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.