The River Is Waiting

Wally Lamb is the author of The River Is Waiting. This is an Oprah book club book and like all the books Oprah likes it is full of broken people and tragedy. Corby Ledbetter is the protagonist in this book. He is young, married, and the father of twins. He makes a huge mistake. Is his mistake unforgivable? Corby pays the price that it is unforgivable. In the meantime he tries to be a good person. He tries to help others who are in need. He tries to stay clean and sober. I liked the book but towards the end I was overwhelmed by tragedy piled upon tragedy. The author didn't have to make the story this tragic. It was over the top. 

 

 

Haralsons

I got lucky today. I already have 4 apples in the fridge. No matter, I found a bag of Haralson apples at the local supermarket and I bought it. These Haralson apples were local from the Eckart orchard in Trempeleau, Wisconsin. I like Haralson apples because we had some Haralson trees in my back yard when I was a kid. The Haralson apples are medium sized which I like a lot better than some of the giant apples I normally find in the stores. Haralson apples are not as sweet as many of the apples. Now, let me think. Should I make a pie? Apple crisp? Apple sauce?

 

 

1965

 Today I went to a lecture at the history center about the flood in 1965 that took place in Winona. The east side of town (where I live) was hit hard. My street was under water but two blocks away from the river from my house was not underwater. The flood crested at 20.77 feet on April 19th. Lake City and Wabasha also crested that day. People had to be evacuated. The mayor hired young men and high school boys to build dikes and fill sand bags for $1.50 per hour which was good pay in those days. The dikes were made of piles of dirt lined with plastic and covered with sand bags. People walked the top of the dikes to make sure they didn't fail. The mayor hired girls and older people to make sandwiches. Several people in the audience remember the flood and did help with the dikes and the sandwiches. The sandwiches were baloney or spam. The sewer system was so inundated with river water that manhole covers were flying into the air followed by a stream of water. They solved this problem in two ways. They build pipes in the road that went 12 feet into the air. The excess water could go up that pipe and stay contained until the river level decreased. The other way was to take large rubber bags, fill them with water, the plug the man holes from below. If the dikes had failed Winona would not continue to be an island city. Winona would have been a two island city. The lecture was interesting. Having audience members who were actually there share their memories was very nice.

 

 

Kin

Tayari Jones is the author of Kin. This is a story about two girls who grew up together in Honeysuckle, Louisiana. Both girls are motherless. Vernice's mother was killed by her father in a murder/suicide before she was six months old. Her Aunt returned from Ohio to raise her. Annie's mother abandoned her soon after birth. She was raised by her grandmother. Annie left high school early to find her mother in Atlanta. Vernice left after graduating high school to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Both girls struggled to be without parents but in different ways. This book, published in 2026, gave an interesting outlook on what it is like to be young, abandoned, black, and poor in the deep south. 

 

 

Let's Call Her Barbie

Renee Rosen is the author of Let's Call Her Barbie. The book is about a woman named Ruth Handler. Along with her husband she founded a toy company called Mattel. She was an inventor and a business magnate. She excelled in selling. While on a trip to Europe with her son, she came across a doll in Switzerland named Bild Lilli. At the time all the dolls were babies. Bild Lilli was an adult doll with adult features. After that, Ruth's passion was the Barbie doll (named after her daughter). She neglected her children and spent all her waking hours at work. Ruth was the only person who believed Barbie would become a hit toy. Together with another inventor named Jack and several clothing designers they made a fortune on the Barbie doll. Later came the Ken doll (named after her son). She suffered sexual discrimination from bankers and investors along the way. Later, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she stopped paying close attention to what was happening at Mattel. Someone mishandled money and Ruth was charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission. She paid her fines. Later she invented a prosthesis for mastectomy patients. I enjoyed reading about such a strong woman. 

