Peace on Earth

A good friend sent me this wonderful image. When it came through the e-mail she glittered and sparkeled. I don't know how to copy it to do that on the blog.

Peace on Earth.

thank-you for comment!

Wow, thanks for the good wishes and comment, I love comments and I hardly ever get any. My e-mail is ddmichel@charter.net, I would love it if you sent your e-mail address to mine so I can write you. Awesome, thanks.

Happy Solstice

I wish all of you a happy returning of the sun to our hemisphere. I am so sorry that we were not able to have the party this year - I was so looking forward to it. Thanks for your understanding, I am thinking ahead to the summer solstice party......try, try again.

Technology, I love it. I am sitting on a bench, outside the closed (too late) library. I was so disappointed that it was not open. I then realized I should still be able to hook in to the WiFi, and wa-la! Internet! It is a bit difficult typing on my lap - but it is now a true laptop. I really like that I can sit here in southwest Florida and write to friends and stay connected.


Mom has good days and bad days. The doctor told us the next 2 weeks would be hard. Mom called the doctor a con artist. Yesterday was a bad day, today was a good day. I think it is going to be this way for awhile.

mom's doing better

I am happy to report that mom is doing better. She saw the doctor and dentist on Monday. They fixed her mouth plate so that she can talk now and yesterday she actually was able to eat something. I am very glad I am here and able to help.

Her spirits are perking up and it is a great thing to see. We still have a ways to go, it was a massive surgery, they took out the roof of her mouth, and she will have to have radiation treatment but she is much more comfortable and that is wonderful. Last night she took her plate out and put it back in herself and that was a big accomplishment.

Thank-you for all you e-mails and support, I really appreciate it and it has gotten me through.

I wish you all a very merry christmas and a great new year!!

back to Florida

Dad called yesterday and asked how soon I could get there. I am leaving for Portland this morning and flying out at 6:30 AM tomorrow for SW Florida. I am glad that they are willing to let me help them. I have been hoping for this call.

Beth and Em are meeting me in Portland, I am bringing their Christmas presents and we will have a little Christmas tonight.

I will just miss William who will not be home from helping his parents in Sacramento until Sunday or Monday. Hopefully he will join me in Florida soon.... At least this time I am bringing my computer and I will be in touch.

Well this is a good thing, I was starting to lose my tan anyway! Ha!

Thanks for all your love and support - I really appreciate it.

holding steady

Mom is home and she should be feeling better soon, I really hope.

Everything feels like it is on hold in my life. I have tried to think of a blog that would not be about my mom, but I can't think of one yet.

My life in these last 2 weeks home have been almost monastical. William is in Sacramento. We know very few people here and have even fewer friends, having moved to southern Oregon almost 5 years ago. I am quite alone. That part is not so hard, but it is cold, rainy and dark here. I have put up lots of christmas lights and that does cheer it up a bit. I put lights on the little cedar tree growing in the yard and light across the back porch. Red lights on the dining room cabinet, white lights on the mantles over the stove. Hard to come back from even a short stay in the tropics, to a northern climate.



I spend a lot of the day waiting to hear how mom is. In between waiting, I put wood in the wood fired hot tub and go in once a day, which has been really good for relaxing, being outdoors and getting warm.



We are having a Winter Solstice Party next week and I have sent out the following invitations:

I love celebrating the solstice, it is non denominational, non cultural - it is planetary! The days start to get a little longer in the Northern Hemisphere and a little shorter in the southern, not man made, nature made. A holiday that is for everyone alive on the planet, a cosmic party, 10:08 Pacific Standard time on December 21st and 1:08 AM Eastern Standard time on December 22.

This is our 4th annual solstice party, last one was at summer solstice. Where in fact it was very cold. There was a cool wind blowing and we dressed for summer and were cold. Last year at the winter solstice party, we knew it would be cold and were very comfortable in front of the bonfire, hanging out outdoors on the longest night of the year. I wish all my friends could be here.

a little better

Mom is doing a little better. Of course it was more extestive than they thought and she lost a lot of blood. They think they got it all and it had not gone into her lymph. She was intensive care until yesterday evening and now in her own room. She sat up yesterday and talked to Dad on the phone. Great progress! We don't know when she is going home yet, but I am planning my trip back down.

