Missoula

This book by Jon Krakauer was a hard book to read.  The subject is a hard one.  Despite my advanced age and years of experience as a volunteer sexual assault advocate, I was disturbed by this book.  I was riveted too.  Missoula: Rape And The Justice System In A College Town is a page-turner.  The information within is graphic but necessary.  I am astounded to learn how difficult it is for women to fight for justice in this day and age and how loyal football fans can be.  I guess loyal isn't the right word because a loyal fan could also want all players to be held accountable for their actions.  I remember when I first heard about "blaming the victim" in the 1970's.  I thought, since that emotional response has been identified, it won't happen any more.  Wrong.  I was very wrong.  Lawyers use that victim blaming emotional response in trials to confuse the jury and acquit the defendants. How victims react to being raped varies.  There is no wrong way to react to such a traumatic event.  This book was very enlightening.  I am sad to see that Kirsten Pabst is still the county attorney in Missoula.  I'm glad I read this book.  I don't want all the books I read to be "feel good" stories with happy endings.  But I will definitely choose a lighter subject for my next one.

Around The Corner?

A Walk In The Snow

Snow is falling. But it seems like a long day. Despite setting the clock an hour ahead, it seems like a long day. A walk around the block seems in order. This cuckoo maran is enjoying the white precipitation.

Little specks of snow sparkle against my face and melt.  I hear them hitting my jacket. Aren't these blue wine bottles artistic?  I guess I am not totally convinced.

As I walk along I hear Canadian Geese honking.  Why must they talk to much?  Much to my delight I also hear Sand hill cranes bugling!  OMG!  It's been a long time.  I am sure these sand hill cranes are calling from Andover.

I am the only person walking today.  My footprints are my testimony.  It's a good day to walk around the block.

The wind has been brutal in the past week.  The poor trees have been dancing around like crazy.  They must feel like they've run a marathon.  Many fallen branches dot the landscape.

Offspring #1 planted this tree. He named it Little One.  He even wrote a poem about Little One.  Little One is now taller than my house.  I thought it was important to provide my offspring with a stable home.  Guess I can check that off my list.

Birds Feeding Before the Storm

The birds seemed extra hungry this weekend.  Chickadees eating furiously,  Red bellied woodpeckers barreling into my window feeder to snag some sunflower seeds with such a clunk I keep thinking a bird has hit my window.  This pileatied woodpecker is enjoying some suet.  He doesn't like it when I take his picture from the patio door.  He keeps flying away.  Camera shy I guess.

He doesn't seem to mind if I take the photo from the living room window though.

Such a massive woodpecker!

Technology

I am old. I am technologically challenged.  I remember a computer without a mouse.  Shoot, to be truthful, I remember a computer with paper tape with tiny paper dots coming out.   But I try to keep up.  Don't tell anyone but I have them totally fooled at work. If only I can keep this up until  retirement I will be fine.  I joined Facebook.  No shame there. Oh, the things I have learned on Facebook!  It's amazing. Offspring have relationships. Offspring have no relationships.  Offspring have new relationships!  I have cousins.  The cousins are Trump supporters?  I can opt to not see information from Right Wing News. What? This information s invaluable.  I didn't have a "My Space!"  Did you?  I missed that.  I joined Twitter.  I never tweeted but I read tweets.  Some were funny  but ended up not to  be true. So I quit Twitter. Twitter seemed like a waste of my time.  Recently I joined Snapchat -a photo-sharing platform where you share photos but they go away quickly.  What is the use of that?  I wondered that. It's a reasonable question.   Photos that disappear?  Crazy town!  Unless one of your offspring is on the other side  of the equator and you are worried about their safety.  Cordoba,  Argentina - thanks to Snapchat I have seen photos of the dogs of Cordoba, a stroll up a steam near Cordoba, foraging for berries near Cordoba, leaf-cutting ants in Cordoba,  a giant aloe vera bush in Cordoba, and drinking in Cordoba.  Oh, a sibling is working in Hudson, Wisconsin? And now she is in Edian? Well, I am glad to know she is safe and having fun. Actually, from Snapchat, I knew a sibling painted her living room green.  I called on the old fashioned cell phone.  "Did you paint your walls? I ask (as if I didn't know).  "How did you know that?" she asks, unaware her daughter snapchatted her painting the living room. I'm so bad.  I answer, "I can see through walls." Then, of course, being the super nice person that I am, I tell her the truth.  Technology!  Are you up with latest? No judgement here.   Technology is good and bad.  Technology is a good use of time and a waste of time.  Personally?  I can't wait until 9 a.m. tomorrow when I can skype with my family in  Sicily.

