The Sun Does Shine

I listened to the audiobook about Anthony Ray Hinton called The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life And Freedom On Death Roy. Anthony didn't read the book, some else did. But he co-wrote the book with Lara Love Harden. This is an incredibly sad true story about a poor black man (age 29) charged and found guilty of murders he did not commit. The police made false evidence against him and lied on the stand. Anthony was no angel. He did steal a car for two years but he fessed up to that and paid the price. He was living with his momma in Alabama. He was out back mowing the lawn when he arrested. From there he spent 30 years on death row at Holman State Prison. His friend Lester would bring his momma and Lester's momma to visit him once a week. When they used the big yellow chair (electrocution chair) the smell of burning flesh filled the air on death row for days. He was there to witness that smell 54 times in 30 years. Anthony was released in 2015. His mother died in 2002 so she never knew he got out. Personally I am against the death sentence. Mistakes can be made in our legal system and I don't think anyone deserves to die.

Prophet Song

 Prophet Song is a dystopian novel written by Paul Lynch. Set in modern times, in Ireland, a tyrannical government is taking over. Eilish is a mother of four children who works as a microbiologist. One evening, at home, the new secret police come knocking on her door asking for her husband. Her husband is a trade unionist and not at home. Two days later he goes missing. Her eldest son is 16. Now the government is demanding that all 17 year old boys enroll in the military. She sends him out of the country to escape. Eilish looses her job. The government has put in a curfew which makes it hard for her to visit her elderly father who is forgetful and declining. Food becomes short and expensive. Electricity goes out. At night she can hear shooting and bombing. All schools are closed. Her 15 year old daughter, Molly, is depressed and has stopped eating. Her 12 year old son keeps leaving the house even after she tells him to stay home. Eventually she sleeps on the living room floor with her daughter, her son, and her 2 year old son. She is trying her best to keep her family together but what is the best course of action? Leave? Stay? This was a tough book to read but very well written.

Booya

 Today I drove down the road apiece to my cousin's booya. This cousin and her younger brother remember my sister Cathy so it's always nice to see them. We sat and talked, danced and sang along to the music, ate and drank. Many people don't know what booya is but it's basically a soup of meat and vegetables and spices. I wished I was in a band. The drummer looked like he was having much fun. I spoke with my aunt. I learned some things about my other cousins. Today was a perfect day for a family gathering.

Sharp Objects

 I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and I thought it was a bit too violent. So I can't tell you why I read Sharp Objects. There is violence in this book too. Camille is a journalist is Chicago. One day her fatherly boss sends her to her home town, Wind Gap, Missouri, to report on the murders of two children. She does this with trepidation. She doesn't get along with her mother. Camille thinks her mother never loved her. She had a younger sister who died when Camille was 13. Now she has a step sister who is 13 and they really don't know each other. Her mother is wealthy as she owns the pork factory in town. Camille's mother doesn't want her to report on the death of the two girls because she thinks it is in bad taste. Camille thinks reporting can help solve the murders of the two girls both of whom had all their teeth removed after death. Several people tell Camille to leave town because it is dangerous for her to be here. This book has many characters with some serious mental problems including Camille who cuts herself. In the end, the murders are solved. The murderer is not anyone I thought it was. I am pretty sure I don't want to see the movie.

It's All Zoo

 It's All Zoo is a novel set in Paris in the 1960's. The author is a man from Connecticut named Gerald A. Browne. Lillian is one of the main characters. She lives in a house that includes a bordello. When her boyfriend leaves with most of her clothes and things she cannot sleep. She goes to a dance hall where the other insomniacs drink, dance, and fall in love. That is where she meets an American archeologist named Graham. He tells her he is planning to start an archeological dig in Paris so she  helps him out. She writes a newspaper ad asking for volunteers to help dig although they would get lunch. She even finds him a place to stay overnight. Graham falls in love with Lillian but she doesn't realize that she is in love with him early enough. This was a cute story.

