She's Got a Face

Not Tara, although she does have a face. And who didn't see that line coming? Adrian and I drove up to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving. We stayed for two days with my sister, Karen and her husband, Peter. On Tuesday we went to the DeYoung museum to see the late Impressionists. That was good. All the paintings were from the D'Orsay in Paris. That's my favorite museum in the world, yet I hadn't seen many of these paintings, especially those from the Navi group. Hum, probably not the way that's spelled, but I kept reading the names in that Avatar sing-song I've heard in previews. These Navi's were painters. Particularly interesting when viewed with a sing-song chant going on in your head.

We then went to lunch with Tara. I haven't seen her in far too long. She is looking so happy. It would be nice to see her more often. We decided that Adrian and I would be back the first week of March. Maybe a quarterly visit. I'd let Adrian pick our driving music. This time he picked The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Loved it.

Thanksgiving was spent at Mark and Trina's house. The company was great, the food was good, and the entertainment was exceptional. I wonder how we are going to top that next year? By then, they will have moved to a new house and will have many other new things going on. It should be fun to see. They are wonderful hosts. Among the many guests was Maggie's new dog, Lila. I'd read about her being a bit shy and sometimes a little poopy. She was shy, but she was a sweet puppy. Very well behaved. I thought it was sweet that Mark and Trina knew that she might have a nervous reaction, but still wanted her to be there. Mark had a great old dog, Rascal, who he took everywhere with him. He said that he would be the last person to not let a dog into his place. Sweet. Actually, it would have been fun to see Lila and Rascal together.

Okay, so here's the lady with the face. Adrian asked me what is taking so long, because I work on her most days. We counted the stitches. 5800. I told him 100,000. I exaggerate. Still, 5800 is a lot. Sometime it goes fast, like that deadly dull black you see on the right side. But that's only after you've counted the squares to get the various shades of green in before you lay on the green/black combo. I don't see this sucker being done before March.
But doesn't she have a beautiful skirt. There's a streak down the left side that was driving me crazy, so I just wound it down so I don't have to look at it all the time. What the heck. What I find fascinating is how the symbols on the instructions can equal spikey leaves and flowers. You'd think you could see this before it's on the canvas, but I don't. In fact, I have to stop, step back and look closely to see how the garden is taking shape. Pretty.

I've been trying to get through Laura Hillenbrand's new book, Unbroken. That should be an easy thing because she is a great writer and Louie Zamperini is a fascinating man. But we know from the beginning that he spends time in a Japanese prison camp and it almost breaks his boundless confidence and joy. I'm at the part now where he is about to go to the dreadful prison camp. It's so hard to watch - read - listen to suffering or unjustified abuse. You may recall that I had the same problem with Zeitoun. You may not know that I have yet to see a Viet Nam war movie. Actually, it's getting to the point where I can't watch Obama giving an inch to those stupid Republicans. I just HATE seeing bad things happen to good people. So what have I been listening to instead? Old time radio. I've subscribed to a Great Detective series from old time radio. Even though the detectives keep being knocked out and beaten, I know this isn't real and no brain cells died in the taping. 150 hours of detective stories later, I'm caught up on the previously podcasted shows. Luckily, I have 17 books on my iPod that I can read before I learn the details of that prisoner of war camp. Maybe the lady will be done by then.

Thrilling

I have been stitching my lady's skirt this past week. It was so easy to ignore it and work around her. The green stuff is done mostly in half cross-stitches. I call those slashes (/) which are half the work of cross-stitches (x). But milady's skirt is filled with little x's. This series of photos shows the progress. The picture in the middle shows what the canvas looks like in the late afternoon, which happens earlier every day. It is impossible to see where I'm stitching at that time of day, but the shadows are pretty.

It looks like I'm just about half way through the skirt. What a pleasure it will be to see all it's subtle shading. Three of the different colors I'm using are combos. Pale purple blue with pale peach; pale purple blue with pale pink, and pale purple blue with white. You can barely tell the difference when you look at them in the needle. It isn't until they all clump together that the picture becomes apparent.

I've just finished the new Camel Club book, Hell's Corner. The hero has assumed the name of Oliver Stone, as you would know if you'd read any of these books. He has a kinship with another of my favorite "reads", Jack Reacher. They are both incredibly capable men. Oliver, however, must be 70 or close to it. He gives hope of eternal virility to aging baby-boomers. Jack is younger and has few to no close friends. He is eternally on the move. Oliver lives in a cemetery. Now that is firmly planted. And he has great friends. Both men right horrible wrongs. Jack usually straightens up towns as he wends his way across the US. Oliver saves our government from doing stupid things. I was going to say that I don't know why they don't just put him in charge of the CIA or some other alphabetic agency. But we all know the answer. He's a doer, not a bureaucrat.

Bless the doers, who make my stitching fly.

That Damned Elusive Cosham

Did I tell you how much Karen and I love to listen to Louise Penny's mysteries? It's part Ms. Penny and part Ralph Cosham, the reader. After much discussion about him, we looked up books he had read in the past. I had to listen to him read The Scarlet Pimpernel. I've link this to the search page for the book because the book is so out of date, reading the reviews isn't much fun. What is fun is all the movies made of the book. I liked the Anthony Andrews one, but Jane Seymour could never act. The Leslie Howard one is pretty good. And there are more.

It's a great swashbuckler, romance, historical drama. No wonder they made so many movies from it. And a musical. Cosham reads it very well. Sir Percey, the Pimpernel, is a very mannered British fop at the time of the French Revolution. Fun to listen to. My favorite memory of the book has always been the poem Sir Percey recites to his guests:

We seek him here, we seek him there,

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.

Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell?

That damned, elusive Pimpernel

Here is how my garden is growing. Can you see the dandelions I mentioned the other day? The bottom part is just flying getting done. It's so easy when you aren't counting and moving all over the picture to put a drop of red or yellow in a flower.

