A Lush Life

Richard Price wrote Lush Life. For some reason, I told Karen that I didn't want to read it. Silly me. Since it was nominated for some awards, I realized that it might be good, so I did read it. He is such a good writer. This is about a crime committed in lower Manhattan. The crime is the there, but NYNY and the neighborhood are the center. Price and the reader have a good ear for the sounds of the city. And Price caresses that part of the city. Enjoyable.

Speaking of Karen, she and Peter came out to this coast to see the same Cezanne exhibit that Eric and I went to last month. It was wonderful to see them. Karen and I chat almost every day. It's strange to talk with her, face to face. I could almost feel my finger thrumbing because they should be busy when we are communicating. They liked the exhibit and had a good time driving through much of Virginia after the time in Philadelphia.

The Cardinal is the state bird of Virginia. I felt they might be too rare for me to see one. But on K&P's first night here, we saw one as we were eating dinner. It was a fun dinner anyway. This made it almost magical. The food was good, but we had so much fun after. We all wanted dessert. All of a sudden, Cindy and I were pulling chocolate, marcona almonds and cookies out of hidden places. Eric will polish off anything left open and regret it later, so we hide. Hidden treasures and lots of wine made us giddy and chatty. Good evening. Actually, that seems more like a lush life.

The Last Lion?

Wow. What a great book for generating discussion. Karen and I have been reading The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932. And we've been discussing it, except I was way behind her. Then Adrian has strong feelings about Churchill, so he and I talk about him. Of course, I really only know stuff about him up to the point where I am in the book. Adrian has read a lot more about him AND he remembers everything that he reads. So, what do you think about Churchill? Here's a few words that have come up: Victorian, duplicitous, conservative, liberal, opinionated, great speaker, bad listener, 19th century man to the end (at least the end of this book.) Okay, the word that describes him the most is fascinating. He knew he would be Prime Minister at some point. Never a doubt. I'd heard bad things about his dad in the past. Two things were bad: he was a horrible, uninterested father and he died of syphilis. But he was also a powerful speaker and member of Parliament. I thought he was just a loser. Winston spent much of this book trying to live up to his father's ideals in Parliament.

His mother, Jenny Jerome, was a piece of work. Both she and her husband were so self-centered they left their son pretty much to himself. Jenny died in her 60's, running down stairs in fashionably high heels and falling. Got gangrene in her broken ankle, it spread, she died. Now you know why I am always careful going down stairs. William Manchester wrote this book. He is always interesting. Read this book.

The Keepsake is a nice little romantic thriller. I don't know if I've ever read Tess Gerritsen before. I will read another. This is about a woman and her daughter who are running from unknown things. We find out what these things are by the end of the book. What could be more satisfying?

Karen and Peter are flying to Virginia at this moment. They will be going to Philadelphia to see the Cezanne exhibit that Eric and I went to recently. Most important to us is that they will be visiting here on Sunday and then next Saturday. Next Saturday Adrian arrives. In between, I will be working my last week in this block of work. Hurray to all that.

Capital

It has been a capital week. I worked for the entire work for the strangest man at the company. And lived. I'm reading the first of Manchester's books about Winston Churchill, so I'm filled with Victorian and Edwardian words in my head. Capital.  But more about that when it's done. Yesterday we went to see The Capitol Steps. We want to go to a new venue at least once a month. We are beginning a very full couple of months. I've heard about the Capitol Steps for some time. They sing satire about what is happening in government. The songs are take-offs on popular songs - like "Obama Mia". Very cute and very well done. They have good voices. They are all probably between Cindy's age and my age. The singing was fun and I got to talk with a couple from Michigan sitting next to me. They were a good reminder about not opening up your life to strangers. Not harmful, just more information than any stranger needs to know.

And the garden is looking absolutely gorgeous. The daffodils are past prime and starting to die. The weeping cherry in the front yard is looking more beautiful than ever. Cindy told me she was disappointed that the tree was grafted to a thick cherry tree trunk instead of its fragile thin trunk. Now that is all I see when I see these new weeping cherry trees throughout the area. It is ungainly until you see the trees in full bloom like this one. It would be more balanced with its own trunk, but it is so wispy and beautiful. 

