Sunday Salon, June 8

Happy Pentecost Sunday!

Weather: It was misting this morning as we drove to church but it is lovely now with blue skies.

Pentecost Sunday: I love being part of a church that celebrates the important days on the Christian Calendar. Today is Pentecost. The day, five weeks after Jesus was resurrected, that the Holy Spirit descended onto his disciples giving them power to proclaim God's love. Our small congregation joined with several other congregations at a local high school for a combined service. We wore red, signifying the flames of fire that came down from heaven that day over 2000 years ago. It was an exciting and spirit-filled worship time.

Scripture: Acts 2:1-4 "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them."

Strawberries: The Puyallup Valley strawberries are ready. We picked up a flat of them today after church. These are delicious and soft strawberries that must be used or frozen within a day or they spoil. Sheer heavenly taste, though. I think I will just crush them up and freeze them so I will have them for making jam later this summer.

Walking the dog: I took the dog for a long walk the other day, so long that her feet were sore when we got home. Yesterday I tried again and Muffy refused to make the extra trek to the nearby park.  My photos of her on her walk aren't very good, but you get the idea.  While you read the rest of the rest of the blog, have a listen to one of my favorite old tunes, Walking the Dog by Rufus Thomas.

Muffy is telling me to hurry up and lock the door. "Let's go!"

One cannot expect heeling when there is a dog on the other side of the fence.

Resting in the shade. "Walking is hard work when your legs are as short as mine."

Home but still hot. "I must pant to cool off."

It is the same thing every time we take a walk. She is super excited when she starts out, gets pooped out quickly, revives for a bark at the dogs at the fence, comes home and needs to cool down.

Anne's version of the Hippy-Dippy green smoothie: A new breakfast staple at our house is a homemade green smoothie. I copied the idea from a restaurant in Santa Fe where the ingredients were listed but not the proportions. Here is my version of the Hippy-Dippy. Try it, you really might like it.

Anne's Hippy-Dippy Green Smoothie (Serves 2) 

8 oz. of organic apple juice, unsweetened (I use Haggen brand Pink Lady or Honeycrisp Apple Juice) 

1 largish organic kale leaf with the center stem removed 

10-15 cilantro leaves 

10-15 parsley leaves, depending on size, remove as much of the stem as possible 

Fresh ginger, peeled and grated. I use about a half inch of the root and use a ginger grater. 

Juice of one small lemon, seeds removed. 

Blend thoroughly. Pour into juice glasses immediately. The smoothie will separate into layers (see photo.) You may want to use a spoon to stir it as you drink.  Yum!  I hope you enjoy it.

 Currently reading:

• The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. Set in Rome all the characters are related somehow associated with the English-language newspaper. I am on disc 8 of 8. I'll finish it tomorrow for sure.
• Red Madness: How a Medical Mystery Changed What We Eat by Gail Jarrow. It is about pellagra, a vitamin deficiency. I'm on page 56 of 160.

Finished reading this week:

• Noggin by John Corey Whaley...finally I'm done. It took me forever and I ended up liking it OK. Look for my review soon.
• The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. This is a new favorite and will be the book I recommend when asked. It is for anyone who loves books and bookstores. It stresses the importance of good literature in our lives

Our Spanish-language serenade

Serenade: Don and I had dinner at a small, Mexican restaurant on Friday in a small town near our community. When we walked in the door we noticed a gentleman sitting nearby singing. I was impressed. Later he dropped by the table and serenaded us. It was a first for both of us. It made the evening all that much more delightful.

Last concert: Last night we drove up to Seattle to hear our daughter's last a cappella concert of her college career. I thought I would weepier than I was. Later we walked around campus taking photos of her in her cap and gown. She graduates next Sunday! Where has the time gone?

Carly's a cappella group. She is on the far left.

Proud almost-grad

Time to walk the dog before it gets too late. 

Let me hear from you this week. I love comments.

Friday Memes...THE IMPERFECTIONISTS

Book: The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Book Beginnings:

Lloyd shoves off the bedcovers and hurries to the front door in white underwear and black socks.

Friday 56:

'You're annoyingly good at hailing boys,' Hardy says. 'Though it is demeaning how they slobber over you.'