Growth

Our lady of the garden is getting more of a garden to stand in. As I was working the other day, I set my instructions on top of my work. It's wonderful to see how the little codes on the paper can turn into a beautiful garden. It's hard to keep up with my progress. I am way past this. In fact, I've found the bottom right corner. Now I know that the stitching on the bottom right of this picture is a little edging shrub. Just below that, the lawn begins. I had to make sure to remember to stitch 8 little cross stitches of the color represented by a musical note. It wasn't until I got to the bottom that I saw I'd put two dandelions in the garden! I almost felt like ripping out the stitches in honor of my gardening sister, but I guess they just would have grown back some how.
As I was stitching I listened to two things. First was the newest John le Carre book called Our Kind of Traitor. You must read the bad reviews. Some people just hated this book. I can't believe that people don't know that these days le Carre writes slow, detailed books. It's just what he does. I love listening to them because they sound so British. So kinda bored and matter-of-fact. That's what people were complaining about. I guess you have to have a predisposition for this sort of book. If not, better leave it alone.

The other thing I've been listening to is old Dragnet radio shows, about 5 of them a day. I've almost caught up with the podcasts. They are published weekly by this guy from Boise, Idaho who sound like he is from the mountains of Tennessee. The fun thing about the Dragnet shows is that a lot of the action takes place around Spring Street (on which dwells The Times building) and City Hall (across the street from The Times.) It's from the early 50's, so crime solving was very different. Just listening reminds me of how happy I am that we have (until recently) been made more scrupulous about the rights of suspects. Joe Friday never water boarded anyone, or even slammed them against a wall. He did do a bit of illegal search and seizure among other things. Still, these are entertaining.

My discussion groups go on, although we have finished with To Kill a Mockingbird. Interesting facts: The book was written in 1960 about events that took place in the 30's. The movie was made in 1962. We watched the movie this last meeting on Friday. Some of us are also reading The Help, about black maids in Mississippi in 1962. Yes, that's right. Same-ole-same-ole was still happening in the South even as we were reading and watching this story. So, we have this group of old white folks wondering if any of this goes on today. I will not be surprised when the book is written 40 years from now about life as a minority in today's society. I won't be here to read it, but I still won't be surprised.

As for my What are Conservative Thinking group, I can only wonder. I suppose that's another reason why I'm enjoying old time radio. People are too freaky today. Too hostile. Best laugh of the week was the signs from the Rally to Restore Sanity. This may have been too little too late, I'm not sure that we can ever be civil again; but I sure did like those signs.

What Makes Me Happy

Lots o' stuff. Jon Stewart's lovely gathering on the Mall of America this morning/afternoon. The music I decided to listen to while writing this, rather than my usual podcasts or books. Laughed at myself when I was picking the perfect song to start with and realized that they all made me happy. My stock portfolio is growing at a surprising rate. I'm almost making as much annually as I used to earn. Happiness.

My meetings with old Pasadena. Not just that they are all old, but it has been like bursting out of my chair like Superwoman to see some of what Pasadena has to offer. OK, the weather has been wonderful. Sometimes it's warm, sometimes it rains, mostly it is sunny and clear and smile-inducing. All the meetings I've been to have been fun. For some reason, I've signed up to bring snacks to every one of our second meetings. For the second Conservative meeting I brought gingerbread I'd made. It was a big hit. Adrian made his fabulous banana bread for the second The Help meeting. The people there L O V E D it. And they should have. He has perfected this recipe.

As for the group meetings: Conservatives has devolved into people talking about what interests them. We have a lot of retired teachers, so we discussed education and unions. That was okay, but most fun was talking to Barbara Crowley, who is the widow of a past Pasadena mayor. She had a Pacific Oaks College bag. I didn't know that they had been very involved in the school. Adrian had gone to the children's school from 18 months to 5 years. Loved that school. Barbara is 80+. We had a lovely conversation about that.

The Help leader asked me, when the meeting had ended, if I wanted to be a group leader. I'd thought about it, but I don't know where I'll be, so I'm not sure. One reason he asked was because I kept talking. But they don't seem to mind. I've tried not to talk too much, because we all know how opinionated I am and how much I can talk when I have a mind to. BUT, I do remember more of the book than these folks do (age, remember?) I haven't felt so young in years. Here's the really funny thing. I have not told anyone at these meetings that my ex- was black. In this group and in Mockingbird, we talk a lot about the black experience. I am not an expert, I just know what I know. There are times when I just listen to this white, liberal group talk about what they "know."

Mockingbird had devolved into just a few people. We finished the book. I loved it more than I remembered. Every word is great. One funny aspect is one of the member's incredulity that the character Dil was based on Truman Capote. She doesn't think he seems gay. Well, hum. Well, he's nine. In Alamaba. In 1930 something. What would he have to do to appear gay? Wear shorts that buttoned to his shirt? Attack Jem? Produce dramatic scenes of Boo Radley's life? We heard this week that the character played him in the movie didn't look like Capote. Well, that proves he wasn't gay. Right? (according to her.) IMDB says the guy who played Dil in the movie died of AIDS. I'm sorry about that, but I can't wait to tell Lee next Friday.

This is my needlepoint as it is today. It is growing quickly because I had another good book to read, The Disappearing Spoon. The Disappearing Spoon is about the Periodic Table of Elements. First, you must understand that I loved Chemistry in high school. I remember telling Mom about Carbon Chains and how elements combine to create wonderful compounds. I was ecstatic. Then I lost my chemistry book. I still got a B in the class because I took good notes. Imagine what I could have done if I had actually read the book. But I did read this one. Every element is discussed. I don't remember a lot about any particular element. Adrian and I had a discussion about listening to non-fiction or reading them on the Kindle. We both agree that paper is best for this type of book. I still enjoyed listening to the book. I got to learn more about the men and women behind the discovery of each element and how the elements affect the world. But I don't remember, nor can I refer back to, any specific element. Get this book, but in paper.

