The Furious Spinner

Yesterday we tried to hike Falling Creek, but it was too rainy, so we came home, and I worked on the rewrite of Lady Liberty. For a treat we drove to our favorite restaurant of the moment, Calendula. As I told you before, we love the food, the house, and the people. I go there to plot my maybe-next novel which may take place in a house like the one the restaurant is in. We'll see. It's so cozy that I wanted to stay the night. But we came home, and I slept for ten hours, curled around my dreams of flood waters filled with living, dying, and dead salmon.

Today it wasn't raining, so I spent part of the day outside in the garden. For some reason, my lettuce just sits there, about an inch or two high. This has never happened before. Lettuce likes cooler weather, so I'm afraid with our expected heat wave, they might bolt. I've got potato plants coming up everywhere, including purple potatoes. The plants of the purple potatoes are purplish green. Normally I don't plant many potatoes because they're cheap in the store, but this year the price is double what it was last year, and potatoes are usually easy to grow. The snow peas are coming up nicely. We'll see if any of those actually make it into the house and onto our plates. The lavender plant is blooming—tiny fluorescent lavender-colored blossoms. They're so bright, in a purplish way, that they seem electrically lit. I worked in the Kuan Yin Peace Garden, too. The deer ate all my hostas blossoms. I was overdressed for all this exertion and felt like I was having heatstroke before I was finished.

About then I noticed the cherries hanging over the garden. I got a bowl from the house, thanked the cherry tree, then picked me some cherries! In between all this, I was attempting to get a hold of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Special Agent who is investigating the multiple killings of bald eagles in Oregon over the last 13 years. Someone has been lacing sheep carcasses with an outlawed pesticide. The eagles consume part of the carcass and die. I believe 17 eagles have died this way. 17 they know about. I finally got him on the phone and set up an appointment to talk with him next week. I'm also researching and gathering material for a presentation I'm giving Thursday to our city council about eliminating the use of pesticides in town. Plus Mario and I are working on getting our library system to do the same. It’s plodding scatterbrain work, and I’m afraid my creative brain has despaired and gone to sleep. So forgive me if I’m uninspired this evening. (I am, however, looking forward to eating the cherry pie.)

Speaking of cherries and our founding fathers....This writer has an interesting take on worshiping the past. In this piece, Paul Krugman declares John Ashcroft the worst attorney general in history. No arguments from me on this. His contempt for Congress and the people of this nation is so obvious each time he opens his mouth. This article is fascinating: “Another World is Possible.” The author, Rebecca Solnit, looks at the history of Americas, specifically Latin America, in a new light. It’s an excerpt from her book, Hope in the Dark.

I want to know why there has not been more political fallout in the Bush Administration over the torture and abuse of "prisoners" in Iraq. I'm appalled that people aren't getting fired left and right and that Bush's poll numbers haven't dropped more. Are Americans FOR torture? Karpinski, who was in charge of Abu Ghraib during the abuse scandal and who has been (essentially) fired, says she and others are being scapegoated, and that the new guy in charge told her prisoners should "be treated like dogs."

I had more to show you, but my husband beckons: and he’s got cherry pie in his hands. 0 comments

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