The Outsiders

 Young adult novels are fun to read so I read S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Published in 1967 it tells the story of teenaged Ponyboy. Ponyboy's parents were killed in an accident so now he lives with his two older brothers. The oldest is 20. Ponyboy is 14. He doesn't want to get into trouble in case he is taken away from his brothers and put into foster care. Ponyboy and his brothers and all of his friends are greasers. Greasers are all from poor families. Sometimes they rumble with the socs (the socials) who have more money and better clothes. One night Ponyboy's friend Johnny kills a soc who was killing Ponyboy by holding his head underwater in a park fountain. Ponyboy and Johnny run away with the help of his older brother's friend. They hide out in a church in the next town. After a week Johnny decides to go back and face his punishment. Before that can happen a fire starts in the church. Ponyboy and Johnny save the lives of four children trapped in the church. Eventually Ponyboy comes to realize that pain is pain no matter if you are a greaser or a soc. This was a very interesting book to read.

Interesting Facts About Space

 Emily Austin writes about 26 year old Enid in Interesting Facts About Space. Enid lives alone in her apartment and works at a space agency as an information specialist. She is often in contact with her Mom. They go out at night to watch meteor showers or eclipses. Enid is queer and dates many women. In her spare time she listens to true crime podcasts. Her father left the family when she was 3. He has remarried and she has 2 younger step sisters. After the death of her father, the step sisters want to stay in touch with her. She gets invited to her step sister's baby shower. All is going well for her except for her fear of bald men and a growing paranoia. Enid is a very funny person and I really enjoyed reading about her.

Crex

Today I drove 20 minutes to visit Crex Meadows. I have been here before with a couple car loads of Master Naturalists. I visited the visitor center and got a nice map with 20 spots marked to visit and a paragraph or two about each spot. This area was used to make carpets of Carex sedges back when they made carpets out of sedges. Now it is an important place for waterfowl to rest during migrations. Much of the area is off limits to hunters and trappers.

I saw 5 pairs of trumpeter swans, many Canadian Geese, several sand hill cranes and, most important of all, I scared 3 sharp tail grouse off the road.

Much of the land has been restored to look like it did in the early 1800's

 

The Lilacs Are Confused

 

I am temporarily staying in Siren, Wisconsin. Siren, originally Syren, is Swedish for lilacs. The lilacs must be confused by the weather because they are blooming in September.

That Librarian

 I read Amanda Jones' book, That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Burning In America. Amanda is a school librarian in Louisiana. She advocates for inclusiveness. When she realized that in 2022 there was a public meeting about book content, she attended the meeting and spoke up for keeping LGTQ books in the library. The very next day her life fell apart. Two men from a different parish lied about what she said in that meeting. She got death threats and nasty emails and attacks from strangers and friends. She sued her harassers for defamation. Although her mental health suffered, her marriage suffered, her child suffered she kept going strong. Kudos to Amanda Jones!

A Lake Place

I had a great time at my friend's cabin. How nice to have a lake place. The cabin was built by her husband and her father. The outhouse has a huge window so you can view the lake as you do your business. They have electricity. They used to have water but now they need a new well. She is making improvements like putting up a fire number on the road and moving the refrigerator into the cabin instead of in the shed. We took her canoe out for the first time in ten years and now she knows she can take it out by herself. There is a drop off right in front of her cabin and the fishing must be good there because I saw quite a few people fishing in front of her place. Lots of family memories have been made at this place. My friend thought she was seeing cuckoos in her woods but they turned out to  be black billed magpies.

 

James

 James is a novel based on Huckleberry Finn's friend, Jim. Written by Percival Everett, the book starts out when James finds out his owner is going to sell him to a man in New Orleans which means he would leave his wife and daughter behind. James hides out on an island while he tries to formulate a plan. There he is discovered by Huckleberry who flees to the island to escape his violent father. Huckleberry isn't racist. Together they travel north via the river at night. James can't afford to be seen because his owners are searching for him. James hopes to get north and earn enough money to buy his wife and his daughter. Various white people take advantage of James along the way which was hard to read about. Most of the book is dialogue. I enjoyed reading about James and his motivations and his desires.

