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.