My thoughts: all the characters in this book work for a scrappy English-language newspaper in Rome. All of the characters are fascinating but flawed. Each chapter title is a news headline.  I am currently on the chapter titled, 76 DIE IN BAGHDAD BOMBING about the news editor. Lloyd and Hardy, from the above quotes, are two more characters in previous chapters. I'm actually enjoying the book quite a lot.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't select their favorite, coolest or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. I'm reading:

TTT: Ten books I hope to read on vacation this year

The Top Ten Tuesday topic is ten beach books. Going to the Washington Coast in the summer can be a cold, windy affair so it isn't always possible to spend a lot of time sitting in the sun reading, more likely one would be hunkered down behind a wind block watching kids fly kites or dig in the sand. Because of this I amended the list to be Books I'd like to read on vacation:

Italy Trip (When we head to Italy later this month, I'll find it best to read short stories when traveling by train or after a long day of sightseeing)

1.  Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx (My husband gave me this book over ten years ago after I read Shipping News and loved it so much.)
2.  Speaking with the Angels by Nick Hornsby. (I bought this book one day when I had to kill time and it was for sale on a discount table. The title of one of the short stories caught my eye, so I bought it, read that story, and haven't finished it. If I end up leaving it behind, no loss since it cost a big $1.)
3. Imagined London by Anna Quindlen. (Ms. Quindlen is a favorite author. This little tour guide of the fictional city of London intrigues me. It is very short. Good for the flight to Italy or the trip home?)
4. Vintage Munro: Nobel Prize Edition by Alice Munro. (I've not read any short stories by this award-winning author. This collection is short---a qualification---and spans her prodigious career.)

Camping Trips (Any books that I can grab, shouldn't be too serious)

1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (YA. I've been hearing good things about this book.)
2. Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (I'll miss the book club where this book is discussed but I still want to read it.)
3. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (Another YA selection. My students were big fans of his 2013 book, Winger. Hope this one is just as good.)

Family Vacation to Boise and then Central Oregon (Better select some good audiobooks for the long car trip. Then once we arrive at the resort there is plenty of lazy time around the pool to read whatever I want. It would be a good time to catch up on my upcoming book club selections.)

1. America: 1927 by Bill Bryson. (This is my top choice for an audiobook selection for the car trip because my husband is very interested in the book, too, and I think Bryson is a wonderful narrator of his own work.
2. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larsen (This might be another audiobook I'll look for the trip. Don prefers listening to nonfiction and it seems like every summer we find ourselves listening and learning at the same time.
3. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. (I own this upcoming book club selection so I won't feel too guilty if a splash from the pool gets it a little wet.)

I bet my list of books doesn't match too many other lists out there. What will you read on vacation this summer?

Sunday Salon, June 1

Muffy, our Cardigan Welsh Corgi, aka Muff, The Muffster, Miss Muffy, and Muffalump

Weather: Delightful, sunny and warm with temperatures in the mid to high 70s. Perfect work-in-the-yard weather.

Speaking of working in the yard: that is what Don and I did all day yesterday and part of today. Yesterday we cleaned and pressure washed the deck and deck furniture, planted a few plants and cleaned up a few flower beds. Today we patched the dead spots in the lawn (compliments of Muffy) and we'll keep our fingers crossed that the new grass will grow by June 15th, the date of Carly's graduation party.

WWII helmet

Baseball: Last Monday, Memorial Day, the girls took their dad to a Mariners game for his birthday. I came along, too. The day was supposed to be cold and rainy but it wasn't bad when we left the house so we didn't know what to wear. We opted for layers but all of us wore jeans. It ended up being a very warm day and we even got a bit of a sunburn on our arms and cooked a bit in our jeans. It was a very special day to be at the ballpark since the club was honoring veterans and they had 18 old WWII vets out on the field before the game that they introduced. One guy, this cracked me up, was wearing the helmet he would have worn when he was on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Since Memorial Day is a holiday set aside to remember the fallen military members it was really touching to be with Don and have him tell us about the eleven men his brigade lost while fighting in Iraq and how it is his responsibility to remember them and their service. It made me cry.

Kim: Last week I wrote about attending the memorial service for a friend, Kim, who died from cancer. At the service, the family handed out a CD of the blog entries Kim had written after she learned of her diagnosis until just one day before she died. I read or perused all 429 pages of these entries and was really touched by her spirit even in the face of terrible pain and almost constant medical treatments for the last few years of her life. Her Christian faith truly sustained her and she viewed her blog as a platform to testify to God's love. It was very inspiring. She also used it as a way of communicating to her friends how they could help her, or others in distress, and I found her suggestions practical and humbling. Here are a few of her suggestions: hug and kiss on the cheek-touch is so important; drop by for a short time-read a funny passage from a book, knit together, bring special chocolate; cards and emails- Kim loved for people to share pictures of them doing something silly like blowing bubbles; practical things like cleaning out the refrigerator or weeding a flower bed; coffee dates. I was so glad to see her list since I never know what to do, how to help.

