The Language of Flowers

Vanessa Diffenbaugh wrote The Language of Flowers which is a novel that explores the foster care system in San Francisco, California. Victoria was abandoned as a baby. Her placements are never successful and she lives in 32 different places before she is emancipated at age 18. Naturally she has an attachment disorder and unable to trust anyone. Victoria does not succeed in school but she has a talent for flowers. She is a natural at flower arranging and is keenly interested in the meaning of flower gifts. Red roses represent love. Yellow roses indicate infidelity. Peony indicate anger and lupine mean imagination. Victoria gets a job at a flower shop. Customers ask her to prepare flowers and she selects the flowers to solve their problems. The childhood of Victoria is heart breaking but she is a captivating character.

Fight Of The Century

I read this book by a collection of writers and it wasn't about a boxing match between Joe Frasier and Mohammed Ali. This collection of essays is about the campaigns the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken to the Supreme Court. The ACLU is dedicated to liberty and justice for all. The ACLU fought for Nazi's to parade down a predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Skokie, Illinois in 1977. That was one of the most unpopular cases it took on. Even if what people say is abhorrent, the ACLU believes people have a right to free speech. My reading of Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases was, at times, slow and tedious, I am glad I persevered. This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ACLU. I think our democracy would be much different without the existence of this non-profit agency.

Run Me To Earth

Run Me To Earth is set mostly in Laos during the civil war. Three orphans, Alisak, Pranny and Noi travel together because they have been friends since childhood. A nurse finds them and gives them a job at a hospital. Now teenagers they learn to care for patients. They use motorcycles to get supplies for the hospital. The three friends have marked the safe route to and from the hospital avoided the unexploded bombs dropped in the area by the CIA. They come to enjoy their lives at the hospital but understand it won't last forever. Together they talk about their futures hoping to live their lives either in Thailand or France. The author, Paul Yoon, gives Alisak, Pranny and Noi the chance to narrate their story and tell their perspective of living a life in a time of war, poverty and displacement. 

Sucker Creek

After a couple days of hiking on sidewalks around town, I returned to the Superior Hiking Trail today. I hiked from the Normanna Road trailhead to the Sucker River campsite which was 5.6 miles away. Oh, vey, I walked 11.2 miles today. My feet are dog tired. The first mile and the last mile were the worse. The mosquitoes were the worst at the beginning and end of the trail. Mosquitoes were so plentiful I could see eight if I looked down at my shoes. I had mosquitoes flying between my eyes and my glasses. I had mosquitoes in my ears. Mosquitoes invaded my personal space. I wish I had brought my head net. When I had to pause to ford a stream or climb over a tree trunk or plan a dry route around a trail puddle the mosquitoes would bombard me which did not make my walking any easier. The middle 4 miles of the trail had less mosquitoes because the land had been harvested for timber. Today I heard spring peepers and chorus frogs. I saw about 20 small toads hopping along the trail. I saw a garter snake. Holy smokes, I thought, that snake is a yard long. But that was the adrenaline measuring. When I looked back the snake was only two feet long. Later I saw another snake about 18 inches long. I heard oven birds, white crowned sparrows, a black and white warbler, pileated woodpeckers, veerys and, for the first time this year, a Eastern wood pewee. I heard some grouse drumming. At one point I looked down at my legs and stopped to pick off 15 wood ticks. In total I picked off about 40 wood ticks but only five had taken a bite out of me. I had liberally sprayed my shoes and legs and shirt and hat with Deep Woods Off but maybe I need to buy a fresh bottle of bug spray. Bah humbug, the bugs were brutal on this trip. About a mile before I returned to my car I met a woman hiking with her white shepard dog. She was wearing a bug net over her face. She asked if the campsite was ahead and I told her it was. I wished her a good trip. I was going home to 1. a shower, 2. a thorough wood tick check, 3. clean clothes, 4. a hot meal and 5. a comfortable bed. She was going to a campsite in the woods where she would have to pump and filter water out of a beaver pond. I felt like the luckier one between us. Now I have hiked 30.5 miles of the Superior Hiking Trail.

