Dearly

 I really like the writing of Margaret Atwood so I picked up her audiobook called Dearly. The book was read by the author. This is a collection of poems. Normally I am not a huge fan of poetry but these were pretty good. Some were about birds, climate change, memory loss, aging,  and sadness. One section was all about octopus and another about zombies.

Bonsai Tamarack

Check out this beautiful bonsai tamarack. There is a customer at the YMCA who brings in his bonsai every once in a while. Last week a beautiful red maple tree adorned the desk. This week it is a tamarack. The view out the window is of First Avenue.

 

Those Tamaracks Though

 Today I drove to Hinckley to have lunch with a friend from Saint Cloud. We ate at Tobie's. I took the scenic road home on Highway 23 driving through Askov, Bruno, Kerrick, Duquette, Nickerson, Fon du Lac, and New Duluth. As I drove the sun shined down on the trees. The tamaracks were very noticeable and easy to identify as I drove. Here is a photo taken at sixty miles per hour.

First Frost

 Last night we got the first hard frost. The growing season is officially over. I was glad I  picked all the unripe tomatoes off the vine Friday night. I wonder why the people living up the hill have not harvested their cabbages and apples from their garden yet. Summer is definitely over and winter is around the corner.

Demon Copperhead

I love Barbara Kingsolver's writing and I was happy that after a long wait to get it, I got a copy of her book, Demon Copperhead. I could hardly put it down. Set in southern Appalachia, this book is a rework of Charles Dicken's book, David Copperfield. The story is narrated by Demon from his birth in a single-wide trailer until he is in his 30's. The book explores poverty, drug addiction, child labor, child neglect, foster care, and the school system. This was just a truly excellent story. 

This Time Next Year We Will Be Laughing

 Jacqueline Windspear is the author of her memoir This Time Next Year We Will Be Laughing. She starts out with her parent's stories. Her mother was a child when World War Two broke out. She and her sisters were sent to live in the countryside to be safe from the bombings in London. When her parents found out the farmer was not feeding the girls enough food he brought them back to London. Her parents met in London. Due to the war, extra apartments were not available and living with the in-laws was not working out. She moved to Kent where they got jobs picking hops, strawberries, and apples. Her father got a job painting. For a while they lived with a group of Romani and lived nomadically. When Jacqueline was born they decided to settle in Kent. Although they worked hard they never had a lot of money. When Jacqueline was 16 the family finally got a house with indoor plumbing and a washing machine. Jacqueline's father liked to go for walks and marvel at a hedge or a rabbit or a tree. He was a quiet man. When things got tough, like the time Jacqueline's little brother had to go to the hospital because of a burst appendix, her father would always say, "This time next year we will be laughing."  Jacqueline's mother was talkative and liked to tell stories. Although her mother could turn cruel and sarcastic, the author probably got her love of story telling from her.

One Hundred Plants To Feed The Birds

 Tonight I walked up to campus for the second time today to hear a lecture with the native plant society. Tonight birder, radio show host, blogger and author, Laura Erickson spoke about her latest book to be published. She lives in the lakeside area of Duluth and has had many interesting birds at her yard. She had a rufous hummingbird hanging out in November twice. She feeds the birds and provides water in containers on the ground. I could tell she has a real passion for birds and the environment in general. She also has a website where the information from this book is available.

None Of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive

I listened to an audio book by Carolyn Prusa called None Of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive. The cover of the book was purple and I am a fan of Prince's music. This story is set in Savannah, Georgia and the narrator is Ramona. The story takes place over 48 hours and each chapter starts with the time of day. A hurricane is coming to Savannah and there is a mandatory evacuation order. Ramona leaves her job early to pick up her daughter from day care. When they arrive home she finds her husband having an affair with another mother from her son's school. She kicks him out of the house. She goes to school to pick up her son and is told it is her turn to take the class guinea pig, Clarence Thomas, home during the long weekend because the school will be closed for the hurricane. While handling phone calls and emails from her boss, she gets the house ready for the hurricane, packs up her kids. She drives to her college best friend's house in Augusta. Checking in on her Mom she realizes her Mom has not evacuated so she drives back into the hurricane to pick her up. Many things are going wrong in Ramona's life and to read her thoughts is very entertaining. This book is not great literature but it was entertaining.

