Ask a question, write an essay, make a book

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jia Tolentino asks herself a question and then answers it and that is her essay. You don’t know what the question is; I had fun guessing. Sometimes she injects herself into the text, and sometimes she’s more professorial, but you always know she’s THERE.


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Reminded me of Florida

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jagged, sad, and gorgeous. I usually start novels but can’t finish them. This was the opposite— I HAD to keep reading.
Thanks, Steph, for sharing it with me!

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Scribble and paint

Written yesterday:
Dear Friends,
It’s 4 p.m., and soon I’m driving to Woodland, to attend a benefit for the ArtFarm project that I love. It’s the program that welcomes artists to spend time at Yolo County farms. Yolo is next to Sacramento County; the counties meet in the middle of the Sacramento River. There will be displays and tastings from farms and wineries — if I remember right, there’s lots of food, and music too. And an art auction, at the Hotel Woodland.  I expect the whole scene to remind me of small farm towns in Ohio.  I’m meeting Mary Kaye and Leigh there. 
Here’s some scribble and paint. Can’t keep away from colors! 
Love,
k

Imagine orange

Written last night: 

Dear Friends,

Halloween is not supposed to be relaxing, but mine was. 

🎃Take Zing! to Tony

🎃Walk the mile across I Street Bridge to Burgers & Brew in West Sacramento (West Sac is a separate city just across the bridge.) 

🎃Relaxing lunch there with Patrick & Steph. I like the way people at tables around us are laughing and relaxed at lunchtime. We laugh too.

🎃All at once I realize it’s autumn. I decide to spend an hour cooking. That’s just enough to get lentil soup bubbling and make some gingerbread. 

🎃I am willing to share some of this with my neighbor Sandy, but she declines. She doesn’t like lentils. 

🎃She comes over with a sandwich, and helps me try some pinot noir that might be good for Thanksgiving. 

🎃She loves the gingerbread. I didn’t have time to make applesauce to go with it, but vanilla ice cream was fine. 

🎃I draw these marigolds. Imagine they are orange. Orange marigolds are the flower of Día de los Muertos, November 2. 

Happy Halloween!

Love, 

k

Getting to Absolute Zero

Written last night:

Dear Friends,
Around here, some people had the day off and some had to work. I decided to take the day off —  to not go to the gym, and never mind that Monday is the hardest class! That had NOTHING to do with my decision to stay home. Not to cook or clean or even paint and draw and read and shop. 

I have been trying to simplify my life, because I feel a debilitating sense of urgency that makes me want to hustle. It’s because I know now for certain that my days are numbered (never mind that I do not know the number), and also that I just plain want to focus on the good things. So it made sense this morning to take a break, breathe, focus, meditate —To remove myself from the urge to DO things. 

Secretly, I thought that by not doing anything, everything would get done. 
But nothing got done.  No checking off my to-do list. I’m not sure this makes sense, but by not doing anything I didn’t do anything. 
It was indeed a relaxing day. Hope you had the same!
Love,
k

Idaho surprised me

Dear Friends,

I wish I had drawings and paintings to show you Boise, Idaho, but I don’t. Yet.

I got back home Sunday after a long Idaho weekend with my high school friends Carol and Susan. Carol and her husband Dennis have lived in Boise many years.

Boise (Pronounced BOY-See) was more beautiful than I expected. On a guided trolley tour Friday we learned the city began as a stop in the Payette River Valley for gold miners and fur traders and is now the fastest-growing region in the Pacific Northwest. It has volcanic soil that depends on irrigation from the rivers and, yes, grows lots of potatoes, many of which are sold to McDonald’s. Albertson’s grocery store started here. There's a big Basque community. There are lots of new homes and shopping centers and budding tech activity; Boise is the headquarters of Micron Technology. Yet Carol says there’s a feeling among old-timers that growth is unwelcome. 

Here are some photos. Oops! I didn’t take any of the city itself, but Boise is a lovely place. These  photos are from our Saturday drive to the resort town McCall, Idaho, two hours from Boise.  Carol said she’d drive us two hours north to McCall or three hours east to the famous ski resort Sun Valley; Carol said Sun Valley has higher mountains, longer and possibly more challenging ski runs, and more celebrities per square inch.  Susan and I chose the smaller, closer resort. There was even a little snow on the ground when we got to McCall. We celebrated Carol’s birthday at the Cutwater restaurant in the Shore Lodge on Payette Lake in McCall. 

And if you’re really interested, here’s a link to a map of Idaho:

Love,

k

Boise is a city along a river 

Around it is a desert
It's called high desert

After the desert, trees begin to sprinkle the hills

There are a lot of farms 

Farming is 20% of the gross state product

Just finished this book

The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California by Mark Arax
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Dreamt Land is reportage, memoir, history, and an unabashed love letter to California. The author, Mark Arax, grandson of a raisin farmer, grew up in California’s Central Valley and lives there still. He became a reporter for the LA Times, and then a writer of books. This is not a quick read, and it must have taken him years to research and write.
I read it because I am fairly new to California, and I know that a good way to know the state is by understanding water policy. Also, I have a marine biologist friend who has warned and educated me about California’s water conundrum. She introduced me to this book, and I thank her!
I’m hardly a policy wonk, but this book could make me one. Arax is a fine writer, and he has no simple answers.


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