Happy New Year!

Home Front

I read Kristin Hannah's novel, Home Front and was kept entertained the whole time. Sometimes I thought Hannah went overboard in the emotional intensity of the characters of Jolene and Betsy. Jolene is a mother of two girls and a wife and a member of the National Guard.She is a helicopter pilot who gets deployed to Iraq.The story of how she and her family handles her deployment and subsequent return to home life near Seattle, Washington is an interesting one and one that is seldom told. Men going to war and returning home are often mentioned in stories but it's not so often we hear about the wife and mother who go to war and come back with nightmares and PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder).

Matching!

When I was a child my family had a turquoise house and a turquoise Ford sedan. I thought having a matching car and house was the bomb. So I took their example and had my house sided in yellow and bought a car to match. Tomorrow I sell the house to another family but today I have a matching house and car.

I moved all of my stuff out of the house today except for the cleaning supplies and a few odds and ends. I hired movers to do the work. Here they are moving the motorcycle onto the truck. The three men worked very hard and appeared to have a good time working together. They got the job done in about three hours. I was very pleased.

Pears, Bananas, Oranges, Apples

I am getting ready to leave this house. I am putting my stuff into boxes and making it ready for the next family. I hope the next family has children. I raised my kids here and we did pretty well. Under the kitchen cabinet to the left of the kitchen sink is where my kids put their fruit stickers. The grocery store employees put an oval sticker on all the fruit. When my offspring ate apples, bananas, pears and oranges they took the sticker off, rinsed the fruit at the sink, and stuck the sticker under the kitchen cupboard next to the sink. Being taller, I noticed this years later because I don't look under the kitchen cupboards. When I did notice it I pulled the stickers off and asked the kids to put their fruit stickers in the trash or on something that would eventually end up in the trash. By then the bad habit had been fully established. More fruit stickers ended up under the kitchen cupboard. This evening I cleaned the fruit stickers off again. I have yet to meet the new owners. I hope they have children. A part of me wishes those new kids put their fruit stickers in the same place.

Strange Christmas Card

This afternoon my father received a Christmas card from a child in his neighborhood. On the front of the car the child drew a tree.  Above the tree is a bat and a skull.

Inside the card are the words "Have a haunted Christmas. (I love Halloween). Giovanni I was struck by the strangeness of the sentiment - have a haunted Christmas? Good grief!

Always A Critic

Today at work a coworker came to my office to talk about  my picture. I don't have a lot of art but I like this portrait of a girl on a wooden stool. I like her shoes and her eyes and her posture and the pensive look on her little face. I tend to like pictures with faces in them. This coworker did not appreciate this picture at all. He thought he could not stand to have this picture around because it would (in his words) steal his soul. Offspring #2 never liked this picture either. She would ask me to turn it to the wall when she had sleep over parties. Decades ago the local libraries would rent out art. This was a piece of art sold by the library when they ended the art rental program. I bought it. The frame is scuffed and worn which only adds to the attraction in my eyes. So basically he came to my office to bash my choice in art. Knowing him the art he has on his walls probably features hockey players and baseball players. I am very fond of my girl in the picture. This is one piece of art I plan to keep.

Born A Crime

I had never heard of Trevor Noah before I read his book Born A Crime. Once I read his book I heard his name mentioned. I heard it the other day when Amy Kloubachar was talking about being on his show, the Daily Show. Born A Crime is written as a comedy but not all is funny in this autobiography. Trevor grew up in Soweto, South Africa at the time of apartheid.  At the time he was born it was against the law for a white man to mate with a black woman (or vice versa). Trevor grew apart from his German father. His mother took him to church many times a week. Later she married an auto mechanic.Trevor's mother was abused by her husband. The police refused to take her statement or look into the matter. Most of the book is directed at Trevor's strong mother. I enjoyed the book very much. I figured Trevor probably exaggerated some things for comedic effect but his description of his antics as a teenager in Soweto and Johannesburg are too outrageous to be completely fiction.

Happy Solstice

Today the sun is pointing down near the tropic of Capricorn as far south as the sun will go. Tomorrow the sun will travel back north and our days will grow a little longer. .