Speaking of Young Son, here he is in his Halloween costume, which he will have worn three days straight. Speaking of Jon Stewart's doings today, Yusuf Islam is singing Morning Has Broken as I write. Both things make my heart sing. Adrian is looking like he's in a line-up. But he looked really great. He continues to go to the gym almost every day.

Finally, my nephew Bill, is involved with wheelchair LaCrosse, as I mentioned in a previous post. His group will be featured in a Fox Sports program next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PST. The program is called Exceleration. Adrian and I are going down to San Diego next weekend to watch it with the stars of the show. Cool. And certainly a thing that makes me happy.

That and that Bob Dylan wants me so bad. I must remember to listen to this music more often.

Good Things

Adrian has been cooking the most interesting things. First is our weekly foccacia that tastes much better than it looks. And then there is this chocolate raspberry torte. I did not get a piece, although I caused a little accident which resulted in a the little piece of cake that stuck to the wire cooling rack. It was nummy. He shares all this stuff with his friends. He too practices the sport of bake and release. When the chunky peanut butter cookies were released into the wild, I wept. But it was for our own good.

While Adrian has been baking, I've been going to PALAC (Pasadena Area Liberal Arts Cword) group meetings. I've met a bunch of retired Pasadena Liberals. Do you think they took that Liberal part of Liberal Arts wrong? I've now attend one each of the three groups I'm involved in. Here's the report:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird group discussion. I learned not to read ahead. Bad form. I also learned that I really love this book. I knew I did, but it's been a long time. I also got to visit the home of a former Pasadena mayor. These are a lot of nice retirees who have lived in Pasadena for eons.
2. Figuring out what Conservatives are thinking by reading editorial pieces from the Wall Street Journal. All new group of people. One more conservative guy, which makes him middle-of-the-road, I think. The rest of us got to the Lean to the left part of the old cheer and never got the other two parts. Oh, maybe we did the fight, fight, fight part; but we never leaned to the right. My old boss leads this group. He's doing a good job. But I do hate hate, hate reading stuff by Peggy Noonan and Karl Rove. Yucky.
3. The Help group discussion. I'm getting good at this. I listened to this book some time ago. However, the guy leading the group is also the guy who said we shouldn't read ahead. Well, that ship has sailed, so I just didn't say anything when he was throwing out all these leading questions about what a certain passage could possibly mean. I knew. I knew to the point of wanting to bounce from cheek to cheek. But I sat quietly and looked appropriately blank. It was fun. I've already met four of these people. I will soon have a coffee date with the dimmest bulb in the group. It's a beginning.

Whoa, I took this picture last week. I am waaaay beyond this, but I've not taken a picture lately. Soon. Why such leaps of needling during my busy PALAC schedule??? I've been reading an absolutely fabulous book. Listening, that is. Room. OMG. Room, I did love to listen to you. And now you're done. I even listened to parts of it a couple of times. This is about a woman who was kidnapped and raped by a yucky man (of course) and kept locked up for 7 years. She has a 5 year old son by him. This book is told from the point of view of the son, Jack, who has a fabulous vocabulary and you would know why if you read this book. But you should really listen to it. It is read by a few people. I don't know who does Jack's voice. She is fantastic.

Speaking of listening. Since I listened to The Help and loved the voices of these women, I'm looking forward to reading it It's been a while since I heard the voices of these women. Will it be as good with my own voice? Would Room be as good? I'm doubtful.

Naval Gazing

Following the progress of my woman in a garden is a bit like naval gazing. Or browsing around the Internet. Karen pointed out the lovely tribute to John Lennon on the Goggle home page. Which led me to other song clips and the blog on the Washington Post. Which led to, which led to... It's unending. I'm so happy that I don't work so I can follow these loose threads for hours.

What I was working toward was sewing more loose threads on my needlepoint. If you have been gazing at my update pictures of the ladies shawl I've been creating, you will notice that the bottom flower is missing. It was misplaced. Later in the day I was removing some brown on the left side that I had goofed on. I'm surprised it looks so pretty despite all that ripping out. It looks like a picture window on the right side, but that's just how I've been doing it. Some day you will see she's out in her garden.

I finished Freedom. I'm pretty sure I listened to every word. Sometimes two or three times. This will sound silly, but I think I liked it. It's not really my genre, family turmoil. Non-fiction and mysteries seem to be more my cup of tea. How can you deal with all this angst when you know someone is not going to be murdered and their case solved by a favorite detective? For a long time I wanted the murdered someone to be Patty Berglund. But she eventually grows up. What a trek it was for everyone to just grow up. Still won't recommend it, unless you like this sort of thing - emotionally immature people making their way through a very complex world. Heck, I live that stuff, why would I want to read about it?

Frog Legs

When I was in San Diego last weekend, Sandi asked me what my earliest memory is. I told her that I remembered getting my hair caught in the end of my bed. I think it was the old crib. But the thing I remember the most is frog legs in Vancouver, BC.

This is a family memory. Jeff mentioned it this weekend. I was seven, we'd taken a bus up to Canada to visit Dad's aunt and uncle in a nursing home in British Columbia. Along the way a nice man who was sitting next to me got to experience my joy as I pulled out one of my teeth. How disconcerting that must have been for him. But in my memory, he has always been "that nice man."

This was one of the rare trips for my family where we actually stayed in a hotel and got to eat every meal out. At one meal, I ordered frog legs. Now you know why we didn't eat out often. Before the meal arrived, I went to the restroom. And got locked in. I don't know if I pounded on the door. Or screamed. Or cried. Surely I did all of those. Eventually, someone came to rescue me.

