Sunflowers

I have a big bouquet of sunflowers on my dining room table.

It's Really Summer

August has the smells and tastes that mean summer's finally here--sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans, cantaloupe, peppers, and cucumbers from the garden, blackberries, peaches and at the end of the month, apples and pears. There is so much it seems never ending. It makes me feel rich. It's the smell of the last of the raspberries coming to a rolling boil for jam at the beginning of the month and the pungent vinegar of bubbling kettles of bread and butter pickles ready to be canned at the end. It's walking by rose bushes lush with flowers with scents so sweet they can make me swoon.

Later in the month comes the county fair and then, at the end of the month, the state fair. There will be animal barns filled with cows lowing and chickens clucking. I love to look at the poultry, the sheep and goats, and the rabbits best. On the midway, there's the music from the merry go round, the happy sounds of those on the rides, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn. I enjoy the flower arrangements,
the baking (oh, those fancy decorated cakes!), and the quilts! I never miss the quilts!

The weather will be beautiful day after day with only a few days here and there that are a little cloudy or have some showers and some that seem too hot, but it will be so lovely for so long it can lull me into thinking it'll last forever.

Oh, there are a few clues summer is ending-- ads for sales for school clothes and supplies, but school won't actually start until after Labor Day so there's time yet. And one thing I've noticed about Oregon--we're always one month behind weather-wise. It's still cool and rainy in June and September is almost always warm and clear and the trees don't even think about changing color until mid-October. So enjoy summer while it's really here. It won't last long!

Post-It For Annotations

I use post-it notes for many things and one use I especially like is using it for is annotating library books. I often find sentences or pieces of sentences or even an entire paragraph I want to remember, but I don't want to jump up each time and type it into a Word document. Instead I place a small stack of Post-It notes on the inside front cover of the book and when I come across a great quote I just put one right where the quote begins. It doesn't slow up my reading. If I have a pencil handy I might add a few words about why I like it. When I'm done reading the book it's easy enough to transfer the quotes.

I do this for fiction as well as non-fiction, for books of projects and poetry books too.

Father's Day

Me and Dad (1922-2005)
Summer, 1950
Minnow Lake, Ontario, Canada

Happy Father's Day, John!

Jack Edward










Owen Charles














Gavin Arthur













Hugh Griffith

Pop or Soda

It's finally starting to feel like summer although the highs are still only in the upper 60s. I came across this website which has a map keeping track of whether you call a soft drink pop or soda. I guess nobody calls it a soft drink; that must be under "other". Me? I prefer Diet Coke or sweetened iced tea.

Mobile Phone Use While Pregnant May 'Seriously Damage Baby,' Study Says

The post title is from this piece from FoxNews and if that is truly the conclusion of the study, then I have some questions. Of course, the article's title may not accurately reflect the conclusions of the study. Journalists always tend to simplify things and seem too many times to get it all wrong. They want sensationalism. Subtle analysis is just not a forte of modern journalism.

The article states

Pregnant women who regularly use mobile phones are more likely to have children with behavioral problems, according to a study by a UCLA researcher who had previously had previously written there was no proof of "any adverse health effect."

Mothers who used their mobile phone while pregnant were 54 percent more likely to report issues such as hyperactivity and emotional problems in their children, Britain's Daily Mail and The Independent reported Monday.

One question is which came first, the behavior or the cell phone usage? Is the mother on her cell phone talking to her therapist, friends, and relatives about her youngster's behavioral problems? Or are the child's behavioral problems caused by a mother who's always talking on her cell phone and ignoring her child? Or maybe mothers who use cell phones are more likely to view their children as being hyperactive and having emotional problems (there doesn't seem to have been any outside evaluation of whether or not that is true) because those darn kids just won't behave while she's trying to chat on the phone.

The First Laser

Google was celebrating the anniversary of the first working laser in 1960 with a laser logo on their home page. I first saw a laser in 1966 when a high senior in my class brought one in with a professor from the University of Oregon physics department for a demonstration. I was entranced. I had no idea what it might be used for, but it was indeed beautiful. I don't remember that student's name although I remember he was admitted to MIT. I wonder if he did anything more with lasers.

August, 1981

Me and John with Jack (1 month old)

Happy Mother's Day

Me and Mom (1922-2004)
1969

Lilacs

The second story bedroom in the house I grew up in had lilac bushes under the windows and on warm spring nights I'd open the windows and fall asleep to their scent. I've loved lilacs ever since.

The Plague of Doves

I am waiting for the publication of Louise Erdrich's new novel, The Plague of Doves. I found a short story she'd written for The New Yorker by the same title. It's available online, here.

Jake

This is Gavin and Jessica's dog, Jake. Isn't he cute? I smile every time I look at him.

Blessings

Novelist William Vollman wrote that "the most important and enjoyable thing in life is doing something that's a complicated, tricky problem for you that you don't know how to solve."

Life is a vast and intricate conspiracy designed to keep us well supplied with blessings: interesting surprises, unexpected challenges, gifts we hardly know what to do with, conundrums that force us to get smarter.

I have many blessings.

Red Winged Blackbirds

It must be spring. The red-winged blackbirds are back.