My Sister's Passing

 My sister, Patty Ruth Andrews, passed away on Christmas Day - December 25^th, 2023. 

She was the strongest, bravest, and most loyal human being  I have ever known.  I knew her all her life, birth to death – 83 years.  We were close friends all that time.

We grew up together, initially in Detroit Michigan and then we came across the country in a post WW-II migration to California, by car along Route 66. 

We settled in Willow Glen – always at the same   Willow Glen schools: Elementary, Junior High and High School, where she became the High School President.

 

Pat even joined me at the Univ of Arizona for a year where I introduced her to my old roommate, Nard Taiz.

As teens, we both worked at our father’s business, Industrial Tool in San Jose.  We had our separate lives through our marriages, but holidays were always a clarion call back to Willow Glen, quite often at Pat’s house.

Her strength shone through the travails she endured through her early life: divorce, loss of a child, and striving to forge a career in teaching winding up at West Valley College.  She always kept her family #1 through these roadblocks.

I remember a time when I “dropped” in on her at Hummingbird Lane, with half a dozen chess players from San Francisco, saying we just needed a place to crash before a big competition in Los Gatos.  She made us food and joined us with her son Christopher at the big meeting.

 She was brave because of her steadfast commitment to American Democracy.  It’s always easy to cave into consensus, but she had a set of principles that never gave an inch.  They served her well throughout her life.

When our parents had become successful with their business, they rented an apartment up on Nob Hill, which became a meeting place for us to visit SF together.

We often attended our High School reunions – she and I always the other’s date for the occasion.

Pat and I both traveled a great deal, and she often visited me in England while I worked there, as well as San Francisco, when I worked there.  Then her thing became gambling cruises as her retired life enjoyment.  I never joined in those activities, but we would meet at casinos whenever we needed to see each other and so we had breakfast all over the Bay Area.

As we aged, we relied on both telephone and the internet.  We spoke a dozen times a week these past twenty years. 

Loyalty to Family and Country were big with her. She always stood up with positives about her friends, family and always stood on the right-side of America’s experiment with Democracy.  Everyone who knew her, may well, at times in the future, ask, “What would Pat do,” when considering ethics, relationships, or the future.

The Henna Artist

 

This was night and day from an earlier month’s  novel debacle, “The Thursday Muder Club”, an aimless story.  

“The Henna Artist” is a flowing, lyrical narrative  - well-organized with a theme, and plots. 

Author Joshi has focused her novel on creating a fictional memoir of her mother. 

Joshi was successful at weaving little vignettes to advance plot lines.  The author had a greater overall theme and has turned this into a trilogy.

Henna is readable at three levels:

a)             Each vignette is a joy to read because of the poetically descriptive language, but also prosaically written because of the meanings and moral of each mini story

b)           On a thematic level, each adventure reassures us, that Lakshmi will persevere – she has the strength of seven oxen – and that these morals are lessons of life.

c)     One can read the love, devotion, and respect that the daughter pays to the mother through this book. We read the open-hearted questions on a myriad of life’s lessons, such as:

1)   Yes baby – No baby                          2) Son Baby – Daughter baby

3)   healthy baby                                       4) Aborted baby

 

No one sits in judgement on these issues, certainly not Lakshmi nor Medical Doctors.  She simply provides alternative medicines and procedures.

All these thoughts are still today’s issues.

Joshi’s writing is exquisite – crafted by a professional, taking her time with each sentence, each paragraph, and each exploit.  She also has a well-thought-out theme, and plots that flow like a river.

I particularly enjoyed her depiction of the palace when she moved up a notch and was invited to display her abilities.  We share her impressions of the wealthy and frivolous characters, but also the reality that we are all alike – there are no natural schisms. 

Her caste distinctions are no different than the British or European class distinctions; and religious hatred has been here in the West forever; the USA has especial focus on racial separatism.

I thought it was uniquely introspective of the author to have Lakshmi lose track of her younger sister in all the hubbub of dozens of business activities, while the sister grew from a young 13 to a sophisticated 14.  This is so very typical of modern-day families – kids grow up fast.

Alka Joshi is a likeable, loveable person as shown in her U-Tube video podcasts on cooking, et al.

