Yellow Wife

Sadeqa Johnson wrote Yellow Wife after she visited Richmond, Virginia. With her family she visited the Richmond slave trail and the Lumpkin Jail. She learned about the jailor and his wife and family. She did research on the area. She read the names of slaves sold at the Lumpkin Jail and used their names as characters in this historical fiction novel. This is one of those books that is hard to read and very necessary to read. The main character is Pheby Delores Brown who, at age 17, is looking forward to turning 18 because her father/master has promised to free her on her birthday and send her north. Freedom doesn't come for Pheby until after the Civil War has ended. She ends up as the wife of the jailor in Richmond. Pheby is a strong female character trying to do her best in an impossible situation. 

The Husbands

 Chandler Baker wrote The Husbands. The story is about Nora, a married lawyer with a four year old daughter and another baby on the way. Nora's job is challenging because she has to keep up her billable hours in order to make partner in the firm. Her focus at work is lacking because she is so busy at home and her husband, although helpful, is not sharing equally in the burden of running a home and dealing with a 4 year old. Nora and her husband are thinking of moving into a development. So this story is like a gender reversing Stepford Wives. The women who live in Dynasty Ranch, are smart, successful at their jobs, and not overwhelmed. This was one creepy novel.

Roses and Lupines

 

Normal People

 Sally Rooney wrote Conversations with Friends which I enjoyed reading. She also wrote Normal People which I did not enjoy as much. Normal People is about Marianne and Connell. They live in a small town in Ireland and go to the same high school. Marianne comes from a wealthy dysfunctional family. Connell lives with his single Mom who cleans Marianne's family house three times a week. Both Connell and Marianne end up attending Trinity College in Dublin. The book covers their interactions beginning in high school and into young adulthood. Both Connell and Marianne have their mental health issues. What I found frustrating is that they both were so focused on their problems they never made any progress nor found any relief.

The Passenger

 Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz wrote The Passenger in 1938 at the age of 23 just after Kristallnacht in Germany. The story is about Otto Silbermann, a respected businessman, who fought for Germany in World War One. His home was raided by the Nazi storm troopers and he snuck out the back door. Over the next three days, as Otto tries to process and accept the situation in his own country, he starts taking train rides from Berlin to Hamburg and to other German towns. He is turned away from establishments he once patronized. Although he looks Aryan he fears being discovered as a Jew. His world is collapsing around him. The book was published when it was written but was not well received. Boschwitz planned to make changes and have it reissued but he never got the chance because, as a German Jewish refugee, he was sent to Australia by England and on his way back his ship was sunk by a German submarine. His editorial notes  (in letters to his mother) were recently found and the changes were made and his story rereleased in 2021. The story was painful to read at times but I think it is necessary for all of us, a citizens on this planet, to ready and study historical fiction.

 

Crown Tipped Coral

 

Today I joined some master naturalists and the Lake Superior Mycological Group on a mushroom foraging hike in Lester Park. About 40 people split into four groups and agreed to meet back in an hour. The weather today alternated every hour. One hour of warm sunshine was followed by another hour of cold rain and strong winds. Luckily our hour was sunshine. Two kinds of edible mushrooms were found. Here is a photo of crown tipped coral mushrooms. People say they taste a little bit like black pepper. These mushrooms are found on decaying trees. Other people found oyster mushrooms. Two 4 year old boys found the most oyster mushrooms and were quite proud of themselves. I did learn today that if you want to find edible mushrooms you had best look in hard wood forests. Good to know. I would like to find some chicken of the woods and morels.

Win Me Something

Kyle Lucia Wu wrote Win Me Something, a coming of age novel about a girl named Willa. Willa's parents divorced before she was old enough to remember them living together. Both her parents remarried and had more children. Her father was of Chinese descent and her mother had blond hair and blue eyes. Growing up in New Jersey, she felt invisible because she was too white to fit in with the Asian kids and not white enough to fit in with the white kids. At age 24 Willa takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy family in the Tribeca area of New York City. As she takes care of Bijou, a 9 year old girl, she compares her family to the one she is working for. The more time she spends with this family, the more invisible she believes she is. This was a sad and introspective story about Willa.

 

Clock Dance

 I  have been a huge fan of Anne Tyler's writing for several decades now so I felt super lucky to be able to borrow one of her books that I hadn't read yet called Clock Dance. What I love about Anne Tyler's writing is that she writes about ordinary people doing ordinary things. This story is about Willa who grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. Willa has a sister who is 4 years younger. Willa's father is a kind man with an easy going nature. Willa's mother is moody, tempestuous and sometimes physically abusive. Willa is more like her father than her mother. Through out her life other people have decided her life for her and she  has just gone along with it. Now, at age 60, she gets a phone call asking for help and she decided she will help. In the process of helping she becomes part of a larger community. This is uncharted territory for her. As an older woman she finally learns that it is not too late to make a change.

