August Garden Notes and Reading Notes

 

August is upon us, which means afternoon thunderstorms in Colorado and the garden is finally starting to produce. I picked tomatoes and peppers this week and roasted the anaheims for green chili. 

The picture above is our Cinderella pumpkin, now a lovely creamy golden color, but it should continue to grow and turn orange as the days and nights turn cooler. The plant has lots of flowers, hence lots of pollinators doing their thing in the garden.

August is also when our phlox are at their peak in my flower garden. You can see the white phlox behind the heron statue--I love how the white looks with the black-eyed susan.

Reading Notes

The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgereal - quite a short novel by quite a prolific author. I had not read anything by her before, but she comes with great credentials.

Here's her GoodReads bio: 

Penelope Mary Fitzgerald was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 The Times listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945." The Observer in 2012 placed her final novel, The Blue Flower, among "the ten best historical novels." A.S. Byatt called her, "Jane Austen’s nearest heir for precision and invention."

Based on her bio, I should have loved The Bookshop, but sadly I found it only a 3-star read. Here's the GoodReads blurb on the book:

In 1959 Florence Green, a kindhearted widow with a small inheritance, risks everything to open a bookshop - the only bookshop - in the seaside town of Hardborough. By making a success of a business so impractical, she invites the hostility of the town's less prosperous shopkeepers. By daring to enlarge her neighbors' lives, she crosses Mrs. Gamart, the local arts doyenne. Florence's warehouse leaks, her cellar seeps, and the shop is apparently haunted. Only too late does she begin to suspect the truth: a town that lacks a bookshop isn't always a town that wants one.

I loved Florence Green and cheered for her as she worked to open a bookshop in a bookshop-less village. The problem is that I couldn't actually figure out why so many of the townspeople thwarted her attempt to do something good for the village. Most of the inhabitants went to her shop and her lending library (the village also had no library before Mrs. Green arrived) was a hit. I suppose it came down to the class system in England at the time and the fact that Mrs. Green (as she is invariably referred to in the text) didn't allow herself to be dictated to but did things her own way.

As it turns out, my paternal grandmother was a Florence Green, and although I never met her (my grandparents emmigrated to Australia when my parents emigrated to North America after WWII), I felt connected to Mrs. Green because of that coincidence. 

Growing up, I always wished that my parents had stayed in England instead of moving first to Canada and then the US. I remember my Dad trying to convince me that the class system in England was oppressive and difficult to live within. Reading this book enabled me to really feel what he was talking about. Not just the way Mrs Green was treated by the lady of the manor, but also the way children were pegged at age 11 as to whether they were grammar school worthy or trade school worthy. What a waste of time and energy, talent and ambition.

The ending of the book just left me grumpy, and I had to spend more time in the garden to get my equilibrium back.

One Day, by David Nicholls - I absolutely loved You Are Here and Us by the same author, so I was confident that I would love this earlier book of his (2009). I was wrong. It was interminable and didn't rate more than 2 stars for me. Looking at reviews on GoodReads, it seems that others either loved it or felt the way I did, with lots of 1-star reviews.

The premise is great--here's what GoodReads said:

15th July 1988: Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows?

The basic problem is that Dexter is a colossal jerk--beautiful, vain, cocky, alcoholic, druggy, and not all that bright. Emma is very bright, very grounded, very beautiful (of course), and very humble. I was so bored hearing endlessly about how drunk and stupid Dexter would get at parties, even well into his thirties, and after he married and had a child. And the ending was completely gratuitous and frustrating--no spoilers in case you want to read it. I liked Emma and thought she was likeable but seemingly incapable of making a wise decision where Dexter was concerned.

David Nicholls has clearly honed his craft since this book came out. 

Reading Scotland Update and Recommendation

I'm currently in book 2 of the fabulous Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett, Queen's Play, and have started reading Antonia Fraser's bio of Mary Queen of Scots as a companion since so far the Lymond books are mapping to Mary's life, with book 1 covering her birth and few years in Scotland, and book 2 is all about her early days in France...and the assassination attempts on her! Great stuff.

I want to recommend the Scottish History Podcast and specifically the episode on Gregor MacGregor (July 30) and the fraud he perpetuated in the early 19th century regarding the mythical land of Poyais. It's a great story, and Owen Innes of the podcast really relates it so well.

That's all for now, folks. Looking forward to cooler weather, more rain, and an abundant harvest. Stay well and let me know what you're reading!

Reading Scotland, Garden Notes, TV Notes

Happy June! Blogging has taken a backseat to removing all the furniture, etc from the living room for the hardwood floor installation, which happened last week. The animals are stressed, but who isn't when all your routines go flying out the window? I tell them it will all be worth it in just another week or so, but they don't listen.

At least I can read to calm myself down...here's what I've been reading.

Devil Water, by Anya Seton - recommended by Constance of Staircase Wit, I really enjoyed this 527-page book about the Earls of Derwentwater and their participation in the Scottish risings of 1715 and 1745. The main characters are Charles Radcliffe, youngest of three brothers, handsome, charismatic, initially hopelessly naive but ultimately idealistic and a steadfast Jacobite and Catholic, and his daughter Jenny, beautiful (of course!), loyal, but a steadfast Protestant who never truly embraces the Jacobite cause (which is to replace the Hanoverian George II with James VIII, the Pretender exiled to France and Italy). 