The High Divide

I chose to read The High Divide by Lin Enger because I got the author's name confused with another favorite author of mine named Leif Enger. Lin and Leif are brothers and they are both excellent writers. This book was so good I could hardly put it down. The story starts out on the prairie in western Minnesota in the year 1886. Ulysses and Gretta are the parents to 16 year old Eli and 8 year old Danny. Ulysses suddenly abandons the family. His sons go looking for him heading west. Gretta also leaves to go looking for all three of them. Ulysses was involved in the Civil War. After the war ended he reenlisted to help General Custer in the Indian territories. He is now on a mission to right a wrong he committed in the Indian territories. Some historical fiction is woven into this family drama. Ulysses and his sons partner with William T. Hornaday who works for the National Museum in Washington D.C. Hornaday is determined to bring back as many bison as he can find so that he can put their bodies on display. This was the best book that I have read in a long time. 

Milkman

I chose to read Milkman by Anna Burns because I still have fond feelings about our family milkman, Ralph. Ralph used to bring us milk in glass bottles with foil lids. He also brought lemonade and cottage cheese. I also chose it because it won the 2018 Man Booker prize for fiction. In this story milkman is a criminal and a stalker who stalks our narrator. The narrator is an 18 year old woman who goes around reading while walking. She wants to avoid the politics and gossips. She is under pressure from her mother to get married immediately and start having children but she doesn't want to do that. The book never says but eventually I figured out it was set in Northern Ireland during the troubled 1970's. The narrator never uses names. She is known as middle sister. She has a 1st older sister, a 2nd older sister, a 3rd older sister and three wee sisters. She calls her romantic partner "maybe boyfriend" and he calls her "maybe girlfriend." Sometimes the author gets wordy and goes off into this stream of consciousness style of writing. Eventually she comes around and gets back to the story. The effects of being stalked by milkman are all encompassing in ways I never imagined. I admired middle sister for her integrity and valor.

Oh, Sweet Canada!

Today I completed the 3.2 mile section of the Superior Hiking Trail between Linsmore Road and Normanna Road. Sometimes I come upon signs like this that explain timber harvest areas. I've seen signs where timer was harvested in various years such as 2014, 2012, 2008 and even 2002. This section was harvested two years ago.

The recently harvested sections are not pretty to walk through. 

About half of this hike was on a foot path and half on a state trail. This trail went over the French River. Yesterday I was bothered by a few gnats. Today I had no gnats but the mosquitoes were terrible. I stopped to look at a wood frog by my feet and the swarm of mosquitoes between my face and my shoe was appalling! The wood ticks were worse too. I picked three wood ticks off my hat and five off my pants. Today I heard chorus frogs and green frogs. I heard red eyed vireos for the first time this year along with common yellowthroat, blue  jays, pileated woodpeckers, and the white throated sparrow. The white throated sparrow sings, "Oh, sweet Canada Canada Canada." I heard a lot of them. Some repeated Canada three times. Most birds said Canada four times. Once bird said Canada twice. One bird said Canada seven times. I have completed 24.9 consecutive miles on the Superior Hiking Trail plus five miles on the Split Rock Loop.

Fuzzy Fern Fiddle - head Fronds

Today I hiked 3.7 more miles of the Superior Hiking Trail. Look what caught my attention? Fabulous fuzzy fern fiddle head  fronds is what caught my attention. I heard spring peepers, chorus frogs, American toads and tree frogs. A barred owl was heard calling. For the first time this year I heard common yellowthroats and Veery's calling. I also heard oven birds and white crowned sparrows and blue jays and crows. Once along the trail I flushed a grouse and it scared me. Another time a yellow bellied sapsucker landed on a tree right next to me. The sapsucker looked at me, looked at the tree, and looked at me again. I thought it was begging to have it's picture taken. I looked down to enter the password on my phone to get the camera ready and the sapsucker flew off. As I hiked I met six people coming south.

