Long May She Wave

Our neighbor Harold (who every Christmas puts up the star on our mountain - read about it here), has enriched our July this year.

The morning of the 4th of July

Yes, that's an enormous flag you see there, hanging in one of our canyons. (My understanding is it is hanging on parachute rope, and it was quite a feat to get it up there.) It can be seen for miles. What a thrill it is to look up at the mountain and see it waving in the wind. It makes my heart sing. 

Thank you Harold!

Roses in Moonlight by Lynn Kurland

Light, formulaic romance - completely clean as to language and sex. Lynn's books are a nice break for me.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

This man can write! I don't know where to start, there are so many things I loved about this book.

I'll just say this: this morning I decided I would read while on the treadmill. Before I knew it, I closed the book (finished) and discovered I was turning the corner on four and a half miles.

Schmidt weaves a great story with consummate skill. He is subtle and just lets the aha! moments slip right in among the rest of the story. He draws the characters by their actions and conversations. All emotions are appealed to without feeling "played" by the author.

I could go on forever. Bottom line: read this book. It's excellent.

Other books I've read by Gary D. Schmidt: The Wednesday Wars, and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. Both excellent as well.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

My friend Jennifer recommended this book. She said, "It's kind of funny."  She was right on the money.

This is the story of Allan Karlsson. On his 100th birthday, he decides to run away from the Senior rest home he lives in. He climbs out the window and disappears. That happens on the very first page. The rest of the book is about his adventures once he climbs out the window, and the story of the rest of his life up until that time interwoven throughout. Allan led a very unusual and at many times very exciting life.

The story is told in an almost whimsical manner. I giggled through parts of it, and enjoyed the whole book. I would never have chosen to read this book on my own. In fact, I almost returned it to the library without even reading it. I decided to give it a try because of Jennifer's recommendation. I'm glad I read it.

June Report

Oops! June ended and here it is already the 4th of July. Here's how I fared in June:

1. First Things First: I'm trying to step up the exercise and eat fairly clean this summer. We'll see how it goes. Meanwhile this is a "just keep plugging away and trying to be better" category of life.

2. Photo Labeling and Scanning: I have a pile of photos to scan. They've been there for quite a while. They'll be done in the next two weeks.

3. Household organization: I work on this in my head all the time. Somehow that makes me feel like I'm actually doing it, then I look around and realize no, still just in my head. I have kept up on the weeds in my vegetable garden. I organized my downstairs bathroom closet. We had a lot of company coming and going - that's my excuse.

4. Projects: I cleaned out a bunch of files. I did not get the other items done on my list.

Here's my feeling about my June lists: oh well. I was busy with a lot of things, not much of which can easily be cataloged. That's okay! It was a good month for people, which is all important to me. So overall I feel great about things.

What's in a Name?

My tax return states homemaker as my occupation.

One time I said I was a housewife (many years ago) and I was met by a horrified stare and the comment, "Don't ever say that! It's so degrading!" So I never said it again.

I had a friend who put d.g. as her occupation. I asked her what that meant, and she said domestic goddess. I thought that was pretty good, but it sure didn't and doesn't fit me. I'm no goddess of domesticity, believe me. That friend's home was sparkling - not a term anyone will say about mine. Cozy, friendly, neat, tidy--I hope some of those phrases might come to mind, but no one will say "sparkling". No one with two semi-functioning eyes in their head, that is.

Stay at home mom (SAHM) was my favorite occupation. I loved that phase of life. Now my kids are out of the home and I wonder about the phrase stay at home grandma--but to me that implies that I am their primary caretaker. Primary adorer, yes, but not primary caretaker.

I recently saw the option home manager as an occupation, and I immediately adopted it. What a great description!

All this is to say that for the past 30 years, I have been unemployed outside the home, and these are some ways of describing what I've done. I did get training as a travel agent, and did that for a couple of years for my husband's business, pro bono.

Life changes. I just got a job. At a quilt store, just on Tuesdays, with an occasional Saturday thrown in. Here's how it happened:

There's a quilt store pretty close to my house. Whenever I've gone in there over the last few months, there has been a sign on the door, "part-time help wanted". Every time I went I wondered how part time would it be? because I really help my parents a lot, and I do keep myself busy. Then I would say to myself, if the sign is still up the next time I come here, I'll ask. I bet there have been a dozen times I've walked right in and said those same things to myself while looking at that sign.

