brilliant science writer who knows how to make science fun and interesting. I also heard an NPR segment where Mary Roach talked about her book and I was intrigued. I'll let you know after I read it if it lives up to its hype.

Tomorrow my life returns to normal, with the buses running and the YMCA open for business. And I'll be glad to get things back to operating on an even keel in my own life. I hope if you are still working that you had a renewing vacation, and if you're like me, that now you can get back to your regularly scheduled routine.
:-)

Book reviews 2012

I looked back over the blog posts I've written this past year about books that moved me enough to write about them. It's a good way to look back at some of the events that made a difference in my life during the past year, and I found six books that I hope you might think about reading. There were many more that I enjoyed, but my blog posts make it easier to recall these, so here you go.

Back in June I was engrossed in reading The Invisible Bridge,  a story about a young Jewish man who is caught up in the horrors of World War II and beyond. The more than 600-page-long book took me into another place and time, and the author Julie Orringer created a world I couldn't leave behind. I highly recommend it. My sister Norma Jean also recommended that I read The Warmth of Other Suns, another tome, this one on the subject of the migration of blacks from the Deep South to other parts of the United States during the twentieth century. Isabel Wilkerson follows the lives of three people from their original homes to where they ended up. I loved this book. All three of the individuals were real people. A truly wonderful story.

I also read a book I enjoyed on introversion, which was recommended by a blogging friend: Quiet: The Power of Introverts. As a pronounced extrovert, I have always been curious about the inner lives of introverts, and this book confirmed a belief I have long held that introverts have many advantages over us extroverts. It was very educational. Then I read Jonah Lehrer's book on How We Decide, which I enjoyed very much (although the author has now become rather controversial, since he apparently seemed to plagiarize much of his work). However, the book was really engrossing and well written.

The last two books I recommend are Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, a very honest and revealing book written by Cheryl Strayed about how she decided to try to clean up her life by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail solo, when she had never backpacked a day in her life. It became an Oprah Book this year. And finally, I read The Life of Pi after seeing the movie. Since I saw the movie first, I had several aspects of the story clarified for me when I read the book. I think I actually enjoyed the book much more than the movie, although the movie was really good. I can understand how people must have wondered how the book could possibly be captured on film. But it was.

I will also do one of these reviews for my favorite movies of the year, but for now, this is already plenty long enough!
:-)

New beginnings

Local library Christmas tree

Well, the world didn't come to an end yesterday after all, so now we can get on with life and examine what IS different. I've read in several places that the ancient Mayans didn't ever forecast this time to be the "end of the world" but the turning over of a new leaf in the calendar. I like that much better, and I'm thinking that this is something I can participate in: making a fresh start in my life right at Christmas time and just before New Year's Eve. I'll spend some time in the next week cleaning out my dresser drawers and making room for... something new.

The skies were overcast when I met my Saturday walking group early this morning, but it wasn't raining. More than twenty of us spent a couple of hours on a brisk walk in my beautiful part of the world. Judith's pink jacket added a perfect spot of color as I grabbed this shot on the fly. It was cool and damp, but the rain didn't start until we were just a short distance from the coffee shop where we began.

Once I got a cup of coffee, I headed to the balcony to take a picture of my fellow walkers as they purchased their own coffee, but my camera lens had fogged up. I was amazed at this otherworldly picture I captured. Notice the three lights on the right-hand side? Here they are again as my camera began to defog, with just enough blurriness left over to soften the edges.

My camera is back to normal again, but I was quite pleased with the effect. The woman in line with the white hair is Cindy, our leader. She decides where we will walk and sends us an email reminder the day before, since we meet in a different place each week. I've learned about many wonderful walks around town from her.

Now I'm home and have downloaded my pictures and am busy writing this post as I listen to the continuing rain. After having been out and about, it sure is nice to be warm and cozy now! Until next time, I hope you stay warm and cozy too.
:-)

Long ago and far away

From film directed by Liv Ullman

It's raining outside right now and has been for most of the day. Not too unusual for the Pacific Northwest, but we've got several days of this ahead. I'm busy reading a LONG series of novels which I first read when I was a young woman, long ago... and far away.

The novels are a trilogy of books written by Sigrid Undset in the 1920s, Kristin Lavransdatter.  I read an early translation (by Charles Archer and J.S. Scott) when I was in my twenties and living in Flint, Michigan with two small children. Reading was my escape, and I remember reading these books while the housework piled up around me. I couldn't put them down, so a few weeks ago I wondered if I would feel the same way about the books.

At first I figured I'd just download them onto my iPad from iBooks, since they would (I foolishly thought) be free as many other classics have been. No, they are EACH full price, so I got a copy from the library. They had two copies on the shelf and I'm now almost finished with the first book.