The Biz

 Sara Novic is the author of the fiction novel called The Biz. Set in Pennsylvania at a residential school for deaf elementary and high school students. Charlie (Charlotte) is a new student at the school and trying to fit in. She is 15 and was not doing well in public school. She has never met another deaf person. Her parents had a cochlear implant inserted into her brain. Charlie does not like her implant because it's not functioning as it should. She is unable to hear most things in school. Her parents have divorced. Her father in understanding. Her mother, who works at as consultant to help girls and women win beauty pageants, is more concerned about looks and fitting in. At school the headmistress, February, asks Austin to show Charlie the ropes and take her under his wing. Austin is a popular boy at school. His mother and grandparents attended the school. His family celebrates their deafness. They do not consider themselves as disabled or less than. February, the head of the school, can hear but was born to deaf parents. February is doing all she can to keep the school running. When students break the rules February had a technique called the biz. If the offending student gave a full explanation of why they broke the rules February would go easier on the punishment. I enjoyed this novel and learning more about the deaf culture. Some people think the increased use of cochlear implants will eliminate the rich and varied deaf culture. Some people think giving cochlear implants to children who can't refuse is wrong. The author said in the notes she got the idea for the story after reading about a cochlear implant manufacturer who knew their implants were malfunctioning and hurting patients and kept that information to themselves and kept selling their defective products.

Fragmented

 Dr. Ilana Yurkiewicz wrote Fragmented: A Doctor's Quest To Piece Together American Health Care. The author decided to specialize in oncology and general practice so that her patients wouldn't fall in the cracks. She gives us examples of healthcare records that get lost. Some electronic records have so many boxes to check and so many tabs that critical information is impossible to find. Also various health care systems medical records are not compatible with other health care systems. Doctors might change specialties or insurance changes where a patient can go. This causes fragmentation of care. According to the author, health care in our country is hanging on by a thread. I enjoyed reading her book but I wish she had been more specific in what changes need to be made to reform our healthcare systems. 

Those Aspens Though

Walking through the woods this week I am struck by the beauty of the aspens this year.

The aspen leaves are so beautifully yellow, tawny, yellowish orange, orangish yellow, buttery, butterscotchy, golden, maize, wheat, amber, flaxen, and cheesy.

 

Bloomsbury Girls

Natalie Jenner is the author of the historical fiction novel called Bloomsbury Girls. Set is London in 1950 Bloomsbury is a rare and new book store run mostly by men. Three women work at the shop. Vivian is single since her fiancé was killed in the war. Grace is married and has two sons. She is finding it hard to cope with her husband who suffers from PTSD from his war experiences and is becoming ever more violent. Evie is fresh out of college and very smart. The women have ideas to make this bookstore more successful. I enjoyed reading this novel with the strong female figures working together to make things happen.

New Boiler

Despite my Munchkin boiler getting serviced on Oct. 10 it only worked for 20 hours before it went out again. I have been heating with electric heaters for the past week. Today I got a new boiler and whole house heat feels very nice.

 

Rabbit, Run

 John Updike wrote Rabbit, Run and it was published in 1960. The story is about a guy named Harry and he has a nickname of Rabbit. The story takes place in 3 months of Harry's 26 year old life. Rabbit is one of those guys who peaked in high school. Now he is 26. He has a two year old son and his wife is pregnant again. His job is selling a kitchen gadget called Magic Peel. They live in a small apartment. Harry is not satisfied with his job and not satisfied with his marriage. One evening he leaves his apartment to go and pick up his son from his parent's house but instead of doing that he just drives away from his home in Pennsylvania and ends up in West Virginia. In the morning he decides to go home again but he doesn't want to go to his house. Rabbit's identity crisis is fully explored in this book. I enjoyed reading the story but I have to admit I did not like Rabbit, Rabbit's wife, Rabbit's parents. I did like Rabbit's father-in-law and his employer during his hiatus from his wife.