When I got to the table, my frog legs had been eaten by my brothers. I think Mom may have spared one for me. One little, tiny frog leg. Memorable.

This morning I decided to lock the bathroom door. We never do. I don't know why I did. And I got locked in. Adrian was asleep. I had no glasses with me, so I couldn't sit and read and wait for him to get up. So this time I pounded on the door. I screamed. I cried. Oh, and I laughed.

Finally Adrian got up and somehow got the door open. I rushed out and buried my head on his chest, laugh-crying, "frog legs."

Needling and Reading

As you can see, the needlepoint is coming along. This is a picture of a woman in her garden. We start with the shawl she is wearing, not the garden. It's been hotter than hell here. So Cal is pretending that it is No Va. We've had humidity, thunderstorms and sudden downpours. Been there, did that, let's move on. And the gods have complied. Coolness is on the way starting Monday.

And I've been listening. Karen and I discovered a great mystery series written by Louise Penny. I remembered that the newest book was coming out in September. Turns out, it was the 28th, the day I looked for it on Audible. It is Bury Your Dead. This reader is amazingly good. I could listen to him for hours and I did. It was so good, I couldn't help taking it to bed with me. Of course, that meant I had to keep going back to relisten to parts I'd slept through. The series takes place in Montreal or Quebec or a little village called Three Pines. This book dealt a lot with the history of that area, the battle between Francophones and Anglophones. And Champlain, the French general. Here's why the reader is so good. When he's talking about the French general, it is pronounced champlawn. And when Lake Champlain in the U.S. is mentioned, it is cham plain. Very subtle. They solve three mysteries in this book, maybe four. Loved every minute.

And now there is Freedom. If you follow book blogs and read newspapers, you will know that this book by Jonathan Franzen was the literary darling when it first came out. Obama was reading it, every book reviewer in the country was raving about it, female fiction writers were jealous of the frufrah that was created around this one book. Oprah even recommended it, despite Franzen dissing her when she recommended his old book, The Corrections.

I'm half way through it. I'm not loving it. It's very well written. The characters certainly have depth. What they do, however, is driving me to distraction. It isn't mundane, but it is. People do stuff - some are rock stars and some are committed environmentalists. Some are just plain crazy. I won't stop until I'm done. Maybe someone will kill that mother. Maybe she will resolve her ennui soon and that will help mine. Maybe I'll stop wondering if I'm like her.

Really, I think I'd like to bury my dead and forget freedom.

Weekend in San Diego

Karen and Peter drove down from Albany, CA last Thursday. We drove to San Diego together, by way of The Getty. The Getty visit was short, but beautiful as always. They currently have a very interesting photography exhibit that shouldn't be missed.

We had two important goals. First was to visit the newest grandchild in the family. This is Aydin William. He is quite a charmer. You will see, if you click on the link above, that he has a new and exciting method of crawling. This is best shown in the quick video of him tripping over his grandmother's foot. That part was sad. Poor Sandi. But he is very fast in his unique three-pronged crawl. I could go on and on about his adorableness, but the pictures will show that.

The other important goal was to visit with Jeff and Sandi. We haven't done that in far too long. Jeff thought it would be fun to play tourist for a day and explore Cabrillo National Park. He was right. It was a miserably hot day, but the breezes at the shore brought the temps down to the 80's. Nice. Is it my perverse nature that likes the picture of their backs best of all? It just seems so relaxed to me. We had a wonderful day.

We also saw Aydin's father play wheelchair lacrosse. There is a little video of this in the link in the second paragraph above. It was over 100 degrees. These guys are dedicated. Bill is totally dedicated to helping others in wheelchairs improve their confidence (and whacking and bludgeoning skills) through this sport. I guess the whacking and bludgeoning is just an added bonus. Bill's been so good at helping others regain their confidence through fishing and skiing and other activities. It was a lot of fun to see these young men out on the court.

We ended Karen and Peter's visit by going to the Norton Simon in Pasadena. I decided we needed to mimic some of the sculptures. I love the Degas ballerinas and bathers. Karen obliged my request by imitating them. I'm not sure who did the one I copied. It just looked like a contemplative baboon to me. Peter got the best. That is Rodin's Balzac. He did a very good job on that one. I'm glad we got to bookend family with two great art museums.

With luck, we won't wait another 5 years for the California branches of the family to meet again. Next time, I vote for a visit during a different season. Maybe we can visit in cool autumn and then go to Julian to pick apples. Maybe.

Before the Weekend

I just had a wonderful weekend in San Diego. Before I did that, I had a good couple of weeks, meeting with friends and working on my needlepoint. The picture above includes all my tools. The directions are on the right, the cloth I'm filling in is on the left. And the magnifying glass I now need to read some of the directions. Yes, my distance glasses won't work, my computer glasses won't work and my reading and needlpoint glasses don't always work. What will I do when the magnifying glass doesn't work? It is very relaxing, anyway. This picture is of a woman in her garden. I've been working on her flowing shawl for some time. Relaxing AND slow.

I had lunch at the Los Angeles Farmer's Market with Rachelle. We have had so many OMG meals together we usually try to find something exciting. My bad. I selected DuPar's because I've heard about it all my life. What yuck. The good thing is that I could focus all my attention on Rachelle, not the food. Great time.

Then last Sunday our old Times' group met. No really, we are all old except for Idalia and her husband. I'm not sure how they like hanging around us codgers, but I enjoy seeing them. And I was feeling really good because I finally registered to vote. Remember, that was on my lists of don'ts. Don't forget to register to vote. I registered as a Republican again. It was the Reps who were at my local farmer's market on Saturday. I was really good, behaved myself and didn't ask them a million questions about how they could be so.... Oh, yea. I'm going to find that out in my class starting in October.