 

 

Ms. Mebel Goes Back To The Chopping Block

Jesse Q. Sutanto is the author of Ms. Mebel Goes Back To The Chopping Block. This is a humorous fiction book about an insuppressible Ms. Mebel. Ms. Mebel is a wife and mother living in Indonesia. She and her husband are of Chinese/Indonesian descent. They have a son, a daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. One day Ms. Mebel's husband comes home from work to announce he is seeking a divorce and is going to marry the cook Ms. Mebel hired to please her husband. Ms. Mebel's whole life was in helping her husband and her son. Now she is lost. Ms. Mebel has no filter. She says things that are rude. She has a tendency to invade personal boundaries. She is concerned what other people in her society will think once she is divorced. At first she copes with the divorce by spending money on designer clothes, shoes and hand bags. Then she copes by signing up for French cooking lessons. She thinks if she can cook French food well enough her husband will take her back. She ends up at a culinary school in rural England. As the weeks pass by the things that were important to her (social standing, designer clothes, her husband) become less important. New things become important such as friendships, good tasting food, and having a skill. When I first started reading this book her character was so over the top I thought the entire book would be silly. By the end of the book I changed my mind and I now think this is a book worth reading. 

 

 

The Night We Lost Him

Laura Dave is the author of the mystery novel called The Night We Lost Him. The story is about a father of three, an ex-husband of three, and the owner of luxury rentals on both the east coast and the west coast. Liam is the father and he kept his three children very separate. When he suddenly dies falling from a cliff outside one of his favorite homes on the California coast, his children try to figure out how he could fall from a property he was very familiar with. The authorities rule his death as accidental but his children don't believe that. The story is narrated in half by Nora, the daughter. The other half is narrated by Liam himself and it is unclear why he kept so many secrets. The book moves a little slow but the character of Nora is completely relatable.  

 

 

The Night We Became Strangers

 I enjoyed reading The Night We Became Strangers by Lorena Hughes in part because it is set in Quito, Ecuador which is a city I have been too. In this story a family radio station decides to put on a radio play much like War Of The Worlds that aired in the United States eleven years earlier. The people in Quito took it seriously. Panic spread throughout the city. Even though various sodas were advertised throughout the broadcast the idea that Martians had landed near Quito was real for many people. When it was over anger set in. People rioted at the radio station and set the building on fire leaving Valeria an orphan. Her uncle sends her to a boarding school outside of the city. When she graduates she tries to find out what happened that night. Her uncle is unwilling to talk about. Her former friend, Matias, and his mother also refuse to talk about it. Valeria does not give up though. This book had a surprise ending and a nice writing style.

 

 

Lake Effect

Lake Effect is a family novel written by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney. The story starts out in Rochester, New York in 1977. Clara is in high school and starting to fall in love with the boy next door. All of her plans fail when her mother decides to leave her father and take off with the man next door. Twenty years later Clara still isn't over her anger and grief. Reputations were ruined but twenty years later none of that matters to anyone besides Clara. This is a story about mothers and daughters, love and grief. 

 

 

Last Night In Brooklyn

Xochitl Gonzalez is the author of Last Night In Brooklyn. This fiction story is about a young woman living in Brooklyn after college. The author describes her job in advertising, drinking at clubs, doing drugs, and DJ's spinning songs. The main character is Alicia. She is drawn into the world of fashion. She is also drawn into the world of a famous fashion designer who lives across the street. The designer's name is La Garza. La Garza throws fabulous parties. La Garza contacts Alicia once she figures out that Alicia's cousin is someone she used to know and who used to support her fashion. The story details Alicia's experiences in the year before Obama was first elected to be president.

 

   

Flammulated Owl

 Last night the Winona bird club had a lecture about flammulated owls. The lecturer is a professor at the U of W in LaCrosse. He spends his time here and in the valleys of northern Idaho. There are no flammulated owls in Minnesota. Occasionally one might get off track and be seen in the black hills of South Dakota but they are a western and southwestern raptor. They are easier to study because they tend to nest in colonies. In a mile long stretch a half mile wide there could be twenty nests if researchers put up nest boxes. They are called flammulated because there is a pattern on their wings that meets on the lower back that looks like flames. Years of research have shown that there are two main factors that point to success in raising young. One is arrival to the breeding area. If you come a week early your brood won't hatch as successfully as if you came a week later. The other factor is the snow pack. Compared to rain, a good snow pack will release the water gradually which leads to more herbs and forbs which in turn leads to more insects in the area. The main food of flammulated owls is insects but they have been known to eat mice or other small birds such as sparrows. I enjoyed hearing about flammulated owls but I also enjoyed hearing about this man's passion and excitement and enthusiasm for his work with them.