Iris and Ruby

While reading Rosie Thomas' book, Iris and Ruby, I was transported from a winter in Minnesota to Cairo, Egypt. That was a pleasant mental trip because the sun in hot and the desert is dry. Iris is the grandmother of Ruby. Iris is a retired physician living in Cairo. During world war two Iris went to Cairo to work as a secretary for the military. After the war she trained as a doctor. Now she is retired and starting to loose her memory. Without warning Ruby, her granddaughter, shows up at the door. Ruby escaped her life in England. As Ruby and Iris get to know each other, both women find the support and love they need to grow and make progress. I loved this novel as it traveled back and forth between the current times and the world war two times.

Evidence of Meetings

Because I am retiring in a couple weeks I am training my replacement. He asked me, "What's in that drawer there?" He pointed at a long lateral file. I opened it to see what was in there.

I  found yearly calendars from 2018 all the way back to 1984. 

Many of the pages in these calendars will have to be shredded because they contain the names of people whose privacy I want to respect. Wow, this is my evidence that I have gone to a lot of meetings in my career!

Busy Hands Are Happy Hands

Offspring #2 brought me two skeins of orange alpaca yarn from Peru when she went there a few years ago. The yarn was soft and beautiful and I never knew what to do with it. This fall I got the idea to make a needlepoint pillow out of it to send to my family in Japan. I needlepointed a long time on the orange side. I wanted to make a border of waves. My intention was that every wave be identical. Not every wave is identical because I made mistakes. I figure that is okay because not all waves in the sea are identical anyway. The back side went quicker because the stitches were bigger. I have been sewing on this project for a couple months. On Sunday morning both sides were done so I inserted a bed pillow and sewed the sides together. After a couple of hours of sewing the pillow was done. Now I need to find a new project to keep my hands busy. 

Five Deer Browsing

I was working around the house today when I got distracted by the five deer in the yard. One of them was chewing on my lilac bush. I knocked on the window so it would stop because I feared it would eat the flower buds clear off. But then I remembered that I sold my house. I won't be here to see the lilac blooms in this yard. The new owners will see the lilac blooms. Will the new owners enjoy the abundance of deer and birds and animals and insects as much as I have? I hope so.

Elf The Musical

Today we went to the matinee performance of Elf the Musical. The play was held at a church in Maplewood. The actors were students of a local charter school including, as a cop/security guard, my youngest nephew. I really enjoyed the performance. Why did I never do drama when I was in school? How brave these kids are to get up on stage and sing their hearts out. Acting ability varied with each performer but that is refreshing. Seeing all professionals perform is good but seeing amateurs is good too. Some day when I have more time (which is right around the corner) I might try out for a play and attempt to act on stage.

Lost Roses

Martha Hall Kelly wrote Lilac Girls which I read last year and enjoyed very much. Lilac Girls is about women during world war two including Caroline Ferriday. Lost Roses is about women during World war one including Caroline Ferriday's mother, Eliza Ferriday. Lost Roses is a prequel to Lilac Girls. Historical fiction has always been interesting to my. This story is set in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and Paris, France, and the Hamptons on Long Island in New York.  Eliza is friends with Sofya. Sofya meets Eliza's family in the Hamptons and Eliza meets Sofya's family in Saint Petersburg. Sofya is a cousin of the Russian royalty. Both women are born into privilege. The war impacts both families but the women remain strong. My only complaint about this book was that the ending was a little over the top obvious pulling at my heart strings. Other than that I thought it was an excellent read.

No More Chicken Coop

As a closing ceremony to the era of the chickens I decided to get rid of the coop last night. The wood on some parts of the coop was soft and rotten. The fox had chewed some of the wooden shingles off the egg door. I just so happened to have half a bag of charcoal, an old candle and a lighter at hand. I put the candle in the bag of charcoal, slid it under the coop, and waited for the magic to happen. Actually burning down the coop took a lot longer than I thought. Once the fire pierced a hole in the floor of the coop the flames slowly crept up the walls. Once the roof caught fire the process speeded up. The coop collapsed onto itself and the wood burned peacefully surrounded by trampled down snow. The whole process took a couple of hours out of my evening.