Small Things Like These

A well-crafted short story – a poetic style, which the author maintains throughout. She captures this simple person, Bill Furlong, with such depth that we readers could doodle out a decent sketch of him. The plot line is that Furlong carves out a legacy for himself, as a man with a deep soul and belief in the humanity of man. The theme, skirted by the author ala Johnathan Swift, is the scheme of the organized Catholic Church of taking advantage of unwed young women as slave labour. The story is just shy of being a polemic on the Church. Author Keegan has depicted Bill Furlong as an unschooled workman, who doesn’t need to understand the larger picture, but knows right from wrong, and is willing to act when confronted by evil. The author also deftly lets the readers see that it is his father who raised him; without Bill himself fully understanding that fact.

The Thursday Murder Club

This is a popular book. As such, we senior readers need to read and criticize this book, so that we can comment to those who look to us for our opinion.

Who is rIchard Osman and why should we read his atrocious book. He is a popular, ego-centric British TV Quiz-Show Host, who branched out into writing books to gain an income source, during The Pandemic. He knew nothing about writing books, but he’s a smart guy, and winged it. Sells a million copies of each book to his TV audiences, who were forced to read books when the Pandemic came to town. He’s just released his fourth; one a year, with the same senile seniors. Osman, the author, has patterned himself after Canadian Louise Penny, who actually is a renowned author worldwide. Her latest massive success was a series of books focused on a small village outside of Quebec, called “Three Pines.” The “Chief Inspector Armand Gamache” series of eighteen books opens each book with a murder. Louise has established herself as a brilliant writer using theme, plot, character development, and style to make each of her novels a joy to read. Osman has forsworn all of the above concepts as being a step beyond the reach of his target audience. He really sees this book, “The Thursday Murder Club” as a script for a weekly TV sit-com.

Monte Rio Festival

An Early Post-Pandemic Festivals/Events along the Russian River The Friends of Monte Rio [FOMR] thought long and hard about scheduling an event within the whirlwind of chaotic mandates, as to social distance, masks, vaccinations, and dogs on leashes.

The will of the public brought it together and kept them going. The Russian River residents wanted a social outlet: residential, mostly homeowning, mostly Vax’d and Masked. The MRRPD Amphitheater provided the necessary social distancing. West County Community Services [WCCS] supported the idea and were a prime booth attraction. Half a dozen of the other booths were local businesses, Chamber there too, plus other non-profits, like the local theater. The Russian River Library supported the kids “Area”, back of the stage with MRRPD managing readings and games, including free ice-cones and popcorn. A continuous stage show, eatery delicacies: Ice cream, BBQs, and Indian Curries. It all kept you going: Music, Booths, Food, Kids, and camaraderie with your Russian River residents. The attractive poster brought in others and the gate [free] swelled to 700. They were three crowds: (1) walking locals were the first early 300; poster-attracted visitors – another 300 mid-day; the night crowd – a free concert – the stage-side swelled from 100-early, to 200-midafternoon, to 300-late. Will there be Supper Club for 2021/22, the question is open.

A Different July 4th

A Different July 4^th this past 2021

It was refreshing to cut back our usual “Fireworks with thousands attending” this past year along the Russian River.  No communal gatherings in large groups along the River beaches – and to my knowledge, there were no deaths by downing along the River.

Most did BBQs at home: my little unofficial “D-Street” block club in Monte Rio held an afternoon wine & chips party.  We’re all residents, mostly older, and all vaccinated – still outdoors, with a stiff 4 pm ocean breeze cooling us.

It was a time to get acquainted with new homeowners, also time to find out what’s up around the block(s).  It was a very relaxing event, so different than the fireworks events.  D-Street did this in 2020 as well, and hopefully, even after the Pandemic has passed.  It brought us together, rather than defending our parking spaces, a don’t drive ban, and scaring our pets.It was refreshing to cut back our usual “Fireworks with thousands attending” this past year along the Russian River.  No communal gatherings in large groups along the River beaches – and to my knowledge, there were no deaths by downing along the River.

Most did BBQs at home: my little unofficial “D-Street” block club in Monte Rio held an afternoon wine & chips party.  We’re all residents, mostly older, and all vaccinated – still outdoors, with a stiff 4 pm ocean breeze cooling us.