Again thanks for all your prayers and concern. Friends are such a good thing to have.

mom's surgery today

Thanks friends for all your support. Mom has surgery today at 10 am PST.

Recent photo from Florida, me with my brother, mom and dad.

Thanks for all your prayers.

better news

Thanks to everyone who contacted me with prayers and good wishes for my mom.

Since she saw the doc at the cancer center last Wednesday, we have better news. The tumor is very operable and she is scheduled for surgery next Friday. The operation takes about an hour and she can go home the next day. The doctor was, as my mom told it, a very classy woman, and told her that she was a healthy and young 76 year old and everything looked good for the surgery and recovery.

Since the surgery was a week out, I came home with William on Thursday. I could see that my parent's were looking forward to being alone for a week to get themselves together. When and if they need me, I will fly back. It was really hard for me to leave, but sometimes that is the most you can do for someone - give them the absence of you - which gives them their space.

It was very fortuitous that we were there when we were. I think we helped them considerably by being there. My mom's first responce to the cancer diagnosis was, I am not willing to try anything and will just die. I did some research on the internet and told her it was very operable and had a great success rate. I told her about my friends who have battle cancer and survived, Seiza and Jim especially. I told her who cares if you have a plate in your mouth, you can breath, eat, taste, see, and still love. And please don't leave us alone on this planet with dad.....that made her laugh.

My parents are a unit as William likes to say. They have been together since high school. He was the captian of the football team and she was the queen of the prom.

bad news

Bad things are happening to a good person - my mom has just been diagnosed with an aggressive rare form of sinus cancer. She is going to the cancer center in Tampa tomorrow. We are praying that it is operable. She has never smoked, drank or even said a bad thing about anyone. She is the most loving and non judgemental person I have ever known.

William is flying home on Thursday and I am staying in Florida for as long as I need to. I am so thankful that we were here.

I would love to hear from you, my friends. I do not have my computer with me and do not have your e-mail address. Mine is ddmichel@charter.net

I would love to talk to you Seiza and I will call you soon. And Susan, I guess I am now in the "Sinus Wars". I am grateful to both of you for your strength and honesty through your cancer experiences and I know that I am better prepared because of it.

Love and cherish those close to you, life can change in a moment.

Thank-you.

Florida - the sunshine state

Hi, we are in sunny Florida visiting my parents. I am at the library computer so this will be short. I just wanted to let you know why I have not been blogging.

Of course we are having a wonderful time. Blue skies and beaches, mi favorita! We have already seen an amazing amount of birds, turtles and other wildlife. We have been swimming in the gulf and the pool in my parent's yard, a great treat in November. I will post photos when we return.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

flocking together

Our yard has been full of Quail lately. They are awesome to watch, I love the head feather thing.



Sometimes there are at least 30 of them, all sizes under the bird feeder in the apple tree.
Magnificent.

I finally got a movie to load on this site! Yea!

woman in black

I stood on the street in Roseburg today with the Woman In Black. They have been standing in front of the BLM office on a main street in Roseburg every Friday since the war started, 6 years ago now. They stand, in quiet and solidarity against violence.

This is a very powerful thing to see, a long line of woman standing solemnly stretching down the street. And an even more powerful thing to be a part of. We had one sign that said, "End the Circle of Violence", and one that said, "Woman in Mourning". There were of course several people who gave us a strong thumbs down, most people just looked uncomfortable, like we reminded them of something they didn't want to be reminded of. One person kept mouthing "circle of violence" like he didn't understand it. There were several cars of supporters, giving us the peace sign. Most people just ignored us though, like when someone's dog takes a dump and they pretend not to see it so they don't have to do anything about it.

And of course on the opposite corner there were several pro war ralliers, holding two huge American flags and "support our troops" signs, dressed in red, white and blue, and yelling to passing cars, which were honking in support. Honk Honk Honk. All the big trucks honked and then laughed at us. Yea, Honk if you love war. Honk if you love cheap oil. Honk if you want to see this country bankrupt.