The title refers to the colloquial name of Derwentwater and the burn (small river) that flows through the estate.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the novel and characters and learning more about the history of the border region between Scotland and England and the divided loyalties, complicated politics, life in the turbulent 18th century, and the rugged, beautiful landscape. Jenny does emigrate to the Virigina colony (in the 1720s) and marries. She and her husband head to the wilderness where they acquire land and develop a farm that could become prosperous.

SPOILERS*****I had a real problem with how Seton ended the novel. Jenny's father Charles, who had been living in Europe after escaping from Newgate prison before being executed for his role in the 1715 Jacobite uprising, returns to England to join the 1745 Jacobite uprising and is captured and sentenced to death, again. Jenny learns of his fate and decides to return to England to see him again, and her husband Rob is so furious with her decision that he rapes her. Once in England, she discovers she is pregnant and is actually making it on her own, working as a barmaid and singing in the bar. Rob follows her to England, and after they witness Charles's execution, he convinces her to return to Viriginia with him, and she forgives him and goes back to the wilderness farm with this violent man!  For me, this was truly hard to swallow and I ended up giving it my usual four stars on GoodReads instead of the five that I had been planning to award it

A Game of Sorrows, by Shona (MG) Mclean - book 2 in the Alexander Seaton series, this story takes place mostly in Ireland as Alexander is summoned by his dead mother's family to help lift a curse that has been placed on the family. At first, I was disappointed to be leaving Scotland for Ireland, but the story helped me understand the relationship between the Scots and northern Ireland in particular. And the story itself was chock full of great stuff--bandits, castles, banquets, journeys, and the requisite conflicts over religion. Alexander is becoming a true hero and I am ready for his next adventure, this time back in Scotland.

The Coffin Trail, by Martin Edwards - technically not a Scottish novel, the first in the author's Lake District mystery series, it takes place in, you guessed it, the Lake District. I just finished this one last night and am still mulling it over. I gave it four stars, but I wasn't completely in love with the main characters, so not sure if I will continue with the series. Daniel Kind is an Oxford don who leaves his job and together with his new girlfriend buys a rundown cottage in the Lake District and throws himself into solving a decade-old murder. Despite living with his girlfriend, he becomes close to Lauren, his dead detective father's former partner, and together they solve the mystery. Actually, he does, but she scolds him for not including her more. It takes a real leap of faith to go along with a lot of the dynamics of the story, but I am assuming that Daniel and Lauren work out the weirdnesses of the premise and become solid partners.

I loved the setting and now want to take a walking vacation in the Lake District!

However, I have to say that the title is a real downer and the cover is atrocious. I would have preferred a nice watercolor rather than B&W photos.

Garden Notes

Our mama dove sat on her eggs until they hatched, then cared for her chicks until they fledged, and we now have use of our back door once again!

I have chives all over my garden--in the rose bed to ward off Japanese beetles, in the veg beds to add color in the spring, and deck planter for the same reason. At our local coffeehouse, a barista told me about a lovely chive vinegar that he makes, so I made some. Simply harvest chive blossoms, rinse them, and crush with mortar and pestle (about 1 cup), cut up 1/4 cup of chives, heat white wine vinegar to just ready to boil. and then pour over chive blossoms and diced chives in mason jar. Seal and put in dark cupboard for three days. Strain into pretty bottle and enjoy a nice chivey pink vinegar!

Fiona is guarding the evening primrose and penstemon.

Honeysuckle in profusion.

TV Notes

I've been getting the Outlander DVDs from the library and season 2 was checked out, so we watched Decameron on Netflix instead. I'm still not sure if I can say that I liked it. It was definitely a dark comedy, and wild and crazy. I felt a profound sense of relief when it was over, but it was a good distraction from the remodel. 

My favorite character by far was Misia, played by Saoirse-Monica Jackson of Derry Girls fame. Has anyone else watched this story of the plague in Italy in the 15th century?

We finished watching season 3 of Shrinking, which I thought was the best season and I am eagerly waiting for season 4. I really liked the way the characters are growing and developing and learning and bonding and coping. I thought it was absolutely brilliant casting to have Jeff Daniels play Jimmy's father. Also great to see Michael J. Fox and Candace Bergen, and then I had to laugh to see Cobi Smulders (Robin on How I Met Your Mother) as Jimmy's new love interest Sofi. Seems like the casting director is definitely raiding How I Met Your Mother :)

But, all that said, we were at loose ends as to what 30-minute comedy to watch after an hour of drama and landed on Ghosts, which thankfully my library has since I cannot stand the commercials on Paramount Plus.

I hadn't wanted to watch it before because it looked pretty silly, which it is, but it is also funny and sweet with pretty good writing that makes me laugh. 

I am always on the lookout for good 30-minute comedies, so let me know what you like! 

Dog Days of Summer

Three Sisters Garden in July

Garden Notes

It happens every year, August hits and I am ready to harvest and move on to other things, like working on the Civil War Underground Railroad quilt (lying dormant since May) and practicing the piano. But, there is a lot of work to do before I hang up my gardening apron for the season.

I picked a colander of Anaheim peppers yesterday, roasted, peeled, diced, and froze enough for three pots of green chili. I expect to do the same in another week and then a third time before I start donating peppers to the local food bank. I have loads of jalapenos, which I will pickle, and then I need to figure out what to do with the poblanos, which my son insisted I plant. Maybe a multi-pepper salsa...