 

 

Sunburn

 Laura Lippman is the author of Sunburn, a mystery psychological thriller. Polly comes into a bar with a sunburn. She is a wife and mother who just abandoned her husband and young daughter and took a bus to Delaware. Adam comes into the bar and notices her. He eventually gets a job at the bar as a cook. Polly gets a job as a waitress. Adam's real job is a private investigator and he is investigating Polly. What follows next is a summer of lies and deceit, revenge and blackmail. I liked the beginning of the story but by the end there was so much manipulation I couldn't keep it straight.

 

 

About A Boy

About A Boy is a comedic fiction novel written by Nick Hornby. This story was also made into a movie which is available on YouTube (with ads) starring Hugh Grant as Will. The story is about two guys. One is 34, unemployed, living in London, living off the royalties of a holiday song his father wrote 30 years ago. His name is Will. The other is Marcus. Marcus is 11 and now living in London with his mother after his parents split up. His mother is a hippie who loves Joni Mitchell music, cuts Marcus' hair and picks out his clothes. Although Marcus had friends at his previous school he is being relentlessly bullied here in London. Marcus is funny because he takes things literally. Marcus turns to Will for help. Will is greatly reluctant but they form a mutual friendship that helps them both. This book is very charming.

 

 

The Compound

The Compound is a fiction novel with some mystery and some science fiction. Written by Aisling Rawle, an author living in Dublin, the story is set in a rural desert in Arizona. The story is about a reality show. Twenty young people are sent to live in a house in the wilds of Arizona. The women arrive first. They are drugged and placed in various rooms of the house and/or yard. The ten men arrive on foot after walking through the desert for a couple of days. One of the men is missing. The men and women are forced to sleep together on beds. Any man or woman who sleeps alone is banished. The fame and fortune come to those who last the longest. People are voted out of the compound regularly. The contestants are given challenges to complete to earn things such as a door for the house or food or water or coffee or champagne. Contestants can complete individual challenges to earn things that start with basics like a comb to diamond earrings at the end. This story is told by Lily who is 20 years old and bored with her life as a cosmetics sales person in a department store. Being a contestant has given her the ability to own cosmetics she could never afford before. Lily is a material girl. Besides being a book about a reality show this book is about consumerism. 

 

 

A Marriage At Sea

Sophie Elmhirst is the author of A Marriage At Sea: A True Story About Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck. This is based on a true story about Maurice and Maralyn. They were a British couple who didn't want to live a normal life. They wanted an adventurous life. They saved money to buy a boat. They left Britain, sailed to Portugal and across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. They sailed through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific.  They were on their way to New Zealand. A whale struck their boat. When they couldn't patch the hole below the water line they took food, containers of water, their sextant, a camera and their passports. They also brought some rain coats and pants. They were adrift for 117 days. They survived by drinking rain water and eating fish and turtles. Madalyn's positive attitude is what kept them alive until they were picked up by a South Korean fishing boat. I thought this was a great story but to be honest, I could not put up with a man like Maurice.  

 

 

Intermezzo

 Sally Rooney is the author of Intermezzo. Set in Dublin, Ireland, the story follows two brothers in the year after their father's death. Peter is 30 and he is ten years older than his brother, Ivan. Peter is a lawyer and a college professor. He has a long term relationship with Sylvia who is like a sister to Ivan. He also has a college aged girlfriend who is all about having a good time. Ivan finished college and is now working as an IT consultant while keeping up with his chess games. Ivan is a competitive chess player. He meets an older woman at a community arts building where he gave a chess playing clinic. Peter is vocally critical of Ivan's relationship. He does not see how his friendship with a younger woman is exactly the same thing. The relationship between Peter and Ivan is very complicated. They cannot speak of their grief over their father's death. This is an interesting book with an abundance of dialog.

 

 

Seed Collection Day

Usually a group volunteers to collect seeds once a month. There was an event in early September that I missed because I was animal sitting two hound dogs and an elderly cat. But I made it today. We had two men, four women, and four children under 7 years of age. My goal today was to collect hairy gramma  and thimbleweed. Hairy gramma doesn't look like much. The grass and the seeds are just a few inches off the ground. After 90 minutes of picking hairy gramma I wished I had picked a taller plant. The grass is indistinguishable from the other grasses. What makes it different is the seeds. The two seeds in this picture are a little to the left of center. The bottom one is half way up. The top one is above it. They both look tan in color.

The seeds look like eyebrows. Isn't that cool?

With just a half hour left in our three hour tour of duty I got distracted by this grove on red pines.