When I got to this spot - where the foot trail leaves the snowmobile trail, I knew I had come 3.7 miles and it was time to head back to my car. I never saw any of those six people again. Maybe they had rides waiting for them at the Linsmore road trail head. After having walked both the footpath and the snowmobile trails I know I prefer the footpath. The trail is wide and sunny and often has soggy spots. Tricky footwork and careful planning is necessary to keep my feet dry. The footpath is narrow, scenic, shady, and has wooden slats over the soggy spots. My next hike will be from the Normanna road trail head to this very spot. The 3.2 mile hike will be all footpath.

There is a bridge on the trail covering the span over a Lester River tributary. I imagine snow mobile riders use this often in the winter.

But the bridge is in need of repair. A small child could fall through this bridge. If a snow mobile ski got caught in this hole there could be serious damage to the machine. Today was a nice day for a walk. The sky was cloudy but it did  not rain. The temperature was in the 50's but the high humidity made it feel warmer. Now I am up to 21.7 miles completed on this trail. 

Real Life

I read Brandon Taylor's debut novel called Real Life. This story told by Wallace. Wallace is in graduate school studying biochemistry. He works in a lab at a college in the Midwest. Wallace came from Alabama and that is only one of the reasons he does not fit in with the other grad students. He is black and he is queer. Life is hard for Wallace. He does have some friends but he puts them off by not sharing details about himself. Wallace is busy pretending everything is okay and his friends see through that facade. At one point in the story Wallace is thinking about breathing as a violent act - how the air gets pulled into our lungs forcing the bronchi to open. As I read that I thought only a depressed person would think of breathing as a violent act. Wallace is depressed but he is not the only grad student in the group to be depressed. Although difficult to read at times because of the pain and sadness, I'm glad I got to know Wallace and the other grad students.

Walking the Trail

Yesterday I hiked the section of the Superior Hiking Trail between Enger Tower and the lift bridge. Descending the hill took me through Central Park which is undeveloped. I saw two former homeless encampments and one current encampment. That part was a little sketchy, Some of the walk is very urban. I waved at cars as I walked the pedestrian overpass over Highway 35. Most drivers smartly kept their eyes on the road. One waved back.

I didn't know Duluth had a statue of liberty?!

Today I finished hiking the Martin Road to Linsmore Road section bringing me up to 18 completed miles on the Superior Hiking Trail (or maybe 36 because I have to walk back to my car again). Today I heard American toads, chorus frogs and spring peepers. I heard white crowned sparrows and oven birds singing. Once a couple of barred owls were having a hooting conversation which I thought was unusual for the middle of the day. A couple times I heard grouse drumming. I'm not sure if the grouse make an actual sound or I can just feel the vibrations in my chest. I walked for hours without any sign of civilization except the blue signs painted on the tree to let me know I am not lost. Those blue signs are very comforting.

The new leaves on the aspen are chartreuse and very lovely. Today I walked eight miles; a new record.

Because of Winn-Dixie

I read Because of Winn-Dixie years ago but I read it again. Today there was a book club meeting of "One Book/One Minnesota." I attended the zoom meeting where Kate DeCamillo and a librarian from Saint Paul presided. Attenders of the book club could offer questions to Kate via the chat feature. Kate was totally charming and welcomed any and all questions about the writing process.  She read us the last chapter of the book aloud. Kate is a big supporter of public libraries. I enjoyed rereading this book about Opal who moves to a new town with her father and tries to make friends. Winn-Dixie, the dog, helps her make connections with others. Some of the readers want the author to write a sequel. One reader wrote her a letter suggesting eleven sequels and what should be included in each one. I had to laugh at that. How great it is that Kate's writing inspired a young reader to write such a forceful and directive letter to her.

Split Rock Loop Trail

I joined the North Country Trail Challenge for the month of May. The challenge is to walk 100 miles during May. Not all miles have to be on a trail which is great because walking a trail takes a lot longer than walking on a paved or gravel path. Today I walked 5 miles and it took me three and a half hours. On a paved path I walk walk five miles in an hour and a half. The trail I walked today was the Split Rock loop trail from the parking area on Highway 61 uphill along the west bank of the river. The walk was very scenic. I had to keep my eyes on the path mostly because I walked over rocks, roots and other things that could make me stumble.