I'll write about my fabulous time in San Diego very soon. I have to develop my pictures first. :)

Don't

Don't read Dexter is Delicious, even if it is on sale through Audible. Sure, the show on, what? Showtime? is really good. But this writer does not care about cutting up folks, especially live folks. With Dexter, that can be okay because you know they are really bad guys. I also realized I'd never listened to one of these books before so I could skip over yucky parts. But this book is beyond worlds yucky. You might like that. I don't.

Don't forget to register if you have moved from state to state. I missed the primary. Sure, those Republican broads would have won without my vote, but I would have felt I was doing my duty. Now I feel unAmerican. Mr. Fox-what's-his-name would not like me to feel unAmerican. Oh, yea, Beck. So I will mail in my registration this weekend. But here's what I'm thinking. Tell me I'm wrong, because I'm sure I am. California is screwed. Screwed. SCREWED. SCREWED. Grey Davis was expelled for failure and now we have Ahnold, doomed to failure from the beginning and failing big time. I want the EBay lady to try her hand and fail. Failure is on the horizon for these coming years. We won't do well no matter who is there. Why not let the rich lady fail like the rich man did? If there was hope, would the voters have put Brown on the roster? I like Jerry. But this is an accident ready to happen or continue to happen. Unless we repeal the property tax initiative, we will remain screwed for eternity. OR tax business property on a different schedule.

Don't vote for the Fiorino witch. Yucky, pucky. AND there is only hope if the dems keep the Congress. What do you think about that wonderful Elizabeth Warren who is on the side of us middle class folks. Love her. Let's make sure she can be elected to head the consumer finance protection agency.

Don't forget to live life where you are. I am attending 3 classes, beginning in October, most for 6 weeks. Two are book groups discussing "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Help." I'm re-reading Mockingbird. It's been a long time. The last one is "Scrutinizing Conservative Thought During Fall Elections." Oh, I'm going to love that one. AND my old boss is leading the discussion. He's a little mild-mannered. I will try to be the same. For a while.

Don't forget to send your love to your niephews who keep in touch with you. Mark called, Natalie and Julie wrote. It's all good. AND I even love those not in contact. Go figure. Going to see all the folks in San Diego next weekend with Karen and Peter. Coolness. Don't ever forget family.

Lazy Days of Summer

One Sunday in August, Maggie came to visit Eric and I in Arlington. Cindy was working at home on a proposal that knew no end. Eric and I took Maggie to a bookstore so she could get a free book that she earned because she read many books. We went to lunch and the Trader Joes to pick up some groceries for the Heins' house.

Then we got to play. Cindy suggested we play in the sprinkler in the back yard. I loved playing in the sprinklers at our next door neighbor's house when I was growing up. There seems to be nothing more cooling, even a swimming pool. Maggie did not have another child to run through the sprinklers with, so she tried to find out how to manipulate the water to go over the fence to water the neighbor's yard. She also washed a doll's house and her aunt. That last was the most fun. For both of us.

Isn't this a beautiful setting? The garden is behind Maggie. Even though those lovely lawn chairs were low, I was able to get my big butt out of them easily because they are sturdy and have good places for me to push myself up. Because of that, I was able to change the water direction on the sprinkler every now and then. That meant we got to think of a lot of ways to get Auntie Peggy wet.

We had a wonderful time in the yard. Then we dried off and played with Katie's Beanie Babies until it was time to go home. We should have counted, but I think Katie has about 50 BB's. We looked at and named every one of them then selected our favorites. Maggie's favorite fell behind the couch. She does love to torment her auntie, wanting to see how she manipulated this body to retrieve the dog. I was even more clever and retrieved it when nobody could watch.

I do believe a wonderful time was had by all.

Watery Memoir

Just finished reading John Waters' book, Role Models. No, I just finished reading the negative reviews on its Amazon page. One reviewer said she blamed getting this book on Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air. That's funny because I got this book because I too listened to John Waters on that program. Terry is great interviewer. And the books always sound so interesting.

Waters reads his book for Audible. Nobody else could do it. Dry, drool, totally self-aware. On Fresh Air he talked about the first chapter, which is about his admiration for Johnny Mathis. That chapter was fascinating. Unlike the reviewer mentioned above who hated the Leslie Van Houten chapter, I liked that chapter. I worked with one of her brothers, the one who was adopted. When I met him, he had changed his name back to his Korean birth name, although it seemed more Japanese to me. I don't blame him. There is a lot of hate associated with those Manson folks. What Waters does so well is to help you understand more about these people than what is on the surface. Van Houten went to a very bad place in herself, thanks in large part to drugs and the times. There but for the grace of fate could have gone many of us. Fascinating reading.

My hairdresser in Virginia had just come back from a vacation in Provincetown, MA. I never knew this was a gay hang out. Tennessee Williams hung out there, so did John Waters. You know how I love these connections.

You must have guessed there was some chapters I didn't love. The perversities at the end almost undid me. To each his own, I always say, as long as they aren't hurting other people. But I really don't need to know about it. Really. Do not. Need. To know. But now I do. Yippee.

Would I recommend this book? Sigh. How curious are you?

New Favorite Recipe

Some people take lots of pictures as they cook. I don't. But I can still picture this great corn and rice side dish that I made this evening. It was supposed to be quinoa with corn and scallions. But we've been infested by grain/flour beetles since I came home from DC last fall. The quinoa didn't make it. Luckily, I found a bag of shelf stable rice with lime and coconut milk from Trader Joes. To the rescue.

2 ears of corn, cut the kernels off and scrape the cobs for the creamy insides.

1 jalepeno chile, seeded and diced.

Sauté these in a little olive oil. It might have been better to brown the corn a bit more than I did. Maybe it would be good to start with the corn so your eyes don't burn with the browning chile bits.

4-5 scallions, sliced thin up to the deep green. Add to pan.