Here is a shot of the red pines looking straight up into the sky. We had great weather today. The sky was overcast and the temperature was in the 60's.

On my way back to the meeting place I found some ground cherry husks. The cherries were gone but the seeds were still inside the husks.

 

Seed Collecting Machine

Today I went to the Nature Conservancy site at Weaver Dunes which is 20 miles from my place. I saw this contraption on a trailer attached to a truck. The contraption has large orange bristles that rotate like a sidewalk sweeper. I asked a nearby man what it was. He said it is a seed collector for seeds like big blue stem. The seeds are collected into a container in the back.

The sticker reads "Be Careful. This machine has no brain. Use your own." Golly, such sarcastic signage wouldn't work for the general public but prairie owners must be different.

 

The Paris Daughter

The Paris Daughter is an historical fiction book written by Kristin Harmel with an ending I did not see coming. Knowing the ending now I see there were a couple of slight clues along the way. This is a World War II story in Paris. Julianne works at a book shop with her husband and four children. Elise has a daughter the same age as Julianne's daughter. She is married to a successful artist and is also an artist herself. Her husband downplays her artistic accomplishments. Ruth is a widow with two young children. When the Nazi's start deporting Jewish people to concentration camps (with the assistance of French police) Ruth leaves her children with strangers and hides in the south of France. Elise's husband is a strident member of the French resistance. When he is taken he does not incriminate any of his political allies but suggests Elise is a part of the resistance when she wasn't. Elise knows she needs to leave town so she asks Julianne to take her daughter until she can return. The American forces were not always accurate when bombing German machine repair shops in Paris so many people are killed. Who was killed and who was not killed did not come out of hiding until Juliette, Elise, and Ruth meet together in 1960 in New York City. After reading this story and about the war in Ukraine, I count my blessings to have lived a peaceful life.

 

 

Orhan's Inheritance

When one group of citizens deports another group of citizens, is it right that the remaining group of citizens takes over the property of the group that has left? In Orhan's Inheritance, Aline Ohanesian writes about the Armenian genocide that took place in Turkey after World War One. Lucine lives with her family. She has brothers and parents and grandparents. Their job is dying wool for prayer rugs in beautiful patterns. Lucine is Armenian. In Turkey the Armenians are slightly wealthier than the Turks. Also, they practice Christianity while the Turks are Muslim. Lucine and Kemal are young friends. When Lucine and her family are deported to Syria Kemal promises to remember her. Kemal's family takes over Lucine's family property. When Kemal dies he leaves the family business or Orhan and he leaves the family property to Seda. Orhan decides to go to Los Angeles and learn about Seda who is now 90 years old and living in an Armenian nursing home. What Orhan learns from the reticent Seda upturns all he knew about his heritage. This is a great novel about love, loss, and family secrets.

 

  

Doc

 Mary Doria Russell is the author of Doc. This is a story about the famous western gambler/dentist known as Doc Holiday. He is 24 years old and had to move to Dodge City because he had tuberculosis. The dryer air out west would help him live longer than if he stayed in Atlanta. Doc was a dentist and a good dentist too. He couldn't earn enough as a dentist to make ends meet so he became a Faro dealer too. He was friends with all the Earp brothers. When cattle came to Dodge City turmoil happened. Cowhands now had money to spend at the bars and the whore houses full of young Irish women.  Unlike all the other men in town Doc is cultured. He reads philosophy. He can play the piano. He can discuss art and authors. Because of his disease he is thin and he coughs frequently. Drinking whiskey calms the cough. The story of Doc Holiday and his friendship with Wyatt Earp is fascinating to read.

 

 

Word Mix Up

When I was a kid my Aunt Annie was my playmate. We were going to build a fort. We decided to use some fruit boxes that were piled next to my Grandpa's garage. The problem was that one of the boxes held a bee's nest. We were swarmed with bees. As I ran away from the bees I still carried the box in my hand resulting in many painful stings. Back at my own house my Mom and Grandma discussed what to do to relieve the pain. As a kid I sometimes got words mixed up. I started screaming that I didn't want vinegar on me.

This is what I thought vinegar was. Vinegar and manure are not the same thing at all. I know that now.

One day my family was having breakfast in the wood paneled dining room. I asked for more bacon. I was told there wasn't any bacon. I could see bacon on a plate at the other end of the table.

Bacon and toast are not the same thing. I know that all.

Moral of the story? Be careful when picking up fruit boxes that have been sitting outside.