Itasca

My friend and I drove 30 minutes from her cabin on a lake to Itasca State Park. We entered in the south end of the park and stopped at the Visitor Center so I could buy a year long pass. I affixed the sticker to my window. We drove past Preacher's Grove to the headwaters. I love this spot and the water was high. We walked across the river on the wooden bridge. She wanted to walk back across the rocks. I waited. The path looked do-able from the shore but then she got both feet wet so I decided to walk back across the wooden bridge again. We drove down the wildlife drive hoping to see grouse. We saw no grouse but plenty of Monarch butterflies. Shouldn't they be flying to Mexico by now? We hoped to eat at the lunch buffet at the lodge but it was closed for the season. We drove back to the headwaters to eat at their cafe. We shared our table with travelers on a fall colors bus tour out of Medora, North Dakota. We thought it was a little early for fall colors. They were headed to the Glensheen Mansion and the light house at Split Rock. Maybe they will see more fall colors on the way back to North Dakota.

 

Tamarack National Wildlife Refuge

My friend and I drove 30 minutes to the Tamarack National Wildlife Refuge which I have heard about but never visited. We stopped by the ranger station and we found out where the best spots were to see a golden winged warbler. We didn't find any golden winged warblers.

After driving to Tamarack Lake where the natives harvest wild rice, we hiked an old Indian trail. We were told to look for maples with swollen tree trunk bases which meant they were tapped for syrup in the past. We hiked with her 9 pound dog and had a great old time. As we were coming back to the car, about 3/4ths of the way back, a black bear ambled onto the path. The bear looked at us with wide eyes. We looked at the bear with wide eyes. The dog  wisely decided that maybe now is not the time to bark. The bear took off running lickety split away. Wow, this is my 3rd sighting of a MN black bear in the wild. Awesome!

 

Becker County

The cabin we stayed at is in Becker County, not Beltrami County. Hearing loons call day and night is such a treat.

 

Staring at the water with a glass of wine in hand is also a treat.

Beltrami County

I have been invited to a friend's cabin in Beltrami County. This cabin is rustic. There is no running water. There is electricity but no WiFi. I should be back by Wednesday. Until then I will be off-line. 

An American Marriage

 Barak Obama had this on his recommended reading list so I read An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. The story is about a couple living in Atlanta. Their names are Celestial and Roy and they have been married 18 months. She is an artist designing and selling expensive cloth dolls. Roy works in marketing. They go to Louisiana to visit Roy's parents. His parents expect them to spend the night in Roy's room. Instead Roy and Celestial go to the tiny town and check into the motel. At the hotel they have an argument. They decide to take a break before they say anything they don't mean. During the break Roy goes out to the ice machine. He meets a lady there. They talk. He carries her ice for her to her room and then goes back to Celestial. They resolve the argument. At 1 a.m. their hotel door is broken down by police. Roy is arrested for raping the woman he helped with her ice. He is innocent but this is rural Louisiana. He tried and convicted. Roy is sentenced to seven years in prison. Will this marriage survive? Neither Roy nor Celestial did anything wrong but both had to pay a huge price. This book is so good I could hardly put it down.

What Doctors Feel

 Danielle Ofri, M.D. is the author of What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect The Practice Of Medicine. This was a fascinating book. Danielle writes about her own training and experiences and also the experiences of several other doctors. She writes about some of her mistakes and the dressing down she got for making them. For one patient who was in diabetic ketoacidosis, she forgot to start a long acting insulin before she turned off the quick acting insulin. With minutes the patient was back in diabetic ketoacidosis. This is a mistake she never made again. Feeling ashamed makes you learn your lesson well. She mentions a study about empathy. Participants in the study were tested by electronic reading in their brain so that their oral answers were not needed. The test was to see if they empathized with seeing the image of a person getting pricked with a needle in the skin between the thumb and the pointer finger. If a white person saw a white hand getting pricked they empathized. If a white person saw a black hand getting pricked they did not emphasize. If a black person saw a black hand getting pricked they emphasized. If a black person saw a white hand getting pricked they did not emphasize. If a black or white person saw a violet hand getting pricked, they emphasized.  The author writes about how it feels to be sued tor medical malpractice. She writes about how the behavior of doctors changed after being sued for malpractice. They order more tests which is not always a good thing. It was interesting to read about how the hidden emotional responses of doctors can influence their patients.

