Books of the Year 2012

Please enjoy my second annual Books of the Year post. (I read them this year, not all of them were published this year.)
  
All my favorite books this year were nonfiction titles. With the exception of the the Steve Jobs biography, of the five favorites, four were memoirs by women. Last year all my favorites were fiction. Do these things just go in cycles? Was I searching for something relevant to my own life in memoir, or is it just that the fiction I read didn't inspire me? Am I looking to live more authentically or with more excitement? Am I wondering how to find myself again now that the kids can do so much more for themselves? J will be a high school senior next year, focused intently on his path out of the house.

The lives described in the memoirs are very different from my own. One is the journey of a confused woman in her twenties, one explores a prominent life from early motherhood to grandmotherhood, one is a travel journal of a woman is in her 50s on a honeymoon, and one explores the loneliness and pain of old age.

My favorite books of the year in no particular order are:

Blue Nights by Joan Didion 
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson    
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Against Wind & Tide by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Le Road Trip by Vivian Swift

Wild 
 Cheryl Strayed has written a beautiful memoir about her 26th year when she found strength after tragedy during a grueling 1100 mile walk on the Pacific Coast Trail through California and Oregon. The writing was powerful. She pulled you into her alternating past and current stories. People she met along the way... people she wanted to leave behind (her abusive father)... people with whom she need to make a final peace (her mother who had died before their relationship had been worked out). She explores the harms she did to herself through irresponsibility with men and drugs. Unlike me, she is intensely poor in money and relationships. It is interesting how she views poverty both as she lived it in her childhood and on the trail. Her lack of money and family made her totally self reliant. I have always known that in bad times I could count on someone. I have resources to fall back on. Could I ever be as brave as she was to pursue a dream with nothing but spirit?

Blue Nights
Joan Didion's memoir is heartbreaking. Her previous one, A Year of Magical Thinking, explored the time after her husband died. Here she digs deep within herself after the death of her only child. She is aging alone.  It seems the most honest, fearful discussion of decline due to age I have ever seen. It is not the stuff of AARP magazine, ads for elder living communities and cruising seniors. This is an exploration of losing one's balance, losing one's relations, and losing the past. I don't think I could get through this if I were in my 60's or older. It would be too scary. 

from Blue Nights :
"I continue opening boxes. I find more faded and cracked photographs than I want ever again to see. I find many ingraved invitations to the weddings of people who are no longer married. I find mass cards from the funerals of people whose faces I no longer remember. In theory these mementos serve to bring back the moment. In fact they serve only to make clear how inadequately I appreciated the moment when it was here. 
How inadequately I appreciated the moment when it was here is something else I could never afford to see."

Le Road Trip
On a lighter note, Vivian Swift wrote and illustrated this charming travel journal detailing her honeymoon in France with her new second husband. There are descriptions of old walled cities, casual yet delicious meals, the serendipity of train travel, and many, MANY cats. But the thing that attracted me most were the sketches and watercolors on every page. There were repeated studies of sunrises and sunsets. (It's the type of thing I have tried to capture on vacation in drawings or photos and haven't been able to do well). There are pages of paintings of windows of stone, of wood, in many colors, with cats...  I love books that combine art and words, pictures that tell a great story and words that bring life to the pictures. This is one of those books.

 

THE WHOLE LIST

1. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
2. Blue Nights by Joan Didion    
3. The Summer Book by Tove Janssen   
4. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 
5. Fed Up with Lunch by Sarah Wu      
6. Samuel Adams the Father of American Independence by Dennis Fradin   
7. Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin   
8. Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil    
9. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson      
10. An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler    
11. Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
12. 50 Shades of Gray     
13. Eat to Live     by Joel Fuhrman     
14. The Good of the Land by Wendell Berry  
15. The Lives of Margaret Fuller   
16. The Indispensable Zinn       
17. Wild by Cheryl Strayed    
18. Smut by Alan Bennet  
19. War Dances by Sherman Alexie      
20. Running Waves              
21. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
22. Against Wind & Tide by Anne Morrow Lindbergh   
23. The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman (YA Newberry)
24-26 Hunger Games Series
27. My Ideal Bookshelf  Thessaly La Force (ed.)     
28. Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen   
29. The Receptionist by Janet Groth   
30. Le Road Trip by Vivian Swift   

Ice Tears From the Sky for Newtown

 A strange weather phenomenon this morning has coated our whole house and all the plants around it with a thick layer of ice.

