Retirement Continued

Spanish

ICS, for whom I volunteer to drive people just out of hospital, encouraged us to take Spanish.  They provided the instructor at the office and a free textbook.  I figured that I could use more brain synapses (which keep one from going senile), so I signed up.  Asked to work on it an hour a day.  I’ve been trying to sing along with Ya No Vivo Por Vivir on YouTube (Ya No Vivo Por Vivir), but es difícil, even following the lyrics I printed up, along with the translation.  (Lyn, Nancy, Melissa, you try the first two lines!)  I try to listen to canciónes en Español in the car when I’m driving, but only understand about one word per sentence.  And I did have three years of Spanish in high school (albeit many years ago)!  Got four kids’ libros de imágenes en Español de la biblioteca, but only understood one: Masas de Agua, Océanos y Mares.  Muy fácil and I liked reading it aloud.  Also encouraged to download Duolingo, but it has mucha repetición, and gets boring fast.  We’re basically only doing present tense, but were encouraged to purchase 501 Spanish Verbs which goes into 14 (!) different tenses plus le gerundio y imperativo.  You’d probably be surprised to know that English has 12:

The present, past and future tenses are divided into four aspects: the simple, progressive, perfect and perfect progressive. verb-tenses

Tennis

It was my daughter who said that we should get back into tennis, but after one clinic she decided that with her part-time work, a husband and three kids, volunteering at their school, and finishing her Masters, maybe she ought to wait until after she finishes the degree in May.

However, I took two months of clinics, mostly twice a week, along with two private lessons (serving and backhand), at the Tucson Racquet Club, where I had played for years, and am starting to relearn how to play.  The pro suggested I replace the 40-year-old racquet, then my ratty tennis shoes, and I bought a tennis skirt, an arm brace, a knee brace, and shoe inserts for arches.  But once I started on a team (USTA¹ 3.0, where 7.0 is a world-class player), and Queen of the Court, which is weekly competition, both for doubles, needed to get acupuncture and better NSAID² meds (Celebrex and turmeric³) from my doc.

Movie

Saw Gloria Bell with a couple of friends.  They loved it and Julianne Moore did a great job, but I thought it was too depressing.

Books

Finally finished The Overstory (see last blog).  Had liked most of it, when each of the myriad of characters had a chapter, but when they were combined in the final chapters, I felt that I needed a cheat sheet on who was who, like you find in the front of Russian novels, which you need to keep everyone’s names straight.  Plus I didn’t like the ending, although, of course, a friend remarked that I knew it would end that way.

Speed read The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which is a true story.  At only 254 pages, it’s a two-day read compared to the previous tome, and seems to skim over details too fast.  I remember reading The Wall, by John Hersey when I was a kid, and thought that it was real.  Based on historical fact but using fictional characters and fictional diary entries, the work presents the background of the valiant but doomed Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of Jews against the Nazis. Close enough to reality, I guess, even though the characters were invented.  From my recollection (which my brother often points out aren’t always true), I think The Wall was better, at 640 pages.

Continuing to have Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon read to me, either for  longer drives (as back-and-forth to the Racquet Club), or to put me to sleep at night.  I loved his Snow Crash but am having a hard time getting through this, first of all because it is 1,172 pages (downloaded on my tablet), and I’ve had to reserve it twice so far from the library, but also because it is heavier into war-related technology than I am.  I was a math major for a short time, and did get a degree in computer science, so I could picture the math nerds depicted.  Stephenson’s descriptions are a kick.  It does well, nevertheless, putting me to sleep.  This from Wikipedia:

…One group of characters are World War II-era Allied codebreakers and tactical-deception operatives affiliated with the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park (UK), and disillusioned Axis military and intelligence figures. The second narrative is set in the late 1990s, with characters that are (in part) descendants of those of the earlier time period, who employ cryptologic, telecom, and computer technology to build an underground data haven in the fictional Sultanate of Kinakuta…

Spring

Seen this last week: A bobcat slinking along my back fence – was just getting up when my cat saw it and stood on her hind legs to watch it, with large eyes.  A bee (only one in my whole garden!⁴) on the globe mallow outside the fence which was sprawling on the ground (the mallow, not the bee) but I tied to the fence with twine so I could see it.  The photo also shows, on the column, my resident dove who has a nest on the south wall, under my neighbor’s lady banksia rose.  Wonder if it’s the same one each year, in the same place.  A pair of rosy finches on this back fence, a popular spot above the birdbath.  Have seen mostly goldfinches at their feeder.

Between the snow⁵ and the summer⁶
When the temps are beginning to climb
Come two months of Tucson’s weather
That are the most benign.

It was 82° Sunday at Tonono Chul park when I and friends went to Sundays in the Garden Spring Concert Series.  We were seated in the Performance Garden under a huge mesquite, in the shade, peppered with its golden fuzzy flowers.  The two classical guitarists from the University were good, but we were almost dozing in the warmth.

¹United States Tennis Association
²Many patients are prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) for a variety of common orthopedic conditions including arthritis, tendonitis, and bursitis. These medications are particularly useful not only because they help decrease pain, but they also help control swelling and inflammation.  anti-inflammatory-medication
³Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. It has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant.  health-benefits-of-turmeric
⁴Insect populations are declining precipitously worldwide due to pesticide use and other factors, with a potentially “catastrophic” effect on the planet, a study has warned.
More than 40% of insect species could become extinct in the next few decades, according to the “Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers” report, published in the journal Biological Conservation…
In addition to the 40% at risk of dying out, a third of species are endangered — numbers that could cause the collapse of the planet’s ecosystems with a devastating impact on life on Earth. /www.cnn.com/2019/02/11
⁵See my-favorite-things for snow photos from mid-March.
⁶100° weather starts mid-May.

Pain in Tucson

Tucson made last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, not once but twice, and both articles about pain.

The first: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/21/magazine/21diagnosis.html

The second: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/magazine/the-connoisseur-of-pain.html

Justin Schmidt with a live tarantula-hawk wasp (Pain Level 4). Photo: Robert Clark for The New York Times.

TMA Artisans Market

If you brave driving through the Tour de Tucson bicyclists to visit the Tucson Museum of Art’s Artisans Market (November 20-22, 10-5), stop by booth #102 to peruse my neighbors’ wares – absolutely gorgeous cutting boards and knitting.

Valley Fever in the News

http://tucson.com/news/science/health-med-fit/cases-of-valley-fever-up-percent-through-october/article_36f17bc8-2cc2-558a-9612-5121aa2e3ad1.html

Computers!