1 bag of TJ's rice with lime. Add to pan.

I added a little water to scrape the browning bits off the pan and make the rice a little fluffy.

Juice from half a lime. It's what I had.

A little smoked salt, if you have it.

A cup of chopped cilantro. Add at the end. The original recipe calls for mint. Maybe that would have been good. The TJ rice has basil in it. Maybe you could substitute a basil/flat parsley mix. The green looks really good with the yellow corn.

I will be making this as long as there is fresh corn at my farmer's market. Although I imagine you could use frozen corn, that seems soggier to me. The fresh corn has a bite that I like.

Can you picture it? Pretty, hunh?

From the Land of TOO Much Information

When I told Adrian that I was reading a book about traveling to Mars, he said his friends had been talking about the book. It's called Packing for Mars. Anyway, Adrian said his friends don't like the idea of manned flights to Mars. Very understandable because some of them work on the Mars Rover project. They should read this book. People who are thinking about funding a manned mission to Mars should read this book.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great book. Full of information about the human body and how these bodies are affected by space. Full of history about manned (and monkied) space flights. If she didn't have such a wry viewpoint, this could have been very boring. As it was, it just left me wondering why we should pay to send anyone up in space. It was a surprise that she said at the end that we should fund this dream because we wouldn't spend the money we save on anything better. That could be true, we could buy a lot of bridges to nowhere. Or we could fund unmanned flights, learn more and tax the bodies of astronauts and taxpayers less.

Remember I said it was full of information about the human body as it relates to space? Think of a part of your body or a body function. Think of it in space. It's discussed here. Skin, fat, bones, brain, heart, urination, defecation, sex, saliva, everything. Everything. Everything.

This would probably be a better book to read than to listen to. As it was, this was a very good book.

Traveling Music

I traveled from California to Virginia with Eric. Then we drove to Cass in West Virginia to ride a train. Then we took our trip to Maine. We listened to books for much of that time. I did learn something very interesting about Eric while doing that. Yes, he loves his mysteries, but he really likes non-fiction, too. I learned that when we had finished 61 Hours by Lee Child. That was a pretty discouraging book. Not just because it was a bad book, but Lee decided to split his book into two parts. It ended very abruptly in the audible book version. They failed to mention that there would be a second part printed some time in September. Naughty. You should really read the one star reviews on Amazon. HI-larious. And all so true. Funny thing is, I'll still read the one coming out in September.

After that disappointment, we were left with non-fiction, which I love. It seems that Eric is also fond of it. The Big Short was as depressing as Reacher, but for different reasons. This was very well written and ended when it should - when none of us had any more money. It's about the idiots who helped end a world economy as we knew it. It wasn't malicious, honest. Just making a bit of money here folks, nobody was meant to be hurt. Michael Smith does a very good reporting job. I may be tempted to read Liar's poker by him, but, well, depressing.

We also started to listen to Write it When I'm Gone. The full title include "Remarkable off-the-Record conversation with Gerald R. Ford." Remarkable. Really? Remarkable? I didn't make Eric listen to the end. Yikes. Trivial. Really boring. "I had this great access, and I promised him I wouldn't print this detritus until he was dead, and now he's dead, so, I guess, well, I said I'd print it, right?" Think about that time. Nixon resigned, Ford who had been named VP was now named President and surely other stuff was happening in the world. Surely. It would have been wonderful to read all about it. All the secret bits that we never knew as well as the out there bits that we have forgotten. I'd say a remarkable waste of his access and my time.

Better for the sheer joy of listening was The Truth (with Jokes) by Al Franken. This is the third of his books I've read. AND it was read by him. Nothing better than hearing his irony-dripping voice reading his own work. It was written before he actually ran for and won the senate seat from Minnesota. But you can hear him edging to that decision. This is his take on the 2004 election. Man, I loved this book. But I am part of his constituency. Wouldn't like him as President, but I sure like a skeptical person sitting in the Senate. Are my glasses too rosy? Would I see him pandering to special interests like most of Congress if I was in the same room? Would I miss seeing him ... fill in the blank; my mind is too full of the stupid things our politicians do. Golly gee, I think I'm going to take back America, when our politicians were honest. When was that again?

Anyway, I liked that book.

Then there is Nothing to Envy by Los Angeles Times reporter, Barbara Demick. Wowser, this is a mighty fine book. I've linked all these books to their Amazon pages. Almost nobody didn't love this book (although you should read the only one star review.) Hum, speaking of writing - almost nobody didn't? Nearly everybody loved this book. That includes Eric and me. Demick lives in South Korea, but met with many people who have migrated to there from North Korea. This is their story. And what a story to tell because it includes the deterioration of the poor, misguided country. That little troll keeps stirring the pot, we should all know what's going on there. Bravo. Read this book. Please.

He Remembered Me!

I went to the farmer's market this morning. Didn't go last Saturday because I already had too much food in this house. I needed some peaches and berries and grass-fed beef so I had to go this week. There are now little bug nets over all the fruit. I guess while I was gone, the market must have been invaded by fruit flies. So sad. Probably a civic-minded Pasadena damsel trying to make us all safe from dangerous vermin.

The peaches looked wonderful, we still have all berries, the veggies were uncovered (okay, that convinces me that vegetables have less sugar.) The beef man was missing. Either I was too early or he has taken the summer off. We will see next week.

Best thing was seeing the man who sells the Middle Eastern prepared food. He was shocked and pleased to see me. He also remembered that when I left in June, I walked off without all the food he sold me. He said he followed me through the market, but somehow didn't catch up. He seems much more able than that! Anyway, it was fun to be remembered. And he gave me all my stuff for free, since I'd already paid for it.

I choose to think that he was just happy to see me. Imagine having to remember that every Saturday, Now he can forget all about me. Sigh.