I don't understand what it is about peace that scares people. Peace is patriotic too.

eating all week and Emily's visit

Well, it has been a week since we started "eating". First we were cautious, eating only good fresh food, taking small portions and small bites and savoring everything. Now I have had potato chips again and William is drinking one cup of coffee a day. Oh how fast we fall.

Miss Em was with us for the week-end - what a joy she is! Beth dropped her off on her way to California to get the rest of her things in storage. So for 3 whole days we rode bikes, went to the playground, made blueberry pancakes, played "Go Fish" and "Concentration". We read books, watched videos, dug in the dirt, and dressed up like princesses. We moved the table in the living room, turned up the music and danced. We dressed our dolls, made forts and swam in the hot tub. We put together puzzles, sang songs, rode our bikes some more and never went to bed early.

Grandma is very tired today and going to do the one thing we did not do while Em was here - take a nap.

eating, what a concept

Yea, tomorrow we can eat! I can't wait, in fact I am going to bed now so I can wake up and eat.

I hope this "cleanse" worked, 'cause I don't think I want to do another one for awhile!!

water and more water

William and I are doing a 10 day fast and cleanse. I hate it, but I know it makes me feel better and I have already lost weight. We use herbs from Dr. Schulze, the herb doc.

http://www.herbdoc.com/home_1024x768.asp

He recommends doing it every season. I'd be happy if I could stand it once a year. It does make me realise how much time is consumed with food. I am so bored not having some yummy dinner to look forward to. I want pizza and potato salad. Ice cream and cookies. You can see why I need a cleanse!

Tomorrow, one more day of liquids only, then Tuesday, fresh fruit and veggies only and then Wed - pizza? OK probably not.

Now say three times and spin around.

I will eat more healthy, I will eat more healthy, I will eat more healthy.

Oh, if only I had the ruby slippers that would probably work. No, I am seriously going to eat better - less junk food and more natural fruit and veggies. Last week William make a very tasty eggplant Parmesan, if only I could have some of that right now!

another day, another book

this is not a book blog.....

Today I finished "Skinny Dip" by Carl Hiaasen. This was an author I had never heard of and William found this book at the library sale, he knows I love to swim. Well the plot is great, and it tells you in the first paragraph that Chaz threw his wife overboard on a cruise ship on their second anniversary. The wife is talking, she remembers to dive, thinking, "she had been the co-captain of her college swim team, a biographical nugget that her husband obviously had forgotten." and survives to make his life miserable. The dialog in this book is incredibly witty and I laughed out loud several times. The characters are memorable and the twists and turns make it exciting and fun reading. He is a very smooth and easy writer with serious intent. I loved the setting in the Everglades, a perfect place to show the greed, ambition and ego of the American way.

The best part was finding out that he had written 9 other 2 word title books. I can't wait to read them. I always feel better when I know I have something good to read. "Basket Case", "Sick Puppy", "Lucky You", "Stormy Weather", "Strip Tease" (which was made into a feature film starring Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds), "Native Tongue", "Skin Tight", "Double Whammy", "Tourist Season" and a new one soon, "Nature Girl". He even wrote 3 books of nonfiction with 2 word titles, but they have words added on to explain them; "Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World", "Kick Ass: Selected Columns", I think I am going to like that one, and "Paradise Screwed: Selected Columns". He means Florida, that is where grew up and still lives.

He writes a local column for the Miami Herald. You can read his column at http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/carl_hiaasen/

William and I are traveling to just north of the everglades in a few weeks to visit my parents. White sand beaches, the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico and the best part is that mom and dad have a pool in their yard and I can swim when ever I want. Did I say I love to swim?

it's raining, I'm reading

This illustration is from the wonderful book, "The Days of Ofelia", by Gertrude Diamant, 1942. This is a very informative little book about Gertrude living in Mexico City in the late 1930's. The best part are the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter by John O'Hara Cosgrave II. These are wonderful little slices of Mexican life.

This book is out of print but I got a copy on Amazon.com for .17 cents plus shipping! If you are a Mexicophile like me, you will definitely want to read this book.

The editor said, "The interpretation of one race to another is a necessary task for the writer of today. This book cuts through the plaster facade of Mexico and shows a living people"

Viva Mexico!

good books

I have just read two really good books,"Skywater", by Melinda Worth Papham, 1990 and "Survivors in Mexico", by Rebecca West, 2003.