I shall be teaching two computer classes in the fall – CIS (Computer Information Systems – this class is mostly Excel) and  CAD (Computer Aided Drafting).  I’m getting the books to peruse, and am setting up my computer.  Had an old version of Windows (Vista – yeah, yeah, from just after the mastodons died) and upgraded affordably to Windows 8.  Had to buy a portable hard drive to save my personal information in case the hard drive was reformatted.  Downloading Windows took a couple of hours.  But when I started to download 4.02 GB of AutoCAD (free for instructors), the screen displayed 691 days 14 hours remaining.  Boy, does someone have a sense of humor!  It only took 14 hours…

When Windows upgraded, however, it threw away my Microsoft Office, which contained Word, Excel and PowerPoint, which I need for CIS, so I had to download a new Microsoft Office (also free for instructors).  Another problem was that my McAfee didn’t work.  I had paid for that so I let the technician (who I was delighted to find was female) take over my computer remotely to rectify the problem.  What a way to spend a weekend.

Carnage 

Got up this morning, opened the drapes, and went back to bed to listen to the news.  A huge smash! as what appeared to be a dove crashed into the glass door, turned around and glided over the rosemary to the small wash.  A large hawk in pursuit flapped by.  A while later I went to wash off the patio – there was blood and guts and feces splattered about.  That dove was doomed.

Yesterday morning I was sitting in bed reading the newspaper when a juvenile bobcat looked in the door,  but it didn’t stop for photographs.

Three times during the past week I have gone out back in the morning, startling a deer munching on mesquite pods under the large mesquite tree. They are so skittish!

When this year’s pack of coyotes go at it a few times a day (now at 4:30 pm) they all sound young – a lot of yipping, but no soulful howls, no gravitas.

Omar Sharif

…died at 83.   We all fell in love with him as Doctor Zhivago, but did you know that he was also one of the world’s top 50 contact bridge players?  I used to read his newspaper bridge column.  You can buy an Omar Sharif Bridge App (video game), or buy one of his books on bridge or bridge instructions.

Was disappointed to discover that he did not lead tours down the Nile, as
Egypt with Omar Sharif would have you believe.  I pictured him on the boat, talking about the mysteries of the Egyptian pyramids, as he did with Jane Pauley in April 1988, and teaching bridge in the evening.

He was born Michel Chalhoub, an Egyptian Catholic, but converted to Islam to marry an Egyptian actress.   They were married for 12 years.  He made Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand during the Six Day War, and when he had an affair with her (a Jew!) Egypt almost took away his citizenship.  (Barbra Streisand tried to make light of it. “Egypt angry!” she said. “You should hear what my Aunt Sarah said!”)

Pneumonia

Felt punk the other day, fluish but with what felt like cracked ribs on my left side.  Got a sub for the next day and saw my doctor who sent me for X-rays. Two hours later he called and told me that I have pneumonia!  I got online and discovered that you can contact it without even being in a hospital!   You can get pneumonia when you are in a hospital or nursing home. This is called healthcare-associated pneumonia.  You can also get it in your daily life, such as at school or work. This is called community-associated pneumonia.¹

Plus, there are many strains, so the pneumonia shot, which provides immunity against the most common 23 strains of streptococcus pneumonia,² which I had gotten, did not hit the bullseye.  (Like the flu shot that I had paid a few bucks for last year, only to pick up the flu from my grandkids at Christmas.) More than a hundred “bugs” (bacteria, viruses and fungi) can cause community-acquired pneumonia.² Walking pneumonia (mycoplasma pneumoniae), which I guess I have, is most common in late summer and fall [and is] spread in families, schools and institutions…³

Was prescribed levofloxacin, which is also good for anthrax and plague, so I’m covered.  But, according to the pharmacist’s Medication Guide, the meds can cause photosensitivity (which is not being afraid of selfies, but being sun sensitive, a double whammy for blondes), tendon rupture or swelling (which worries me as my shoulder has finally healed) as well as cause serious side effects that can result in death.  Super.  Teaching is a dangerous profession.

¹http://www.webmd.com/lung/tc/pneumonia-topic-overview
²http://www.pennlive.com/bodyandmind/index.ssf/2011/12/5_questions_about_getting_a_pn.html
³https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/mycoplasma/fact_sheet.htm

Pumpkins

I especially miss the grandkids on holidays, like Halloween.  Used to go to Willcox to pick pumpkins¹.  Now they’re doing it in Idaho.  (Daughter’s photos of herself and youngest in pumpkin patch, with oldest two painting pumpkins.)

This I don’t miss.  (From my daughter’s Facebook page.)  Luckily she’s a nurse…

It’s amazing some children survive until adulthood. Aiden fell off an approximately 12′ retaining wall today straight down onto his face. It could have been MUCH worse but there was a lot of blood and some temporary panicking about head injury…

This child is “Scarface” in my blog from April, 2013².  But he’s also cute (also from my daughter’s Facebook page):

Aiden’s teacher told me today that he reported to her that In Our garden we are growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and bikinis.

October 13, 2014

Went to Home Depot today for my almost-weekly trip for gardening supplies, and not only did they have a huge display of pumpkins and assorted Halloween folderol but they had a huge display of Xmas trees and lights.  Am thinking of boycotting them until after Thanksgiving (when I think Xmas displays should be allowed).

Tendonitis

Yes, I still have it.  But these are good for it:

>A two-hour lunch (Zona 78 – split a very good pizza) with friend B* on a rainy day
>An eight-hour day of work at the college
>Salonpas, a pain reliever patch that the tree trimmer (actually owner of the company – two others did all of the extensive work) recommended – took two out of the envelope and gave me the rest.  Totally marvelous!
>Tucson Meet Yourself on a beautiful autumn day (with friend R and her mother-in law V** – bought food that V had never had from many different countries such as Mexican horchata, Laotian eggrolls, Turkish dolmates, Polish pierogi (some potato, some mushroom), and French pear clafouti³)
>Lunch (Prep & Pastry – very good, as usual) and a movie (The Two Faces of January, a psychological thriller based on the 1964 novel, at the Loft)  with friend N

Bad for it:

>Exercise class at the Y
>Yard work
>House work

*B had good suggestions about water heaters.  First: turn them when you’re on vacation, and during the summer.  (Who needs a hot shower in the summer?  Who uses anything but cold water to wash clothes?  And the dishwasher heats its own water.  Second: if you have an electric water heater, buy a timer (like the one you put on lights in your house when you’re gone) and only turn hot water heater on, in the winter, when you’ll be taking showers, such as in the morning.

**Have to repeat story that V (pushing 90) told:
Her son had given her her first cell phone, with a cat meow for a ring tone.  (Think I want one of those!)  She wasn’t well acquainted with it and neglected to turn it off in church.  Of course it started meowing during the sermon.  Three meows, with many people looking around for the cat, before she could get it out of her purse and turned off.

Leif Erikson

Friends had their yearly Leif Ericson party.