There are lots of things blooming in the garden. The tulips in the parkway by the house about ready to bloom. Just look at those cherry blossoms that have fallen around the yard. They are actually drifting around the tulips. This is one week that no raking will be done in the garden. Maybe they will eventually turn brown and look ugly. That will be soon enough. Eric and Cindy have been kept busy in the garden. They are planting bulbs everywhere. Some are deep inside these bulbs. Eric has been planting seeds in trays that now reside in the greenhouse. I'll take a picture of them for next week. They have sprouted, but are mostly long stems with a little leaf on them.

Katy is a champion car washer. Next time she is out there washing her car, I think I'll help her so I can see how to do mine. Not that I've never washed a car before. She uses all kinds of stuff to get everything perfectly clean. It may be warmer next weekend so it would be a good time to get all the snow and rain schmutz off my car.

Churchill is fascinating, but sometimes I need a break. That was especially true when reading about the Gallipoli campaign during WWI. The mis-handling of that campaign was tremendous.  Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost and the Turks somehow used this moment of frustration to wipe out Armenians. Very hard to read, so I turned to mysteries.

I met Robert Crais before I knew about Elvis Cole, his detective. He is a supporter of The Times Festival of Books and Book Awards. He was one of the presenters at the Award ceremony and I barred him from entry until his cute smile convinced me that he would never lie about his intentions. Charming. I think this is one of those cases where the author is a lot like his protagonist. Of course, others may imagine Elvis Cole looking different than I do. 

Anyway, I read Chasing Darkness a couple of weeks ago and decided that this will be my replacement for the brutal misogyny of Lee Child. Sure, murders and crime happens in these books. It is not lingered over and I appreciate that. I think Chasing Darkness is the most recent of the books in paperback. Eric just finished it. So after liking this, I got The Forgotten Man. This is not the first of the series, but close to the beginning. In this, we learn a lot about Cole's past, his search for his father and the pain of not knowing who that man is. Very nice, Mr. Crais. Good writing AND cute.

Speaking of the Festival of Books (FOB) and Book Awards, they all take place the last weekend of April. This will be the second FOB that I will have missed since it was first started, I think, 13 years ago. I was involved with the Books Awards since '94. At that time, they were presented at Times Mirror Square in a private event for publishers and the authors. It moved to UCLA's Royce Hall when they found out what a terrific draw the FOB was. Those nights at the Friday evening production were amazing. This year, they have gone back to the old ways, hosting a small gathering at the square. I'm sure it never broke even and that is important is this penny-pinching age. I'm actually surprised they still have them at all. If you've never been to the FOB, please go. It is an amazing experience.

I have been reading about the Civil War since I came to Virgina. James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom had been my favorite until I read The Mighty Scourge. This is a series of essays on various topics related to the Civil War. Karen and I were chatting about the Civil war last week and I said that slavery wasn't the issue, it was state's rights. But then, state's rights is just code for slavery. Which is almost exactly what McPherson wrote. I didn't know that at the time. Karen, of course, agreed. That was one of his articles, the underlying cause of the war. He also writes about Harriet Tubman, the generals, Jesse James, how the war was lost, and much more. It is all interesting. And I believe that McPherson is very balanced in his judgement.

And now I begin three weeks of work. So much for lovely days of book reading. I've just started Manchester's first book about Winston Churchill. I think that too will take three weeks.

The Flowers That Bloom

Things are looking beautiful around here. The picture above is in our front yard. Cindy doesn't think these hyacinth are giving there all, but I think they are very pretty. And the daffodils are in drifts throughout the yard. They bow down when it rains. "The Ladies" lift up their faces when the sun shines. Lovely.

It is cherry blossom time in DC. And it is spring break for some schools. On Wednesday Eric and I drove around the tidal basin to see the trees and their blossoms. And the buses of people. And the traffic. The trees are beautiful and in full blossom. No cherries will come of all this. That's too bad.

Then we went to the arboretum. I'd read that they have cherry trees, too. They do. Not nearly as many as the tidal basin, but enough. What I thought was special was the tulip magnolias. They have so many varieties. All the trees above are of that genus. Stunning. I understand that the azaleas at the arboretum should not be missed.  Okay, I won't miss them.

Eric is standing by one of the magnolias. He would have loved to have rambled over the grounds. He wanted to dump me out of the car at the tidal basin so I could see the cherry trees close up. But my knee has been very painful lately. I would have loved to make him get out of the car so he could walk off some of that energy, but he had to be content with driving.