The tomatoes are coming in, so that means I will be making tomato sauce next week and the week after to fill the freezer with sauce for the winter. I use tomatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and herbs from the garden, only needing to buy celery and balsamic vinegar to add some punch to the sauce.

The zucchini is doing what it does best, and I've been making zucchini bread as well as adding it to a wonderful pasta salad recipe in which I parboil diced carrots and zucchini and add them to diced artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, peas, diced bell pepper, and spiral pasta with a vinaigrette and a splash of lemon juice. I have my eye on a high-altitude chocolate zucchini cake that sounds amazing.

Our Three Sisters Garden seems to be doing okay--we planted the corn first, and the tassels are darkening nicely, meaning we can pick corn maybe next week. The pinto beans have lots of pods--I've never grown pinto beans before, but I read that you need to wait until the pods dry out before you harvest them. The yellow squash went in last and is just now flowering. This was an experiment this year, and I devoted only one raised bed to see how the Three Sisters would do. If you're interested in Three Sisters gardening method, here's a good description: Plant a Three Sisters Garden: Corn, Beans, and Squash | The Old Farmer's Almanac, although I planted pinto beans instead of pole beans mainly because I wanted to see if I could!

The native flower garden is looking a bit tired, probably from the repetitive strings of 90+degree days that Colorado has endured this summer. I am letting most of the plants wither instead of deadheading so that they drop their seeds and spread their goodness for next year. It may look tired, but the pollinators are still working the blossoms that are left...and I did see a Monarch butterfly this morning. So, happiness all around.

Reading Notes

I'm in the middle of quite a few books right now, so not much completed to talk about...

Three Days in June, by Anne Tyler - very short but very enjoyable. Literally, three days in June - before the wedding, the day of the wedding, and the day after the wedding. Great premise in which the story of Gail, the main character, her ex-husband Max, and their daughter Debbie unfolds as Debbie gets married. 

I haven't actually read a lot of Tyler--I had mixed feelings about Vinegar Girl, her take on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew--and I read The Accidental Tourist so long ago, I can't really remember if I liked it all that much. But Three Days in June was a fun respite from the long books that are currently filling my reading life. And I did really like the ending! That makes all the difference.

My friend Pam Mingle recommended a couple of Mrs. Mallory mysteries because she knew I would enjoy them and she was right. I started with Mrs. Mallory and the Fatal Legacy, by Hazel Holt. Here is the GoodReads blurb:

When Shelia Malory ran into her old college chum, Beth, now a bestselling novelist, she expected a pleasant lunch, some reminiscing, and a little harmless gossip. What she didn't expect was her friend to wind up dead shortly after their meeting. Now Sheila must act as literary executer, which means sifting through Beth's papers and letters, writing her biography, and preparing her short stories for press. But in her attempt to keep her friend's work alive, she discovers something deadly...the means and motives for murder!

And Mrs. Malory will have to read between the lines to find out the truth, before someone else dies for this legacy...

Hazel Holt was actually Barbara Pym's friend, colleague, biographer, and literary executor, making this mystery a bit meta.

It was a fun, easy, relaxing read set mostly in London, circa 2000. Seemed like the same world that Rosamunde Pilcher's and Josephine Tey's books describe. 

Travel Notes

Gearing up for two trips, one in September and one in October. 

We'll be going to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat festival again this year just after Labor Day. We are adding time to visit a couple of cool looking gardens north of Tacoma as well as the Glass Museum in Tacoma, plus birding sites between Tacoma and Port Townsend. Look for a travelogue mid-September!

In October, I am going to Baltimore for the JASNA Annual General Meeting, and then my husband is joining me for sightseeing in Baltimore after the AGM and then three days in Gettysburg where I can put all that Civil War reading I've been doing to good use. Fingers crossed for a travelogue in mid-October.

Enjoy the rest of these Dog Days of Summer.

Heirloom Gardener and Washington Black

The Heirloom Gardener, by John Forti - I've been following John Forti, the Heirloom Gardener, on Facebook and Instagram for a few years, and I always enjoy his posts, which range from seasonal markers to info on native plants and their significance in American history and society to tips on kitchen and garden craft. I got his book as a requested gift and have slowly been reading it over the past couple of months. 

The chapters, A to Z, are short essays and are illustrated with woodcut drawings. A perfect nonfiction read to supplement the various novels I usually am reading simultaneously. I learned a lot and found reading this book to be so relaxing, enriching, and soul-satisfying.

Washington Black, by Esi Edugyan - I learned about the mini-series based on this book from Susan at The Cue Card and was so intrigued by the premise that I decided to read the book before watching the mini-series. Here's the GoodReads blurb:

Washington Black is an eleven-year-old field slave who knows no other life than the Barbados sugar plantation where he was born. When his master's eccentric brother chooses him to be his manservant, Wash is terrified of the cruelties he is certain await him. But Christopher Wilde, or "Titch," is a naturalist, explorer, scientist, inventor, and abolitionist.

He initiates Wash into a world where a flying machine can carry a man across the sky; where two people, separated by an impossible divide, might begin to see each other as human; and where a boy born in chains can embrace a life of dignity and meaning. But when a man is killed and a bounty is placed on Wash's head, Titch abandons everything to save him.

What follows is their flight along the eastern coast of America, and, finally, to a remote outpost in the Arctic, where Wash, left on his own, must invent another new life, one which will propel him further across the globe.