I had contemplated burning down this coop for years. I thought the smell would be terrible but it actually wasn't so bad. I need to go out there today and pick up the nails and screws. I am sure the inches of snow that fell completely extinguished the flames. Burning down the coop was actually a fun experience. I am lucky to have lived for so long in this neighborhood where I can get away with things like lighting chicken coops on fire.

End Of An Era

In 2009 I decided to get some chickens. Today the last chicken left the property. My plan was both of the final chickens would leave on Saturday but this cuckoo maran, pictured here, saw her sister get put in a cardboard box and decided to fly the coop. She spent Saturday wandering around the yard. At 4 in the afternoon she decided she would like to go back to the coop so I put her in. Today she was put in the same box and taken to live with her sister is Zimmerman. Over the years I have had many chickens and many chicken adventures. I have enjoyed raising chickens and collecting eggs but now I want to simplify my life. I want to be free to travel. Chickens don't take much work but they do need daily attention. I am glad I decided to get the chickens. The chickens have kept me busy and entertained. There is a certain status you have when you raise chickens. People think of you differently once they know you take care of chickens. All that is gone now. Today marks the end of a decade long, chicken raising, era.

Very Last Turn Of The Screw

I hired an electrician to install some ground fault detectors. Six ground fault detectors hit me hard in the wallet. I went to work while he was working. I came home to check the work. All six ground fault detectors were installed and operating. I noticed that the electrician turned all the screws to the exact same position. I have four screws on each ground fault detector. That makes 24 screws aligned vertically; exactly vertical. If I had installed the ground fault detectors the screws would not be so carefully aligned. I can only assume this electrician takes pride in his work down to the very last turn of the screw.

Steal The North

I read a hard cover copy of Heather Brittain Bergstrom's book Steal The North.  I like being read to but I also like holding a book in my hands as I relax before going to sleep at night. This story is set in Sacramento and north central Washington state. Each chapter has the voice of a different character including 17 year old Emmy, 17 year old Reuben, Emmy's mother, Emmy's step-father, Reuben's aunt, and Emmy's uncle. Out of all the characters I think Reuben has his head on the straightest. Given his circumstances he is resilient and strong and follows his moral compass. I enjoyed this book because of the heart felt emotions it invoked in me.

Say You're One of Them

I listened to Uwem Akpan's book, Say You're One of Them. I finished it this morning. This is a collection of short stories set in Africa and told by children. Each story gives witness to the horrors some children experience growing up in Africa. Because the stories are coming from the children, we really can't tell how horrible the story is going to be until we get far enough along. The first story was about Christmas in a slum in Nairobi. In the tin hut the mother of six children gives the young boy some glue to sniff to erase the hunger pains he is feeling. The family waits together in the shack until his older sister, aged 12, a prostitute, comes home with bags of groceries so they can eat. The perils of poverty and ethnic violence become so real. This was a difficult story to read but I'm glad I did.

Will Some Of The Flakes I Shovel Today Still Be Here In April or May?

I spent many hours shoveling snow this weekend. I think I shoveled five or six times. The heaviest shovel was the first one. That snow as so deep I could see the trail of my car's underbelly as I pulled into the garage. After that experience I decided to shovel after a couple inches instead of six. The snow at the road that the snow plow threw in was the heaviest. Some of those ice boulders were so heavy I had to pick them up by hand and toss them in the ditch. Mindlessly shoveling snow gave me a workout and time to think. How many pounds of snow have I shoveled in my lifetime? When I go a winter without shoveling snow, will I miss the experience? How was it when I was a kid and finished shoveling snow I had the energy to play in the snow when I was done? I know my childhood driveway was smaller than this one. I just don't feel like making snow angels anymore. When will be the last time I shovel snow? Will some of the flakes I shovel today still be here in April or May?

Would You Believe Today Is My First Day?

Three weeks ago I had some people over who were interested in taking my piano. Three men and a boy worked for an hour and a half. Loading the piano into their truck was a failure. The piano remained lying on it's side at the bottom of my stairs. This was a huge object in my way. My house has been for sale and every potential buyer walked in. When they looked down the stairs they saw the wheeled bottom of the piano looking at them. I wonder what they thought. Most people never see the wheeled bottom of a piano.