About 10 days ago I was in the store and was chatting with the two people working there while I made my purchase. I told them that help wanted sign had been up for a long time. They said yes, there have been several applications, but no one hired. Then I asked how part-time would it be? They said one day a week if that's all you want. More if you want. And it's a whole day, no split shifts over the week. I told them my "if it's here next time I come I'm going to apply" story. They said fill out an application! So they got me one. I went home and was all by myself and thought, "why not?"

I filled out the application. Very sparsely, I might add--as I said, my last paying job was thirty years ago.  I took it right back that afternoon and left it. What could it hurt? I didn't even tell Ray, because it all seemed so unlikely. Imagine my surprise the next day when I was called to come in for an interview. (Then I told Ray.)

So last Wednesday I met with the store manager. We had a nice chatty interview. Then on Thursday she called and asked if I could come in and talk with the store owner on Friday. I could and I did. It was a very brief interview ending with them saying, "thanks for coming in." Nothing else. I told Ray that I noticed that the part-time help wanted sign was off the door when I walked in the store for the interview. Maybe they already hired someone. But then why would they call me to come in? He said, "it's because they want to hire you". But I wasn't so sure.

Yesterday I got the call: could I start work on Tuesday?

I have to say, it's pretty exciting for me to have actually made myself go through that whole process. And it feels good to be wanted. Life experience paid off. Sewing since I was ten, and quilting for the past 20 years has added value to my life. Now in a new and different way.

How Does My Garden Grow?

I have been very careful not to complain about my weeding load on my blog so far this year. I try hard to keep it to a minimum. The complaints, that is.

But I will mention our vegetable garden. This year I decided we'll start out right. We prepared the soil, bought the plants, planted them and I have been very diligent about weeding and Ray's in charge of watering. We can't decide if we are over or under watering. Oh well, we're doing our best. 

I observe the gardens of others. Our neighbors, our relatives. Their vegetables must be on steroids. Ours seriously need some growth hormones. I'm discouraged.

Last night I said to Ray: this is it. If the garden doesn't work this year, I'm done. Forever. I felt an enormous relief. It gave me a great mental freedom.

Then this morning I went out to weed, and this is what I found:

 That's right, a very tiny green pepper, a small green tomato, and if you look very carefully almost dead center at the bottom picture you'll see a very tiny green cherry tomato. It's less than one half inch in diameter. There's actually a smaller one just above it too.

So maybe there's hope. Maybe.

Don't ask me about the rest of the garden. The zucchini is hanging on for dear life - one blossom, and still minuscule. The squash is dead. The lemon cucumber didn't make it. Perhaps the sweet cucumber will survive. The basil is borderline. I did find a volunteer over by the peppers and basil. Looks like another cucumber or even a watermelon. Maybe if I ignore it it will actually grow.

(Yesterday I heard someone mention that this is tomato growing weather. My only thought was: if I go to hell, there will be lots of tomatoes. It got up to 110 today.)

Exodus by Leon Uris

I first read this book a long time ago. Perhaps 25 years ago or more. I loved it.

I just read it again for my book group. I've wanted to read it again for a long time, but it has never jumped to the top of my pile. So I was glad it was chosen for this month. I loved it again.

I loved it in a different way this time. Last time I remember being caught up in the characters lives, and enjoying the history behind the story. This time I enjoyed the characters, but perhaps because I already knew what was going to happen to them I became engrossed in the history.

I have a completely different perspective on the history of Israel now than I did 25 years ago. First, I've paid attention to current events since then (I probably didn't pay much attention to current events 25 years ago). Second, I've been to Israel since I read Exodus the first time. Third, I also know much more about the Second World War at this point in my life. All those factors and more enhanced what I got out of the book.

Exodus is a great way to learn the basics of the formation of Israel as a state. It gives great insights into the thought processes and motivations behind those early years and the Israelis who fought so long and hard to make Israel begin to evolve into what it is today.  Couple this book with Herman Wouk's The Hope and his The Glory and you have a pretty good picture of Israel then and now. Of course I can't say that without also recommending The Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Wouk.

There you have it. A bargain book review. This one (Exodus) is great as are the other books I mentioned. Five reviews in one.