This was a most amazing and surprising little book that William recently found it at our library sale. It starts out talking about an old couple and ends up, well you'll just have to read it. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

The premise of the book is a quote at the beginning by John Ruskin, from "Sesame and Lilies", "The ennobling difference between one man an another - between one animal and another - is precisely in this, that one feels more than the other".

This book is published by Graywolf Press and when I looked in the back, I saw that it had been designed by an old friend of William's, Tree Swenson, from Port Townsend.


It's a small world.





This book was published in 2003 but it was written by Rebecca West in the 60's. This is a wonderfully insight visit to Mexico.


It is a moving travel, memoir and history book all in one. She is a very intelligent and well read woman and her vision is astute as she turns her eye to the history of Mexico.

She has a chapter on Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Chapters on Leon Trotsky, Race Relations, Chapultepec, Aztec Society, Mines and Minerals, Dona Marina and Religion and Sorcery, plus several more.

Susan, this is a book you must read, being very intelligent yourself, and you will understand more of it than I.

She makes very interesting connections and has a keen eye. This book will definitely make you think.

Umpqua Writers

I belong to a writers group here in Myrtle Creek. I am glad they let me still come, I have missed so many meetings lately. They met this morning and it was great to see everyone again. I joined this group 4 years ago when I moved to southern Oregon. They were my first friends and they share my love of writing - obviously.

The core group was Pearl, Lynn, Dan, Betty, Spike and Muriel. It is amazing how many things have changed since the first time I met them and then it is amazing how many things are the same.

Pearl is the leader of the group. She says she inherited it from Muriel, who was in the process of moving to Eugene when I started. Muriel was actually visiting today, coming to the meeting on her way south to something. She is a really good writer and is working on her second book about the pioneers in this part of Oregon. Her books are very well researched and quite interesting.

Pearl is the natural leader. She is the one who sends out a newsletter for the group and announces the next meeting. She is an independent thinker, a good writer and a very patience listener. She is an avid Trekkie and writes science fiction among other things. She encourages all of us and keeps us on track.

I guess the group is weighted to science fiction or fantasy, I genre I don't write in. Lynn just self published her first book and it is a fantasy, she is working on the sequel. Dan writes science fiction. He is a very prolific and creative writer, able to make it seem like everything is normal and then wow, something strange happens. He books have great plots, I hope to see them in print one day.

The best part of this morning though was seeing Spike's book! Spike is Betty's cousin, they are in their 80's. Spike come to live with Betty after they were both widowed. She brought him to the group. He was slow to start and very quiet but it soon became obvious that he was a natural storyteller. We listened spell bound every month, to another story of Spike's for his childhood. He had been a cowboy in southern California when that really meant something.

After one writers meeting, a couple of years ago, we are standing out front still talking when we noticed a brand new bright blue Mustang, parked at the curb. We were all surprised when Spike opened the door for Betty. What a guy! Late 80's and he buys a brand new fun car! What a cowboy!

Spike died last year and I really miss him. I am sure I am not the only one. I am so grateful that I got to meet this man and hear him read his stories. Now when I read them they will forever be in his voice. He never wanted to talk about publishing them but after he died, Betty and his daughter put the stories together. The book has old photos and illustrations done by Spike himself.

Spike left the car to Betty, he was a gentleman to the end.

A young Spike

Congratulations on publishing your book Spike!

and thank-you for sharing.

Homecoming

Tonight William and I went to the local high school homecoming football game with my teacher friends. South Umpqua High School. I taught there for 2 years. The kids I had in Biology I, are now seniors. It was really fun to see them in the band, cheerleading, on the team and as homecoming queen. And surprisingly they were glad to see me. I am going to start substitute teaching, I just got my license renewed and signed up at the district office this very morning.

I miss the kids. When I was teaching I loved the kids, it was the adults who drove me crazy.

In addition to working with kids, I will make twice what I made at my job with the environmental non-profit, that ran out of money to pay me anyway.......

One of the students I had my first year at SU, when I was teaching drama, said he was currently going to Southern Oregon University pursuing a career in acting. He was so grateful for the plays we did and he was glad to see me. I was so happy to hear he was in Ashland, acting, and it was good to see him. I really enjoy young people and I am looking forward to subbing.