Leif Erikson was a Norse explorer regarded as the first European to land in North America, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

Absolutely delicious Norwegian food [such as gravlaks (sweet and salty cured salmon), kjøttboller (meatballs), sursild (pickled herring),  and geitost (brown/red cheese) meatballs, but no pig’s trotter or sheep’s head], and lots of friends.

Then there are the toasts with aquavit, kind of a caraway-flavored vodka, 40% alcohol by volume.  Or other flavors; this year R made loganberry-flavored, mixing the berries and vodka himself.  People used to chug the shot of the caraway-flavored ’cause they didn’t like the taste.  Now people were enjoying the berry-flavored shots.  The toast recited was: “Din skol, min skol, alla backa flicka skol” (Here’s to you, here’s to me, here’s to all the pretty girls).

¹https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/4%E2%80%9D-o-c/
²http://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/peccaries-and-plants/
³http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2011/09/22/prepare-your-waistline-for-tucson-meet-yourself

Decorated Skies

White billowy clouds,
But no precipitation –
Decorated skies.

Rogue Theater

Saw the play at the Rogue Theater last weekend.  Clifford Odet’s Awake and Sing, about lives of an urban family during the Great Depression,¹ was pretty good.  Go see it!  David Greenwood, who plays the grandfather, Jacob, is in my qigong class.  He was great, sounding like a Jewish patriarch, and no longer in my head as the Southern father in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, in which he was fabulous.

Then had drinks with friends.  He gave me one of their white pomegranates, and seeds from their Texas mountain laurel tree, which are bright red.  (I’ll have to add a photo after I cut into the pomegranate.)  Maybe because I’d been discussing hallucinogens in my last blog.

The Texas mountain laurel is called mescal bean by some gardeners. It forms a seedpod that contains red, round beans by late summer. The beans cause hallucinations at low levels. The beans are also very poisonous if the alkaloids within are released. The same seed coating that protect the seed from drought, however, will allow it to be swallowed and pass through our bodies without harm, in most cases.²

The friends also suggested that for organic food I join the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)³ which has pickups at the old Y, which is also the home of the Rogue Theater.  This last week’s produce was bell peppers, cubanelle or marconi peppers, honeydew melons, okra, red onions, roasted chiles, roma tomatoes, summer squash.  I must think about that.  I remember when my daughter was in a CSA in Phoenix and had huge amounts of greens during the summer.  She had called to ask what to do with mustard greens.  I’ve never cooked mustard greens!  And it might be too much food for one person.

The Tucson CSA quotes Michael Pollan (who wrote The Botany of Desire, which I had discussed two blogs ago⁴), Eat Food, not too much, and mostly plants.

Rosacea continued

A few blogs ago⁵ I mentioned that my cousin had recommended argan oil with oregano oil for my rosacea. The guy at The Vitamin Shoppe (pronounced shop-ee?), when finding argan oil for me, mentioned that he thought emu oil for good for rosacea.

The emu is a flightless bird that resembles a small ostrich. Emu oil is taken from the fat of this bird during processing. It is used to make medicine.

Emu oil is taken by mouth for improving cholesterol levels, as a source of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, for weight loss, and as a cough syrup for colds, H1N1 (swine) flu, and flu.

Some people apply emu oil to the skin for relief from sore muscles, aching joints, pain or inflammation, carpal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, shin splints, and gout. It is also used topically to improve healing of wounds, cuts, and burns from radiation therapy; to reduce bruises and stretch marks; to reduce scarring and keloids; to heal surgical wounds caused by removing skin for skin grafts; to reduce redness due to acne; and to soften dry cuticles and promote healthy nails. Emu oil is also used topically athlete’s foot; diaper rash; canker sores; chapped lips; poor circulation; and skin conditions, including cancer, dry skin, dandruff, eczema, psoriasis, wrinkles or age spots. It is also used to protect skin from sun damage and to promote more youthful looking skin.

Emu oil is also applied to the skin to reduce pain and irritation from shingles, bedsores, hemorrhoids, diabetic nerve pain, insect bites, earaches, eye irritation, “growing pains,” and frostbite. It is used for rashes, razor burn, and nicks.

Some massage therapists apply emu oil to clients’ skin as part of their treatment.

Some people put emu oil inside the nose to treat colds and flu.

Emu oil (7%) is used in combination with glycolic acid (10%) for lowering blood fats including triglycerides, and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol; preventing and treating allergies; preventing scarring; treating headaches, especially migraines; preventing nosebleeds; treating and preventing cold and flu symptoms; and relieving discomfort associated with menstruation.

In veterinary practice, emu oil is used to reduce swelling in joints, prevent cracked or peeling paws, calm “hot spots,” and reduce irritation of flea bites.

In manufacturing, emu oil is used to sharpen and oil industrial machinery, for polishing timber and leather, and for conditioning and waterproofing.

How does it work?

Emu oil contains chemicals called fatty acids that might reduce pain and swelling (inflammation). There is some evidence that emu oil might work better for sudden (acute) inflammation than for ongoing (chronic) inflammation.

When emu oil is applied to the skin, it has moisturizing and cosmetic properties that resemble mineral oil.⁶

With all of its claims (cholesterol, aching joints, cuts and burns, dandruff, hemorrhoids, colds and flu, migraines…) emu oil sounds like the old snake oil…

¹http://www.theroguetheatre.org/ourseason.htm
²http://www.plantanswers.com/texas_mountain_laurel.htm
³http://www.tucsoncsa.org/harvest-history/
⁴https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/plants/
⁵https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/family-history/
⁶http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-825-emu%20oil.aspx?activeingredientid=825&activeingredientname=emu%20oil

Appliances, continued

Refrigerator

Do not bother buying the official condenser coil brush.  Most of the dust is on the front coils, so just vacuum them off.

Hot Water Heater

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that even though the [pressure relief] valve reset, there is still a drip drip drip outside from the discharge line outside.  The online instructions said, If the valve fails to completely reset and continues to release water, immediately disconnect the electrical power, close the cold water inlet valve and call a qualified person.  So I thought that was what I ought to do.

Looked through the plumber recommendation sheet I had from Benjamin Supply, and called the first one on the list.  He was at work on Sunday or he works out of his home – he answered.  Was telling him my story and when I got to Couldn’t get the handle [of the pressure relief valve] to lift…   So asked my neighbor to lend his male strength…  he said No don’t do that!  Too late.  Done the previous day.  Seems that if you haven’t been tweaking the handle of the valve on a yearly basis it corrodes on and adding strength just breaks it.  So we said he’d come by Monday.  $85 for the house call and replacement, but he gave the water heater a clean bill of health. Said it looked like new, as I don’t use it much, and that I should watch for corrosion around the bottom.  A weight off me; at least that’s one house part that won’t break this year.

