The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind

Barbara Lipska was born in Poland. She studied in Warsaw where she got her Ph.D. in medical sciences in 1988. The next year she emigrated to the United States and got a job at NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) in Maryland. She specifically studied schizophrenia and did post mortem human brain research. In 2015 while preparing for a ski trip she noticed her couldn't see her left hand. She knew something was wrong with her brain and since she recovered from melanoma cancer, she feared the cancer has spread to her brain. Her fears were correct and she ended up with multiple tumors in her brain. She was treated with surgery, radiation, immunotherapy and medications. During her treatment her brain swelled and her behavior drastically changed. Usually kind and courteous she became angry and paranoid and angry. Always a great cook, she couldn't find her kitchen utensils and accused her family of moving things around. She was not aware of the personality changes. The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind is her memoir of all that she has gone through. I thought her story was very interesting. She showed strength and courage and was lucky enough to know the very best doctors and was able to afford the very best treatment.

Britt Marie Was Here

Frederik Backman wrote A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry. In the second book was a character named Britt Marie. Britt-Marie Was Here goes on to tell her full story. This author has a special talent in developing characters that are off putting and curmudgeonly at first glance but loveable and considerate once you get to know them.    Britt-Marie is rude and outspoken. She is clearly lacking in social skills. At age 63, she decides to leave her philandering husband and move to Borg, a small town in Sweden, By badgering a woman at the unemployment office she gets a job taking care of the community recreation center. Much to her surprise, the people in the town appreciate her direct style of communication and she becomes popular. I was sad to come to the end of this charming novel.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

 Michael Chabon won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2001 for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. This story is about two cousins. Joe Kavalier meets Sam Clay when he emigrates from Prague at the age of 19. Sam is 17, born and raised in Brooklyn, and interested in writing comic books. Joe is an artist and has never seen a comic book before. Joe was also trained in magic, lock picking, and as an escape artist. They come up with an idea for a new super hero, one who can rival Superman, called The Escapist. The Escapist fights fascists. Since this is before World War Two, fighting fascists does not agree with everyone but Joe is adamant that The Escapist fights fascists. The characters of Kavalier and Clay are based on some actual cartoon artists in New York City at the time. I enjoyed the story about the two cousins making a living together collaborating on comic books in New York City.

The Scent Keepers

 Erica Bauermeister wrote The Scent Keepers. The central figure in this novel is Emmaline who grew up isolated on an island in the Pacific near the state of Washington. She lives with her father on the island. Although she sees people in boats going by she never interacts with anyone but her father. Her father says it is safer this way because people can't be trusted. The island where they live is accessible by boat only once a month when the moon is full. In the winter, the island is not accessible at all. Her father tells her new supplies are brought by mermaids and she believes him for a long time. Her father is very interested in scents. He has a machine that records the scent of a moment much like a Polaroid camera captures a moment. He puts the scent paper into a glass bottle and seals it with wax. He teaches Emmaline to focus on her sense of smell and to improve her smelling abilities. Emmaline's father teaches her to smell, to read, to forage mussels and mushrooms and berries but he really doesn't prepare her for life. As she grows, so does her curiosity. I enjoyed this coming of age novel about Emmaline and her search for the answers she never got from her father.

Stay And Fight

 Stay And Fight is a novel set in Appalachian Ohio. Written by Madeline Ffitch, this book is about three women who decide to band together and make a life together. They build a house. They forage for food. When food is scarce they enjoy acorn pancakes with pemmican. The three women have a problem with black rat snakes invading their house living in their pantry, under the sink, and in the silverware drawer. This novel is about family but also about nature. The characters in the story are raw and cantankerous and flawed. I thought it was an interesting tale about how 3 women split a house, meals, and work.

Organic Farm Tour

I went on a tour with a group of Master Naturalists to an organic farm near Cannon Falls. Here is a look at the tomato plants inside a greenhouse. This farm specializes in peppers and tomatoes. The young family had a girl about 4 years old who seemed fascinated by our group. She physically hung on her parents and walked with us during our 90 minute visit. She would plop down  in the dirt and break up clods of dirt or entertain herself in some way. She was darling and I thought she was lucky to live here on this farm.

In the strip of woods between fields, these ten goats have cleared up most of the buckthorn so at least it is now possible to get through. Of course the girl had to join the goats. She pulled down branches so the goats could much on the leaves. One of the farm owners is an etymologist and botanist. She thinks it is important to attract insects especially predatory wasps. She plants strips of native plants specifically to draw in the insects that will indirectly help the pollinators with her crops. In these strips of lands she has plants that are not pretty and are not edible yet they are valuable because of the insects they attract. These farmers look at their land through a different and unique lens.

This is a view of the valley their farm overlooks.

 

Mussels

This weekend I am at a conference at Treasure Island Casino.

This morning we took a bus to a mussel propagation lab in Lake City. Years ago people overharvested mussels to make buttons. 

 

An example of a mussel shell used for buttons.

Most mussels use specific fish to propagate. The eject their larva into the fish's face so the larva can attach to the gills. Here are some baby mussels in a tank. The mussels spend two years here in the lab before they are returned to the wild.

Mussels from this lab are put into the Mississippi River, the Saint Croix River, and the Cedar River near Austin, MN.