 

Happy Fall

 

Ransomware

Today I attended a talk at the Winona Historical Building about ransomware. The talk was given by the Winona County Recorder. Ransomware is when another entity steals data and programs from a place and holds them for ransom. In January of this year, cyber criminals stole data from Winona County and held it for ransom. In this case it was $128,000.00. That is a boat load of money for a county that is barely making it and was looking to increase taxes by double digits. Insurance paid $50,000.00. The county recorder gave a good talk but could not give us all the details because there is still an open case with the FBI. The biggest suspect is Iran. This cyber attack held up data for property records, employee data, and payroll.  The attack on Winona County was the largest ransom ware attack in the state of Minnesota.  The second largest attack was on Washington County which makes sense because they have a lot more money. When asked why the attackers chose such a money poor county he mentioned an issue with Fastenal. Fastenal is a large employer here in Winona. They have a building on Second Street which is unique. This is a five story building. Corporate executives are on the first and second floor. Hourly workers are on the fourth and fifth floors which have beautiful views of the Mississippi River and the cliffs of Wisconsin. Fastenal appealed the tax rate on their building which is their right to do. The county searched throughout the state for a similar building and could not find anything equivalent. Next they searched the nation for a similar building. Fastenal threatened to go to court. County officials and Fastenal talked about it and decided to come to an agreement without going to court. All the searches for buildings equivalent to Fastenal might have triggered the ransomware. He told us to expect many more ransom ware attacks in the future. A near by town had a smaller ransom ware attack. The city council decided to pay the ransom minus ten per cent. As a result they lost all that money and all their data. Experts say it is best to pay the full amount. He couldn't tell us how the ransom was paid but I suspect bitcoin. The recorder had other things to say about the county. Birth rates are down. Death rates are up. They were told to expect more marriages during the pandemic. Instead the divorce rates skyrocketed. Although the talk was interesting and informative, I now have more things to worry about.

The Orphan's Tale

Pam Jennoff is the author of the historical fiction novel called The Orphan's Tale. The story is about the friendship of two women during World War Two in Germany. Noa was 16 when her parent's threw her out of the house for being pregnant. A Nazi officer had made false promises to her. She is taken to a Nazi home for pregnant women. Her child would be given to the Reich. Her son had dark hair and dark eyes. He was deemed unsuitable for the Reich. Noa was expelled from the home. She got a job at a train station. She slept in the attic above the train station. One day she heard noises from a train car. The train car was full of babies being sent to a prison camp. The babies were cold, dirty, and hungry. Noa decides to save one of the babies. She takes him with her through the woods in the winter. When she is overcome by the cold, a fellow named Peter finds her. Peter works as a clown at a circus that over winters near these woods. When Noa awakens she claims the baby is her brother and she ran away from an abusive father. She offers to cook and clean to support herself and the baby until she can recover. The circus owner says he doesn't need a cook nor a cleaner. He needs an aerialist. He needs a trapeze artist. Noa trains with the other trapeze artist, Astrid. Astrid came to the circus looking for help. She grew up at a nearby circus. She left the circus when she married a Nazi officer and moved to Berlin. Soon the Nazi's insisted that all officers must abandon their wives if the wives were Jewish. The friendship between Astrid and Noa provides the bulk of this lovely story. This book had a long epilogue (35 minutes long) which wrapped up all the loose ends neatly. 

 

 

The Book Of Unknown Americans

Christina Henriquez is the author of The Book Of Unknown Americans. The story takes place in a housing development in Delaware. Immigrants from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuala and Panama live there. Some come because a large mushroom farm that employs immigrants is nearby. One set of couples come from Mexico with their daughter Maribel. Maribel fell from a tall ladder while visiting her father at work one day and has a head injury. Her parents bring her to Delaware to offer the best of special education for head injuries. Mayor, a 17 year old boy who came from Panama with his parents and older brother, sees something in Mirabel that others don't notice. Their burgeoning love story is lovely. 

 

 

Remains Of The Day

Kazuo Ishiguro is the author of Remains Of The Day. This novel is historical fiction about a butler in an English estate during World War One. Stevens is the butler. He is the son of a butler. He was very professional. He had a lot of esteem for his employer at the estate. After his employer dies, an American takes over the estate. The American employer offers Stevens the chance for a holiday. He encourages Stevens to take his car and enjoy a road trip. While on his adventure Stevens travels the countryside and thinks about his former employer. With the advantage of hindsight his esteem for his former employer decreases. Along with that, his pride in his work as a butler also diminishes.  His desire to please his employer overrode his development of his own personality and beliefs.  Despite the entire book taking place in a butler's mind, this was a very interesting book.