From the sultry cane fields of the Caribbean to the frozen Far North, Washington Black tells a story of friendship and betrayal, love and redemption, of a world destroyed and made whole again--and asks the question, what is true freedom?

It was an intriguing story, which at times almost felt like science fiction. Wash is a brilliant boy--a self-taught engineer and marine biologist. He carries not only the burden of being a black man in the prejudiced, hostile, dangerous white world of the early 19th century, but he also carries the physical and mental scars of his early enslaved years as well as the guilt of leaving behind those he loved as a boy and who loved and cared for him.

I just read about how the mini-series differs from the book, and while I am usually a purist when it comes to book-to-move adaptations, I think I might like the mini-series even better than the book. The endings are different, so I understand, with the mini-series version more upbeat and hopeful.

July Key Words: Bee Balm, Italian Art in WWII, Civil War Stories

Garden Notes

This week's star native is Bee Balm (aka Wild Bergamot). This fragrant perennial comes in lots of colors, has spikey flowers, and it blooms for a long time. Right now, my native garden is mostly yellow and purple, with my Bee Balm providing the purple canvas on which the yellow blooms can shine. 

Bee Balm is a perfect native alternative to the ever-popular Butterfly Bush, which is actually an import from Asia, which means it may look stunning, but it isn't helping the local ecosystem and is invasive.

Bee Balm is also an edible plant. John Forti, author of The Heirloom Gardener, says:

All aerial parts of the plant can be used fresh. The tender leaves can be chopped finely and added to salads and summer vegetable dishes or made into teas and balms. However, the flowers (particularly the red ones) are my favorite edible part of the plant; they are full of an Earl Grey–like floral nectar and offer a fun kid candy from the garden. They are beautiful frozen into ice cubes for summer drinks or turned into a simple syrup for refreshing cocktails and confections. 

On to Books...

The Last Masterpiece, by Laura Moretti - Moretti is an art historian and historical novelist who focuses on the Renaissance and Italy, and I have read just about all of her books. This latest is set during WWII, featuring two young women, an Austrian and an American, on opposite sides of the war but both working to preserve the art treasures of the Italian Renaissance from destruction and looting during the war.

I loved it. In fact, I think it might be my favorite of Moretti's novels. The Nazi part of the story begins in Florence, with Eva, the Austrian woman, newly arrived with a job to photograph the paintings and sculptures that the German art historians are cataloging and putting into storage, with the help of the local Italian art historians. Her father is actually heading up the operation to store art from around Europe in the Austrian salt mines, and Eva truly believes that the Nazis are trying to preserve and protect the art for the Italians. Turns out she's wrong about that.

Josie is a WAC from Connecticut who is assigned to provide secretarial support to the Monuments Men. In the course of her duties, she comes to learn about and then love Renaissance art. She also learns to love Italy, particularly Florence.

Now I am all primed to finally read Saving Italy, by Robert M. Edsel, who also wrote The Monuments Men, the book on which the movie is based.

The March, by E.L. Doctorow - this is much-lauded novel is about General Sherman's 1864-1865 campaign in which his army of 90k+ subdued Georgia and the Carolinas and helped bring the Civil War to its end. 

Definitely a 5-star book, and not just because of my abiding interest in the Civil War, but because of the breadth and scope of character and story, the insight and compassion, realism and historical accuracy, and eloquence.

Doctorow tells the stories of a cross-section of people involved--the generals and other officers, of course, a smattering of soldiers from both sides, both the brave and the not-so brave. He tells the stories of civilians whose towns, farms, and homes were invaded, sometimes burned, almost always violated. He tells the stories of newly freed African Americans as well those who had enslaved them, and those who are on the periphery of the fighting but still a part of it--the British war correspondent, the itinerant photographer. 

My favorite story was that of a German doctor who came to America to find personal liberty and found himself tending the wounded and dying of both sides. I also loved the story of Pearl, an African American girl whose skin was so pale that she could pass but struggled with whether she wanted to live in the white world as a white woman.

Here's my favorite passage, which stopped me cold, near the end, when Sherman is negotiating terms of surrender with his Confederate counterpart, Joe Johnston.

And so the war had come down to words. It was fought now in terminology across the table. It was contested in sentences. Entrenchment and assaults, drum taps and bugle calls, marches, ambushes, burnings, and pitched battles were transmogrified into nouns and verbs. It is all turned very quiet, Sherman said to Johnson, who not quite understanding, lifted his head to listen.

No cannonball or canister, but has become the language here spoken, the words written down, Sherman thought. Language is war by other means. 

Ragtime is the only other one of the many noteworthy books by Doctorow that I've read, but I mean to remedy that, although some of them seem mighty grim. Any suggestions?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books to Reread & Blanketflower

Blanketflower

First, a Garden Note

This week's star native is Gaillardia, known to her friends as Blanketflower. She loves full sun and is very low maintenance. She spreads quickly and is often used to restore damaged areas. And, she is so pretty.

Fun Fact: Gaillardia even has her own moth...

"A moth (Schinia masoni) camouflages itself for protection on the heads of blanketflower - the head and thorax of the moth blend with the ray flowers, while the crimson wings blend with the disc flowers." From Blanketflower

Now we can talk Top Ten 

Being in the middle of a bunch of books but not having finished anything since the Ina memoir, I thought I would do this week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This theme was super easy for me--only ten?! I am a rereader and so like to revisit favorites regularly.

1. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame - this was one of several books my Dad would read to me and my siblings when we were young. I've reread it as an adult, but not in a few decades. Cannot wait to spend time with Ratty, Mole, Badger, and Mr. Toad.

2. Middlemarch, by George Eliot - one of my all-time favorite novels. I have read it either four or five times, and it is a treat every time. I reread it in 2016--can you believe that's already almost 10 years ago. Here's my post from that reading.

3. North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell - my favorite novel by a favorite novelist. I have 18 posts in which I discuss N&S to some degree, with an in-depth, multi-part series on how it compares to Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

4. The Girl with the Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier - Chevalier is a favorite author and this was the first book I read by her, decades ago. I would like to enjoy it again.

5. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon - I didn't actually finish the series, getting bogged down in book eight and never actually recovering. But...my husband and I are putting together a trip next summer that will take us on foot and by boat through the heart of Outlander country, from Oman to Inverness (along the Caledonian Canal), so rereading Outlander will be required reading before the trip.

6. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck - another favorite novel from a favorite novelist. I love the setting and the characters, the rich and varied plot, the historical stuff, and the heart and writing. Here's my post from 2014.

7. Favorite Dickens's novels - see, I am cheating because I want to reread Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby, Little Dorrit, and David Copperfield.

8. The Reluctant Widow, by Georgette Heyer - my first Heyer and so my sentimental favorite. I've read it at least three times and my copy is literally falling apart because it was well-used when I acquired it. Must get new, pretty copy!

9. The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien - I read this many times as a teen and for some reason have a hankering to revisit Middle Earth. Will see how long this yearning lasts, but I do want to spend time with Bilbo.

10. All of Austen - as an active JASNA member, rereading Austen is de rigueur and never a chore. I no longer keep track of how many times I have read each of the novels. Not enough fingers.

I love spending time with old friends. How about you? 

Fiona and Ina

 

Fiona, the sentry guard dragon

Last year, I spent my gardening budget on installing the native garden, the plants and all the fixin's, such as mulch and paving stones. This year's budget went mostly towards acquiring Fiona, our newly installed sentry guard dragon. It took three men at the garden store to wrestle her into our SUV, but my engineer husband and I were able to get her out of the car and into the garden on our own. We devised a ramp using a step ladder and plywood and utilized a dolly and voila, she is now on guard duty.

One of my Australian cousins informed me that dragons in gardens bring luck, so I did a bit of searching and found some interesting tidbits (from the Magic Bricks blog) that are relevant to our dragon and that make me happy:

Dragons hold a special significance in Chinese tradition. It is a mythical creature known to bring good luck and fortune. Feng Shui dragon statues are placed in houses, shops and offices to attract success, abundance and prosperity.

A dragon statue holding a crystal is quite popular. The crystal is referred to as the wish fulfilment jewel. This type of dragon helps build hope. 

You can place a dragon statue in the east direction of your house to invite success and abundance. The east direction of your house also governs health. Placing a Feng Shui dragon in this direction promotes good health. 

I'm not sure whether this means the dragon should be facing east or should be on the eastern side of the house. Our dragon is to the south of the house, but we're also in good shape as the blog says this direction maintains peace and harmony at home.

Enough About Dragons...On to Books

Be Ready When the Luck Happens, by Ina Garten - I seem to be on a celebrity memoir kick lately, but I just finished listening to another one and really enjoyed it. Our repertoire of dinners includes several of Ina's, and hers is one of the cooking shows I fondly remember because I learned something about cooking by watching it. I really enjoyed hearing about her life with Jeffrey, how she jumped from working in the White House to owning The Barefoot Contessa, and how she built her business (from the shop to cookbooks to TV). I loved hearing about her time in France, both as a newlywed and later when she bought an apartment there. It was tough to read about her childhood and her cold, demanding, and (at times) abusive parents, but this was obviously a huge part of making her who she became.

I especially like the title of the memoir, which Ina explains at the end of the book. For most of her life, she attributed her success to being lucky when in actuality she worked hard, was true to herself and her values, had fun, and was ready to take advantage of opportunities when they came her way. 

I just started watching her latest TV show, Be My Guest, and guess what, I learned something. I think this weekend I might make the Halibut with Herbed Butter from episode 1.

Hope you're having a wonderful summer (or winter for those down under). 

Happy belated solstice, and happy reading!

 

 

Evening Primrose and Flight of Dreams

Garden Notes

This week's star native is evening primrose. The particular species I planted last year is Oenothera howardii (Howard's evening primrose), which is a Colorado native. It didn't bloom at all last year, but it started last week and is stealing the spotlight with its vibrant trumpet-shaped flowers. 

One of the things I love about it is that it requires very little water but looks lush and tropical. All of the descriptions in books and online say that it blooms in the evening and overnight (good for nighttime pollinators), but mine bloom all day long!

Apparently, the entire plant is edible and has played an important part in indigenous medicine. I found some online instructions that detail how to make evening primrose oil from the blossoms, but I think I have enough on my plate right now before I even think about going down that path!

Isn't she a beauty?

 I am growing it to support the local ecosystem, and its beauty is my reward.

Book Notes

Flight of Dreams, by Ariel Lawhon - this is a 2016 novel by one of my favorite authors. I loved her The Frozen River and Code Name Hélène and was completely enthralled with Flight of Dreams. Here's the GoodReads blurb:

On the evening of May 3rd, 1937, ninety-seven people board the Hindenburg for its final, doomed flight to Lakehurst, New Jersey. Among them are a frightened stewardess who is not what she seems; the steadfast navigator determined to win her heart; a naive cabin boy eager to earn a permanent spot on the world’s largest airship; an impetuous journalist who has been blacklisted in her native Germany; and an enigmatic American businessman with a score to settle. Over the course of three hazy, champagne-soaked days their lies, fears, agendas, and hopes for the future are revealed.