On the pergola it looks like permanent tears.

 

 When I walked on the grass it crackled and broke.



 Ice is thick on the apple branches.



The tall grasses that normally blow in the breeze outside our dining room are bowed and frozen.



 I can't even remember or identify what plant this is. But frozen it makes a Seussian shape.

So Thankful for Local Farm-Fresh Food

I thought I'd post a bit about Thanksgiving and what's going on before the season passes by. We served 8 at our Thanksgiving table (although the youngest didn't feel very well and only made it to the table for pie.) Our immediate family, my mom, my in-laws and a new friend I'm thankful for this year who built a beautiful house for herself in town and moved in early this year.

The menu included: a dry-brined turkey cooked on the grill, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted butternut squash/onion/cranberry, and cornbread/sausage stuffing. Guests brought a pumpkin pie and a peach pie for dessert. It was a terrific meal although the food photos didn't turn out so well. My favorite photo of the day was of my happy mother and father-in-law passing the turkey.

Although we did not have turnip at this meal, many of the ingredients came from our Siena farm share. For their farm and for Mainstone farm across the road from us, where we get our grass fed beef and pork, I am truly thankful during the holidays and all year through. We have signed up for a 48-week full year share from Siena for next year. Here is a photo of my favorite guys at this fall's Siena harvest party.



The other food related item I'm thankful for is fresh eggs... and my friend who keeps chickens. This inspirational friend teaches me about living sustainably and with positive intention. She is really something special. I helped take care of her chickens while she was away for Thanksgiving and got a number of fresh eggs as a reward. Here's one that I very quickly turned into breakfast!

The Sweetest Soup

Beautiful fall soup and salad.

My daughter is a "picky eater". She has been a vegetarian since birth (her choice... she spit out meat from the first bite). She likes all her tastes separate, no mixing, no sauces. But the variety of things she eats is good: lots of dairy, eggs, nuts, grains, fruits and vegetables. She is 11, and I've been making her try more things. If she's wary of a soup I make, she must eat a few spoonfuls served in a small pyrex bowl. Last night she hugged me and thanked me for finding a soup she likes. She ate a whole regular-sized bowl.

It is a sweet potato/pear soup adapted by me from a friend's recipe adapted from a Moosewood recipe.

peeled, chopped sweet potatoes with cinnamon stick

apples, pears, sauteed in butter simmered in white wine

This hand-held blender makes soup preparation easy.

Sweet Potato/Pear Soup

 1.5 lbs yams or sweet potatoes

4 cups water (I used half water/half broth, I think some cider in there would be great too)

1 3-inch stick of cinnamon

1  teaspoons salt

3 large (average person’s fist-sized) ripe pears (I used 2 pears and an apple)

¼ cup  white wine

1/3 cup half and half or light cream or milk

A few dashes of ground white pepper

Peel the yams and cut into small pieces. Place in a large saucepan with water, cinnamon stick and salt.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer till tender, about 15 minutes.

Remove and discard cinnamon stick. Set aside.

Peel and core the pears (and/or apples); cut into thin slices.

In heavy skillet saute pears in butter for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.

Add ¼ cup wine, cover and simmer 10 – 12 minutes over medium heat.

Using a food processor or blender, in several batches, puree the yams in their water and the pears in their juice until smooth. (My new hand held blender allowed me to put everything together and blend it quickly, no transferring hot liquid, no messing up lots of bowls and appliances, get one!)

Add the milk or cream, stir and serve.

Another Journal Page

After sharing my journal entry from NC yesterday, I decided to share an extended page I created after an early October trip to Washington, DC. I went there to meet up with some friends from graduate school. It took 20 years to begin, but for the past 2, we have met for a annual reunion (last year in Cape May).

Getting together with women friends is wonderful. We all leave our family responsibilities behind. We don't have to cook, clean or be responsible for anything but ourselves. Last year we took beach walks, this year we toured the Washington mall and art museums.

With my camera at home, I, instead, recorded words and art that touched me in my journal.  I have a couple journals, one just for writing, one for drawing and collage, and this one that I take on trips. I won it in a blog contest here. It is thin with the softest leather cover and creamy pages, some with prompts suggesting you draw while listening to music or collage around your favorite photo. I stuff each page honoring the space hoping the journal will last a long time.