Subbing; all of the fun of the kids, none of the responsibility. No grades, meetings, parents, "new" ideas from administrators. No preparation, no papers to read, no deadlines to meet. I could go on.

Oh the part that drove me crazy? The first thing I think of is teaching biology with 15 year old books and then only having one class set (I had 4 classes of Bio I) so no one could take the book home, that meant I had to research everything on the Internet before I presented a subject so I could introduce updated information. Oh and having a Biology II class with no books. I had no curriculum (I choose my own, Environmental Science of course) and bought the books myself on the Internet. And to top that off some new vice principal decides that I have to prove myself to her. Sorry babe, no time.

I hope 5 years from now kids will still be giving me hugs at the football games saying, you were my favorite substitute, like tonight they said, you were my favorite teacher.

wildlife in Sacramento

We spent the last week in Sacramento moving William's parents, again. It was a good move for them though, I think they will be happier, their new apartment gives them more independence.

I was over whelmed with the traffic, noise and smog. I am not a city girl, though I was born in Detroit, I thrive in nature. The more remote the better.

While I was going past the Gardenia bush at William's parents house, which is on a lot in a subdivision right in Sacramento, I bent down to smell the Gardenia flower and jumped back when I saw this praying mantis right in front of my nose. I think she was surprised too. I was amazed that this wonderful insect would be right in the middle of all the traffic, noise and smog. I am again reminded that this planet is a magical and amazing place.

We left Sacramento in spring like weather, blue sky, hint of a breeze, 75 degrees. By the time we got to Redding you could see the clouds forming over the Siskiyou Mountains. Mount Shasta was covered in fog and just about Weed, it started pouring. We had arrived into winter from spring. By Ashland I had to trade my flip flops for shoes and socks. It rained the rest of the way home.

The Tempest

William and I saw "The Tempest" in Ashland last night. Wow. I forgot how awesome professional theatre is. We were in the front row, stage left. Ashland is about 90 miles south of us, not a bad drive, except we have 4 mountain passes to cross on I-5. We met William's high school buddy and his wife there, they come from the south about the same distance. It was totally worth getting home at 1 am which is very late for us.

The Elizabethan Theatre in Ashland is a wonderful re creation of the one used in Shakespeare's time. Ashland is at 2,000' and the open air theatre was quite cool and everyone huddled under blankets. I don't think London is known for it's warm weather either. And I felt bad for the Elizabethans, I had a lot of polartic on.

The play was directed by Libby Appel, in fact it was her last, as she is moving on from Ashland. I had seen her direction of "Richard III", a few years ago when I took my English classes. I so loved what she did with that play, she made it was so much more powerful. When I heard this was her last play I really wanted to see it. I was not disappointed.

Prospero and King Alonso make peace.

- Ashland Shakespeare Festival

These actors were both incredible, especially Prospero. This is also Shakespeare's last play and some say his best. It almost begins where a tragedy leaves off, only years later. And though it is not a comedy as the other comedy's, it has some very funny lines. It has a happy ending and deals with all the mistaken identities and transformations of humans, as so many of his other plays do. The older I get the more I appreciate Shakespeare.

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on......."

- The Tempest, Act IV, Scene i

our government at work

BLM

Commonly know as the Bureau of Land Management
is now the bureau of land MIS management.

Pure and simple.

How could they cut these trees ancient trees?

Illegally! That's how.

The organization I worked for, Umpqua Watersheds http://www.umpqua-watersheds.org/ along with other organizations in southern Oregon, took the BLM to court last year to stop the logging of this old growth forest. They lost the legal battle but cut the road through illegally before the court decision. We won the decision, the court sided with us. Hey, wait, put back the trees....

And now they want to

revise their management plans for western Oregon to get around the law. The Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR) is the BLM's process of removing and weakening important environmental protections. The BLM wants to log the last of the old-growth in Oregon's heritage forests.

"BLM Draft plan released, and its a whopper!

The BLM released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the "Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR)" on August 10, 2007. The preferred alternative would increase logging of trees 200 years and older sevenfold over the next decade. Yes, you read that correctly, a
700 percent increase in logging Oregon's last old-growth forests!"