This camp site on the Superior Hiking trail means I made it the full 2.5 miles.

Once there was a bridge here across Split Rock River but it is need of repair. I can see pieces of the former bridge on the west and east side of the river. Without this bridge this is not a loop trail. I just turned around and walked back down.

Walking uphill I noticed this nest between the path and the river. On my way back I saw there were two nests; a big one above and a little one below. A bird duplex I guess.

A Book of Longings

Sue Monk Kidd's new novel The Book of Longings was just published in April, 2020. I read it in about a day. The story is about Ana. When the book starts Ana is 14 years old and she lives with her greedy parents and an aunt named Yaltha. Ana is interested in writing stories. Her father taught her how to read and write.  Her parents try to marry her off to an old rich man in exchange for political favors but she resists. Next they try to marry her as a second wife to a political leader in Galilee. Ana ends up marrying 18 year old Jesus (yes, that Jesus) and moves to Nazareth. I thought the book was written in a delicate manner staying close to the historical facts of the time. I wasn't sure how such a daring topic could be accomplished but I think the author did a good job.

Zoom!

Saturday was a busy day of zooming. I had a virtual zoom conference to attend. My first zoom was about hiking trails between Duluth and Two Harbors. Next was a zoom about invasive species. Next was a zoom about scientific and natural areas (SNA's). After a quick lunch I went for a four mile walk because at 1:30 was another zoom about a virtual field trip of the north shore. After that was a zoom trivia game (which I lost). And finally, at the end of the day, was a zoom birthday party for my grand girl who is five years old. Fourteen people sang her the happy birthday song. She got a bicycle and she was excited to stop with the computer and go outside to try it out. A generous neighbor gave her and her sister a hand-sewn summer weight kimono. Both kimonos were in floral patterns and both came with (get this) matching face masks. How much cuter can a girl get when wearing a kimono and matching face mask?

Supreme Inequality

I read Adam Cohen's book Supreme Inequality; The Supreme Court's Fifty-Year Battle For A More Unjust America. This was a technical and difficult book to read. The author didn't talk very much about the personalities of the supreme court justices. According to the author, since President Nixon nominated some conservative justices in the 1970's the Supreme Court has consistently favored the wealthy, the powerful, and large corporations. The decisions have impacted schools, jobs, criminal justice, and consumers in a negative way. According to Adam Cohen, the Supreme Court decisions have led to the very wide income gap between the very rich and the rest of us. The Supreme Court decision on campaign finance gives the wealthy even more power than before. In the book he described Lilly Ledbetter who worked for Goodyear. She found out that she was paid less than her male co-workers. Salary is not discussed at Goodyear and at most companies but when Lilly found the discrepancy she sued. The Supreme Court ruled against her saying she should have sued within 180 days of being paid less and that the statute of limitations prevented her from suing now. Lilly had worked at the Atlanta Goodyear plant for over a decade never knowing she was paid unfairly. In response to this Supreme Court's decision in favor of a large corporation, Congress wrote the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and it was signed into law in 2009.  I always thought the Supreme Court was a place where matters were treated fairly and all decisions made legal sense. Reading this book made me realize I was wrong.

Becoming

I listened to the audio book Becoming read to me by Michelle Obama. She writes an interesting memoir. She was surprisingly honest. The first section of the book is about her youth in Chicago growing up in a small home and sharing a bedroom with her brother Craig. The duplex was owned by her aunt and uncle who  lived down stairs where her aunt gave piano lessons. Michelle did well in school and went on to graduate from Princeton and later got her law degree from Harvard. The middle section of the book is her life with her husband and the birth of their two children. She met Barack at the law firm where she worked where she was asked to train in a new lawyer. I could tell this couple is very much in love. I had to laugh when Barack first ventured into politics. Michelle was not so excited about the idea. She confessed she thought for sure he would loose the election. The last third of the book is about her life as First Lady. I enjoyed the book. Hearing her voice read it to me was nice too. 