Upstairs At The White House

 J.B. West was the head usher at the White House. He wrote about his occupational memories with the help of Mary Lynn Kotz in the book Upstairs At The White House; My Life With The First Ladies. The author started as an assistant usher when Eleanor Roosevelt was living at the White House. He worked with Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, and Pat Nixon before he retired. He handled odd requests, planned events and dinners and directed state functions such as weddings and funerals. He helped to redecorate the rooms over the years. He handled the budget and informed each First Lady how much she could spend on redecorating. I enjoyed this fascinating behind the scenes look at the families who lived in the White House.

The Heartbreak Of Trees

 Being a tree hugger I decided to listen to the audiobook translated from German to English called The Heartbreak Of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond With Forests and Nature by  Peter Wohlleben. I learned much about trees including their ability to angle their roots toward water underground and transfer memories to their offspring.  He also claims that in the spring and summer, the trees take up a sudden upflow of water every 3 or 4 hours much like a heartbeat. The author is knowledgeable but his style is rambling and unorganized. Throughout the book he talks about the oldest tree on the planet in Sweden, the Polish forests near Belarus, the Black Forests in Germany, and trees in British Columbia.

Wildflower Garden

 Today I met three other friends who are also Master Naturalists at the Eloise Butler Wildflower garden in Minneapolis. We spent a couple of hours slowly walking through the garden, forest bathing, identifying birds and trees and wildflowers and mushrooms. We identified plants on I Naturalist. We enjoyed the scenery and each other's company. I am so grateful to the woman who organized this meeting of four friends from Northfield, Duluth, Minneapolis and Ramsey. Afterwards we had lunch at a Thai restaurant. We plan to see each other next may at the conference in Detroit Lakes.

Aunt Poldi And The Sicilian Lions

I think I enjoyed Aunt Poldi And The Sicilian Lions so much because I have traveled to Sicily and have been through the towns that line the sea between Catania and Palermo. Mario Giordano is the author and J. Maxwell Brownjohn translated the book into English. Aunt Poldi decides to move to Sicily at the age of 60. She sells her parent's home in Germany and buys a new one on the sea next to Mount Etna. Her husband has died but he has three sisters living in Sicily. Her nephew is the narrator of the story. He lives in Germany but he comes to spend a week with his Aunt Poldi once a month while he works on writing a novel about their family. A young handy man named Valentino doesn't show up for Aunt Poldi so she goes out looking for him. His parents don't know where he is. Three days later Aunt Poldi finds his body on the beach when she goes to take an early morning swim. She vows to find his murderer. This book has many quirky characters, funny situations, and quite a lot of drinking alcohol. I wish I had an aunt like Aunt Poldi. 

Audubon Speaker

Tonight Kim Eckert spoke at the local Audubon meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church up the hill from my house. He has the fifth edition of his book. The first edition was written in 1975. He had to change a lot of directions because roads change frequently. He is a self deprecating speaker who advised us to find out own birding spots. In the southern part of the state where corn and soybeans grow he suggests taking crooked roads where you will find a lake or a wooded creek. In the northeastern part of the state he suggests taking straight roads that probably go through a bog where you can find black backed woodpeckers or great gray owls. He pokes fun at some counties and he pokes fun at people who list birds in each county. I didn't realize he studied at St. John's University and taught English at the high school in Ashby. He strongly suggests that one can have fun even if they don't see any birds on a birding trip.

 

E Coli and Cyanobacteria

Tonight the staff from NRRI (Natural Resources Research Institute) gave us a zoom meeting about the results from our water sampling that we did last summer. I collected water from Chester Creek and grew E Coli in my house. After 48 hours I counted the E Coli, documented the results, and photographed the results. The hypothesis going in was that if a stream like Chester had significant amounts of E Coli, the beach where the stream emptied into Lake Superior would have more bacteria. That turned out not to be true. Another hypothesis was that Amity creek would have less bacteria because it has fewer roads and fewer houses near it. That also turned out not to be true. The fact that we did this study during a drought year was significant because the bacteria would be more concentrated. Another hypothesis was if you had more E Coli in the stream the more likely you were to have cyanobacteria and/or toxic algae blooms in the lake. That turned out not to be true. Cyanobacteria were correlated however with more phosphorus and turbidity in the water. This information had already been released to the Minnesota DNR and the city of Duluth so that they can decide where further study is warranted. 