The Book of Form And Emptiness

 Ruth Ozeki, the author of The Book Of Form and Emptiness, is also a film maker and a Zen Buddhist priest. Her very strange novel is confusing because it is told in  chapters with points of view from Benny Oh, Annabelle Oh (Benny's mother) and a book. Obviously there is some magic going on her because books can't talk or can they? Twelve year old Benny and his mother are distraught at the death of Kenji Oh. Kenji was a musician and a drug user but he was the glue that kept this family together. When he dies, Benny starts hearing things and Annabelle starts hoarding things. Things become very important to both mother and son. Benny is distressed and overwhelmed by what he hears. The family is falling apart with neither son nor mother coping without Kenji. I have never heard voices but I know people who have and I can understand why it would be distressing. I liked the book better once I understood the book was talking.

Morningside Heights

 Joshua Henkin wrote Morningside Heights, a novel about a family living in Morningside Heights, a neighborhood in New York. Spence and Pru meet at Columbia where he is a popular and brilliant professor in the English Department. He specializes in Shakespeare and has published several books. Pru is a graduate student. They fall in love and marry. Spense is always focused on words and communication and that makes it difficult when he begins to suffer from early onset Alzheimer's disease. This book is a story about their marriage and their children. I thought the chapters about Alzheimer's were especially well written.

Happy Solstice

 

Birdsong

Birdsong was written in 1993 by Sebastian Faulks, a British author. This is an epic tale about love and war with the war being World War I. In 1910 a young British businessman named Stephan is sent to France to learn about a clothing manufacturing plant. He stays with the plant owner and his family is a small French village. He falls in love with the plant owner's wife and they run away together. After living together for 3 months, she runs away. He stays on in France in case she wants to return to him but he is lost without her. When Germany invades he volunteers to help the French army. The chapters about what happened in World War I were brutal and difficult to read. Stephan saw things that changed him forever. In the first two years of the war, only a handful remained alive under his command of 60 men. This was a great story and it reminded me of the movie The English Patient.

Waabizheshikana Trail

I walked along the Waabizheshikana Trail again today. This trail runs along the Saint Louis River in western Duluth. Two years ago when I walked this trail there was dredging equipment scooping out sediment in this bay. This year I saw 6 fenced off areas in the bay. This is a shallow bay. The water can't be even 6 feet deep. The fence appears to be above the water level and not below.

I asked a lady walking by. She explained this is one of the areas the local agencies are trying to clean up first by dredging out the silt and then by planting native plants such as wild rice. She suspected the fences were to protect the wild rice.

 

Activities Of Daily Living

 Lisa Hsaio Chen wrote Activities Of Daily Living. In this unusual novel she writes about time and how people fill their time and how people perceive the passing of time. The main character is Alice who lives in New York City, is in her mid thirties and is a Taiwanese immigrant. She works on projects She edits videos for other people but she also has a project of her own. She is studying a performance artist Tehching Hsieh. This artist is a real person who did several year long projects. One year he lived in a cage in his apartment. A friend came every day to bring him food and water and to empty his commode. Another year he punched a time clock every hour for a year. He took photos of himself punching the clock. Another year he attached himself with a 8 foot rope to another artist (a female) and the lived attached, but not touching, for a year. While Alice is doing research on the artist her step-father, living in California, is declining. She flies out to California frequently to help her sister care for him. As he declines mentally they find places for him to get care to help him complete his activities of daily living.  As they talk Alice helps him take stock of his life. The book is designed to have short chapters with random snippets of Alice's life and I think that is why it is an unusual book.

The Butcher's Blessing

 This story is set in Ireland during 1996; the year Mad Cow disease was prevalent in England and the Spice Girls were on the radio asking what we really, really want. The story is told from many points of view one of which is Una, a teenage girl whose father is away most of the year because he is a butcher. According to Irish legend, families were cursed if they ate meat that was not killed and processed by 8 butchers. Most of what the butchers did was secret. The eight butchers roamed from farm to farm killing cows according to ancient ways. Many people didn't believe in the legend anymore but Una did and she wanted to become a butcher someday. The Butcher's Blessing by Ruth Gilligan tells the story of the butchers and the culture of Ireland in 1996 and it was fascinating to read. The ending was dark though, very dark. I was a surprised.