My Garden

See that darker patch of earth on the left?  That is my new garden that I spent hours weeding. You can probably see the garden is on a slope down toward Lake Superior.  I learned a few things doing this chore. Duluth soil, unlike Ramsey soil, is black and rocky with grape like globs of clay. Digging in this soil is more difficult than digging in the  Anoka sand plain. Weeds in this soil hang on tighter than in the Anoka sand plain. Dandelions with their hairy carroty roots cling to grape like globs of clay and will not let go unless I physically lift a clump of soil in the air and break the black earth away from the roots. After all this work I hope this garden does well. I was speaking to another gardener at this community garden. I told her where I lived before I planted my tomatoes around May 15th. I asked when she planted her tomatoes. To my utter shock she said she waits until Father's Day to plant tomatoes. She said it can snow in June in Duluth. I rented a half plot. She rents a full plot which is twice the size of mine. She plans to plant cucumbers in one half and winter squash in the other. She rents other gardens around town for her other vegetables. She told me the rabbits ate her lettuce and the shoulders of her carrots at this spot last year. Gardening is always an experiment. I hope this garden is successful!

Little Fires Everywhere

My former book club read Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. I wasn't going to be a part of this book club anymore because I moved 150 miles away but since the pandemic we have been meeting using the Zoom format. I joined the Zoom meeting and enjoyed this discussion. This best seller was written about the town of Shaker Heights, Ohio in the 1990's. Families in the town are brought together because their children attend the same school. The kids gather at one hour or another and watch the Jerry Springer show together. I think my favorite after school show was Dark Shadows. I think Dark Shadows was a better option than Jerry Springer but that is just me. I enjoyed the book and most people in my book club enjoyed it too. The story is about mothers and daughters for the most part.  Pearl is one daughter and Izzy is another daughter. Ironically both Pearl and Izzy think the other girl's mother is preferable to their own. Sometimes that happens in life. This book has been turned into a mini-series starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. If I had Hulu I would definitely watch it because I enjoyed the characters in this book and would like to spend more time with them.

Wood sorrel?

The Superior Hiking trail goes left while the North Shore State Trail goes straight.

 Today I hiked a segment of the Superior Hiking Trail. I started at the Martin Road Trail head. I parked my car and followed the hiking trail that, for this segment, joined with the North Shore State Trail. This made for a well marked trail because the North Shore State Trail if for snowmobiles to use. I hiked around a gravel pit and along some land owned by the University of Minnesota. I crossed four roads. This segment ends up at Linsmore Road and is a 6.9 mile segment. I am not able to hike 6.9 miles and back again in the same day so I thought I would hike for 3 miles when the Superior Hiking Trail left the North Shore State Trail and then go back to my car. On another day I could park at the Linsmore Road trail head and hike back down to where I got to today. I saw some wild flowers. I'm not sure but the picture on the left could be wood sorrel.  This trail had some sections that were muddy, some sections were dry, and some sections were underwater. I wore my all weather shoes but three times the water went over the top of the shoes and soaked inside my shoes. Gross! And cold too! Why did I wear white socks when brown would have been a better choice? I kept hiking though. After one foot wetting episode I stopped and pondered if what I was doing was the prudent thing to do today. Just then a shadow passed in front of me. I looked up. The shadow of the bald eagle soaring overhead beat the appearance of the eagle by about five seconds. In my opinion the eagle answered my question with a majestic approval of my hike.  I saw five other people on the hiking trail today. It's nice to see other people taking advantage of the beauty of the trail and the nice weather too.

Marsh Marigolds on a soggy trail.

The Leavers

Lisa Ko wrote The Leavers and she was tricky about it. The story is about a boy  named  Deming who is abandoned in the Bronx, New York by his mother. He is eventually turned over to social services and adopted. In the process of adopting him his well meaning college professor parents strip him of his cultural identify including his name. Deming comes to believe, like children do, that it was his fault he was abandoned. His birth mother is a complicated person and an undocumented worker from China. The separation between Deming and his mother haunts both of their lives. I can see how this book won a national award. I wish I could read it in a book club because I knew I would get more out of it hearing the views of other readers.

