Sunday Salon, March 1st

The trees lining the street, flowering plums, are flowering three weeks ahead of schedule. Lovely.

Weather: Beautiful spring-like day. Temperature is in the mid 50s.

Roses: today Don and I dug up four old rose bushes and planted four new ones, selected because they showed up on a list put together by the Washington State Extension Service of good roses for growing in the Puget Sound region, especially selected for disease-resistance. The four new roses are: LOVE (grandiflora, red and white); POPE JOHN PAUL II (Hybrid tea, white, highly fragrant, selected by the Vatican to honor the past Pope); VOODOO (hybrid tea, orange-pink); ALL-AMERICAN BEAUTY (hybrid tea, dark pink.) We left one bush in place from a previous planting, MIDAS TOUCH (hybrid tea, yellow.) Now we keep our fingers crossed that we did a good job on the selection of these roses.

"Dear Teen Me": I recently read a book called Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves.As I read the letters I kept thinking about things I'd like to tell my teen self to stop or start doing. So I decided to add a feature to the Sunday Salon called "Dear Teen Me" where I will give my teen self a bit of advice to make things better for the me of today.

Dear teen me---in a few years you will follow a diet craze which centers around eating only low-fat foods. It will be a very popular diet nationally. Everyone will talk about the virtues of eating low fat without good science behind the effects of such a diet on metabolisms. It also involves using artificial ingredients, bad oils, and lots of preservatives. Please, please, please do not follow the mob. Avoid this diet at all costs.  Eat healthy, natural ingredients. Explore your taste pallet and learn to eat a variety of healthy foods.  Just eat less if you want to lose weight. Saturated fats are not the enemy...avoid trans fats.  Look into it! Trust me on this one and you will feel a whole lot better.

40-bags-in-40-days update: We had company for half the week so I decided it would be rude to spend my time sorting and tossing items while they were here.  But with my total from last week and the few bags I did sort this week I am still ahead of schedule: 20.

Books read this week:

• Defending Jacob by William Landay--- we discussed this mystery/crime novel at book club on Wednesday. No spoilers here but let me ask you. What would you do if your child was accused of a crime and all the evidence pointed in his direction? How much would you defend him?
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins--- another mystery, this one for a future book club. Interestingly, I didn't care for any of the characters in this book but I liked the sum.
• In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, illustrated by Jen Wang--- the graphic novel that won the Cybils Award this past year.

Currently reading:

• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion---both of my book clubs are reading this little book this month. I'm at the halfway point.
• The History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage--- beer, wine, distilled beverages, coffee, tea, and cola. I just started the chapters about distilled beverages. Interesting history lesson.
• Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment by Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD---highlights from a popular class at Harvard University.

All-Pierce County Reads book announcement: This year's selection is The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. I think this is a marvelous selection and will generate such a terrific discussion in book club. I also look forward to the grand event where the author will be speaking the end of April.

"Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy." -- Pope Francis