The Soul Of A Woman

The Soul Of A Woman is a non-fiction book by Isabelle Allende. I am a fan of both her fiction and non-fiction writing. This is a shorter book about her feminism. She claims to have become a feminist in kindergarten when living in Chile and watching her mother struggle to raise 3 children on her own after being abandoned by her husband. Chile had an abundance of "machismo" attitude and Isabelle wasn't having any of it. I enjoyed her book in part because I agreed with 98% of what she says. 

Beartown

 Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors. I have read A Man Called Ove and My Grandma Told Me To Tell You She's Sorry and Anxious People and Britt Marie Was Here. This time I read Beartown. The story is set in Sweden in a declining small town in the forest. All of his stories are set in Sweden. This story is different in that the content is heavier than his other books. Beartown is known as a hockey town. The story is about hockey but also not about hockey. The story is about the hopes that bring a town together. The story is about the importance of standing up for what is right no matter the pressure to keep silent.I enjoyed every sentence of this fine novel.

Upstream

 Mary Oliver, a resident poet of Providence, Rhode Island, wrote Upstream. This book is a series of essays about nature. Mary Oliver is a nature lover. Who else would study a spider in her web waiting for the day the egg sacs hatch? One day she observes a snapping turtle laying eggs. The next day she goes back to the spot and digs up the 20 eggs. To my surprise she puts ten eggs back in the nest and takes the other ten eggs home and whips up an omelet of turtle eggs. I was not expecting that. Some of the essays were about the writing of other writers such as Emerson, Poe and Whitman. I didn't find those essays as interesting as her own observations.

Happy Flag Day

 Flag Day is the birthday of someone very important in my life. She was five months older than me and she used to lord that over me all the time back when we were young and wanted to be older. This song makes me think of her every time I hear it.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni And Margot

 Marianne Cronin wrote The One Hundred Years of Lenni And Margot. The story is set in a hospital in Glasgow, Scotland. Lenni is 17 and is in the May ward of the hospital. Margot is 83 and is hospitalized with heart trouble. The May ward is for those with terminal illnesses. Lenni and Margot meet at an art class and become fast friends. Together their ages add up to 100 so they get the idea of creating an art exhibit with one page for each year of their lives. Margot has artistic talent and lots of practice but Lenni has an energy known only to youth despite her illness. The wonderful story of their friendship was enjoyable to read. Despite being an "end of life novel" this book was humorous.

International Bridge Crossing

 Yesterday morning we drove over Sault Saint Marie International bridge to reenter the United States. We pulled up in the car lane at Customs.

Border Guard (BG): Whazzup?

Offspring #2 (O2): We are traveling home.

BG: Where is home?

O2: We live in Minnesota.

BG: Where have you been?

O2: We went camping in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. We have a dog in the back seat.

BG: Please lower your rear window. (BG looks at dog who looks back).

BG: Did you bring back any goods from Canada?

O2: No.

BG: Any alcohol, drugs, weapons?

O2: No

BG: Any eggs, chicken or oranges?

O2: No

BG: Are you two related?

O2: She is my Mom.

BG: (handing over id) Have a safe trip.

O2: Thank you!

As we drive away in upper Michigan, enjoying the speed limit signs without having to convert from kph, we wonder why he questioned eggs, chicken and oranges. We heard no questions about milk, beef nor apples. Did he name three food items at random or is the United States specifically concerned with eggs, chicken and oranges? In any case, this was my fourth trip to Canada and the easiest border crossings I have ever experienced.

Sault Saint Marie

 

Today we drove west from Nipissing Lake to Sault Saint Marie. We skirted the north side of the Saint Lawrence seaway as we drove for 5 hours. We hiked to the Sault Saint Marie Canal National Historic site but it was closed. 

Today is our last full day in Canada

Nipissing

We drove west from Montreal to North Bay on lake Nipissing. Along the way we saw a fox and a bald eagle as we drove through Algonquin Provincial Park. I could have gone inside to relax and stretch out but instead I sat outside on a picnic table and watched a storm approach from across the lake. Rain fell most of the day but it was sunny when we arrived. When the storm clouds covered the sun the temperature dropped five degrees. When the storm clouds were directly overhead the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped another 15 degrees.

Storm clouds over Lake Nipissing.

 

Montreal.2

Here is a picture of the cross atop Mount Royal in Montreal. We had a nice hike to the summit.

This is a view of the city from the parking lot near the area where Expo 67 was held. Only a few remnants remain from Expo 67.

Here is a statue on a corner of the old port city of Montreal.