They are different, but then again, I am different. And it's a new translation! It's been almost fifty years since I last read these books. I found this information on Wikipedia:

A new and complete translation by Tiina Nunnally was released by Penguin Classics in 2005, and is considered by many critics to be the superior of the two, particularly for its clarity, reflective of Undset's "straightforward, almost plain style." For her translation of the third book, Korset (The Cross), Nunnally was awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 2001.

Hard to say how much of the story I remembered, since they feel brand new to me. There are little pieces of the story that I still recall, but most of all I loved being wrapped in a different time and place, the 14th Century in medieval Norway. Undset won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1928, mostly based on these stories, and Liv Ullman, an actress I have long admired, wrote and directed a Norwegian film in 1995 based on the novels. Also from that Wikipedia link:

Critics gave it a lukewarm reception at best, and many considered it to be more true to the present than to the medieval era in which it was set. However, as it was viewed by as much as two-thirds of the population, it became one of Norway's most domestically successful films: an important cultural event. The release of the film coincided with rising national interest that centered on Norwegian medieval cultural history, and cemented Kristin Lavransdatter and Sigrid Undset as a part of the Norwegian national identity.

 And now, as I re-read these novels, I am again transported into the world of Long Ago and Far Away. I'm still not sure how I feel about them, but they are a good antidote to the world outside me right now.
:-)

Where did the time go?

Imagine my surprise when I suddenly realized I hadn't written a post this past weekend, OR one yesterday, either! And tomorrow is the Thursday hike again, with my obligatory post of the day spent outdoors in the Pacific Northwest. I've been spending the days going into town as usual, riding my bike, watering the garden, and reading. I finished two books this weekend and started The Invisible Bridge, which I unfortunately cannot put down. Being 600 pages long, this is a bit of a problem. I'm halfway through the book, and I'm loving it.  That link takes you to a New York Times book review, called "When Europe Wept," which I found for you to understand a bit of why this book has absorbed me. It begins in 1937 with a young Hungarian Jewish man going to Paris to study architecture. He is caught up in the horrible events in Europe, along with being Jewish. I care deeply about Andras and his family, and because of him, I've become a bit of a slacker here on my blog. I apologize, but if you want to get involved in a very good read and lose a few days or weeks of your own life, read this book.

Yesterday morning on my way to the bus, I stopped to say hello to my garden and snapped this picture of the early morning rays on the kale. It's so pretty, how can I ever bring myself to eat these leaves? Don't worry, I will, I'm just not sure when it's appropriate to harvest them and whether I just take a few off and leave the plant intact. There is plenty of information available on line, so I'll do some checking when it seems like the time is right. I've got blossoms on my Asian eggplant, which also excites me, thinking of actual eggplants showing up.

And I'm fighting with the slugs. Right now I'm saving eggshells and spreading them around my plants, hoping they won't like the feeling as they slither onto my plants during the night. I was told one sure-fire way to get rid of slugs is to put out pie tins filled with beer. They will fall in and drown as they get drunk, I'm told. That seems like a strange way to keep them away; with my luck they will start a tavern and spread the word to all their friends. (smile)

I really truly thought I had written a post here on Saturday and then yesterday I thought about writing another one, but I looked up from my book and found that it was time for bed. How did that happen? Where did the time go? I'll be back here again tomorrow after our hike, hoping to keep myself on track. I know I'm the one who sets these deadlines for myself, but they feel as real to me as any I followed when I was working. Now I'm off to read my friends' blogs! Until tomorrow...
:-)

How the mind works

From KoboBooks

Oh, how very many ways I am anxious to tie in the title of this post. It turns out that exactly three years ago today, I wrote a post I called "Being in my right mind." (I had just finished reading an interesting book about a woman who had survived a stroke, Jill Bolte Taylor, called "My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey.") And now I'm reading that book over there on the right by Steven Pinker, called "How the Mind Works." Three years later and I'm still trying to find out the basics of why I do what I do, why I think what I think.

My sister Norma Jean is reading another book by Pinker, and we bounce off of each other, talking about we're reading, etc. I looked on line to see if I could find a copy at the library, but it's not available. Apparently Pinker has just written another book that is causing his earlier books to be in high demand. I looked for the new one, called "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined." With a provocative title like that, I can see why it is being looked at. I even think I've seen a couple of articles based on this premise.