Today at 7 o'clock in the morning three men moved that piano out of the house and onto the truck in a mere 10 minutes. As the first man lifted the piano up the steps and set it on the landing he asked me, "Would you believe today is my first day?" I said I did not believe him and that he was a terrible liar. Both men wore 3 inch wide leather straps across their shoulders and stretched out under the length of the piano. These guys knew what they were doing. I already miss my piano. I don't miss the one lying on it's side at the bottom of the stairs. I miss the upright, out of tune piano that I used to play. The piano is going to a good home where I am sure it will get plenty of use.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No Time Like The Present

Today we went for our mile long walk around Laddie Lake. Tomorrow this pathway might look a lot different so there was no time like the present to do some forest bathing.

A Long Mow

Three weeks ago I used my lawn mower to bag up most of the leaves off the lawn. Before I started that chore I put in enough gas to get the job done. I always like to run the engine dry before I quit mowing for the season. Today I thought I would trim up the yard, even though it didn't need a trim, just to burn up that little bit of gasoline in the tank. Little bit of gasoline my foot. I mowed the back yard. I mowed the front yard. I mowed the driveway. I mowed all the paths in the woods. I mowed the back yard again. I mowed the front yard again. Just like Stega Nona and her never ending pot of pasta, this lawn mower gas never seemed to burn up. Why did I put so much gasoline in the tank last time? I mowed and mowed. I got tired and sat on a rock while holding the lawn mower handle to keep the engine running. That seemed silly so I mowed some more. In the back yard I cross hatched the lawn so it looked like a well groomed turf. By now it is getting dark. Trucks driving by have their headlights on. This lawn mower is still purring along without hesitation. I see many other things I could be doing as I walk around and around the yard.  Now that my house is for sale, this could be the last mowing I do here so I try to enjoy it. I mow the driveway again. Long grass in the driveway makes the first shoveling difficult. Finally I hear a hesitation in the engine. I mow up to the garage door. The sun has set and the chickens have gone to bed. Finally the engine dies and the job is done.

Anything is Possible

I have been on an Elizabeth Strout kick lately so that is why I read Anything is Possible. In this story the authors links passages about nine people who suffered in childhood and thrived as adults. A side character in one story might be the main character in the next. This story is set in a small town in the Midwest. Some of the stories are sentimental but the author speaks of hard topics without apology. Humans are complicated creatures who feel a large variety of emotions. Some of us feel superior to others and that is a common theme in some of these stories. Although you can feel superior to others, you never quite know what they have going on in their lives that makes them act in the way that they do. With a little compassion, anything is possible.

A Sense Of Place And Well-Being

Last night my chapter of the master naturalists met to listen to a  naturalist who used to work at Wild River State Park talk about a sense of place and well-being. He talked about us humans needing nature for our physical survival but also for our spiritual survival as well. The speaker had his presentation on, of all things, a carousal slide projector. This is a talk he gave many years ago but the message remains an important one. One of the quotes he gave was from Lyndon B. Johnson, "And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted.” I never thought of LBJ as a nature loving president but I knew his wife was. She sponsored a program so that our state highways reflected the nature from that location instead of being exactly the same through out the country. Her pet project was the highway beautification act of 1965. Our speaker knew he was speaking to an audience who agreed with his thoughts on the importance of nature. Some times it is nice to listen to someone who agrees with your thoughts regarding vast expanses of suburban green lawns, Chem-lawn chemicals, and pollinator friendly plants. Our speaker seemed to think if you spend time observing nature every day you will better be able to get along with other people. I agree with that too. None of these things can be quantitatively studied and proven. I just know that if I can take a walk in the woods and touch the trunks of trees, I feel better. Inside a building (where I am much of the day) a house plant makes me feel better. Nature, in any form, is very important to me.

Deer

Have you ever seen the statues of white tailed deer in people's yards? I don't think I have ever mistaken a deer statue for an actual deer. Today I was walking around a neighborhood in Blaine. Across the street a man was walking a medium sized the dog.  As we approached each other the dog stopped and stared. The man tried to encourage to dog to move along. I turned to see what the dog was looking at. Turns out the dog saw the three fake deer and was mesmerized by their lack of movement. The man explained he often has live deer in his back yard and that is why this dog was confused. Some how it struck me funny that this dog was transfixed by three fake deer so I started to laugh, my companion started to laugh, and the dog walker started to laugh. I wonder if anyone has ever shot a deer statue during hunting season. If I was a prankster I could put a fake deer out in the woods near a deer stand some time in the fall and see what happens.