Take This Waltz

I am home, have seen no one but my dear friend, Adrian. This is the life.

OK, so now that nobody is looking anymore I can tell all - my inner most feelings about life and all the people who are in mine. Nah. Although that might be fun. And destructive. And meaningless. I mean, what the heck, nobody is looking. Except Karen. Here are pictures of our trip to Maine. The best is the video of a white sand beach in the Acadian National Park. Lovely. I like that it ends with Eric walking the beach. You have to watch the whole thing.

Summer was eventful. I worked for some very nice people, made new friends there whom I will never see again. I almost died of humidity and heat. What a dreadful climate they have in DC. The world has always known that, but you have to experience it at its worst to really understand. And this was the worst. The news guys told us that every night. Cindy was amazed that I could live in So Pas without AC, since I kept the one in my room in Arlington going day and night. But really, dry heat, cool nights, blessed So Pas.

I nearly finished my tapestry, but have run out of some colors of thread that I need. But then I realized that, like my blog, nobody will ever see it. So I'm using "close" to finish it. I work on it an hour every day while I watch Perry Mason in honor of my mother. She loved that man. Soon I will start my new needlepoint. It's going to be as frustrating as this one was, lots of little flowers. When I am done with it, I will have 5 of these tucked away somewhere in the apartment. Maybe I do need a will. If I bequeath it, does that mean they have to take it?

And, of course, I've been reading. Books beyond measure. I think I'll save the list for my next posting. I also listened to some of the great music I have on my iPod. This is my "play this as I die" playlist. It lightens my heart to hear this wild mix of songs. I grin whenever I hear Leonard Cohen or someone singing his song. "I want you, I want you, I want you." Sung with his deep, raspy voice. I'm his. But I'm also Bob Dylan's, who takes me back to a dorm room in LA. I sing along with Mary as she sings Hush-a-by. This is the song that I used to sing to Adrian. Before he asked me to please stop singing. He told me the other day that he was listening to a Kate Hudson interview when she said that her child has asked her to stop singing. He felt a certain kinship with that kid. I bet Kate doesn't listen any better than I do. "I am not, the boy next door."

Yes, It's Been a Busy Month

First, happy birthday Adrian and Per. Adrian's birthday was almost a month ago. I was on the road. Per's birthday is today. He is on the road or his back. I'm sure he would prefer the other over the reality. I was not and am not in California to celebrate either. So, where in the world am I?

Virginia again. I have picked up about 4 weeks of work over this summer. Eric drove me back after his long trip across the country in his new car. We drove back over my favorite route. 15 to 40 to 81 to 66. How hard could it be? Virginia has responded by having the hottest June in eons. And most humid. How dare they! Luckily, Eric and Cindy run a cool house, so I've been content.

I guess a bit too content, since I haven't been writing. I have been reading or listening to books too numerous to mention. Really, not going to mention them. Well, maybe just one in conjunction with another. Eric and I listened to Churchill's book The Grand Alliance, Part 1. Oh, it was just part one, no wonder it ended so abruptly. Anyway, I also got Citizens of London on sale through Audible. It covered approximately the same time but was written by a journalist with no stake in the events. Therefore she was able to talk about events a bit more forthrightly. This was all very interesting. You should really read about these people. It always leaves me a little disheartened to know that the people we want to be perfect are merely human. Does this mean Obama too?

So besides work and avoiding the heat, I've been working on my needlepoint until this week. On Wednesday, Eric and I drove to Cass, West Virginia to ride an old lumber train. I promised Karen I would take lots of pictures. They are on my Picasa site. The town is high in the hills, so we finally got out of the heat and humidity of DC. It was a bit too cool for Eric, in fact uncomfortably so. Sweaters and jackets are good things. The wood cutting stopped in 1960. It was no longer profitable since they had chopped down most of the trees. Oh sure, they planted more, but it seems that the red spruce trees they preferred need to have older hardwood trees to shelter them. All of this takes time. So the state bought the property.

It was interesting to be in West Virginia as their Senator Byrd was lying in the Senate. It was interesting to think about what that highly maintained state is going to do now that they have lost their senator.

Oh, and I got a traffic ticket in Maryland on the way to WVa. I'd been driving for about two minutes when I was caught in a speed trap. Sigh. He fixed it so it won't be reported to my insurance in CA. I'm sure he tells all the "offenders" that. Such a deal. Such a joy to be back in my cool room in this now temperate state.

Lost in the Threads

First, a view of my favorite flower, the peony. I bought a dozen to put in front of my window. They were so much fun to watch as they unfolded into the floozies that they are. Just when you think they can't get any bigger, they find a way. Lovely. Too bad they don't grow in this climate.

I've been needling like crazy for the last month. I got tired of working on the right side of the picture, so I moved to the left. I know, impossible that I could move further to the left. I guess I was more comfortable over there because the far left is done from top to bottom. Now I need to fill in the blank top and bottom as I move to the right. Let's see if I like the right better than I did last month.

Lots of stitching means lots of listening. So many mysteries, all fun, but not worth remembering. Here's a few of the interesting books along the way.

First is The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell. Mankell wrote the Wallender mystery series that I've enjoyed in the past. This one also takes place in Sweden, but includes a backstory involving a Chinese family. Mankell gets pretty long-winded and diatribish at times. Interesting concept, however. Almost as interesting is reading Mankell's biography on Wikipedia. Talk about moving to the left.
My friend Per is seriously ill and in the hospital. Now he's getting seriously sick listening to me talk about The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande. I've tried to visit Per regularly at the hospital because I know it has to be a drag having doctors and nurses poking and prodding and ripping flesh while removing gauzes day in and day out. But every time I go, I think about this book. Gawande has been working on ways to improve hospital and surgical routines using checklists. His previous book included a section on reducing infections in hospitals by having everyone wash their hands constantly. You can bet I was watching everyone who came in to see Per. He's been at two hospitals. The first was in Marina Del Rey and they have an excellent procedure, putting on new gloves when they walk into a patient's room, then throwing them out as they leave and then using an antiseptic cleaner. The UCLA hospital has antiseptic cleaner dispensers outside every room with a big sign to use it to prevent infections. I think I like the Marina hospital's procedure best. I never saw them not comply with their practice. Maybe the UCLA folks cleanse their hands every time they walk into a room. Gawande says that even he misses sometimes.