Porcupine!

Today I went exploring in the Sam Zim bog hoping to find some cool birds. I have watched a local naturalist on a weekly virtual birding tour. He finds upland sandpipers, grouse, cranes, broad winged hawks, wood ducks, eagles, flickers, and sparrows. I didn't find any of those. I stopped by Lake Nickels to look around. I hiked a snowmobile trail across the street from the public access but the water on the trail was so deep I eventually had to give up and go back to my car. I started driving and I saw a black spot on the road. With my binoculars I saw a dark mammal surrounded by a spiny hazy glow. A porcupine! I approached carefully. I saw a porcupine in the wild only once before. That was probably thirty years ago. I was on my bike riding a dirt road near Rush Lake by New York Mills. That porcupine was high in a tree nibbling on something on the tree. That was cool but this was cooler because I drove right up to the porcupine who veered off the road into the brush. Here you see the north end of the porcupine walking south through the ditch water. The ditch water really slowed the porcupine's speed. The porcupine slowly crawled up out of the water and disappeared into the brush. 

Odd Tree

I found this odd species of tree on my walk through Chester Creek Bowl Park. It looks like a tree. It's shaped like a tree. The trunk is brown and the branches are green so it's colored like a tree. Actually it's a Sprint mono pine cell phone tower. I would hazard a guess that some residents in the area objected to the tower going on top of this hill so disguising it like a tree was the compromise.

A Little Life

I read Hanya Yanagihara's novel A Little Life. This was a long book to read and the subject matter was difficult. The story is about the lives of four men who meet in college and goes until they are middle aged. Two are wealthy and two are poor. Two have parents and two are orphans. All four men are successful in their fields of architecture, acting, artist and lawyer. Three of the four men are willing to share their concerns and issues with each other. One of them is not. The story is mostly about Jude and why he won't talk about himself. Jude's life includes disability, chronic pain and self-harm. Although his friends love him and admire him Jude doesn't believe he is worth loving. Like I said, this was a difficult book to read but I was totally engaged in the characters. I am glad I took the time to read A Little Life.

Free Seed Library

I had my orientation to the DCGP (Duluth Community Garden Program) last weekend via zoom. I learned about free seed libraries around town. I looked up the four locations. The closest one to me was 1.2 miles away. I took a walk down there to check it out. The contents of this free seed library, if I had to describe it in one word, was sad. Inside I found 3 packets of seeds. One was a mostly empty winter squash packet dated 2010. The second packet was also winter squash from 2010 but it had more contents than the first one. The last packet was of sweet corn and the date on that package was 2007. I thought about taking the 13 year old corn seeds but I put them back. This seed library was sad enough without me taking any seeds out of it. I will buy my own seeds and put my leftovers into the box for someone else to take.

Morning Waterfalls

Here is a picture of the waterfalls behind my house. I tried to go for a healthy fast paced walk this morning. How anyone could keep their heart rate up and march right past all this beauty is beyond me.

The air near this creek is pungent with pine scent. I am so lucky to live near this place.

Bog Boardwalk

Today I was monitoring my streams which are north and west of Duluth. I thought why not travel a little farther north and west and visit the Sax Zim bog? So I did. The weather was 60 and sunny when I left so that is how I dressed. The weather was 48 and raining when I got to the Warren Woessner bog walk. I found a rain coat in my car and took off hiking through the black spruce forest bog.

This was not a good day to go birding but I did have a nice walk through the bog.

At the very end of the bog boardwalk I saw two animals. One was white and one was black. I found two bog dogs. These dogs from the bog did not wear collars or tags. They looked well fed and healthy. I spoke to them in a friendly way. The white one walked with me up and down the boardwalk. Occasionally he would jump off the boardwalk onto the bog to smell something or pee on something but then he would return to my side. The black bog dog kept socially distant. Eventually the white bog dog got bored walking up and down the boardwalk and took off. Later I got a glimpse of the black dog running full tilt through the black spruces. What was he chasing? If I hadn't already seen him and knew he was a black lab, I might have thought I saw a puma.