Quoted from http://www.oregonheritageforests.org/

Wow - supersize the cut.

Some background:
BLM lands, also known as “O&C” lands, are in a square-mile checker-board land ownership patterns. 2.6 milllion acres of public land.

Above: The Coos Bay BLM recreation map of lands about 20 miles west of Roseburg BLM lands are yellow, private industrial forest lands are white.

The federal government took these lands back from the Oregon and California (O&C) Railroads in the early 20th century because of fraudulent land deals.

In 1995, the BLM set aside reserves for endangered species like owls and salmon as part of a way around the Endangered Species Act when owls were listed. Somehow the recovery plans mandated by law for endangered species was only held to public lands. Private timber lands got away with murder.

Still the timber industry was not pleased, sued for a bigger cut on public lands (after there was no more big timber on private land ) and Bush "settled" with them by making a deal to let them eliminate wildlife reserves on BLM land, using an old 1937 O & C law of timber production.

I am reading the Draft Environmental Impact Statement so that I can make "comments" on the document and supposedly these public comments are taken into consideration. It is a 1,500 page tome and the planning process must have cost them a fortune already. The law says they have to have alternatives, so what, they are all terrible. Increase old growth logging by 700% - are they nuts. You can't pay for the expenses of the twenty first century with the resource extraction of the 18th century. Hello, does this look like 1937?

Only 18% of the northwest's ancient forests remain. Some sources say as little as 13%. Most of it now on public land, the private land cut theirs a long time ago. This is sustainable? We should cut what, more?

Check out Oregon Heritage Forests

http://www.oregonheritageforests.org/old_growth_giveaway

for more information and ways you can become involved - it's your public land, let them know how you want it managed. Even just caring helps on an energetic level.

This is not timber, it's a forest of grandfather trees.

Credit:

Almost all of these awesome photos were taken by my boss at UW, Francis Eatherington, seen here counting the rings on this over 300 year old tree.

Will they ever let a tree grow that long again?

It's so short sighted to cut these giants. It's like selling your family jewelry to pay the water bill. What are you going to do next month?

I hope in the future humans will understand that live trees are much more valuable to them

than dead ones. You can't even begin to match the power of these forests,

with an industrial tree farm. Which do you want to take your grandchildren too.

And that's what I think.

I'd love to know what you think.

blogger play

or, how to waste time.

http://play.blogger.com/

Blogger Play will show you a never-ending stream of images that were just uploaded to public Blogger blogs. You can click the image to be taken directly to the blog post it was uploaded to, or click “show info” to see an overlay with the post title, a snippet of the body, and some profile information about the blogger who uploaded it.

Blogger Play FAQ with more information.

There is some food for thought here.

First Day of Kindergarten

Emily in front of her school, Chimacum Creek Primary, on her first morning.

There's her teacher, Mr. Bento, with the hat, after school directing kids to their buses.

I was shy about bringing in my camera in the morning and so we got our photo in the parking lot. Well when we got up to the school, all the parents, were taking pictures and had video cameras going. One mother walked behind her son, taping him walking into school the first day. It seemed wierd to me. But at the end of the first day, I joined several other partents in taking photos and shooting videos.

I have tried, unsuccessfully, to put in a little video of her in her classroom.

If you know how to add a video to these blogs, let me know.

Fortunate Tree

Stephen Jay Gould said, "Homo sapiens [are] a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree."

Today is his birthday. Feliz Cumplionos Stephen.

He also said, "Look in the mirror, and don't be tempted to equate transient domination with either intrinsic superiority or prospects for extended survival".

That's sure something to think about.

Cabin Clearing

I'm back from the cabin. What a trip.

The clearing was a great success!
You can actually walk all around the cabin.

Even room for a fire pit.

Our friends Carol, her daughter Ariel and husband Monico and their adorable boy Angel, came and built the first fire and cooked the first meal out there with us. It was wonderful. Carne asada, Monico's specially.

We have never seen the cabin from this vantage until now. By this winter this will all be green with new grass. If Beth keeps it mowed the berries won't come back.

Beth and Ben got the floor down and painted. It looks great.

One sunrise the Olympic Mountains were pink.