Munchkin

Weather has been cool in Duluth for the past five days. On Friday I tried to turn my heat on because my apartment was at 60 degrees with no luck. I tried many times all weekend. I put in a work order and felt glad to be a renter instead of a homeowner. Yesterday the maintenance man came out. He looked at the boiler and said it was fine. He thought the problem was my thermostat. He didn't fix the problem but he brought two space heaters because by now the temperature inside the apartment was 59 degrees. I also learned that Comfort Systems would be out to service both boilers today between noon and four.

This morning before I left I made sure the basement door was unlocked. I left a note explaining the problem. After my classes (Ukraine and the Cossacks/Genetics) I walked home at 4:30 hoping to enjoy a warm apartment. No luck. Comfort Systems did not come by. I informed the owner. At 6 p.m. I get a call that Comfort Systems is here and wants to get it. I let the man in and help him find the boiler. He is a talkative guy and he is explaining what he is doing and why he is doing it. He resets the boiler and it starts to work and then goes out. He cleans off the piece that tells the boiler to ignite and the piece that tells the boiler to shut off and tries again. This time it does work. The boiler still needs a thorough overhaul and that is now scheduled for November 1st. Boilers and furnaces need yearly overhauls. I learned a lot today; not only about Ukraine and the Cossacks and genetics but also boilers.

 

Fall Colors Near Me

 

The Magnolia Palace

 Fiona Davis writes historical fiction and I have already read The Address, The Lions Of Fifth Avenue, and Masterpiece. This time I read The Magnolia Palace. Set in New York City. The main character is Lillian Carter. Eight months after loosing her mother to the Spanish flu of 1919, Lillian is in trouble. She is not making enough income to pay her rent. For years she has been supporting herself and her mother by posing for artists under the name of Angelica. Her physical likeness is on a statue at the Plaza Hotel and other famous parts about town. Lillian accidently stumbles onto a job as a secretary for Helen Frick, the mercurial daughter of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The story alternates between the 1920's and the 1960's. The Frick mansion, full of priceless art, is the setting for a photo shoot. Veronica, a young woman from London, is in the photo shoot. The story is partially based on truth. There was a young woman who was an art model in New York City. The Frick Mansion, located on the edge of Central Park is still open and adult general admission is $22.  In the story the author portrays Henry Clay Frick as a mean and abusive husband and father and I don't know if that part is true. The yard outside the Frick mansion has many magnolia trees. I liked this book but not as much as her other books.

E O

On Friday afternoons I walk up to campus to watch movies. The first week of this term we watched "Air," a movie about the Nike company coming up with a new shoe for Michael Jordan. That was an interesting film which is more about the Nike company than the Jordan family. Last week we watched "Navalny," a film about Alexey Navalny that he and his crew filmed. Watching him head to a city in Siberia where he was poisoned was very interesting. The best part was watching him call three people involved in executing his poisoning while pretending to be a member of the government and hearing the scientist explain how they put the potent poison in the seams of his underwear. The hard part was watching him leave Germany and return to Russia where he knows he is going to be arrested but he does it anyway. Today we watched E O, a film set in Poland and Italy. This film is about a donkey but is definitely not for children. E O is a circus donkey. Animal rights activists are protesting the use of animals in circuses so E O is taken away. E O and his circus trainer, Kassandra, have a very close relationship. The time with Kassandra seems to be the happiest years of E O's life. He is taken to a donkey sanctuary. On his birthday Kassandra comes to visit him bringing him a carrot cupcake. But then she leaves. E O watches her leave on a motorbike so he breaks the gate and takes off after her. He walks through the beautiful forest. The scenery is incredible. Many times the director floods the screen with red and when the forest is red it looks like it is on fire. E O continues his travels never staying very long and still remembering Kassandra. He meets humans who are kind and humans who are cruel. The director, 84 year old Jerzey Skolimowski, is an animal rights activist. The movie was entertaining and disturbing.