Vestibular Joy of a Seesaw

Here is a photograph of the school where I attended kindergarten.  At recess I played on this playground.  Another friend and I played on these teeter totters.  You will notice hard earth underneath these things. We didn't have sand or black rubber matts like the playgrounds of today.  One day at recess some older boys came over and wanted to use the teeter totters.  I got off.  Before my friend could get off or maybe it's possible she didn't want to get off, the bigger boys got on my side.  I don't know if they intentionally came down as hard as they did or perhaps they didn't understand the laws of physics. As my friend's side of the teeter totter reached the apex she arrived with such force she couldn't hold on and she went flying up through the air down to the dirt.  Her little body lay on the playground while kids and teachers gathered around her.  Her skirt was spread out.  She was out cold. To this day I don't know what happened to her.  I was scooted back into the school with all the other kids before she got up or before the ambulance came.  I tried to stay back with my friend but a teacher told me to leave so I did. I don't know what happened.  She didn't come back to class that day.  She didn't come back to school for the rest of the school year.  I don't know what time of year this incident happened but we weren't wearing coats.  Was it September? April?  May?  What happened to my kindergarten friend?  I saw this photo on Facebook today and it brought me right back to that moment.  If I had a choice in the matter my friend had a good outcome. Her parents came to take her home and relax the rest of the day and since it was the last week of school they left for a summer vacation early.  She returned to that school the next year (I changed schools so this might have happened) and lived a long and happy life.  I don't see seesaws like this in playgrounds anymore.  Now the seesaws are lower to the ground and don't have a single fulcrum but more of a spring type fulcrum.  To me, looking at that picture now, I would guess the high point of that teeter totter was a good three or four feet up in the air and that design, while fun, is probably too dangerous.  Seesaws were very fun. I remember the head rush I would get coming up to the top.  My brain was probably sloshing around inside of my skull pan.  My rear end would lift off the board a couple inches and I hung on tight and squealed with delight. I was enjoying pure and simple vestibular joy! Coming down hard was also fun but painful to the rear end and perhaps my vertebra were getting jostled.  I had to be sure to keep my hands on the handle-never folded behind me over the end of the board. If two kids were not the same weight we would compensate for that by moving the heavier kid more toward the middle.  The heavier person might have to sit in front of the handle bars.  Another option, if we had three people, was to have the two people closest to the same weight on the ends of the board and the third person standing in the middle of the board with one leg on each side of the fulcrum.  We were having fun and indirectly learning about physics. I guess the moral of the story is that all great fun comes with a little bit of danger.

I Believe I Can Fly

With the strong gusty winds yesterday and today, I really believed I could fly.  After work, after swimming laps at the gym, I stopped at the pharmacy like the old lady that I am.  The wind buffeted me. To be honest, I had my arms outspread to increase the effect but I could actually feel the wind try to lift me up by my parka covered arms.  The wind woke me up last night.  When I opened the garage door this morning  I was checking to see if any trees were blocking my driveway. One old box elder tree had fallen but wasn't blocking my driveway.  A soaring eagle, soaring really low to the ground, graced me with it's presence right above my head when I opened my garage door this morning. The wind has been strong all day.  The wind opened doors at work as if Casper the Ghost was coming and going.  On the way home the wind tried to make me change lanes without turning the steering wheel at all.  If ever I thought I could fly (a superpower I would choose for myself) today was the day to try.  Today a penguin could fly. I think an ostrich could fly. Yep, today was windy.  March was like a lion.  As much as I want to fly, I also want to be safe (slightly short of 4 months since the last hip replacement so  should err on the side of safety).