Olive, Again

Olive Kittridge was a curmudgeon in the book by the same name. In Olive Again she is an older curmudgeon but just as onery and outspoken as ever which somehow is comforting to me. I think it's great that Olive is true and transparent even though she rubs some people the wrong way. A few people can look past her gruff exterior and appreciate Olive. One of them is a man named Jack. This story is set is a small coastal town in Maine. Olive is fairly critical of the people in her town but sometimes she goes out of her way to be kind. One day at the grocery store she sees a former student struggling to find her groceries. This former student is now a mother of teenagers and struggling from the effects of chemotherapy for her breast cancer. Olive helps her at the store and then comes to her house to visit weekly until the woman gets her strength back. Where the woman's friends were afraid to visit her when ill, Olive didn't mind visiting at all. As the former math teacher in junior high many of the towns people were in her class. To some students she was an inspiration. Others thought she was a battle axe. Olive may be brusque and rude at times but a person always knew where they stood with Olive and I think that is a good thing.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt

My book club read Andrea Bobotis' book, The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt this month. This is Andrea's first novel and is set in the south. Bound, South Carolina is the name of the town and the main store in town is the Kratt Mercantile Company. Judith is the daughter of the store owner in 1929 when a tragedy occurs. At the end of the book Judith is 75. Her parents are dead. Her brother, Quincey is dead. Her sister is coming home for a visit for the first time in almost 50 years so Judith decides now is the time to make an inventory list of the possessions within the crumbling down Kratt household. Each chapter starts with her list of possessions and with every chapter we learn more about a few more possessions and the list grows longer. The character development is very charming. Other parts of this book (rascism, bullying, intimidation, and black-mailing) are not so charming. Most people in our group enjoyed the story. I thought the author was crafty in withholding some important information until the end.

Red Oaks

Various trees come into their fullest beauty at different times of the year. Tamaracks are golden in the fall. Maples are luscious green in the spring. Conifers add color in the winter. Sugar maples are scarlet in the fall, Crab apple and pear and plum trees are beautiful with flowers in the spring. Willow trees blow gracefully in the wind in the summer especially when the branches are hanging over a lake or a stream. Since it was too cold to walk outside today we took the stairs. This is a view of a gorgeous red oak from the fourth floor west window. Now is the time for red oaks to shine. Come March these oaks will loose their leaves. The reddish, thick leaves will lie on the snow and absorb the sunlight so that a leaf shaped depression is melted into the snowbank.

Owner Manual From 1968

I was organizing my books today when I came upon this classic! Here is my owners manual from my first car that was blue until I had it painted orange.

Here is the dashboard of my Rambler American. I remember you turned on the bright lights by stepping on a metal knob on the floor.

I apologize but you have to turn your head sideways to see how the door locks worked. Push down to lock and pull up to unlock or push down the black knob.

The radio had AM and FM only. I listened to rock and roll. On Sunday nights if I was driving to St. Cloud from Roseville I would listen to a radio play which usually involved a spooky story. So should I keep this owner manual?

You Don't Eat The Antlers

This morning I was on a business related phone call. The  man asked, "Do you mind being on hold for a short three to four minutes?" I stifled my real feelings and said it was okay. While on hold some movement caught my eye to the south of my house. A doe was browsing on the path I mow. Five feet south of her was a big buck. This big fellow had ten points on his antlers. I watched him through the thick brush never able to get a good view of him. He was hiding from me. Me! A vegetarian armed with a camera and a slingshot! I thought of this buck throughout the day as reports from deer hunters came in. Like my father said today, "You don't eat the antlers." I guess a six point buck would be as tasty as a ten point buck.

I Feel Fine

This morning I played the song "I Feel Fine" on my piano. I was getting it ready to give to a friend of mine who was coming over to take it out of my house and put it in his house. You can see my yellow cup of coffee on top of the piano. I was getting pretty good at those B flat, F, C, and A minor chords.

