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.