Clothing Preferences

Last week at lunch we were talking about clothing. I said I prefer not to wear clothes with words on them.  It's true. Why advertise for a company when I have to pay for the product? I especially am aggravated by clothes that say PINK but are not pink.  And if the word PINK is on the rear end?  Well, that is the worst. Anyway, one of my coworkers, always ready with a snarky response, said she would get  me a shirt with Braille lettering on it for me.  I told her, "You crossed the line there!  There was a line  and you  went over it." She laughed. We were all having fun. And then today I came across this article. Someone went ahead and made clothing with Braille lettering on it. Actually the dresses and jackets are pretty cute.  I think I could wear one.

Cake Anyone?

I went overboard on baking cakes this weekend. I have a birthday party to go to for two very important girls in my life.  One wanted a rainbow cake and the other wanted a dinosaur cake. So here are my results.  Yes, I know brown isn't a color in the rainbow but just pretend it is violet. The dinosaur cake is a stegosaurus with the head at the top and the tail at the bottom.  You might have to use your imagination.

The Future Home Of The Living God

I got lucky on this book on CD because Louise herself reads The  Future Home of the Living God to me. I love being read to and it is especially nice to hear the author read it herself. Louise is one of my favorite Minnesota authors. Someday I hope to visit her shop, Birchbark Books, in Minneapolis.  This story is a retelling of Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, but set in Minnesota. When Cedar, the heroine of the story, is sequestered at Fairview Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis I could not help but remember my stay there when Offspring #1 was born. I remember being not too happy with the nursing staff when they refused my Grandmother entrance to my room when my brother-in-law waltzed right in at an awkward moment. "Let my Grandma in!" I yelled from my  bed. My indignity is nothing compared to what Cedar goes through. I loved every minute of this dystopian story.

Chicken Absconded

I am dragging today. I went to bed on time but was woken up by a sound outside my window.  I got up and heard more noise. I shined my lamp out the window and went out to investigate. Some animal had dug under the chicken run and absconded with one of my Americauna hens. Dang, that was disappointing. I have a feeling it wasn't the fox though. The fox comes at dusk and dawn. This was at 2:15 a.m. Maybe a weasel?

Building Resilient Landscapes

Last night my chapter of the Minnesota Master Naturalists had a meeting. The topic was Building Resilient Landscapes and the speaker works for the Anoka County Soil and Water Conservation as an ecologist. As she spoke she said several times, "What I love about the Anoka sand plain . . ." and I kept thinking about if I loved the Anoka sand plain or not. The sand plain is the least productive soil for agriculture but it does have quite a few rare plants. She spoke about in the process of building resilient landscapes, much plant killing is required.  Besides buckthorn and garlic mustard and purple loose strife there is wild parsley.  She said there have only been two places in the county where wild parsley has been spotted. She asked if we saw any wild parsley we should call her right away because she has hopes that it won't spread and be as common as it is in the southern metro  area. She showed us maps of what Anoka County looked like one hundred years ago and what it looks like now. At the end of the talk she gave us ideas for volunteer opportunities. One example of a volunteer opportunity is removing rare species before an area is developed. Up until now the department of natural resources has  not allowed rare species to be removed before the bulldozers come in. The thought was some plants have symbiotic relationships with organisms in the soil and the plants would not survive if moved. But now they changed their minds because rare plants are not going to make win a match with a bulldozer. Anyway, in northern Blaine, there  is a housing development going in a place where they found lance leafed violets. I signed up to help dig up those lance leafed violets. The violets will be taken to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for culture and propagation efforts.

Good Grief!

Last night I went to a grief group. A  lady at my gym told me the group had been helpful to her more than the other resources she tried. The first half of the two hour class was a lecture by a man who taught grief classes at various colleges and institutions. He was a good speaker. He spoke of a hypothetical man or woman who lost a spouse. That person is more than a widow or widower. He spoke of a man who had a great marriage of  over fifty years, a successful career, a lovely home that he maintained himself, and two grandchildren. He had a very happy life. In the span on one year his wife contracted a terminal illness and died, his employer let him go because he reached the mandatory retiring age, and his son moved out of state taking the grandchildren with him. Since he had lost so much he felt that his house, once his pride and joy, was huge and empty and sad so he sold it. This man's grief was much more than just loosing a spouse. As a coping mechanism our speaker suggested we get a spiral notebook.  One the first page write the question, "What have I lost?' He suggested we leave 15 blank pages after that  question because when you loose someone close, you lost more than just  that person. For some people they also lost a best friend or financial security or a shoulder to cry on or the only person on the planet who knew all their secrets. He said it can take  years to fully realize what all you have lost when someone dies.  And until you process all that you have lost, you remain stuck  in grief, spinning your wheels and not progressing. On the 16th page he suggested you answer the question, "What do I still  have?" Leave many pages for this question too because as you pass through the rougher stages of grief you can come back to it and get comfort from what you have written. The third and final question is "What can I do with what I have?"  After the lecture we broke into small  groups of 4 to 6 people.  There was only one sibling group. Most of the groups were spouses. In my group I had 3 other people. One  had lost a sister, one had lost a brother, and the third one  had lost both a sister and a brother. We talked  for a full hour about our situations. As I  drove  home I felt better. Knowing I am not alone; realizing that people loose siblings all the time, gave me some peace of mind. This grief  group runs four more times and I think I will go again.

Life Is About Balance

On Sunday afternoon I had a lot of catching up to do around the house. There is never any shortage of things to do around the house. But I remembered reading about Aristotle on my trip to Greece. Aristotle said life is all about keeping a balance. So because of Aristotle I stopped my chores, went out the garage, unhooked the battery tender from the battery on the motorcycle, and inserted the key. I sat on the bike and pushed the starter button.  Nothing happened.  I moved it forward a foot and tried again. Nothing. I made sure the kill button was off. Nothing. Shucks!  With the battery tender on you would think I would have some juice in this battery.  I got off the bike and examined the gas knob.  The gas was open. I examined the key. Oh, right. Duh. Inserting the key is not enough. I have to turn the key to the on position.  I turned the key to on and tried again. After a few tries the motorcycle started up! Woop! Woop! I quickly put down the kickstand and got off so I could open the garage door before I was overcome by carbon monoxide. That is was when I realized I was dressed only in a tank top ,boxer shorts and slippers. I ran in the house and left the bike running. I donned my farmer jeans, my motorcycle jacket, some boots, and my helmet. The bike was still running. Normally I don't ride until my street has been swept of sand.  My street has not been swept of sand yet so I drove slowly and carefully around my neighborhood.  As I circled each block multiple times I reflected on how much this neighborhood has changed in the past 27 years. After four miles I put the bike back into the garage. A successful first trip had occurred and I was very pleased. Now, according to Aristotle, it was time to go back to do more work in the house. Like a good philosophy student, that is what I did.