Worm bed: As we amend our flower beds we always use at least a shovelful of compost from our worm bed. We've dedicated a small bed of dirt to our worms and let them take care of composting the dog poo, our coffee dregs, old paper-towels, and fruit and vegetable scraps. In the fall I'll mix in dead leaves and flowers. It is amazing how quickly the worms turn our garbage into rich compost...and it doesn't stink. I highly recommend that your create a worm bed in your yard, too. Investigate in your area to find out who supplies redworms, those are the guys you want.  Take a look at this little information piece on redworm composting. When I decided to start, we ordered my first batch of redworms and they arrived in the mail. They are very prolific and we have plenty now!

Musical Interlude: Don't Give Up by Josh Groban. This is such an important message for those who are struggling with depressed feelings today.



Health tip of the week: make as much of your food from scratch as you can.  Even if it doesn't have healthy ingredients at least you will know the ingredients. (I made a chocolate birthday cake for my daughter last week and my husband wanted to know if it was healthy. I said I doubted it but at least we knew what all the ingredients were and I used a healthy oil-macadamia nut oil.)

Copper River Salmon: speaking of food,  Don and I splurged today and bought a Copper River Salmon filet for dinner tonight. It is the best fish in the world, not your ordinary old salmon, but quite pricey. It was delicious-worth every penny. For dessert we grilled fresh pineapple dusted with fresh ground pepper-that is also a yummy treat. (Sorry girls, your parents indulged without you!)

Book read this week:

• Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor...weighing in at over 600 pages this was like reading two books, but worth the effort.

Currently reading:

• The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman, a book club selection. I am reading it even though I won't be able to attend the meeting.
• The Storied Life of A.J.Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. A delightful tale about a bookstore owner and his bookish moments.
• Noggin by John Corey Whaley. You can tell when I am not really INTO a book when it takes me over five weeks to make any progress at all. Sigh.

Quotes for this week from the late Maya Angelou:

“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” 

“You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.” 

“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.”  

Sorry I posted so late today. I was busy with church, shopping, gardening, walking the dog. Finally after dinner I found a moment to blog. Have a wonderful week.

Snapshot Saturday, May 30th

Newborn owlets. Photo by T.Buhler

Dinner time for babies. Photo by T. Buhler

Triplets! These owls were born this spring in a nest in my sister and brother-in-law's yard.
Photo by T.Buhler. All rights reserved.

My sister and her husband have a nest of owls in their suburban backyard. They thought they had twins for several weeks. Now they know there are triplets. My brother-in-law is turning into quite the wildlife photographer. All rights reserved. Photos used with permission.

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

Friday memes-- THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY

Book: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Book Beginnings:

On the ferry from Hyannis to Alice Island Amelia Loman paints her nails yellow and, while waiting for them to dry, skims her predecessors notes. 'Island Books, approximately $350,000 per annum in sales, the better portion of that in the summer months to folks on holiday.'

Friday 56: 

Ismay had chosen a college because she liked the pictures in the brochure, had married a man because he looked splendid in a tuxedo, and started teaching because she'd seen a movie about an inspirational teacher. 'Poor Ismay,' Nic had said. 'She always ends up disappointed.'

My thoughts:
I'm a sucker for books about books, though not funny the book seems quirky. I am also a fan of quirky books. I have high hopes for this one. I am currently listening to this book, on 2nd of 7 CDs.

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't select their favorite, coolest or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. I'm reading:

Ode to Maya Angelou

At the ceremony where she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2011

Ode to Maya Angelou
by Anne Bennett

Maya Angelou passed from this earth today
But her influence on it will last forever.
She gave voice to anyone who tries,
to better her lot in life,
to find a voice when it is rusty from disuse,
to find peace among the clutter we make of our lives.

Maya Angelou who was born poor in a racist place,
who dropped out of high school,
who was the first black and female streetcar conductor in San Fran,
who wrote about being raped and the birth of her son,
who sang and danced on stage,
who read poems for Presidents.

Dr. Angelou, as she prefered to be called,
held over 30 honorary degrees,
earned the Presidential Medal of Honor,
yet she reminded us that we need to be humble,
loving, and kind to one and all, not puffed up and proud.
Her last tweet sums up so much of her life:
"Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God."

Thank you for sharing your life with us. Rest in peace.

*********************************************************************
I love the poem "When Great Trees Fall" by Maya Angelou. Now upon rereading it I am struck anew by how it is appropriate on this day when Maya Angelou has departed us. Soon we will whisper to ourselves "[She] existed. [She] existed. We can be. Be and be better. For [she] existed."
*******************************************************************

When Great Trees Fall
Maya Angelou
 When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly.  Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed.  They existed.
We can be.  Be and be
better.  For they existed.