It was a time to get acquainted with new homeowners, also time to find out what’s up around the block(s).  It was a very relaxing event, so different than the fireworks events.  D-Street did this in 2020 as well, and hopefully, even after the Pandemic has passed.  It brought us together, rather than defending our parking spaces, a don’t drive ban, and scaring our pets.

Lines at the RIO ?

 

Yes, there was a gathering Sunday at noon.

30-40 people came to here from the new owners about what was soon to be going on at the Rio.

 

 Money’s changed hands, and each of the five on stage talked about aspects of renovation and innovation coming this Fall.

The detail questions were answered by the three on the left,

 others

 by the two on the right.

 

The WEB site has much more detail,

https://www.MonteRioTheater.com 

 

Monte Rio's Rio Fest tomorrow - Sunday

                               JUST a reminder

                        The Friends of Monte Rio

       invites you visit the Monte Rio Amphitheater

                                  from 2 pm to 6 pm

Robin Hood (1938)

 

Who, but ROBIN HOOD,

 could stand stand toe-to-toe,

  with the Swordsmanship of Basil Rathbone,

   and the Skullduggery of Clause Rains,

    but ERROL FLYNN.!.!.!.!

 

In those days (1938),

 it was real, the swordsmanship.

 

I’d like people to take a hard look at the deadline date, Friday July 16, for the 2021-22 Sonoma County Grand Jury.  I’m happy to help you in any way that I can, to fulfill this community service payback.

Like so many things wrapping up this July 4^th is almost the Pandemic for California, but not quite.  One of those not so quite yet is the Grand Jury, which has just finished a stellar year, zoomed like everyone else, but produced a down to earth set of reports.

I’ve heard that next year’s applicants are unsure about how next year will work: meetings together or apart; interviews – online or in person; classes – video or supervised; plenary decision making?

58 California Counties somehow made it work last year and produced their best reports.  All the answers are there.  I will consult with you, the civic-minded, curious person to make a major decision for you and your County.  Post Q&A’s on Facebook or send me an e-mail, TuesdayPeter@Gmail.com, or call me (707) 865-9517.

I am the local Sonoma County Chapter President of the California Grand Jury Association.

The Friends of Monte Rio are back in providing Community services

 

Mother’s Day Reflections

           I wrote 4-5 months ago about my Winter Clematis, erotically aromatic, but the flowering dies back at Springtime.  Then more recently, I wrote about my Springtime Clematis, which has a weak, cloying aroma, but again is a short season.  Today, I saw my first Summer Clematis, a beautiful, fragile flower with only the faintest of aromas.

That’s two firsts this weekend.  I saw my first Passion Flower yesterday.  I wonder if we are going to have to change the dates, millennially stable, of the seasons, now that there is world-wide recognition of Global Warming [with the excepti0n of 0.5% of the world population, who represent a cult in North America that is very powerful].  This cult believes in dying personally rich, rather than their progeny dying healthy.

The Pandemic has allowed those of us, educated in Free States, to watch and understand the effects of global warming on the back-yard gardens we grow.  I am also grateful that I live in a State that considers Public Health of paramount concern .  As a Veteran and Retiree, I depend on the State and the USA to cover my back.

Ignoring Global Warming and its impacts is not good for my back.

ps: My Tater Garden loves the early Summer

My 1st Passion Flower this year - May 8th

           After we went through a week of Arctic chills, 2-3 months ago, I feared I had lost my Passion Flower vine to frost bite.  This vine dominates my north eastern fence line with a new neighbor.

Harmony in Graton somewhat put me at ease last month, when I checked with them.  They told me, “It’s far too early for Passion vine”.  But I was overjoyed today, while I was getting rid of tendrils of invasive Virginia Creeper vine, to uncover my first flower of this year from one of my strongest Passion Flower vines.

To those of you who saw my Mother’s Day card yesterday, you might believe, if you wish, that this flower was a response to my card.

Santa Rosa Computers

 

I had a pleasing, almost-post-Pandemic moment today, after I’d suffered the perennial catastrophe involving a bad computer software driver update being imposed upon one, unbeknownst to them.

There’s the panic moment when you can’t hear, print, or see what your silicon umbilical cord is trying to tell you.  Please, God, give me back my connection, I’ll do anything. [comic lines abound].