Then today a nurse came in to take vitals and ask about pain. This was a checklist! One of the most rudimentary checklists in a hospital is a nurse doing 4 things - blood pressure, temperature, heart rate and pain (from 1-10 rating). Some used to miss some of the 4 things and it was found that if all were done and recorded, patient recovery improved.

In other words, I liked the book.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has helped be to be more knowledgeable about cell reproduction and uterine cancer and John Hopkins and big Pharma stealing our genes. What a good book. It actually helped me understand my cancer better. I did better than poor Henrietta Lacks. My cancer was found at the very beginning. Hers lasted through two pregnancies. More than that, the biopsy they took of her cells in the early 50's are still growing today and have helped in unbelievable research and medical discoveries. This is a fascinating slice of history.

A Visit with Maureen

My college friend, Maureen, drove down from Seattle to visit her family last week. I got to sneak in a little visit on Sunday. She is just the dearest person. We can be separated for months and it still feels like we haven't missed a beat. Who else knows all the history of the intervening 40 years? Who else can laugh when I say that Reg is finally helping to support me with his Social Security payments? Who else will send a special message to Adrian when I'm showing her how I can take movies with my still camera? She is, after all, the Maureen that Adrian named our dog after when he was little. She was such a big part of his life.

Maureen was staying at Katie's house. Katie is Mo's sister and I haven't seen her for years. Gosh, it was good to see her, too. She's the only one still working. Maureen is still playing in the stock market. Not playing. She is a very serious investor. Sorry we can't see each other today when the market is bouncing back after its heavy drop last week. I don't know if she missed her moment to buy Proctor and Gamble. She's driving home today, so I'll have to see if she bought anything later in the week.

I can see that when I move up to Albany, I'll be making a lot of trips north and I hope that she can visit me more often there.

Finished Game Change on the way to Covina to see Maureen. Poor Mo. It was too much on my mind because of that. The Dreadful Edwardses, the foul-mouthed McCain, the muddled Palin, the over-confident and flawed Clintons, the brash upstart Obama. It was all good reading. As always, the person who comes off best is Michelle. That could just be my bias. It becomes easier to see how the Reps (and Dems) could be wary of Bill Clinton lurking in the background. Tom recommended this as a good read and I agree. Remember, nothing you ever read is gospel, which is why you must read a lot. It might as well be enjoyable while you do it.

The Lusty Month of May

Or so they sang in Camelot. If not lusty, full of sunshine, flowers, strawberries and friends.Isn't that a pretty shot from my local farmers' market? The colors and smells still catch me every Saturday morning. The onion guy asked me if I wanted anything as I was standing there smelling the fresh, clean scent of young onions. It would be a great diet just to take in all these good smells.

This is pretty much how my needlepoint looked mid-April. I almost posted this picture, but somehow got busy. My life is so unbusy that surprises even me. I think I'd identified where the bottom of the picture was at that point, but still working mightily on the middle ground. What do you read while needlepointing? Cranford. Women in that era were always working on a piece of something. Look at the picture. She has knitting next to her. This book is a good antidote to raucous thrillers. Slow moving and sweet. Now I may be able to see the Masterpiece Theater shows based on the book that are saved on my DVR.
Another book to intersperse between mysteries is Villette by Charlotte Bronte. When Karen and I were at the FOB a couple of weekends ago we wrote what we were reading on a huge wall set up for just that purpose. As I was half way through Villette, I didn't feel too dishonest writing that as opposed to one of the mysteries I was reading. Not too. Villette is about the classic orphan girl managing in the world. I really liked it. I was not aware that the Bronte girls were not that prolific. Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre, this book and two others. You can get the Kindle edition of a book with all four books for just $1.00. Amazing.
And then begins my spat mysteries that deal with other genders. Other genders? Well, I've noticed that most mysteries are written from the male perspective. Women are often there to have horrible stuff done to them. The "other gender" in Dressed for Death is transvestites. Not that Venice is rampant with transvestites, but Donna Leon (whose name is much bigger than the title; hum, so are all the other names on this page; never mind) likes to write about issues affecting Venice. They are still mentioned here - huge pollution problem, corrupt politicians, oversexed Italian men. I loved that part where the protagonist's wife asks if he's ever noticed how often the men of Venice fondle themselves. Good story, despite the fondling. Darker Domain has a female Cold Case detective and a female journalist working what appear to be wildly divergent stories. This was nominated for a Times Book Prize for mysteries. The ending is a little contrived, but I liked it pretty much. Glad it didn't win the prize. Can't wait to read the one that did.
Gallow's View is about a Peeping Tom. Hum, why did I think this was from a different gender perspective? I'm not sure. It was well written. This was from the batch of books that were first books in a series. There are many more Inspector Banks books. Even though this was a classic mystery of the slow moving variety, I liked it.
Pirate is not a classic mystery of the slow moving type. It's actually pretty funny in its high testosterone, thrill a minute plot devices. Manly men, gorgeous women, unkillable heroes. Karen read a review that said it was Bond-like. Yes. Poorly plotted, yet moves like a runaway train. Can't put my iPod down. :) I must recommend this one to my brothers. I think both of them would love this. I know I'm enjoying it.

Do you think that the pace of that book is why my needlepoint has moved on so rapidly? I've also found the right side of the picture.