The novel takes place from the moment of takeoff to the aftermath when the survivors are still struggling to deal with the fact that they did survive. Yes, there were survivors--62 out of the 97 did survive the explosion and resulting fireball that consumed the German airship. 

Interesting Fact: The Hindenburg survival rate was 64% while that of the Titanic was only 32%.

It took everything I had not to read about the Hindenburg disaster until after I finished the book because virtually all of the characters were actual passengers or crew aboard the airship, and I didn't want any spoilers. The author did say that she invented the various story threads that connect the various characters, making for a rich, interesting, realistic, and compelling (i.e., nail-biting) fictional account of the final voyage of the airship.

What I found super interesting is that the term airship is totally appropriate--everything was nautical except they were going through air instead of water. I would love to see even a scale model of the interior. Flying on the Hindenburg, or on other airships, was really the height of luxury travel in the day. Unlike the Titanic, there was no steerage or 2nd class--every passenger ticket was a first-class ticket.

This is one of those books I practically couldn't put down--Lawhon is an exceptionally good histoirical novelist, using real events and real people to catapult her into a marvelous story that really could've happened. Another 5-star novel from Lawhon.

Now, I am wondering about her novel I Was Anastasia. I don't buy into conspiracy theories and have never embraced the idea that Anastasia Romanov escaped the fate of the rest of her family, but I trust Lawhon to tell a good story based on known facts...so maybe?

June, Glorious June

 

Rocky Mt Penstemon in the Native Garden

Garden Notes

The June-gloom that started the month meant lots of rain for the emerging garden. Here are two views of the native garden I put in last year--almost eveything came back with just a few bare spots that a trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens annual plant sale enabled me to fill in. The pollinators have been working hard in the garden already, and today I saw two Swallowtail butterflies stop by for a drink.

I grew just about all my flowers from seed this year, with a few pots with Mother's Day offerings. I have a blue garden that I am slowly filling in, and the raised bed veggie garden is looking promising.

Books, Books, Books

What I Ate in One Year, by Stanley Tucci - after months on the library wait list, I finally got to listen to Stanley Tucci read his latest memoir. I loved his earlier book, Taste, which was about his early life, family, acting career, and, of course, food. I also loved the CNN show, Searching for Italy, and was so disappointed when it was cancelled. This book, as the title screams, is a year in the life and chronicles not only what he ate and where and what he cooked and why and who for, but is the year leading up to the taping of his current food travelogue on National Geographic, Tucci in Italy. I've watched the first three episodes (new ones drop on Sunday nights), and it is wonderful. I love Italian food, I love Italian history, I love visiting Italy, and Stanley Tucci is passionate about what he loves. A fun read!

The Third Gilmore Girl, by Kelly Bishop - Gilmore Girls is such a favorite. I've watched it multiple times over the years, and it never gets stale. Kelly Bishop was the perfect Emily Gilmore, so it was a no-brainer to get on the library waitlist to listen to her talk about her life and career. 

Coincidently, Kelly was born in Colorado Springs, my hometown, and was the same age as my sister, although my parents didn't move there until she was in first grade. She moved to Denver with her family and studied ballet. At nineteen, she headed for NYC--rejected by the American Ballet Theatre, she worked as a dancer on Broadway for years and was the original Sheila Bryant in A Chorus Line, for which she won a Tony in 1976. She transitioned to acting as dancers' careers have an expiration date. Her first major-ish role was as Baby's mother in Dirty Dancing, and she had lots of roles in TV, movies, and plays on Broadway until she hit the jackpot with Gilmore Girls. The show's creator, Amy Sherman Palladino, did the intro to the book, and they were and remain fast friends.

I loved hearing about Kelly's career and the life of an entertainer. Definitely a fun book to listen to.

The Shell House Detectives, by Emylia Hall - Kathy at Reading Matters recently posted about this book, and since it sounded like something I would definitely enjoy, I promptly got it from my library and devoured it. Set in Cornwall in a small town, two unlikely people find themselves working together to solve the case of the disappearing trophy wife. Jayden is a former Leeds cop who has relocated to his wife's hometown after the death of his partner, and Ally is a widow grieving for her police sergeant husband who died about a year earlier. The other townfolk include Saffron, the cafe owner, Tim, the bumbling local cop and his boss, as well as the nasty rich newcomer and his boorish brother. I loved every minute I spent reading this book--first in what promises to be a good series. The characters and setting were marvelous, the writing decent, and the plot interesting. Thanks, Kathy, for a great recommendation. 

The London House, by Katherine Reay - I really wanted to love this one, and I did in parts, but I also had some issues. The basic idea is that Caroline, an American with a rich English father, goes to London to discover the truth about her great aunt. An old boyfriend of Caroline's who is now a historian is writing a story about how Caroline's aunt defected to the Nazis while living in Paris during WWII, and Caroline and her father are distraught at the thought of the world knowing this. The London House is Caroline's father's ancestral home (one of two actually) -- Caroline's mother, now divorced from her father, is living there and gives Caroline stacks of letters and diaries that the disgraced aunt's twin sister saved.