Sadly the piano remains in my house but now tilted on it's side. Piano movers are coming this week to move it properly. For now I have to work around it. I had hours and hours of enjoyment out of this golden (mustard yellow?) piano. I am happy that is is going to a musically inclined family with two young boys.

Film of Ice

We bundled up and took a walk around Laddie Lake this morning. Most of it has frozen over. I saw a couple five foot diameter circles of open water out towards the middle but the rest of the water has a film of ice that prevents me from seeing any wave action at all. No matter how hard the wind blows for the next few months, I will not see any white caps on this lake. The ducks, gulls and geese are going to have to find new places to swim and forage for food.

The Stationary Shop

In this story by Marjan Kamali a young teenage girl in Iran named Roya falls in love with a poet named Bahman. Roya's loyal sister, Zari, warns Roya that Bahman might not be as great as Roya thinks he is. The romance between Roya and Bahman are thwarted by an interfering mother and her emotional manipulation of the man who runs The Stationary Shop. The letters between Roya and Bahman are exchanged in the stationary shop. Although they are separated and lead their lives without each other Roya and Bahman meet again in the twilight of their lives. Sixty years after the fact the loving couple realize what actually happened in Iran in 1953 and come to terms with it. This was a very entertaining story.

The Thanks I Get

I fill up the bird feeders with sunflower seeds and thistle seeds. I put suet in the suet feeder. I put water in the bird bath. I set my laundry including this gold table cloth outside to dry and what happens?

Some bird craps on it. Oh, well, I can wash it again. I would rather they hit the table cloth than my flannel sheets anyway.

The Kitchen Daughter

I read the charming book The Kitchen Daughter over the past two days. Jael McHenry's book is easy to read and pleasant to think about. The protagonist is Ginny who likes to cook. She finds that the smell of food or the textures of food is calming. When upset she thinks up the smell and taste of caramelized onions and that helps her calm down. Ginny doesn't like to be in crowds or look people in the eye. Her sister, Amanda, is determined to pin a label (Asperger's syndrome) on her for her own good. But is it really necessary for Ginny to have a label? What is normal anyway except a setting on a dryer? The book is sprinkled with recipes that sound delicious. The relationship between Ginny and her sister Amanda develops during the conflict and they come to realize things about their parents and family that will surely come in helpful in the future.

Happy Halloween!

Incessant Hammering.

I am not sure if you can see it but there are packages of shingles up there on my roof. I have had a very loud day. From 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. I have heard banging and scraping and foot falls on my roof. Old shingles and nails fell from the roof to the tarps below. I was glad when the sun went down so I could have some peace and quiet. I thought back to the year 1983. Straight line winds went through Coon Rapids. The winds took the roof off of Mercy Hospital, Menards, and my house. I worked the afternoon shift when that roof was being repaired. The incessant banging and nailing was unbearable mostly because I was in my first trimester of my first pregnancy and I needed extra sleep; not less sleep. I will be glad when all this incessant hammering is done and over with.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Petter

I found Arthur Pepper to be curiously charming. Phaedra Patrick wrote The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper. You can see him wearing his mustard yellow vest. Arthur is 69 years old when his wife, Miriam, dies. He is lost without her. He copes with his grief by sticking to a strict schedule every day. He eats the same thing for breakfast and has tea at the exact hour every afternoon. He clings to his rigid schedule like a person overboard clings to a life vest. As he cleans out Miriam's closet he finds a charm bracelet in a pair of her leather boots. Miriam was a classy dresser and charm bracelets seem out of her style of dress. Arthur goes about finding out more about the charms on the charm bracelet and in doing that he learns more and more about his wife. He travels to find answers.With each charm he breaks out of his rigidity and learns to enjoy travel and people and situations. Arthur loved Miriam and Miriam loved Arthur. This book was very charming and heartwarming.

Like New

Although orange is my favorite color I decided to get yellow siding put on years ago. Orange siding wasn't available to me. I was told it was maintenance free siding so I did nothing to maintain it. Today my siding got scrubbed clean with a pressure washer and mold removing chemicals. Some of the shadier areas of the house had a green tinge. Now it looks like new again. I only hope those chemicals don't do too  much damage to the soil and plants around the house.