He also said no, don’t dick around with the anode; they last 12 to 15 years if you don’t have a water softener (see below).  And it just hit me (even though I put it in yesterday’s blog) that the water tank is glass-lined, so there’s little to corrode.

Each water heater contains at least one anode rod, which will slowly deplete while protecting the glass-lined tank from corrosion and prolonging the life of the water heater.  Once the anode is depleted, the tank will start to corrode, eventually developing a leak.

I am just beginning to understand what an anode rod does.  (I nearly flunked chemistry almost 50 years ago.)  It corrodes so that any exposed steel doesn’t.

The anode rod is the most important factor in determining the life of your water heater. An anode rod is a steel core wire surrounded with one of three different metals. [American uses aluminum.] The rod is screwed into the top of your water heater and protects your water heater from rusting. When the tank is filled with water the anode rod sacrifices itself to protect the exposed steel of the water heater, through a method called electrolysis. Electrolysis happens when there are two pieces of metal connected inside of water, the process makes the anode rod corrode in place of the exposed steel in your water heater. During this process the more noble (less reactive) metal will corrode over the less (more reactive) noble metal. Aluminum… is much less noble than steel, meaning it will corrode before the steel, which is why it is used for anode rods.

A water softener also shortens the life of your anode rods significantly.  Aluminum anode rods are best for places with hard water. The aluminum rod will withstand harder water than any other type. Aluminum may be a health problem, so to be safe you may not want to drink hot water and make sure to run some cold water through the faucet spout before drinking the water.  Keep in mind, our sodas come in aluminum cans too.¹

And finally, when I showed him the bath tub faucet (that I hardly ever use as I usually take showers) which had started dripping after I had it running for a while, using up the hot water so that I could drain the hot water tank without getting scalded, he said that it was a Grohe, and that I needed to order both hot and cold cartridges from them, and that they would be free (!) as they are guaranteed for life.  Is that was this says below? So I emailed Grohe. We’ll see.

Residential Products: GROHE provides the following warranties on its products to the original purchaser, installed in a residential application. This warranty is effective for all faucets sold after January 1, 1997.

Mechanical Warranty: A Limited Lifetime Warranty is provided on all mechanical parts to be free from manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for as long as the original purchaser owns their home…²

Lutein

My father’s family curse (perhaps in addition to high cholesterol) is macular degeneration.  My cousin sent me this link:

What is lutein and can it improve vision? Lutein, and the related compound, zeaxanthin, are carotenoids found in high concentrations in the macula of the eye. You may already get sufficient lutein from the foods you eat, but many people do not. If you are among those who don’t, taking a supplement with the right amount of lutein has been shown to improve vision in people with atrophic age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Preliminary studies suggest lutein may also help in retinitis pigmentosa and other conditions.

ConsumerLab.com’s tests showed that many lutein and zeaxanthin supplements contain what they claim and meet other important quality parameters. The problem is knowing which product, if any, to choose. Formulations vary widely — the daily dose of lutein in products ranged from 4 to 45 mg, and the amounts of zeaxanthin range from 1 to 4 mg. The cost of the pills also ranged from just 12 cents to over $1 per day. Several “eye health” supplements also contained zinc and other ingredients similar to those in the AREDS formulation shown to prevent age-related macular degeneration in a major study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

You must be a member to get the full test results for lutein and zeaxanthin-containing supplements along with ConsumerLab.com recommendations and quality ratings…³

OK, I’m not joining consumer lab for $36, so I kept looking online.  Here is the recommended dosage and the foods that have lutein and zeaxanthin in them:

Lutein May Decrease Your Risk of Macular Degeneration

by George Torrey, Ph.D.
Lutein is the dominant component in the peripheral retina.

Dr. Johanna M. Seddon and associates at Harvard University found that 6 mg per day of lutein lead to a 43% lower risk for macular degeneration.  John T. Landrum and Richard A. Bone of Florida International University conducted a two-person study in 1995 to find out if lutein supplements would increase macular pigment. After 140 days, macular pigment increased about 20% in one man, 40 percent in the other. Although this study is minuscule, it is the first evidence that taking lutein supplements may restore lost macular pigment.

Lutein supplements are available in soft-gel capsule form. They should be taken at mealtime because lutein is absorbed better when ingested with a small amount of fat such as olive oil. The recommended dosage is 6 mg to 30 mg daily.

The following chart shows those foods that contain high amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin. Zeaxanthin is the dominant carotenoid in the central macula.⁴“

We were always told that eating carrots would be good for our eyes, but spinach is more than 200 times as good!

¹http://www.aricoplumbing.com/waterheater/waterheater-anode-rods.aspx
²http://www.grohe.com/us/5685/services-for-you/warranties/
³https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/lutein_zeaxanthin_supplements_review/lutein/
⁴https://www.macular.org/lutein

Family History

My cousins, H and M, have been doing research into our Blair family roots.  They drove in their Roadtrek 190 camper van (outfitted like a boat, with everything having a place – like this photo from the Net) to Kansas:

We stopped in Girard, KS where your great Grandparents Blair, Joseph Sydney Blair and his wife Esther A McClure Blair lived and are buried. We found their graves, hers quite large, his a small flat stone. She died at age 38 of “consumption”. We went to the Carnegie library in town and got a lot of information about Sydney and Esther, including their obits and the land plat info.

We drove out to the land, which is now a rectangle of trees and flat fertile farmed land. We went into the woods where we knew the house was and Hal found the remaining concrete foundation walls which appeared to be two buildings, the first about 12 by 27 feet. The second building behind had two openings on each side, which made it more likely a barn. Hal took many pictures, which was hard, as there were trees and bushes growing up in the middle of the foundation. We took a small piece of the concrete.

There is a publication called the Seeker which is published by the Girard Geneological Society and it is on microfiche as were all the issues of the local newspaper. Sydney was a trustee for the local high school. Hal is now reading Esther McClure’s letters again to pull some of the new information we have. It is so fun to unravel the puzzles of the past.

Here are the transcriptions:

The Letters of Esther McClure

Several years ago, Aunt Rosalie Denyes gave me a shoebox full of old family letters written to Sydney Blair almost 125 years ago. She said that she had read some of them and to not expect much, just news of people long forgotten.

In the summer of 2003, I started transcribing them. It wasn’t easy. Most of the letters are in very poor condition. One wonders how they could have survived as long as they did, occupying forgotten corners of attics and garages.

The first letters I picked were from a woman named Esther McClure in Cutler, Illinois to Sydney Blair in Girard, Kansas. Here is her story, pieced together from these letters and other sources:

Esther and Sydney were 27 years old in the spring of 1880, living in Cutler, Illinois with their families and were talking of getting married. Sydney went with others to Kansas to find land and make a new life. Esther remained behind to help on her father’s farm north of Cutler in a prairie known, as it is today, as Six Mile. She kept house for her father, at least two brothers, and hired hands. Her mother was dead.