The view from the property is awesome.

I had a great time seeing old friends in Port Townsend and seeing energy put into this beautiful piece of property. I am very glad to be home though, and sleeping in my own bed with my sweet husband.

I also had the honor of taking Miss Em to her first day of Kindergarten! That's the next blog.

Thanks for listening.

Beth and Em Moving to the "Cabin"

Yesterday was the last day for the outdoor public swimming pool in Mytrle Creek. It has not been hot yet this summer and the pool is closing already. It is suppose to be hot this week ( I hope) and we will just have to swim in the river. Of course how hard is that? Emily stayed with us a few days while her mom made a trip to California to get another load of their things - they are moving back to Port Townsend, just in time for Emily to start Kindergarten.

They are moving to the 5 acres we still have 20 miles south of PT. Beth is going to fix up the cabin. William says it is not cabin, it is a shed. I think it is charming but it needs ah, everything. See for yourself.....

The view from the cabin is awesome, it faces west and looks out over our neighbors 40 acre meadow to the snowcapped Olympic Mountains! There is a small pond, huge cedar and maple trees and more blackberries and salmon berries than anyone could want. It is 3 miles down hill to the town of Quilcene, Emily's school and the saltwater of Hood Canal.

I am going up next week and hire a friend of ours with a machine to do some clearing around the cabin. Get rid of some of the blackberries that have taken over.

It kind of needs it.
What a fun project, it will be so rewarding to see it opened up and space around the cabin again. I have been wanting to do this for a few years now.

I will of course take lots of photos.

I am back to one grandchild - the State of California gave Caelan back to his mom.....she was back in jail 2 weeks later and who knows who he is staying with. It was very hard for Beth and Emily to let him go but they were there for Caelan when he needed them. Because of Beth, he got to stay in his house and finish this year at his school when his dad died four days before christmas, and I am very proud of her. I can't say the same for the state of California.

This move back to where she grew up and has old friends could be good for her.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for thinking. I would love to hear from you.

Abundance

We have a great garden this year; cucumbers, eight ball zukes, lemon cucumbers, spaceship squash, regular tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, artichokes, green beans, melons, basil, onions, green peppers, apples and pears! Abundance! Abundance seems to mean too much. Anyone need any cucumbers?? How about tomatoes?

Emily is coming today and she loves to pick the strawberries. Si como no!

Our flowers are awesome this year too. I already can't wait till next year, I have big flower plans. This is our second summer here and by next year, the flowers will be established. Things grow really well in southern Oregon.

Live to water.

Old Friends

Our old friend Peter Powell and his daughter Claire stopped by on there way from LA to Port Townsend. We knew when we left Port Townsend where we had lived, me 26 and William over 30 years, we would miss our old friends. We live about a mile off I-5 the interstate from Canada to Mexico. Our friends from PT or California are often driving by going north or south....

We were really glad to see Peter. He loves swimming and we took them to Cow Creek. He is stopping on his way back home next week and if the weather cooperates, we are planning another afternoon at the creek. It was especially lovely to see Claire again, what a bright, beautiful, young woman!

William has known Peter since they both had kids in the Swan School, a small private school that William help start in PT. They both built there own hand-made house in Port Townsend and played music together with their friend Aaron, every week. Of the 3, only Aaron still lives in Port Townsend.

Thanks for listening.

Eaten by a Shark!

Ocean World
Crescent City, California

Watch out for sharks

I just returned home yesterday from the 6 hour round trip to Crescent City, taking Emily back to Beth. It was worth it. We got to have her for a week and she is such a joy. Emily has been to Ocean World lots of times as they go by it on the way home from Myrtle Creek. They have gone in the winter when they were the only people, and then the trainers bring the seals up on the deck and they kiss Emily on the cheeks, I was told. Of course August is peak tourist season for the California coast. The Ocean World tour was packed, and the roads were full of traffic, tons of trucks, RV's, trailers. The cutoff from Grants Pass, which is already in the mountains, across the coast range mountains down to Crescent City on the coast, is not for the faint at heart. There are many miles of following the Smith River up a canyon, where a passenger could touch the rocks on the curves. Never the less, it was packed. My 20 year old BMW did great though, left many a newer rig behind on a hill or curve, which there are many a hill and curve. It does help to have driven this road so many times. I first drove it 30 years ago. It has improved and I have declined and so it still works for me. Compared to then, half the time.

