Birds and Break

We spent Monday of Spring Break at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles. We were invited to be part of a program about raptors sharing our book with the young audiences. What a special day it turned out to be! We got yet another good look at some hawks, falcons and owls which always makes me feel special because of our special connection to our own baby great horned owl.

The manager bought our lunch and we chatted with an interesting young woman who is here from a modeling agency in New York working on a photo shoot for L.L. Bean. And, boy, did they ever have a gorgeous setting for some of their pictures. They were using the gorge hills on the north side as a backdrop through the huge picture windows on that side of the museum. In the morning the light was shimmering in a sun slanting through the high clouds sort of way with a hint of a misty aura. The camera men were dancing around busily. I'm sure they were trying to take advantage of that spectacular light. The models moved like giraffes through the museum-tall, graceful, and beautifully poised with perfect faces and skinny, skinny bodies. They ate plates of fruit for lunch while Bobbie and I scarfed down deli sandwiches and cookies.

The models and crew spent the last day or two shooting in some old barns in Trout Lake and will be at Timberline today. So they will get some real Oregon charm in their backgrounds. We were amused at the attempt made by the crew to look rugged and casual with shiny, pristine boots and down vests with no mud specks on them. They were plainly not from around these parts but were trying to blend in. They certainly kept all of us spectators at an arm's length except for the nice young woman we spoke with at noon.

So a good day was followed by an even better one. . .BOBBIE FOUND ANOTHER GREAT HORNED OWL NEST! And she spotted at least one chick! I will buzz down to see it no matter how much gas costs!

De-Kindled

Books have powered my life since I was five years old. That's when the relationship between letters, words and meanings all began to make sense to me. I was thrilled when I could check out my own library books. In high school, I did my homework on the bus so I could read for pleasure after dinner. That kind of reading disappeared when I went to college but returned with even more energy as I was raising babies. The constant motion of taking care of small children was rewarded with many, many hours of reading late into the night when time belonged to me.

Then years of teaching sharpened my knowledge of how to share books and reading with other people so that they might take similar journeys into worlds of all kinds.

Books feel good and smell good. They have front and back covers that you can read and assess. You can skim the front flap and learn a little about the book you're thinking of reading and peek at the author information on the back flap to check on what possible connection you might have with him or her. You can study the publication page which provides more fascinating information than most people think. You can study maps or photos or illustrations. You can wonder how the prologue will relate to the rest of the book. You can tuck your favorite book mark into it as you set it aside. You can mash it into your suitcase or even find a smaller "to go" book when you travel. You can take it to a special friend when you finish it, talk about it with your book club members, recommend it to others, leave it in a restaurant on purpose, sell it, trade it, save it, or put it on top of the stack of those already read. And then you can go back to the book store or to the library to search for yet another book adventure.

That all disappeared for me when I bought a Kindle. I tried. I really did. But the whole organic experience of reading was gone when I held the little screen in front of me. I tried for several days then did an experiment. I went to the book store and picked up The Tiger's Eye, a book I had sampled on the Kindle. I hefted it, studied the richly colored book jacket, read the flaps and sighed with pleasure. Then I touched, caressed, thumbed and skimmed several other possible reads. Then I went straight to Best Buy and returned the Kindle. Maybe someday I'll try it again, but for now I am content with the giant new Ken Follett that my sister gave me for Christmas. Yes, it's tricky to manage in a supine position especially with progressive lenses and growing cataracts, but it's a real book complete with a real read. It doesn't feel like some sort of Fahrenheit 451 experience. I'm a happy reader again.

Marge at 15

Marge had a great cat life. She lived like a real cat after we moved to town but she was in her element in the country where she spent the first 11 years of her life. She had lots of fun picking on April who in turn picked on Caesar causing the occasional wild animal rampage on the long deck. Marge spent her summers in the woods stalking and killing her pick of the local cat prey and never once had a tangle with a skunk or a raccoon. Her old-fashioned cat life kept her outdoors curled up behind a warm planter or cozied into one her drawer beds in the garage. She loved the attention of her humans and never failed to seek it from whomever was outside for whatever reason. Take the garbage out; pet the cat. Take five out on the deck to breathe in the good air; pet the cat.

It did take her awhile to adjust to life in town and she never made friends with any of the dozen or so cats next door but she spent her last years lounging on the faux rock pond and stalking the squirrels. She had the best of food, the best of her people's love and a safe yard to enjoy all that the cat world had to offer.

But her kidneys were failing; she had some sort of neurological disorder, and her heartbeat was alarmingly high. Time to say good-by to Marge who left this earth yesterday and has gone into the cat universe. She had a good, good life. She was the last of the children's pets to leave our household. I'm glad that our March Linnea calendar features a beautiful drawing of a black cat looking at the world from behind a clay planting pot. It is a perfect tribute to Marge the cat who lived all her 15 years with us.

Hearts and Dollars

Happy Valentine's Day! My valentine and I exchanged boxes of candy and cards this morning so I allowed myself an after-breakfast treat. I will have to work hard not to supplement it with more treats just because it's a special day. I have absolutely no trouble finding a reason to make a day special enough to have chocolate. How about this-the laundry is all finished, folded and sitting on the bed ready to be put away. Let's celebrate with chocolate! Or maybe-it's time to watch another episode of "Harry's Law." Let's stop by the chocolate box on our way to the TV!