If this sounds like a soap opera, hang on...there's more. There's a love triangle between the twin sisters (i.e., Caroline's great aunts), there's misplaced pride and guilt that wreaked generations of marriages and parent/child relationships, and there's the mystery of why the old boyfriend and Caroline stopped being friends. 

I really enjoyed the history part of this book, and the multiple timelines, and the research that the contemporary characters did. I really enjoyed visiting London and Paris with the modern characters. And, I enjoyed the fashion angle during World War II in Paris, especially since I watched The New Look about Christian Dior and Coco Chanel so hearing about Schiaparelli's fashion house was super interesting, especially that Wallis Simpson's Lobster Dress from the 1937 collection.

I think this novel would have worked much better if the author hadn't succumbed to the idea that every story needs to be a love story. And, families that are as damaged as Caroline's can't heal as fast as this one did. Finding out the truth about Caroline's great-aunt fixed everything--the coldness that had presumably destroyed her parents' marriage and that shrouded her in a cloak of self-doubt and anxiety was suddenly gone and everything was rosy and happy. I don't mind happy endings, but a little reality check seemed to be called for here.

Spring Reading Roundup

 Nothing like a couple of flights to get some great books read. Here's what I've been reading.

Pigs in Heaven, by Barbara Kingsolver - this is the sequel to the marvelous The Bean Trees and follows the story of Taylor and her adopted daughter, Turtle, three years after the end of the first book. 

I loved everything about Pigs in Heaven--Taylor's ferocious spirit and ethical core shines through and makes the book sing. I also really enjoyed spending more time with Taylor's mother, Alice, who figures much more prominently in this story. 

The gist of the story is that the Cherokee Nation discovers the anomalies in Turtle's adoption; when Taylor finds out that the adoption is being investigated, she literally freaks out and hits the road with Turtle. There is a lot of story and great characters along the way--from a real, live Barbie doll who does not share Taylor's ethical core, to the community of Heaven, Oklahoma that is practically one extended family, to Taylor's boyfriend, Jax, and Alice's cousin Sugar. 

I love small-town stories and this eventually becomes one.

Fun Fact: the title comes from a Cherokee story about the Pigs in Heaven, aka the Pleiades, a constellation that consists of six wayward Cherokee boys and their mother. 

Work Song, by Ivan Doig - another sequel to a wonderful novel, The Whistling Season. This story is all about charming Morrie Morgan and takes place ten years after the first book (i.e., 1919) and is set in Butte, Montana during its heyday as the "copper-capital of the world." 

Morrie lives in a boarding house with a widowed landlady and a couple of ex-miners. He finds work first as an official mourner at wakes and then as a jack-of-all trades at the local library, which is run by a bigwig cattleman and ardent bibliophile. He gets involved in the local miners union, and true to form, comes up with wild and crazy solutions to the problems he and the union face--namely, how to create a stirring work song that will rally the miners and help them stand up to the copper company.

As with The Whistling Season, Work Song, is exuberant, energetic, and a whole lot of fun. While the issues, political and social, are real and sobering--WWI just ended and the Spanish Flu ravaged populations worldwide, unions were fighting for safer conditions and better, more equitable pay--the story itself is wonderful as Morrie deals with the union-busting goons who discover his Chicago past, which he is still trying to outrun. Rabrab (aka Barbara) from Whistling Season is now a 5th grade teacher in Butte and brings her children into his orbit with delightful results, especially Famine, fastest boy in the west. 

Next in the trilogy about Morrie is Sweet Thunder. Can't wait to read it.

Kate & Frida, by Kim Fay - not a sequel but another book by a wonderful author. I read Fay's first book, Love and Saffron, a few years ago and so was eager to read this one. Like Love and Saffron, Kate & Frida is an epistolary novel--letters between two women who strike up a long-distance friendship and become truly best friends.

Kate works in a bookstore in Seattle, and Frida is living in Paris "enroute" to a life as a war correspondent. The novel is set in the 1990s, which was sort of nostalgic in that there are lots of references to 1990s TV, movies, celebrities, politics, etc., but life is not all that different now than then. Of course, now the letters would be emails and not delivered by snails. In the afterword, Fay says that many of the characters and situations were based on real people and events in her life, so I guess she needed to set the novel when she did.

In the course of the three years that the letters span, both Kate and Frida evolve from wanna-be writers to young women with a sense of who they are, what they want, and how they want to live. Not really a coming-of-age story--more of a coming-to-maturity story. My favorite bits, apart from the food descriptions, were when Frida was helping a group of refugee women from war-torn Sarajevo deal with the trauma they faced and the friends/family left behind during the Bosnian War. 

Killers of a Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn - I discovered this book on Lark Writes. The premise is that four sixty-something female assassins (targeting only the worst of the worst) come out of retirement when they are targeted for assassination. Most of the time reading this, I was reminded of The Golden Girls, with Billie and Mary Alice doubling as Dorothy, Helen was clearly naive Rose, and sexy Natalie was definitely Blanche. No real Sophia, but you can only stretch a parallel so far!

This was great fun to read, but I doubt I will read the second book in the series as I had a bit of a hard time with the whole assassination/killing aspect. I don't believe in vigilante justice, and the story points out that those with the power to name targets can be corrupted. I'd rather see us Gray Panthers sleuthing rather than killing. It is refreshing to see lots of books and TV/films featuring aging boomers who are still active and alert.