Rednecks

Taylor Brown is the author of the historical fiction novel named Rednecks. Set in coal mining country in West Virginia during the 1920's, this is a true story about thousands of coal miners fighting for fair wages. The coal miners were Slavs, Greek, Irish, Italian and black workers who had unsafe working conditions and unfair wages. If they joined a union they were fired or killed and their families were evicted from company housing. They had no choice but to go on strike. Part of the story is told from the perspective of a rural doctor, an immigrant from Lebanon, who treats people on both sides of the conflict. Even he is beaten by Union security forces. Mother Jones, an Irish labor organizer, comes to the conflict.  She sees the writing on the wall and encourages the miners to give up. The owners of the coal mines have the politicians on their payroll. One prominent union organizer is shot in cold blood as he stand on the court house steps ready to go to trial. His death galvanizes the miners and even members of other unions such as train workers come to West Virginia to help out. This enrages the coal mine owners who proceed to use the U. S. Air Force to drop bombs loaded with screws and shrapnel on the miners. I had never heard of this conflict before. It reads like another civil war. Americans dropping bombs on other Americans? It is only when FDR makes it illegal to prevent unions that the tide turned for the minors. This was an incredible story.

Minnehaha Falls

Today we went to Minnehaha Falls to celebrate Offspring #2's birthday. I haven't been there in years. Lots of water coming down those falls today.

Such a beautiful day to walk along Minnehaha Creek down to the Mississippi. Offspring #2 found a fossil too!

 

Miles Lord

 It wasn't until after I finished reading Miles Lord: The Maverick Judge Who Brought Corporate America To Justice I realized the author is a woman. Roberta Walburn was a columnist at the Star Tribune while going to law school when Miles Lord met her in her office and asked her to clerk for him when she finished school and passed the law exam. She worked with him for many years. His biggest cases were the taconite tailing being dumped into Lake Superior and poisoning the water with asbestos and the Dalkan Shield IUD that was causing uterine infections and deaths. He was a good judge but sometimes went farther than he should. He grew up in the Iron Range and married young. He had four children. He was a Democrat who sometimes went hunting or fishing with Hubert Humphrey or Eugene McCarthy. He was a man with an abundance of energy. A friend of mine recommended this book about 7 years ago and I don't know why I waited. I just had lunch with her last week and she was right. This was a very good book.

Largest And Oldest Oak

Today I met a kind friend in Coon Rapids for lunch. (The minestrone soup at Olive Garden is to die for). Afterwards I went for a walk on the Brooklyn Park side of the Coon Rapids dam. This oak tree is near the visitor center.

This is the largest and oldest tree in the park, the tree is more than 350 years old! I am glad no other oaks are near it which would put it at risk for oak wilt.

 

The Summer Before The War

 I went for another historical fiction book this time. The Summer Before The War was written by Helen Simonson who grew up in England but now lives in the United States. This is about the summer before World War One. The year is 1914. Beatrice Nash arrives in the town of Rye hoping to get a job teaching Latin. Her father has passed away and she needs to start making money. She is met at the station by Hugh who takes her to his Aunt Agatha's house where she is to spend her first night. Agatha has put her reputation on the line by advocating for the hiring of a female teacher. Hugh has been tutoring 3 boys in Latin for the summer and now Beatrice can take over that job. Beatrice does take the job. Then war breaks out in Belgium. People in the town take in Belgium refugees. Beatrice now lives in a small room at another house but she takes in the Professor's daughter anyway. The Professor's daughter has nightmares that wake up the entire household. Hugh, his cousin, one of the Latin learning boys and another man from Rye go to the front lines in France. One dies on the boat coming back, another dies a week after returning to England, one is severely injured and Hugh has minor injuries. The entire town is full of a wonderful set of characters. Beatrice has made the right choice in coming to Rye.