Holding starfish

Petting Sharks!

Thanks for listening and I hope you are having a great summer!

Saving Fish From Drowning

This is the book I am reading, first of a stack I got at the Klamath Falls bookstore on our adventure last week. This hasn't even been in paperback a year. I love Amy Tans books. When her first book "The Joy Luck Club" came out in 1989. I was not interested. It was not until a few years ago in Mexico that a friend encouraged me to read it and as always in Mexico there was a lack of reading material in English and so I tried it. Wow. Then I was fortunate to find 2 of her other books down there that winter too; "A Hundred Secret Senses" and "The Kitchen God's Wife", both fun and absorbing reads. I am 2 thirds of the way through this one and find it a tad more contrived but also see her experimentation as a writer, which is a great experience in itself.

The next book is "Cause Celeb", by Helen Fielding of the Bridget Jone's Diary fame. I just found "Bridget Jone's Diary" at the thrift store this summer and thought it was v. good. The story was shallow but the writing new and refreshing. I then had the good fortune 2 weeks later to find the sequel to the Diary, "Bridget Jones, the Edge of Reason", equally silly story but v. v. good writing idea. I totally enjoyed it. Great fun summer reads. Saw the movies, terrible. So here is her first book, I am looking forward to seeing her beginning writing.

Another treasure found is a fairly recent Moon Travel Puerto Vallarta Handbook. Which is good as I spend a lot of time visiting friends near PV, it was my first love on the Mexico mainland and my old book is just that, really old.

Statues in Puerto Vallarta

"Oregon River Tours" by John Garren is a great guide to touring Oregon rivers. It has great maps and river profiles. It was published in '76 so we will still need to check something more recent before we head out but many of the maps are still accurate.

The Rogue River in Southern Oregon

"Journey Into Cyprus", by Colin Thubron looks really interesting. The New Yorker says, "A master of the telling anecdote....who makes travel writing an art." I love travel tales almost as much as I like to travel. Many more books get read, then travels taken....

A lucky find was the Lonely Planet, "Bali and Lombok". William and I are traveling to the East next winter and one spot considered is Bali. This is a very recent guide book and only $4.

Bali

This next one is one I am not familiar with, "Arrow of the Blue Shinned God", by Jonah Blank. The cover states, "Possibly the most perceptive book that I have come across on India since the British Raj ended." We are also thinking of going to India and this looks like a great book to give us insights into this fascinating country and culture.

India

This next book, "The Adventures of a Photographer in La Plata", is a book written by a sometime collaborator of Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares. This is a treasure to have found. This is why I like bookstores.


We are also considering visiting Thailand and the next book is "Tales from Thailand", by Lotus. This is an old book, 60's but it really looks interesting, Lotus is an Englishman who lived in Siam (Thailand) from 1902 to 1930.

Thailand

I have to be honest, the next book in the stack in "Sultry Climates, Travel and Sex", by Ian Littlewood. I know nothing about it, I liked it's cover. And title...

Next is a great book, "How To Get Lost and Found in New Zealand", by John McDermott. We do have friends here we would love to visit, it sounds like a fascinating place.

The last 2 books are by Louise Erdrich, "The Beet Queen" and "Tracks". I feel in love with her first book, "Love Medicene" years ago. When I found "The Beet Queen" and realized it was a sequel, I was thrilled. I bought this copy to give to a friend, but I didn't even know "Tracks" the first in the series exsisted. Wow. I can't wait to read it. Not only in does Erdrich look like she is a lovely person she is a Chippewas of North Dakota and writes some of the most compelling stories I have ever read.

Louis Erdrich

So that's it - that's my score from Klamath Falls secret bookstore. I mostly do buy books online now. Sometimes great books are to be had for little more than the shipping. But there is still something magical about going to a small book store and finding books that become treasures to you that you would not have even known existed. Just like this store, pile of books on the floor. Special ones set to the top or side. You could never go through all of them, booty for another day.


Now, on to finish "Saving Fish From Drowning"....



Thanks for thinking.