Garden Notes

Following age-old guidance, I planted a lot during the past few days of the Flower Moon (what the May full moon is called). The tomatoes and peppers were hardened off and now are in the ground, along with marigolds to keep the bugs at bay. A naturalist friend reminds me that a plant that is not being eaten is not part of the ecosystem, but I planted a whole native flower garden for them to feast upon so that leaving my tomato plants alone is not to much to ask.

Front planter box with coleus and impatiens.

Dining table on deck becomes garden bench!

The petunias are stretching out in their hanging baskets, gearing up for a season of blooms. I've been making pots of coleus and impatiens, which I think look stunning together. And my son and I planted carrots, beets, zucchini, and beans today. This weekend I'll be planting sunflowers as well as a bed of corn/beans/pumpkin (the Three Sisters).

TV Notes

We finally watched the final episode of Northern Exposure earlier this week. I cried. Here's a link to the gorgeous song that ended the series. This isn't footage from the show, but it is the same version of the song, Our Town, by Iris DeMent:

I just started watching Miss Austen--first episode was quite good, with Cassandra's flashbacks to when she and Jane where young. I didn't know that Mary Lloyd, James Austen's second wife, was also related to Cassandra's fiancé, who died before they could marry. Every story needs a villain, and Mary is shaping up to be the villain of this one.

April Showers

It's really spring, and we're having the rain (and snow) that comes with the rhyme! Thank goodness--my native flower garden is greening up, the onions and peas are in the ground, and I'm transplanting seedlings this week. Got the Roma and Money Maker tomatoes, tomatillos, and violas transplanted into larger pots so that their roots can develop before they go outside. Next, I'll do the various peppers, and then soon the other flowers. I'm running out of room, so I'll be assembling my second grow station to handle the overflow as bigger pots take up more room.

March flew by--the wrist is mostly healed, but now my right shoulder has been hurting from something or other. Hopefully, I will get that sorted soon as the garden is calling, and I must go.

I have a lot of books in progress and have finished a couple.

The Last Queen, by C.W. Gortner - this was a recommendation from Michelle at True Book Addict...Books, Cats, and More. I reread The Winter King with her in January, and she recommended this novel about Juana, Queen of Castile, daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand and sister of Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Known as Joanna the Mad, this was a fabulous fictional account of a princess of Spain who is married off to Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Flanders. They have a passionate love marriage until he becomes jealous of her inheriting her mother's kingdom of Castile. Really a wonderful historical novel about someone I knew very little about. I know everyone knows that it wasn't easy being a woman, even or especially a royal woman, in the 16th century, but Juana did her best to be the heir to her mother's crown. Her story makes Elizabeth I's achievements even more astounding.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Q. Sutanto - loved this book so much. Set in San Francisco, Vera Wong is a Chinese Tiger Grandma who flexes her detective muscles when she discovers a dead body in her tea shop one morning and decides that he must have been murdered. I loved her spunk and her many flaws, which actually are far outweighed by her many virtues, not least of which is cooking massive meals for those she loves, might love, or might have clues that she needs to uncover. I also loved reading about her tea ingredients and what special brews she could concoct.

This is book one in a very promising series--book two was just released this past Tuesday, April 1--there is a great assortment of secondary characters who promise to have strong legs to help carry the series, including the classic reluctant police detective, a couple of surrogate daughters desperately in need of a Tiger Mom to help them find their full potential, a couple of surrogate sons who also need direction, and a real son who has no idea how ingenious his mom really is.

I hope everyone is able to clock some outdoor time this April--the best way, besides reading, that I know of to stay sane and functioning. Take care, my bookish friends, the world is getting weird, but we are a supportive community that shares common interests.

Colorado Native Flower Garden...Finished!

 

My new Colorado native flower garden is officially done except for the bare area where I'll be scattering seeds in the fall. This project required us to remove 8 inches of pea gravel, rototill, add 8 inches of soil, build a path of paving stones, plant 176 plants (some that I grew from seed, some that I got at plant swaps, and some that I bought), top with mulch, and water one to two times a day, depending on heat and wind. They say the first year is for setting roots so hopefully this time next year it will look more like a flower garden!

For native garden expectations (hopes, dreams), the saying goes: first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap. So this year, the roots should be establishing themselves so that they can survive the winter. I am hoping that I get more blossoms during the creep year, when the plants should be spreading out, sending out runners, etc. And then, hang on for the leap year!

Here is my layout of plants, quantity, and location. The legend is at the top and the planted area is below with abbreviations and number of plants. The general idea is tallest at the back, along the fence. I had wanted more purple and orange, but they were hard to find. The butterfly weed is a CO native milkweed. The goldenrod and chokecherry are keystone plants, meaning that it is host to many different insects and birds, and not species-specific like the milkweed/Monarch butterfly relationship. The green stuff is ground cover that will hopefully fill in around the paving stones.

BTW, I did win a $500 grant from the Landscaping With Colorado Native Plants Conference. The grant money can only be used for buying native plants, not soil, paving stones, mulch, etc. It turns out that I spent a bit over $500, but I will be filling out the paperwork with receipts, photos, etc for reimbursement shortly. Actually, I figure that I was able to grow a third of the plants from seed, acquired a third at plant swaps that only ask for donations, and got the final third from our local native plant supplier, Harlequin's Gardens in Boulder. Even if you're not in CO, Harlequin's website is a treasure trove of info if you are interested in going native.