It was no doubt a quite self sufficient farm. She cooked using a coal stove. They raised crops and animals, made their own soap, and even wove their own carpets.

Presumably Sydney went to Kansas by rail. It wasn’t by horse because he didn’t have one when he got there. However, he did have money and bought some land outside of Girard a few miles from the railroad.

The letters contain a lot of trivial and tragic news about people long gone. There are births, baptisms, sicknesses, and deaths. The U.S. Mail obviously played a vital role for separated families and friends. The letters also reveal an interesting portrait of pre-industrial life on the edge of the frontier. Ordinary life.

Sydney thought “Kansas was the place to start at the foot of the ladder.” It was a rougher life than in Cutler, but he liked it there. By December of 1880, he had a “little black shanty” with a living area measuring 16 X 15. The primitiveness didn’t seem to bother Essie, who said “as far as rough times goes I have always thought a person can have that anywhere.” She was not interested in staying where she was—“Sometimes I think no person could hire me to live in SixMile”.

In early summer of 1881, Joseph Sydney Blair came back to Cutler and married Esther McClure on Monday, July 4, 1881. They moved to Kansas where they had three children—Harry McClure Blair in 1882, John Elva Blair  in 1884, and Ivan Sydney Blair in 1886. She was a small woman weighing less than a hundred pounds and preferred to be called “Essie”. She was devoted—to her family, her friends, and to Sydney. She died in Kansas on Monday, August 15, 1892. She was 39. Grandpa (John) Blair was 8. As far as I know, no stories about her were ever told. However, from these letters you can see a devoted, caring, and practical woman with common sense and a dry wit who is about to leave the only home she has ever known to go to Kansas, about which she knows nothing.

For the record, John Elva Blair was father to Rosalie Blair Denyes, Esther Blair Groves, Richard Blair [my father], Margaret Jane Blair Stimson, and Elva Blair Dewsbury.

Hal Stimson, 12-21-2003

Esther and Sydney knew each other in Cutler and were planning to get married. They were 27 years old in the spring of 1880. Their families were well acquainted. They also knew people in Kansas. Sydney went to Kansas in March of 18801 without much to get started, only a little money. I don’t know how he got there but it wasn’t by horse. In Kansas, a friend (Mr. Shaw) lends him “a beast to ride”, presumably a mule. They were married in Cutler on Monday, July 4, 1881. She refers to Sydney in her letters as “my dearest friend.”

Essie remained in Cutler, Illinois living in an area known as Six Mile, an area prairie north of Cutler—presumably six miles north. He thought “Kansas was the place to start at the foot of the ladder.” It was a rougher life than in Cutler, but he likes it there. By December of 1880, he is living in a “little black shanty” measuring 16 X 15. The primitiveness doesn’t seem to bother Essie, who says “as far as rough times goes I have always thought a person can have that anywhere.” She is not interested in staying where she is—“ Sometimes I think no person could hire me to live in SixMile”.

Essie’s mother is dead so the work in the home at her father’s farm fell upon her.

The work was obviously hard, and athough she doesn’t complain about it she does tell about it:

“[I] Have been cleaning kitchen today, [I] sat down to supper got up [and] walked to & from prayer meeting[,] read[,] up & washed dishes, made yeast, caked sausage for breakfast, had worship and sat down to write at half past nine. Will tell you something I did to day & never did before, I forget to eat my dinner to day.” 12-1-1880

“It was 20 degrees below zero, but we had 8 persons for dinner besides our own family (18 in all), My! But it was fearful work, getting dinner, but it had to be done” (1-3-1881)

“I must sleep as much as I can get for my work seems to increase instead of decrease. Father has hired Albert Harris for a mo[nth]. I asked him not to but he went ahead and hired [him]. I told father I had all the work on hands I could possibly do and not more to[o]; but we can not get thing[s] to go the way we would like sometimes. (3-22-1881)

She makes her own soap.

You will please[e] excuse me for scribbling. [I] am in a great hurry, the men have to eat their supper yet. How I do not wa[n]t you to think I am making a poor mouth to try to make you pittie me; not by any means for I have much to be thankful for. I just want you to have some idea of the reason why I delayed for so long.(6-4-1881)

In January of 1881 Sydney is having second thoughts about Kansas and has talked about returning to Cutler. The very practical Essie wrote to him:

“I don’t work so extreemly hard every day as I did the day [I] forgot to eat dinner; you might come out next summer and see for your self what prospects are. I do

not want you to sell your place[.] I feel like I have lived in Six Mile as long as I

want to and longer. Sydney, I know if we ask our Heavenly Father to make a way for us He will: let us trust him. If you put up a kitchen before I go out put up a shade by all means, looks does not concern me as much as cents.”

Sydney learns a trade in Kansas, possibly to be a carpenter.

Her father had help on the farm. Men were hired to butcher the swine. There were hands hired to do the work. Essie talks about making dinner for “four men besides our own hired hand.”

She enjoys music and singing, talked about “singings” and parties where “Davie and Elmer” brought their fiddles. She wrote “the singings are still thriving”. She writes of a woman, “She thinks we have splendid singings.”

She regularly attends church and her religion, Presbyterian, is obviously important to her. However, any church is better than no church. In writing about going to Kansas she says “I guess we will have to be either Methodist or Baptist, but keep up heart.” She laments that Christians cannot agree. There is a lot of discord within her church, but she takes it well. “I did not know it [Sunday School] was to be so interesting or I would have sent a telegram for you to attend.” She reports it started off with a “general explosion” and became “an amusing, interesting meeting.” She did not take part in the argument. “It is a shame for Christian[s] to quarrel so. Then there was another quarrel last Sab. Morn before Sab. School just after S.S. [Sunday School] was over. Wm. Blair got up and said Maynard would [be] Superintend S.S. next Sab., that J.C. Blair had no right to take his place. I think it would have been better for all parties if he had spoken in a quieter and milder way. This is the day [the] Presbytery meets … It is raining and very disagreeable.” (4-25-1881)

Mostly, however, church life was peaceful and a central part of their lives: “This is the week of prayer, the two churches have agreed to unite (sing the old version) [There] will be meetings at the churches alternately in the day time, and every night at Cutler School house.” (1-3-81)

She also wants Sydney to join a church in Kansas: “Have you been to church since you left home?” (3-27-1880)

There are parties where they sing, but probably don’t dance.

Because of the distances, when she visits people, she stays with them.

The McClures own a loom, which is used to weave carpets. She weaves one for Sydney in Kansas.