This was Sunday night; like a toothache, it always occurs when everyone has closed.  It was a long night – no news, no movie, my problem was a sound card.  I was at the shop, Santa Rosa Computer,  as they opened Monday morning.  “Yes”, I said, “expedite it.!”

The return call came before noon, and I was soon back.

“Hello,” came the familiar voice from the back fixit room, when he must have heard mine in the front, “Peter?”.

For travelers to and from Great Britain, there is no more comforting voice than that of the pilot of a BA aircraft, with a BBC voice, saying, “Welcome Aboard, I am your pilot.

That is the voice I heard from the back room.  I have been a customer for twenty years, and he has been the manager/owner all those years.  It was comforting and assuring that all was right with the world.-We chit-chatted about the impacts of the Pandemic on each of us.  It felt normal.

Tonight’s movie is “Kind Hearts  and Coronets”.

A Post Script

 Today is the day before the third Wednesday of the month; which is my SS check deposit day – tomorrow.  Traditionally, this is my Mac & Cheese day.  But Tuesday’s are also Speer’s Day for Senior’s discounts, so I grabbed this ground turkey as my retiree due.

That’s dinner tonight. Pic 1

And if I have a drop in guest, which sometimes happens, I have enough to share.  While looking for bargains at Speer’s wine shelves, I also ran across this heretofore unheard-of Italian red at $5.99 a bottle.  A palatable nose, and at first taste, smooth (not the expected harshness), with a pleasant aftertaste. Pic 2

I’m still under $10 for two and could add splitting an avocado [2 for $5 at Safeway] as a salad, sneaking under the wire.

 

A Peaceful day along the River

 I went to Kaiser early this am – a regular checkup.

BP 112/64 and my heart still ticked, so all was OK. 

I had my blood assessed for Vitamins A, D and Calcium, since they’re asking me to take supplements for these – eyes and bones.  My numbers came in within ranges, midpoint plus 10%, so also OK.  My cholesterol wasn’t my hospital best of 150 a decade ago, but was a decent 176, considering I drink wine, and eat the occasional steak.

I built a chair into one of my raised garden beds (Pic 1), so I can sit amid the aromatic fragrances - Jasmine and Spring Clematis, in the late afternoon, and sip wine while the sun sets, Pic 2.  Sorry, the winter Clematis has finished for the year; but summer’s blue is coming soon.

Only Jeff might not question why I built this seat so cock-eyed onto a garden bed structure, or what and why the strange yellow object hanging next to the seat is.  I was not trying to create a Santa Cruz Mystery Spot type of place.

It’s a level and I use it religiously, and Jeff has already guessed that the board and the seat on it are DEAD, bubble in the middle, level.

The Taters are in the ground

 … along with Asparagus which I have never grown before.  It had the same instructions that came with the potatoes; 3-inches below ground level and then add ½ an inch a week until achieving ground level.

This slow filling in of the trench means that I can’t plant my carrots, onions, beets, etc. until May.  No problem, I’ve got seeds in pots growing in my window sills for all of these.  The problem is, I didn’t label them, so I need to wait anyway, until they are recognizable.

The “Netherland Bulb Company” in Easton, PA packages these packets of Seed Potatoes ( 4 different packets).  They are from stock grown in Idaho, and locally available at Dorothy’s Stumptown Nursery.  One other recommendation is that the soil should be richly organic, loose with good drainage.  I have gardened my backyard organically for over twenty years now.  For this potato trench, I have mixed 1/3 my own compost, 1/3 the native soil, and 1/3 Stumptown Nursery’s Barnyard organic compost.

Here are the trenches, three of them.

The first Pic is a halfway point, …

 

 

The comes the final Pic, when they’re watered in.

 

…

Bright Eyes (1934)

 

Anyone who watches this picture these days, begins tearing up as soon as they see the rickety aircraft, bi-wing planes on a rudimentary airport they remember that her father died in a plane crash.   – but it’s not that – they quickly remember that Shirley’s parented only by a mom who’s working as a maid for the worst couple in the world, with the most spoiled brat child in the world.  This is the first ten minutes of the film.

We are sobbing already.

Then her mother dies, in a freak accident.

We continue sobbing the way through, while she’s singing, “The Good Ship Lollipop”.

It ends well.

