Unfriendly Pollinators

Three and a half days ago I was sitting on a park bench next to the Mississippi river. I was reading a book on my phone. Pollinators kept visiting me and invading my personal space. They would buzz in front of my face, crawl on my arms, and explore my legs. Most of them were small wasps; not the dangley legged wasps. I crossed my right leg over my left and there must have been a wasp there. I felt a sharp pain. I uncrossed my legs and slapped my outer calf. I was stung by a wasp. The pain was immediate. Using ice would have been a good idea but I didn't have any. I was on my way to the library and the library doesn't have ice. I used water from the fountain and spread it on the sting several times which helped quite a bit. I was in pain the rest of the day. The next morning I found I had a round red spot about 2.5 inches in diameter. As the day went by the pain changed into an itch. And it still itches today. The spot is still red and there is a lump beneath my skin. Sitting with my right leg over my left is too painful. I have never had this much of a reaction to a wasp sting before. Dang pollinators, I know they are good for the environment but I am not too happy with them right now.

 

  

Birds of The Southern Island Of New Zealand

Tonight I attended the bird club meeting here in Winona. The speaker makes presentations and writes books about her travel adventures. She toured the southern island with a company. Part of her time was spent on a bus but also a helicopter and a boat. When New Zealand separated from Australia, it left with no mammals except a couple of small bats. As 3000 years passed, the birds evolved. Since they had no predators, many of the birds went flightless and nested on the ground. This includes the kiwi, a giant parrot, and the penguins. When the Maori and Polynesian people arrived they brought rats with them. When the European people arrived they brought stoats (weasels). Several of the flightless birds went extinct because of the rats and stoats. One bird that is endemic to New Zealand is the kea. Kea is the only alpine parrot in the world. They are known for their intelligence and tendency to be mischievous. As the department of transportation was building a tunnel through the mountains, the kea birds caused problems. They begged for food. If not given food they would rip off windshield wipers or the rubber around the car windows. With their sharp beak the kea can puncture tires. The tunnel is a one-way road. Kea birds were caught on film moving the cones which could have caused collisions. To this day, if cars have to wait for the traffic to go by, kea birds will beg for food and cause problems. She was a very interesting speaker and her photos were top notch.

 

The yellow-eyed penguin is endemic to New Zealand and endangered.

  

Bee Season

Bee Season, written by Myla Goldberg, is a novel about the unraveling of a Jewish family. We learn about the family mostly through the eyes of Eliza, the youngest child. She has an older brother, Aaron, with whom she used to pal around with but doesn't anymore. Her father is a rabbi who used to spend time playing guitar with Aaron in his office in the evenings. Once Eliza wins the school spelling bee and the school district spelling bee, the father spends his evening helping her study spelling. Aaron feels left out and starts looking for spiritual fulfillment outside of the synagogue. Their mother, a lawyer, works long hours and is disengaged from the family. This is an interesting story about a couple of people who maybe should have gotten their heads on straight before having children.  

 

 

Hello Beautiful

Hello Beautiful is a highly acclaimed family novel published in 2023 by Ann Napolitano. The story starts out with William who grew up on the east coast. He was an only child and lonely. His parents gave him no attention. They didn't go to his school conferences. They didn't attend his basketball games. Once he left for college in Chicago that was the end of his relationship with them. In college he met a lively, assertive girl named Julia. Julia said she would attend his basketball game. She comes to the game bringing her three sisters, Sylvia, Emmeline, and Cecelia. The sisters are a tight family. William's life is forever changed. His life is not a straight trajectory. He has changes and adjustments but he is happy to be part of a family. 

 

 

Beautiful Boy

 David Sheff is the author of Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction. His son, Nic, became addicted to methamphetamine. Starting in high school he started to steal from his family to buy drugs. The author feels responsible for his son's mistakes. He goes to therapy. He goes to Al-Anon groups every week. When Nic is in rehab the author attends family therapy sessions. The author finds that his life and state of mind is taken over with worry for his son. He is told the three C's. He didn't cause this addiction problem. He can't control it. He can't cure it. The tale is heart breaking but worth reading. 

 

 

The Doll House

 The Barbizon is a famous building in New York that, starting in the 1920's, housed females. The building had a rooftop terrace. The basement had a swimming pool. Second floor held a cafeteria. Now it is mostly condos with a few apartments. Both men and women can reside there. This is where Fiona Davis decided to write her novel called The Doll House. The story starts out in 1952. Each floor has a different employer. One floor is for a secretarial school. One floor is for a modeling agency. One floor is for musicians. When Darby arrives from rural Ohio, she is assigned a room with the models even though she is headed for secretarial school. The models convince her to go to a theater show. They leave her with one of the young men that they know is a predatory jerkwad. She comes back upset with her clothes torn and her knees bloodied.  One of the maids in the Barbizon helps her out. Esme is Puerto Rican. Esme explains to Darby how the pecking order works in this complex. They become friends and confidants. Darby adjusts to life in New York City. She is not enjoying secretarial school. Secretarial school was her mother's idea. Esme talks her into attending a jazz club where she moonlights as a hat check girl. Esme even talks Darby to perform with her on stage as a back up singer. This is one story line in the book. The other story line is in modern times. A journalist, Rose, lives in the Barbizon with her fiancee. Rose hears stories about the old days in this historic hotel so she goes digging for information. This fascinating story is told, chapter by chapter, one timeline at a time.

 

 

All The Colors Of The Dark

Chris Witacker is the author of All The Colors In The Dark. This is a literary crime drama set mostly in a small town in Missouri. Patch and Saint are the main characters. Patch is a teen aged boy with only one eye. He is also an artist. Saint lives next door with her grandmother and raises bees. One weekend morning Patch saves a girl named Misty from being abducted by an older man. Misty is the teen aged daughter of the wealthiest family in town. What follows from that is a series of child abductions. Circumstances completely change the trajectories of Patch's and Saint's lives. The story starts in 1975 and spans decades. This book had 261 chapters. Some were very short. I thought the characters were well portrayed.