 

  

Tell My Horse

 Nora Zeale Hurston is the author of the travelogue called Tell My House: Voodoo And Life In Haiti And Jamaica. This book details her travels in two countries. She explores the country side, the food, and the culture. She writes about the folk tales and the saying. She explores religious concepts in both countries. We learn about zombies, poison, and Voodoo ceremonies. I found the book to be interesting in that it is so different than other travel books I have read.

 

 

Free Things To Do

Minnesota Institute of Arts

Como Conservatory

This week I am pet sitting in Minneapolis. With time on my hands I looked for things to do besides walking around the neighborhood or visiting the library. There is so much available in this area. 

 

 

Orbital

Samantha Harvey, a British author, wrote Orbital. This is a literary novel published in 2023 about the International Space Station. The story takes place during 24 hours in space. There are four astronauts and two cosmonauts. The people from space are from Russia, Japan, USA, Italy, and Britain. Two are female. This is to be one of the last missions before the International Space Station is dismantled. Traveling at 1700 miles per hour, they glide over the earth and admire the beauty. They see a huge typhoon over the Pacific. The book talks about their meals and their exercise and their sleeping arrangements. We learn about their assignments. We learn what countries and cities they are passing. Interesting book but the list of countries and cities got to be too long and extensive. 

 

 

The Favorites

 Layne Fargo is the author of the novel called The Favorites. This is a sports/romance story. The sport is ice dancing. Katarina grew up north of Chicago into a poor family. She met a boy and they became friends. Heath grew up in a series of foster homes until Katarina's father took him in. They practiced skating at a neighborhood ice rink. Katarina's goal was to win at the Olympics. Heath went along with her dream. Their story, their success and their failures makes up this novel. I found this turbulent story to be very intriguing.

 

 

Happy Labor Day

 

Blue Sisters

 Coco Mellors is the author of Blue Sisters. The tale is about a family with four daughters. Their last name is Blue. The father of the family is an alcoholic. The mother is a workaholic. Avery, the eldest daughter, raises her younger sisters and feels responsible for their safety. She comes across as a control freak. Once her youngest sister, Lucky, left home at age 15 to be a model, Avery became addicted to heroin. She put herself through treatment and went on to become a lawyer. Bonnie, younger than Avery, started boxing while in high school. Nicky became a teacher. Lucky became a model and traveled the world posing for photographs while overindulging in drugs and alcohol. The story of these four sisters is fascinating, sad, and happy.

 

 

Skylark

Paula McLain is the author of the historical fiction novel called Skylark. This tale takes place in Paris, France during two timelines. Part of it is set in 1664 and part of it is set in the 1940's. The 1664 part was interesting. A girl lives with her father after the mother abandoned the family. Her name is Alouette which translates into skylark. Her father is a dye master. The dye guild is in complete control of the industry. Individual dye masters do not have many rights. The dye factories are poisoning the river that runs into the Seinne. The dye master's daughters knows something about dyes. She learned from her mother before the mother left. But women are not allowed to dye cloth. When the dye guild jails her father the girl tries to find a way to free him. Instead she is jailed as well. In the 1940's a local psychiatrist makes friends with a Jewish family in his apartment building. After the Jewish family is taken away by the French police he joins the French resistance. He helps people escape the Nazi's by using s complex system of tunnels formed by rock quarries.  As I read I wondered if the two stories would be connected somehow but they never were.

 

  

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.

 

  

Regal Fritillary

 On Friday 7 of us gathered at the Weaver Dunes Nature Conservancy location to collect wild flower seeds. We had to drive to another spot. The four women rode in the conservancy's Ford F150. Dang, it is hard for me to get into the back seat of a Ford F150 but I managed. I collected thimble weed seeds in a milk jug attached to my carabiner. When we were coming close to the end of our 3 hour shift the seeds were close to the top of the milk jug. Every time I opened the jug to put more seeds in the prairie wind would take an equal amount out. I saw half a dozen regal fritillary butterflies. These orange and black butterflies are scarce and threatened but they are plentiful on this prairie.