She’s small, weighing only 99 pounds. She even signs her letters, “Your Little Pet”. A scale was somewhat a novelty. She reports the weights of her friends.

Dry sense of humor: When she hears that he was caught in a snow storm, she writes of someone telling her to advise Sydney not to buy in the windy part of Kansas. She also asks him how many hats he has—a subtle way of referring to their tendency to blow off in the wind—not out of her curiosity about his clothing.

“One of the items of [the] Cutler literary paper; [it] was something like this “Mike pulled the fence down and let cows in the corn field; go to Sam for particulars”. Think you had better take the paper or you will miss some important news. (3-2-1881)

“[I] Was up at Cutler this eve, [and I] was so disappointed to not get a letter from you, they said George took the news out today so don’t know whether there was one or not. “ Obviously George was not a member of the town’s brightest and best. (3-2-1881)

“There was a wood chopping at Mr. Raulston’s last Friday. I think they should have let him chop his own wood; it would just help his digestion. “ 3-2-1881)

She tells of one gentleman staying with her (12-1-1880) who sat by himself in the sitting room reading aloud and trying to pace around the room for exercise. She was alarmed because Samie could hear him “clear out to the wood pile with the doors and windows closed”. She gave him a light dinner “for his stomach’s sake.”

Sydney buys land right away in Kansas. Essie was very practical about it. She had wanted good land and timber. She didn’t care much about a house. That could come later. I don’t think he lives on the land because Essie talks about his boarding arrangements.

Christmas was modest by modern standards. She talks of a new year’s tree instead of a Christmas tree and the gathering at Christmas:

“Richmands & Maggie were there, Maggie got a string of popcorn of[f] the tree and several other things, [I] don’t know what they were. I got about two double handfuls of candy, and don’t you think some fellow give me his heart but it was broken.”

Practicality: “Your head will be leavel [level] if you keep your property in your own hands; why I would go clear wild if I had that much money.” (1-27-81)

“John said he believed a person would be justified in taking their own life if they knew they would have to suffer as his father had done. (3-22-1881)

She wants to know if he has a garden started (3-22-1881)

but how do the folk keep the chickens off the garden stuff; do they not have chickens in Kan? what about getting a cow out there; which will be cheapest to buy out there or ship from here could you get a good young cow out there? at what price? I don’t mean for you to quit your work and scour the state looking for a cow: just keep your eyes and ears on the look out when you’re back in town or at any of your neighbours. (4-6-1881)

Sickness:

“I don’t know anything about out doors since last Wednesday, [I] have had the measles. Samie & Willie broke out [with measles on] Tuesday & Wednesday they did not break out on me until Friday night, I tell you I was a pretty sick girl Saturday & Sabbath. I was taking them as soon as the boys but I washed and helped scrub Monday

and got to[o] damp but when they did break out they came out good that was all that saved me. I’m glad to be able to tell you this evening that am improving fast. All most every thing tastes good now. The measles are just sweeping the country. “ (1-27-81)

A sense of propriety:

When Carry Manhunt’s brother died she went to a singing with Andrew 3 weeks later. What was so bad was that after the singing she went to the store with him and purchased 3 cigars and gave them to Andrew. The store was full of boys which Essie described as “I don’t want to get acquainted with no such.”

The drama of leaving her home:

and it will be four more long mo[nths]. before I can see you; well, I’ll not tell you again to go to Kan. without [me.]… I can go; you can be sure. We are trying to arrange so I can go when you come back. I don’t have, nor will [I] not have time to get lonesome but would be so glad to see Sydney occasionally, if it were possible. (2-17-1881)

Father has not said for me to “get up and git” yet, but he hasn’t said [I] shan’t go (3-22-1881) She is 27 years old, yet is showing strong deference to her father.

The most touching letter was written in April of 1881. It begins:

“as [I] will not have to work as hard as usual tomorrow (our fast day) [I] will sit up and talk to Sydney a while to night; [I] wish [I] could whisper it in your ear for then [I] would not have to wait so long for an answer.

Homesickness:

I have thought and prayed much over this subject, all I ask of you will be to not think hard of me for being home sick, as I expect to be; yo[u] know I never was away from home except that winter in Sparta and I was just at home there[.] Mattie always seemed like a sister to me; you know she lived here until she married. I am sure of one thing I would not exchange you and your humble home for any of the Six Mile boys with their hundred of acres. I know I am leaving a good home but I feel like I was going to a good one. So far as waiting longer goes, I do not want even to think of putting in a whole year of waiting to see the one I love: My!  Three months is as long as I want to be in suspense. If [I] could see you once or twice a mo.[month] it would be quite different. I don’t want you to think I am half dead to get married; it isn’t that I want a change from this constant work: I don’t have any idea if I could stand up to the work here another year if I could get throug[h] another year I don’t suppose I would be worth coming after. I know we have to work any where if we get along; but people can work better to their own plans than to others. I do not know what Father will do he has not decided yet and these dear brothers; Sydney that is the only thing that trouble me. Father is able to take care of himself and his habits are settled, but the boys are just at the critical point of their life.

There was a grand moon light picnic in Cutler last night. So grand they sent for Pinckneyville brass band and they came. And the only entertainments were the band[,] Ed Gordons stand, of candies, peanuts, lemonade and ice cream. I saw what I never saw in my life before, ladies eating ice cream wrapped in heavy shawls. It was very cool, unusually so. What do you think, I was there. I had just got Emma persuaded to go with the boys & I would stay at home; when we went out to milk[,] the band began playing,

(as we did not know it was to be there). When I heard that soon changed my mind: would have enjoyed it a very great deal better if a certain gent[tleman] in Kansas had been along. (6-4-1881)

1In her letter of March 27, 1880 she is thanking him for a buggie [buggy] ride. This is obviously in Cutler or very nearby. She had never been outside of Illinois.

They emailed me the photo of our grandparents in Kansas leaving for their honeymoon which I posted in this blog: https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/a-death-in-the-family/

Home

Home from my travels, welcomed by my cat and an overgrown yard – I guess we had a lot of rain, but the Web says only 2.43″ in August!   My Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida ‘Purpurea’), in a pot on my deck, loves the heat and is full of lavender flowers, and my Butterfly Vine (Mascagnia macroptera) is also abloom.

There was a large wolf spider trapped in my water bucket (which I, of course, dumped into the rosemary), and a cottontail stopped by to drink from the plant saucer.  The hallucinogenic Sacred Datura (datura wrightii) plants¹ have sprung up all over the yard and the three red bird of paradise (caesalpinia pulcherrima) plants are finally flowering. Yellow butterflies abound, but don’t seem to ever alight, and there is an occasional Monarch.