This Sunday, Easter, begins National Library Week for 2012. The way libraries are being used these days is in flux, since many of us are moving toward purchasing electronic copies, and my local library also has many of them available to be lent out. Norma Jean has also helped to change the way I am using libraries. She has been borrowing electronically from her local library for awhile now, and I was feeling quite out of the loop. In the process of signing myself up for electronic books, I was required to go in to ask for some help. I checked out a few books, and since my library uses the Dewey Decimal System, I had to reacquaint myself with it. Years ago I was prolific at using it, but like anything else you don't use, it now feels a bit cumbersome. I need to exercise those library muscles.

I read all three of "The Hunger Games" books online, having purchased the first one for $5 and received the second one from my niece for free. (Amazon allows you to "loan" a copy of some books to another person for two weeks, so that cost me nothing.) But then if I wanted to read the third book in the series, I had to buy it from Amazon for $8. I did enjoy the books and really wanted to find out what happened to Katniss, but I don't think I'll buy many more electronic novels. It's much more realistic to check it out from the library, either electronic or hard copy -- because I most likely won't be reading it again.

It was fairly easy to read the books on my iPad (using the Kindle for iPad app). I now have four different readers downloaded, since my local independent bookstore requires one, the library requires another, and iTunes yet another. I have found the Kindle app the most user-friendly, by far. My biggest problem with using my iPad for reading is the problem of growing sleepy: the iPad is much heavier than a book, and when I nodded off the other day, it banged my nose rather noticeably. Woke me right up.

I missed writing a new post yesterday, as my iMac decided to crash unexpectedly. Somehow it seems to have healed itself up, but I'm wary about it happening again. I will be going on another hike with the Trailblazers tomorrow, so this post will not be in the queue for long before being replaced by another. In previous years, I didn't mind writing a post a day, but it's sometimes difficult to find blog fodder than isn't getting stale. It seems that many of my readers would like something other than my old standby of hiking and exercise. The photo safaris have gotten me interested in taking pictures with a different focus. Stay tuned!
:-)

Destiny

This scroll hangs on the wall in our living room. Smart Guy bought it on our last trip to China, and I like to look at it and ponder the brush strokes. It is the Chinese character for "Destiny." Or at least that's what I thought it was for all these years, but when I went to Google to look it up just now, it's not the one that comes up. It looks entirely different. Hmmm. It makes me wonder what the meaning of this symbol really is. Whatever it means, it has always drawn me to think of movement. We move through life, through our years on the planet, and one can imagine that our destiny in some way, is preordained.

I've been wondering about my mental faculties lately. I've always had a facility to remember numbers; telephone numbers are very easy for me, and I don't often need to look up a number more than once or twice, even if I don't call it very often. The other day I went to the Food Co-op and usually give the five-digit account number to the cashier, but I simply couldn't remember it. I was disconcerted, so she looked it up for me and for the past week it is there in my memory banks. At the bird store a few days ago, I was telling a story about seeing a hawk come right up to the porch where I was standing, while I was outside. I said, "it landed on the..." What? She looked at me and I had a complete blank, and I said, "you know, the thing that keeps you from falling off the porch." "You mean the railing?" Yes! Of course, the railing. Another uncomfortable moment, which passed, and I have THAT word right on the tip of my tongue now. But where was it at the time? What is happening to my prized possession, my memory?

Years ago I was worried about the fact that I was forgetting things, and when I went to my regular doctor for a checkup, I mentioned my concern to her. She ended up giving me a test. When I read the novel about early-onset Alzheimer's, "Still Alice," I wrote a post about recognizing the test she gave me as being the same one that Alice was given that confirmed her diagnosis. Although I made a few mistakes, I was reassured that the memory loss I was experiencing was normal.

It does seem progressive, however. What causes those little brain farts that come increasingly more frequently? Do you have them, too? I know that I am doing all the right things to keep myself from becoming more disabled by memory lapses than I already am, but it is so worrisome that I'll ask my new doctor if he will give me the test and let me know if I'm okay or not. What do you do if you find out you have developed a "condition"? Sigh. I hope I don't find out. In the meantime, I'll continue to exercise both my body AND my mind.

On another matter, tomorrow I'll be watching the Oscars and hoping my favorites will win at least a few awards. I'll go to bed having been saturated with beautiful gowns and jewels, and hopefully won't be too awfully bored. Sometimes I just wait until the next day so I am not tied down by three hours of rather dull reality TV. Bet some of YOU will be watching, too.
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Winning bird picture

Since many of my blogging buddies also follow Joan at The Retirement Chronicles, you might know that I enter her photo contest every month -- unless the month gets away from me and I forget, or unless I simply have nothing worth submitting. A year ago last May I won for "Landscapes" and in July's contest this year, I won bragging rights for this picture, with the theme "Birds," along with a cute little widget to display on my sidebar. And you can check out this link to see all the other July entries.

