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.