Top Ten Books of 2014 in GKHS Library

Today is a Top Ten Tuesday Freebie Post. My list represents the top books of 2014 in the school library after screening out all books that were required for some assignment or another. These books represent free choice selections by students. The numbers next to the books represent how many times the books have circulated since January 1st.

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, 38
2. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, 23
2. Looking for Alaska by John Green, 23
3. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, 20
4. Allegiant by Veronica Roth, 19
5. Divergent by Veronica Roth, 17
5. Insurgent by Veronica Roth, 17
5. Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith, 17
5. Maze Runner by James Dashner, 17
6. Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas, 15*
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, 13
7. Runner by Carl Deuker, 13
8. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, 12
8. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, 12
9. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, 11
9. The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson, 11
9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, 11
9. Unwind by Neal Shusterman, 11
10. Cress by Marissa Meyer, 10*
10. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini, 10
10. Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, 10

(Way more than ten books, but there were lots of ties!)
* I only have one copy of these books in the library so technically they should be at the top of the list. By contrast, I have five copies of FIOS and Looking for Alaska. John Green is BIG right now. All of his books are popular.

Sunday Salon...May 25th

Weather: Overcast with the threat of rain but warm.

Memorial Day weekend:

On May 30, 1868, the first official Memorial Day observance was held at Arlington National Cemetery to honor and to decorate the graves of those who died during the Civil War. Today, Memorial Day serves as an opportunity to pause and remember the sacrifices of more than one million Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen who gave their lives to secure our freedoms.

Textbook season: From now until the end of the school year it is textbook season in the library. In addition to checking in all the textbooks checked out in September to students we also have to surplus a sizable number of the books this year. Surplussing means several extra steps for us including boxing the books up for the district warehousemen to pick up. I just counted. We have 567 student books left to surplus. Now if the kids would just return them!

A life well-lived: Yesterday we attended the Memorial service for a friend who died last month of lung cancer. Kim was an incredible person who loved God and wanted other people to love him, too. You couldn't be in her presence without feeling that love just rolling off of her. Over 400 people attended the service, another testament to her incredible personality. Even in her dark days of disease and pain she held to faith and kept up her incredible testimony by blogging about her faith and life. Kim was not only a friend but she was my daughters' piano teacher. She was an amazing role model for them. I was so glad that both of them were able to attend the service with Don and I yesterday. It felt like a very important thing to do together.

Eyeconic, Pomegranate-Lemonade...my new rose bushes 

Roses: Don and I spent some more time in the yard yesterday and finally got the roses mulched and fed, the petunias and geraniums planted, and a few beds weeded. Last weekend we got the impatiens planted and the flower pots. I planted two small roses in pots, Eyeconic. They are light yellow-pink with dark centered petals. Lovely. Now we are ready for summer!

Books read this week:

• Zealot: the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan...controversial and eye-opening.

Currently reading:

• Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. I am making progress but it is slow. Disc 12 of 16.
• Noggin by John Corey Whalen. Actually I didn't read a word of this book this week. Can you tell that textbooks and the end of the year is coming? Everyday I come home from school beat!

Musical selection: The Stars and Stripes Forever


Happy Memorial Day tomorrow!

Is no one trying to become a better person?

What a day. It was a long, hard day at work. On the way home I felt cranky and tired. I had just sat through ten student conferences where, it seemed to me, almost all the students were unexceptional and just trying to get by with the minimum of effort. It was discouraging and disheartening. Is no one trying to become a better person?

In the parking lot of the grocery store, where I stopped to pick up a few things for dinner, I noticed a young mother pushing  her children in a cart made to look like a car. She looked hassled and grumpy. After she dropped off her groceries and children in the car she pushed the cart near the cart return but left it sticking out in the road and stalked back to her car without a backwards glance. Isn't anyone trying to be a role model to their children these days?

After I properly stowed the cart I looked up and noticed three young men under a nearby tree who are clearly exchanging drugs. I've never witnessed anything like this in my community before. It makes me feel sick and sad. Do these young men not care at all about how the drugs they sell impact others' lives? I think I was hyperalert to it since I noticed a boy smoking an e-cigarette while waiting at the bus-stop that morning.

Two overweight boys on skateboards cross in front of my car as I pass the park. Both are drinking from huge plastic containers of Mountain Dew. It seems to me that few teens are worried about their health and weight these days. I think it is a big problem.

My progress is halted as I am forced to stop for a school bus. A young girl hops off the bus, skips across the road and is greeted by an older couple waiting for her. She hands her artwork to the woman and then skips over to the man, opens her mouth to show him that she lost a tooth at school that day. The interaction makes me smile. The couple clearly love the little girl and she loves them.  I'm reminded that there are some wonderful people out there, and not just people who have problems. I just have to open my eyes to see them.