 

Montreal

 

We are in Montreal today. We parked in a parking lot near the old port of the city to view the port, the shops and the restaurants. As I got out of the car I heard what I thought was a grackle right near my head. Then I felt a blow to the back of my  head. The bird fluttered around my head while I yelled.  Before the bird could strike me a second time I moved away toward the trunk of a car. There, in the tree in a parking lot sat a red winged blackbird with his red epaulettes flashing in the sun. The red winged blackbird nest is located about a third of the way up the tree. Dang blackbird hit me in the head! I thought red winged blackbirds built their nests in the rushes along a lake. I guess urban Montreal blackbirds are different, Aside from the bird attack we did have a nice morning exploring old town Montreal.

After lunch we drove to Mount Royal. We walked up to the top. Here is the view of Montreal from the chalet.

Montreal is located on the Saint Lawrence River - the same river that brings the ships to Duluth. In the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the traffic signs and advertisements are in both the French and English language. In Quebec, everything is in French which puts me at a disadvantage.

Nova Scotia

 Nova Scotia is one of the 13 Canadian provinces. Bordered by the state of Maine, the bay of Fundy, the Atlantic Ocean and Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia is a beautiful section named after "New Scotland." When we were there we saw lots of coast line, light houses, Christmas tree farms, resorts and lobster traps. We saw some graffiti but it was polite graffiti such as "Wash your hands." As we left Nova Scotia and drove into the province of New Brunswick, we started seeing higher mountains and great river valleys. We spent the night in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. The surprising thing for me is that other than two turkey vultures and hearing two barred owls, I saw no birds of prey - no hawks, no kestrels, and no eagles.

Land Of The Fairies

 

We are staying at Kejumsjik National Park in Nova Scotia which is directly east of Arcadia State Park in Maine. We had to drive north to get to the top of the bay of Fundy and then south again to get here. The bay of Fundy is geographically situated in such a way that it experiences the highest tide in the world (about 12 feet). We found a pink lady slipper on our hike called Hemlock and Hard Woods. Kejumsjik is a native word for "Land of the Fairies"

Kejumsjik is a beautiful part just like Nova Scotia.

We hiked along the river.

This is the largest hemlock tree in the park. At this park we heard a pair of barred owls calling, a pair of loons calling, ovenbirds, least fly catchers, veery and wood thrush.

Today we took down the tent only to find a big spider had made a home under the rain flap. With much encouragement and physical nudging, the spider left.

Border Crossing

 

 After driving north on Maine's coastal highway #1 we approached the border of Canada with passport, enhanced driving license, and vet papers in hand. The border guard wore a mask over his whiskered face. He asked us where we were going (Fundy National Park). He asked what states we drove through to get here and Offspring #2 did an amazing job of accurately recounting our trip. Then he asked our travel plans and again she knew all the provinces we planned to travel. He asked if we had guns, mace or bear spray. We did not. He asked how we planned to defend ourselves. We responded we planned to avoid trouble. He asked us to lower the back seat window. He didn't want to see the papers on the dog but he did say we had a calm dog. He asked if we planned to make any deliveries in Canada. We didn't. He asked if we planned to visit anyone in Canada. We didn't. Soon we were on our way motoring in a foreign country trying to convert kph into mph. High fences paralleled the freeway and I wondered if they really kept the deer out. I didn't see any dead deer on the road so maybe they do work. Several times we saw moose crossing signs instead of deer crossing signs. We had lunch in St. John's and are now on our way to a Canadian adventure

Arcadia National Park

I am on a road trip with Offspring #2 and her foxhound. We drove through Wisconsin and Illinois before spending the night at a hotel in Indiana. In Indiana I heard  bull frogs and tree frogs calling. The next day we drove east and camped at Black Moshannan state park in Pennsylvania which was very nice. The next morning we drove east into New Jersey, through New York and Connecticut into Rhode Island and we spent 2 nights with Offspring #1 and his family at his place inside Fort Adams State Park. The next day we drove to Arcadia National Park in Maine. And that is where we saw this family of mergansers on an outing. One baby rode on her back while the others swam behind. We saw this on our 3.7 mile hike around Jordan pond.

This is seal harbor. We didn't see any seals but it was nice to see the Atlantic waves rolling toward the beach. Arcadia is a huge national park. The campground was nice but the bathrooms have no soap and no showers. Our campground was called the Sea Wall campground because the ocean formed a natural sea wall by washing up large stones and forming a wall. We spent the evening staring like zombies into the campfire. A winter wren kept us entertained with song in the early morning.

Arcadia National Park has a wildflower garden. Here are yellow lady slippers in full bloom.