Repairing a damaged drip line two months ago, exerting more muscle than a wimpy woman has, I ended up with tendonitis.

Tendonitis most often is caused by repetitive, minor impact on the affected area, or from a sudden, more serious injury.  There are many activities that can cause tendonitis, including gardening…

Anyone can get tendonitis, but it is more common in adults, especially those over 40 years of age. As tendons age, they tolerate less stress, are less elastic, and tear more easily.

First-line treatment includes:

• Avoiding activities that aggravate the problem
• Resting the injured area
• Icing the area the day of the injury
• Taking over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicines

It may take weeks to months to recover from tendonitis, depending on the severity of your injury.²

The first week I ignored the problem, and continued to go to all of my exercise classes, although ratcheting down from 5 lbs to 4.  Then I was scheduled for my yearly physical and the doctor told me all of the above.  So I continued my qigong (no weights), but stopped going to Silver Sneakers, and stopped heavy yard work.

Felt better this weekend so decided to stop taking Aleve.  And started trimming back the enthusiastically growing bushes and vines and drooping tree branches.   And a new spouter occurred in the yard that I had to repair it this morning.  The necessary work has sent me back to Aleve.

It is 10am on Wednesday, September 3, 2014.  A young coyote, dragging from the heat (97° with 33% humidity, temperature to climb to 104° with supposed thundershowers), just slogged across my driveway.

Rosacea

This is more from my cousin about the parabens in my sunscreen and rosacea cream³:

This is info on oregano oil for rosacea⁴. We put a few drops in argan oil. Look up parabens on the http://www.ewg.org/ site to see why you don’t want to put that on your skin.

Here is info on argan oil⁵. It is very healing to the skin and a good carrier oil for the four or so drops of oregano oil for rosacea. We have found that when H’s gut is inflamed, so is his face. The gut controls your immune system. Mites on the face are involved in rosacea as well. Oregano oil repels them and is antibacterial, antiviral and anti-fungal. Argan oil is expensive but can be bought at http://www.vitacost.com/ a little cheaper. Or you could put oregano oil in a small amount of organic cold pressed coconut oil. Better than parabens that are toxic. Doctors are idiots! Patients must be educated.

¹https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/getting-high-in-the-desert/
²http://my.clevelandclinic.org/orthopaedics-rheumatology/diseases-conditions/hic-tendonitis.aspx
³https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/denver/
⁴http://adeeva.com/documents/oregano_addl_info.pdf
⁵http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argan_oil

Denver 2014

Was in Denver visiting a friend of mine, K, for a few days.  We met as fellow FEMA volunteers in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, figured we were cousins as we have the same last name (also cousins with Tony Blair), and have stayed in touch.

Sunday

Started with the Denver Art Museum.  Two exhibits were particularly spectacular.  One was Beyond Pop Art: A Tom Wesselmann Retrospective. Fantastic immense paintings, collages, and sculptures.  This is one of my favorites, Smoker, 1 (Mouth, 12).  (All photos from the museum website as we were not allowed photos of this exhibit.)  This “sculpture”,  Still Life #60, which is a grouping of paintings, each supported from behind, is 25 feet long.

Then there was Daniel Sprick‘s Fictions: Recent Works.  (My own photos.)  The center of each portrait looks like a photograph – but you can tell they’re paintings as you look at the edges of the hair or the bottom of the painting.  Totally awesome!  Sherry and Hone Philip.

 

 

 

 

 

There was another exhibit,  At the Mirror, Reflections of Japan in 20th Century Prints.  My favorite was a color woodblock print by Masami Teraoka.  This is one of his series, 31 Favors Invading Japan.  (Sorry about the reflection in the glass.)

… 31 Flavors Invading Japan Series in the 1970’s … reflect my cultural heritage from Japan. The Ukiyo-e or wood block print tradition represents my cultural identity. Geisha and samurai images I use are a way to depict traditional-thinking Japanese people.  masamiteraoka

Many years ago (’93?) my brother had taken me to an exhibit at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and there were two huge paintings by Masami Teraoka, one of a traditional samari, but then you noticed he was wearing golf shoes and wielding a golf club.  The other was a traditional geisha, but then you noticed that she was holding a hair dryer.

In addition to these temporary exhibitions, I saw all of the exhibits, African, Oceanic, Western American, Modern & Contemporary Art, in the new, very modern Hamilton Building by architect Daniel Libeskind, photo here.  (You have to click on this gallery cross sections below to read the exhibits.)

In the Western American Art exhibit there was a Deborah Butterfield horse that hadn’t first been made out of driftwood, then cast in bronze, which I’ve seen dozens of times in museums and airports.¹

Deborah Butterfield  is an American sculptor… known for her sculptures of horses made from found objects, like metal, and especially pieces of wood.  Deborah_Butterfield

Then Northwest Coast, American Indian, Pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, and Asian Art in the North Building (by Italian architect Gio Ponti) until I was tuckered out.  I have tons more photos, but here is this view from one of the museum windows.

Anyway, not too tuckered out to take in the large-scale sculptures outside, such as the 35-foot high Big Sweep by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, a husband-and-wife team (two of my absolute favorite sculptors – especially their Shuttlecocks²), nestled under the museum’s angle (see the size of the door behind), and Mark di Suvero’s soaring outdoor sculpture, Lao-Tzu, (thirty feet tall and weighing in at 16 tons) seen next to the museum in the photo above.  (Click to see it larger.)

In the evening we went to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which is spectacular, posed in the hills above Denver.  We had high enough seats to see the city lights as strings of flickering beads above the stage, to see Rodrigo y Gabriela, a Mexican acoustic guitar duo whose music is influenced by a number of genres including nuevo flamenco, rock, and heavy metal.

After they had played their sets they were joined by Metallica pal, bassist Robert Trujillo.  (Both guys looked great in their tight T-shirts and tight jeans, Sanchez in denim blue, Trujillo in black – but I enjoyed the music too.  Hadn’t taken my camera, as I assumed it would be too dark for photos, so these from the Net.)

Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero have been playing together for more than fifteen years. First as young thrash metal fans in their native Mexico City, then as innocents abroad and street musicians in Dublin, Ireland at the turn of the millennium, and finally as the globe-straddling, film-scoring, record-breaking artists they are today.

Monday

In the morning we hiked in Eldorado Canyon State Park.  We drove by the technical rock climbers on “Eldo’s” golden cliffs to the visitor’s center.

Then K’s cute broken-coated Jack Russell Terrier pulled me up the Eldorado Canyon Trail, which gains over 1,000 feet in elevation and has fabulous views. (View from the trail, above, and K with pooch.)  I let K handle her on the way down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That evening we went to the Denver Botanical Gardens, which had an incredible installation (all through the gardens) of Dale Chihuly‘s glass work.  We stayed until after dark to see it lit up.