Everything's Fine

 Cecilia Rabess is the author of Everything's Fine. The two main characters, Jess and Josh, meet in a class in the Ivy League college. Later both of them work for Goldman Sachs. Turns out the author once worked at Goldman Sachs so I would guess that part of the corporate world was probably quite accurate. Josh grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut. Jess grew up in Nebraska and was the only person of color in her high school. Now she is living in New York with a degree in mathematics and trying to make it as a financial trader. In their relationship Josh scoffs at Jess' political views. He is a Republican who doesn't think Donald Trump is a racist. Josh speaks about racism and meritocracy in abstract words while also love bombing Jess. Jess tries to cope with this by compartmentalizing and telling herself, "Everything's fine."

Close Call With Chipmunk

 

Yesterday I had a plan. After my classes were finished at UMD I was going to drive to Gooseberry State Park and camp with my cousin. Her reservation fell apart so instead she came to my house. This morning, after breakfast, we drove in separate cars to Gooseberry with a stop at Hawk Ridge and a drive down 7 bridges road. We arrived at Gooseberry around 11. We took out our E-bikes and headed toward Beaver Bay. We ate sandwiches and apples at Beaver Bay and then headed back toward Gooseberry. We stopped at Split Rock Lighthouse and we toured the premises.

This is a view out of the lighthouse facing west toward Duluth. On our drive back I came within a half inch of riding over a chipmunk. We put on 30 miles. By the time we came near Gooseberry Falls my battery was at 20 percent. I learned that when the battery is at 20 percent, it gives 20 percent of assistance. I ended up having to walk my bike up hills twice. All in all, I walked the bike about a total of 15 minutes which wasn't too bad. My legs are feeling the exertion. Once back at Gooseberry we took a walk down to the shore. Her campsite has a space for her camper van right under two Mountain Ash trees. The trees were full of robins and Cedar Waxwings gobbling down the bright orange berries. After our walk we had a dinner of chili and cornbread. I left her to enjoy her campsite. Since I have another class early tomorrow morning I decided to drive home so I can get to class on time tomorrow morning.

The Messy Lives Of Book People

 Phaedra Patrick is the author of the award winning book, The Messy Lives of Book People. The main character is Liv who works cleaning houses and barely scrapes by with her husband and two sons. Liv has always dreamed of becoming a writer. She is thrilled to get a job cleaning for Essie Starling, a reclusive writer who has written a series of 19 mega selling novels. Liv is surprised when Essie suddenly dies and has asked, in her will, that Liv finish the 20th book in the series. I enjoyed this book with the exception of the many times Liv would mentally stew about someone giving her a look or disparaging her verbally. Liv is a character that is very quick to take offense and to take things personally.

Four Treasures Of The Sky

 The idea for the novel, Four Treasures Of The Sky, by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, came from a plaque marking the location of a violent event in Idaho against law abiding Chinese people. The story starts in China with a girl named Daiyu. She lives with her parents and her grandmother making tapestry. When she is nine her parents disappear. For a time she lives with her grandmother. After several months her grandmother cuts her hair, dresses her like a boy, and pays a local farmer to haul her to the city to make her way on her own. Grandmother says she will come to find her one day. Daiyu begs for food and eats out of the trash. One day she asks a teacher of calligraphy for a job. She gets a job sweeping. For this she is given a place to sleep and some food. She also learns calligraphy and is quite good at it. One day she is kidnapped and taken to a basement room. There she is taught English. Eventually she is dressed in black clothes, black is smeared on her face and hands, she is put into a barrel and coal is added. A cloth is stuck in her mouth and tied to her head. She is loaded aboard a ship that is sailing to San Francisco. She has been sold to a brothel. From there she escapes and heads to Idaho and again pretends to be a boy. This was an interesting story but so very sad. Daiyu does not have many moments of joy in her short life.