I have given Pat the same valentine for the fourth year now. It's one I made in 2007 and really liked so I just store it away and keep re-giving it to him on V. Day. He hasn't noticed yet. I wonder how many years I can keep this up? He always seems to enjoy it and comments on the fact that it's homemade.

So if I've saved some money with card giving, I certainly haven't with cell phone use. You need to know that I don't often have my phone on and really don't use it very much at all. But I turned it on Saturday as I was leaving the outlet mall in Woodburn and didn't get it thrown down on the seat in time. The officer caught me for that as well as for rolling through a stop sign. Uh-oh. I honestly didn't see the stop sign since I was just following a long queque of cars that seemed to be rolling along the same as I was. The officer didn't ticket me for the stop sign violation. But he certainly did find fault with the cell phone use, as well he should have. For someone who does not use this piece of technology all that much it still cost me $142.00. Guilty. No need to go to court. The check is in the mail. I will use my cell phone even less now or maybe I'll look into a hands free device since the car is such a good place to catch up on phone calls.

Radio Days

I am in the car much more often these days. And I seem to drive around at many of the same times. I always let the radio provide background sound for my wanderings and have found that I follow a listening pattern. Let me say that I just have a plain old am/fm radio in my car along with a CD player that I mainly use to play "Silly Tunes" for my grands and sometimes "The Best of BeeGees" for me. Okay. I do have some Beatles, Led Zeplin (is that spelled accurately?), Santana, Rod Stewart, Willy Nelson, etc. hanging around that I pop in and out depending on my mood. But I usually rely on the radio.
I always begin with NPR. I especially like "This American Life" on weekends and try to time my drives to Salem just so I can listen in. I get a kick out of "Car Talk" as well and like "Prairie Home Companion" once in a while, especially Guy Noir. "The Splendid Table" at 6:00 on Sunday evenings is a delight. If NPR is featuring a story set in the Middle East, I usually forgo it. I am tired of that part of the world. I also don't much listen to stories of countries whose locales I can't fathom. Features about The Netherlands or tropical sorts of places I do listen to. I'm not sure why. And I really like to listen to things about Alaska but not Sarah Palin. If NPR is not up to my preference, I switch immediately to the classical station. I have some favorites here as well. I'm in if it's Mozart, Beethoven, just about anything done by the St. Johns Wood Orchestra (again I'm guessing at titles here), guitar players and even Saturday morning opera once in a great while. But if the music is beyond my appreciation (string instruments slicing off what sounds like uneven notes to me) I'm out of it and on to "Mark and Brian" unless they are in one of their too offensive for me bits. Can't handle that stuff anymore unless it's really funny.
And here's my big confession: before she was kicked off the air, I was absolutely fascinated with Dr. Laura and the snide, disrespectful, obnoxious way she had with her callers. I would actually talk out loud to her reminding her that some mothers do indeed need to work full time and that ready sex isn't necessarily what women with straying husbands should counter with. She really made me laugh. I miss her. But thank goodness for NPR and the classical station along with KINK and the oldies but goodies stations. (And along the same lines, I find it amazing that I sometimes hear The Rolling Stones in the grocery store.)

Old Dogs and Their Tricks

My grand daughter Mary brought a set of jacks home from school today. She didn't know what they were so I explained and tried my hand at showing her how to play. I told her how "onesies" leads to "twosies" and so on as long as the player is successful in scooping up the correct number of jacks while the ball is in the air. I was a whiz at jacks when I was her age. I could hardly wait to impress her with my skill and fancy finger dexterity as I scooped up to "tensies." I didn't count on my astigmatism being quite as bad as it is or the fact that I'm getting accustomed to new, stronger glasses. I didn't factor in that the new ball is a plastic version of the very old rubber one that was much easier to control. Needless to say, there was no big show of Granny's ability as a queen of jacks. Mary kindly understood that my eyesight wasn't what it used to be and then was mightily impressed with how I can twirl a jack until it spins almost endlessly on the table top. Add another spinner and then another and, wow, Granny rules.

Eeny Beeny Bits of Time

Time takes on such new meanings when one isn't required to report to work. (That's just more comfortable for me to say instead of "when one is retired.") There are the regular, mundane chores and activities that need to be attended to daily and the same amount of time is used to perform them as when working. One can actually spend more time on some leisure activities such as solving the daily crossword or watching an extra program on HGTV. But it's the little increments of time that are beginning to stand out. For example, I have started allotting myself one hour to work on the new book; maybe 45 minutes mastering the brkyobrk stitch in knitting (which I have been thinking about A LOT lately; and perhaps setting aside 45-60 minutes to read during the day. I've never had to do this before. I just worked on those things of pleasure as time for them presented itself. Not so now. I even find myself micro-managing my very minutes of free time. An example might be: I will allow myself the time while my tea is steeping to look at my new recipe book. That may help me to decide what to cook when Lee and JoAnn come for card night next Tuesday. Or maybe I'll set up something like this: After I clean two bathrooms I can check my e-mail. As I mentioned, time management has drastically changed now that I don't have to factor in school work. This is quite fun. Now I have to find a video about that knitting stitch I've been thinking about.