 

Parabens

I told my cousin’s wife, M,  that I would feature her warnings about the chemicals in our everyday products in my blogs.  (My cousin has beaten cancer three times and looks fabulous.  Until he got grey hair I though that he had an aging painting in his attic, a la Dorian Gray (a scarey movie I had seen in my youth based on Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray³).

M found parabens listed in my sunscreen and the gop I put on my face every night for my inherited rosacea.

Parabens is a term used within the vernacular of the specialty chemicals industry to describe a series of parahydroxybenzoates or esters of parahydroxybenzoic acid (also known as 4-hydroxybenzoic acid). Parabens are widely used as preservatives by cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Parabens are effective preservatives in many types of formulas. These compounds, and their salts, are used primarily for their bactericidal and fungicidal properties. They can be found in shampoos, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, topical/parenteral pharmaceuticals, spray tanning solution, makeup, and toothpaste. They are also used as food additives.

Their efficacy as preservatives, in combination with their low cost, the long history of their use, and the inefficacy of some natural alternatives like grapefruit seed extract (GSE), probably explains why parabens are so commonplace. They are becoming increasingly controversial, however, because they have been found in breast cancer tumors (an average of 20 nanograms/g of tissue). Parabens have also displayed the ability to slightly mimic estrogen (a hormone known to play a role in the development of breast cancer). No effective direct links between parabens and cancer have been established, however. Another concern is that the estrogen-mimicking aspect of parabens may be a factor in the increasing prevalence of early puberty in girls.

Apostrophes

This is just cute, from one of my friends’ Facebook pages.  As a retired English teacher, I know how she feels.

¹https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/palm-springs/
²http://oldenburgvanbruggen.com/largescaleprojects/lsp.htm
³http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_%281945_film%29

Soap and Salve

For the box of creosote leaves that I sent my cousins¹, they sent me back two aromatic bars of soap – atai tea and honeysuckle – which she makes, and a small jar of Green ‘Heal All’ Salve, which he, a naturopathic doctor, makes.  Its fourth ingredient was larrea tridentata, which I had to look up:

Larrea tridentata is known as creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb.

Used the salve on my hand right away – had been out trimming, for the Brush & Bulky Collection, mesquite and grey thorn bushes which have volunteered in the drainage, next to my house, from the cul-de-sac and guess I got stuck through my gloves because a right hand knuckle was swollen; the next day it had gone down but some swelling had spread to the neighboring knuckles.  At least it doesn’t hurt any more.

Reading

Finished I Am Malala (read by Archie Panjabi with that lovely Indian/British accent) and am into a series which is rather less serious, Outlander, a bodice-ripper spiced up with time travel and real historic events and people in 18th century Europe.  I asked friend M if she was the one who had recommended the series (of eight novels):

Yes…. I am sure it was me.  She  owes me royalties! 😉 Working at a book shop I was intrigued by the number of women asking for Outlander…especially since I saw that it was categorized under scifi, romance, historical fiction AND plain fiction. ???

I had religiously managed avoided shelving in the romance aisle, but got a copy and my interest was piqued by a description that included Scotland, medicine, plants and a very fascinating resume of the author Scottsdale authoress Diana Gabaldon.  I googled her and she started as a scientist whose father was a famous Arizonan politician… and she wrote a 900 page book kind of as a lark.  Plus the covers were cool.  Hooked, I am.  Can you imagine a grown woman hiding in the woman’s room to read just a little more?  

Lots of recent activity… because STARZ is presenting a 13 episode series in August.  I just read she just released 8th? 9th? in the series and I admit, there are moments of ridiculousness, but I don’t care, I just love that series, which is pretty bizarre because I came to fiction late… most definitely a non-fiction gal most of my life.  

She manages suspension of disbelief really well (hampered by what turned out to be an increasing need for another another another book in the series, but I don’t begrudge Diana’s crazy reaches… I just love Claire and Jaime).  I love all the detail of historical political Scotland around 1735, the plants, the medicine (Claire also was a nurse in WWII France) and the great and varied character development. She even has a sub series spin off of a character from the original series.

Her fan base is crazy sick large.   I have always wondered why it wasn’t picked up for visual media, but it finally has been filmed.  I am torn because I think  it will be hard to capture all the historical fiction detail and viewers will just be left with mawkish bodice ripping with a somewhat shallow appearance, but I am hopeful.  The sets in the trailers look very promising… and who can resist a man is a kilt.  There are trailers for the series online… and the huge fan base seems pleased.  There is even a musical that Diana G. approves of (in Scotland).  

I have read all the books  AND listened them on tape.  When I don’t think I can sleep I put my CD player under my pillow and if my husband sees that he jokingly and accusingly says “Is that Jaime?”  When I worked at the bookstore my love of costume and history of having lived briefly in Scotland had me dressing the part and speaking with a brogue for fun… and my whole family jokes about my addiction.  

I have sold SO many copies and even buy copies of Outlander now when in Bookman’s, so I have them on hand to dispense when I get somebody else interested. Bookman’s says they don’t have copies in very frequently.  People either LOVE them or HATE them.  Detail is the byword.  Lots of men show up at her lectures at the book festival.  So… I will sign up for Starz in August and keep my fingers crossed that the screenplay doesn’t make me seem an idiot.

Quotidian

Only in the NY Times could you find quotidian in two articles in the same section (one in a review by Salman Rushdie of the oeuvre of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who recently rose up to Heaven as myriads watched – sorry, that’s from One Hundred Years of Solitude, the other in a mini-review by Jeanine Basinger), and antediluvian, a word which just that morning I had said was no longer in use!

Two Cows

You’ve heard this joke before, but check out VENTURE CAPITALISM and AN IRAQI CORPORATION:

TWO COWS – Matthias Varga

SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRACY
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.

VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow has dropped dead.

A GREEK CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You borrow lots of euros to build barns, milking sheds, hay stores, feed sheds, dairies, cold stores, abattoir, cheese unit and packing sheds.
You still only have two cows.

A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called a Cowkimona and market it worldwide.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows,
but you don’t know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No one believes you, so they bomb the ** out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least you are now a Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Business seems pretty good.
You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

¹https://notesfromthewest.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/blue/,
their website: http://wishwehadacres.com/ and her note on Facebook:

I can’t seem to get over these summer nights… Phoenix, it’s COOL at night and cooler in the morning.  And there’s this other thing that might be difficult for me to explain, but I’ll try… there is MOISTURE in the air. But maybe that is related to this other odd event that happened tonight called RAIN. Yes, we do still miss a great many things about the desert, but there were a few things we missed about Appalachia first, crickets, frogs, lightning bugs… the night air has a different look, feel and sound to it out here, so FULL.