It’s been a good day in River Town

 

PP and I decided the Potato [root vegetable] Bed was ready for planting.

The first step was reading the instructions.  She was disappointed when I told her today’s step involved the cutting into smaller pieces with one or two eyes.  We took a vote and the ayes had it.  But they then had to sit in the sun and dry out for one day, so Pic 1 is: “drying and quartered potatoes”.  

We next dealt with our every 3-4 weeks minimal garbage: all of our scraps go into compostable recycling; most of our packaging is dropped at the local dump once a month for free; I dump my kitchen garbage bag 2-3 times a week into a back deck garbage bin, which is a can with a “Contractor’s Bag” in it; 2-3 times a month, I move a full Bag to the rear of my property, and every 2-3 months, I take a load to the dump for $37.50.

While looking at the back deck, PP and I decided to begin the cleaning process.  Chopping up and stacking the remaining wood was the initial task, See Pic 2: “Next Year’s Starter Stack of Wood”.  Chopping wood with an axe was interesting.  When I had two “good” eyes, I always aimed wrong, guided by my dominant right eye.  Now that my right eye has Macular and is effectively sidelined, I make no more mistakes: neither in picture taking, nor in wielding an axe.  I was like Jack the Flyswatter in the Beanstalk today, almost every blow, a deadly hit.  It gave me a powerful feeling.

That still left us with a sweep-up job for tomorrow, Pic 3, “Empty Winter Wood Pile”.

So, this afternoon PP and I decided that Peter was getting too old to manage a full, sunny front yard, as well as a back yard, which he has recently downgraded to two beds: Salad Bowl bed and Root Crop bed.  So, we have partitioned the front yard area into at least a dozen beds of undetermined purpose or management, as of yet.

We have laid down eight-foot timbers, often with four-foot adjuncts, laying out pathways, and bed boundaries.  The dozen could as easily be two dozen.  The purpose is to be able to focus on single beds.  I certainly would contemplate sub-letting a bed or two to sunny-loving, redwood inhabitants.  They could be the needed labor to get the front yard under control.  See Pic 4: “Garden Beds in Front”. 

A Final Early Spring Night Tonight

 

The temperature is dropping 30+ points along our micro-climate River tonight.  Ah Well, we got good things done today.

I hired Julian Diurni, Jessica’s son, to churn my compost bins.  He emptied my Bin #1 [Pic 1], sharing the 2 yards or wormy compost amongst both front and back yards.  It completed my new Potato Bed trench garden [Pic 2].  I will plant my seedlings there as soon as they open their eyes to Springtime growing season.

He worked deeply to the bottom, scouring into the transfer buckets every tasty morsel of fresh recycled compost.  There are fresh service piles in the front yard, ready for my re-visualization; he also filled the new raised-bed  in the back yard by the once-leaning trellis; and left a few buckets for my withering Clematis.  The bottom of Bin #1 has been scoured to its’ depths. [Pic 3]

Bin # 1 will start a new cycle of composting.  For me it starts in the morning with yesterday’s coffee grounds.  If I cooked with veggies in one of my WOKs the night before, I may clean things out into this handy. foot-opening, specialty, mini-garbage can.  Back from shopping at noontime, I will chop off the leaves and tails of things like beets and carrots – compost, even for fruit like pineapple; and oranges that I eat all day long.  At dinner, often in the WOK with Kale, onions, and asparagus; and an avocado somewhere along the line.  My mini-can fills up every day or two.  I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables.

So, the excess from Bin #1 went to top off Bins #2 and #4 [pic 4], putting them to sleep for another year.  I’ll open Bin #2 in Spring 2022.  It’s a cycle – I add new worms every six months.  Other than that, I don’t touch them – normal rain – normal stirrings.  

But as I said to open, it’s chilling down tonight.  We’ve only got one or two more nights like this before late Spring kicks in,

10° Centigrade, over 50 F.  That’s when seeds start perking, etc.  Many things can’t wait – my cat and I have a hard  time waiting.  I’ve started a very late seasonal fire in the fireplace tonight. [Pic 5].  It’s not really like a winter “warm us up” type of fire; it’s more of a camping trip “doesn’t this feel comfortable” type of fire.  The cat can’t wait until the mid-seventies afternoon tomorrow, she’s pacing and looking to get into trouble.