It actually amazed me how happy I was when Joan told me that I'd won. The thing is, the possibility of winning isn't what motivates me to enter, but to see what other people submit and how my pictures stack up next to others. Usually I can predict the eventual winner and I thought I had a pretty good chance this month. Say hello to my little Rufous hummingbird who enjoys the penstemon in the little flower box on my front porch. I think he's the same one who visits often, but there's no way to know for sure. Only a few times have I had more than one hummer at a time visit the flowers.

I'm deep into Jodi Picoult's book House Rules and stayed up way too late last night reading. If you haven't discovered her yet, she takes a controversial issue and covers it from the point of view of all the characters in the story. This one is about Asperger's Syndrome. It keeps reminding me of a wonderful book I read long ago, written from the point of view of a child with autism, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. I just loved that book, too.

It's early in the morning here on the west coast and I woke up early, even though I went to sleep later than usual, so I am able to get this post done before I leave on the bus for my daily routine. I only have a few more minutes before I dash out the door, and the bus waits for no one. Talk to you soon!
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Crow Planet

SquirrelQueen just asked me to tell her what books I got at the bookstore yesterday. Since I just finished the first one, here goes! I was actually at the bookstore to get Lisa Genova's latest novel, which just came out in paperback, Left Neglected, about a woman who has a serious brain injury. I simply loved her first book, Still Alice, so much that I have read it twice already.

While minding my own business, I saw the cover of Crow Planet and picked it up. This is the book I just finished reading a few minutes ago. After I browsed for a short while through the book and realized that the author lives in Seattle, I couldn't help myself. It's a very interesting book about the proliferation of crows in our urban environment, exploring the reasons why they are increasing while other species are declining. She's written a very provocative book, and I recommend it if you want to know more about how to find our place in what she calls the zoöpolis, where humans and animals live together.

I also couldn't resist a used book by Jodi Picoult, House Rules, about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome. I recently finished my first book by Picoult and enjoyed it, so I figured I would enjoy this one as well. She's a good writer.

Oh, and just as I was leaving the bookstore, another book leapt out and grabbed me: How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People. How could I resist a book with a title like that, which they were practically GIVING AWAY for just a few dollars? It's a book wherein Publisher's Weekly says the author (Henry Alford) "recognizes that the elderly have been through more in their lives than the rest of us, and figures it might be a good idea to talk to some of them and see if they have any meaningful advice to impart."

So I'm good for at least a week or two, with books to challenge, entertain, and ponder. There ya go, SquirrelQueen!
:-)

Books and other stuff

More tulips from last week

Because I always love to look at pretty flowers, I'm putting in a couple more pictures from my visit to RoozenGaarde last week. I was planning to write a nice leisurely post about the books I'm currently reading, but after having spent a couple of frustrating hours creating a list of books and a profile in Shelfari in order to create a nice display for my blog, I gave up. The limitations of their widget are too difficult to deal with, at least for me.

Several of my blogging friends use Shelfari (which is an Amazon app, if I'm not mistaken). It gives me a chance to link to descriptions of the books, and I was quite pleased to see that I could also create a bookshelf for books I have read, am reading, and want to read. Here's a screen grab of what I was able to get:

What a lot of work it was to get this far! However, I am going to simply explain what books I've collected and why I feel like I have suddenly come upon an embarrassment of riches when it comes to reading. You know how you browse for a book and end up discovering a new author? It seems I've just discovered several. My friend Judy also gave me some books to read and I'll just put those on the bottom of the pile, since she's not in a hurry for their return.

If you enlarge that Shelfari list, you'll see that I'm currently reading four books. One is The End of Overeating, the corollary that follows from Mindless Eating, which I finished last week. I'm reading it in the evenings after snuggling into bed, and I pick it up from my nightstand and read until I get sleepy. (That can sometimes be quite a short time, so who knows how long I'll be reading it?) I've gotten my fill of books about food for the moment. Wish it were that easy to get full when I'm eating.

Judy also gave me a book last year that really turned me on to the mystery of numbers, especially prime numbers. I wrote about it here. In the comment section of that post, Entre Nous asked me whether I had read Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea yet, and today I picked it up at the bookstore. It had to be ordered. It looks fascinating! I read the first chapter on the bus and could hardly wait to delve into it.

But as soon as I got home and started to read The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, I was lost again, wanting to read THAT book. As you can see, I have definitely fallen into a period of being lost in several good books, and I felt inspired to share those riches with you. After spending way too much time on it, and being totally unable to figure out how to put a decent bookshelf widget on my sidebar, I have finally finished this post so I can explore my new treasures. But first, yet another gander at the flowers.

:-)