Truly Madly Guilty

 I am a big fan of the Australian author Liane Moriarty and I did enjoy Truly Madly Guilty. This book is about the friendship of Erica and Clementine. Clementine's mother was the one to encourage her to be friends with Erica is a type A personality. She is organized. She is an accountant. Clementine is less organized. She is a cellist up for a big audition. Both women are married but only Clementine has two daughters. Erica is dealing with infertility. One day both couples and the girls are invited to a barbeque at Erica's neighbor's house. These neighbors are loud and boisterous people. An accident happens. One of the girls is found face down in the fountain. The friendship between Erica and Clementine is tested. I guess my only complaint about this book is that it was a bit long. Otherwise I liked it.

I Cheerfully Refuse

 Leif Enger's book, I Cheerfully Refuse, was published in 2024. This book takes place in or around Lake Superior in the not too distant future. Rainy is a bass musician married to Lark. He has been working on fixing up a sailboat in his shed. Terrible things happen and he ends up escaping by sailing out of town during a storm. He sails around stopping to buy gasoline and food. Along the way he meets some crazy people some of whom are helpful and some are not. He also meets a nine year old girl named Sol. She is staying with an abusive man so Rainy trades his bass for the girl. They said off together. Rainy has never been a parent and he feels odd with this girl on his sailboat but he gradually gets the hang of it. He starts teaching her how to read. Some say this book is about a dystopian world. Maybe it is. People are taking a medicine called Willow in order to end their life. The book is also about climate change and that is why Rainy finds several dead bodies floating in the lake. I thought it was well written.

Clan Of The Cave Bear

 Clan Of The Cave Bear is a book set in prehistoric times and written by Jean M. Auel. This author must have spent time hanging out with paleontologists. The main character is Ayel. As a five year old she has lost her family after an earthquake. She doesn't know how to hunt or which plants are good to eat. She drinks water from the river. One day she stumbles upon a lion protecting his children. The lion attacks her so Ayla hides in a small cave. The lion scratches her leg which become infected. After a day she leaves the cave. The lion family has moved on because they are disturbed by her smell. Eventually she falls unconscious on the ground because she is ill and starving to death. That is when the clan of the cave bear people find her. They are searching for a new cave to live in after the earthquake. The medicine woman wants to keep this child who they consider ugly because of her blond hair, blue eyes and the shape of her face.  The clan are Neanderthals. Reluctantly the medicine woman is allowed to take her in. Ayla survives, learns the language and the culture of the clan, and finds love with her new mother. The magician in the group is deformed. He is missing an arm and on that side his leg is weak. He is missing an eye. He teaches Ayla words and math and comes to love her. Ayla reaches for him and hugs him and this is the first time anyone has done that to him. The son of the leader of the clan comes to despise Ayla. His hatred grows no matter what she does. I found this to be an interesting story about ancient medicines and foods, love and family.

Happy Labor Day

 

Two Nature Walks

 T

Today I went on two walks today because the weather was so beautiful. First I went to Bass Ponds trail in Bloomington which is part of the Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Walking along the paths next to the bass ponds I came across my favorite prairie grass which is side oats gramma (see picture below). I love the name side oats gramma. And I like how descriptive it is.

After lunch I went to Wood Lake Nature Center. The nature center was closed but the trails were open. In Wood Lake I stood on a y shaped dock, looked into the water, and saw some painted turtle action going on. I saw 2 six inch sized painted turtles going around in circles. One turtle was pulling the other. It has it's mouth on the other turtles right front paw. The puller turtle had it's head under water and was swimming in circles. The pullee turtle had it's head above water probably wondering what the heck was going on and how long is this going to last? As I left they were still circling. Later I came upon this white tailed deer that must be used to people walking the paths.