Below are the closed and open page with collaged attachments I made on and shortly after the trip:

I copied words that inspired me as we walked the mall:

At the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

At the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

I drew artistic works that spoke to me.

At the National Gallery West I saw a wonderful portrait photography exhibit. At the bottom left is my rendition of a surprising photo by Ilse Bing from 1931. With 2 mirrors and her camera, she captured herself head on and in profile. As an artist. she hides behind the camera yet exposes herself in such a compelling way. On the way out of the museum I grabbed a flyer that had a copy of the photo. I collaged it in on the open top right.

In the same show were the ethereal, ghostly photos of Francesca Woodman. I had recently seen a documentary about her and her family's life. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known who she was. I am intrigued by coincidences like that. In addition, there were much more recent photos by Nikki Lee. She was featured in each photo as part of a crowd of Hip Hop kids, yuppies, lesbians or other groups. Her work showed how we can change our identities, yet how fixed we can become as part of certain groups... suburban moms for example. See a video about her work here.

Outdoors at the Hirshorn Sculpture Garden I was transfixed by Rodin's Burghers of Calais. I tried to draw the anguish of one of the figures (in blue at the center right). I didn't know the story behind the work, but the art drove me to find out more. The sculpture was done in the late 1800s to honor the leaders of the city of Callais on the French coast who in 1347 surrendered themselves, starving and nearly naked, to the English forces to save their blockaded city. A powerful work, a powerful story.

Inside the Hirshorn was an exhibit by controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. His highly political art can be both tragic and humorous. A huge wall of the museum is covered with a chart from his Citizen's Investigation Project, listing the names and ages of children lost in China's earthquake. More than 5000 were killed--many in their schools--because  of corruption and shoddy construction. On a lighter note, a work called Study of Perspective Tianamin and the White House, showed two large photos (one of each place). In front of each landscape, someone holds up a middle finger that looks large before the small facade. It was as interesting to watch people encounter the work as it was to see it. No one could stand before it without laughing. Here are some of his Perspective photos:


 

I love making time to explore art in my community, in my travels and in my journal.

A Sad Prediction Fulfilled

This seems an odd day to finally write this post. It's the morning after an election where the most radical tea party sentiments were turned back throughout the country. Candidates who would require a woman to carry a baby created from rape were defeated. Elizabeth Warren, a women who began fighting for financial reforms to benefit the middle class long before she had any thought of running for office, became the first female senator from Massachusetts. Perhaps having those concerns off my mind has allowed me to consider something else that's weighing on me.

Climate Change Is Here.

When I'm relaxed on vacation I like to spend time observing and drawing. During our August NC vacation, I drew this picture.



I was fascinated by the efforts of the man rebuilding the stairs of the home on the left (note the tiny figures working under the house). The supports of the house on the right were in the water at high tide. Here's a photo in the mists at the edge of the warming, rising Atlantic.



I wrote about risk and building on waterfront land here. Here's a video of the house on the right side of my journal picture and the photo above breaking apart against the neighboring house after its fallen into the ocean.

This was in the early stages of yet another 100 year storm, perhaps the 3rd one in a year and a half, well before it deluged the NYC subway tunnels, put millions of people in the dark, destroyed hundreds of homes and killed over 100 people.

Beautiful Fall Food

Perhaps it's about time to do another Using the Share post like this one.

The seasons are changing and so are our local, fresh veggies. Apples and pears replace berries and stone fruits. Butternut and acorn squashes appear rather than zucchini and summer squash. Chard and kale replace more tender lettuces.

And there's lovely arrowhead cabbage like this:

I chopped and sauteed it in a little bacon fat with garlic and mixed it with some pasta and Parmesan. Simple and delicious.

Winds of Change

Have you noticed fall has arrived? All of a sudden a dry, cool breeze is blowing all the time. It occasionally grabs the first colored leaves from the ash trees and flutters them down across the yard. The other afternoon, the sun suddenly came out after a cloudy rainy morning. The leaves were sparkling as they shook back and forth.



I'm trying to spend more time staring out the window, taking more walks through the woods, and riding my bike down scenic roads before the leaves are gone.

How School Should Be

Last night was back-to-school night for my 6th grade Middle Schooler. I was so impressed with the enthusiasm of all the teachers. They are focused on helping the students succeed, learn and have fun. They are eager and smart.

Their methods and projects are as creative as our kids. Here's a social studies assignment my daughter did for today. It's a brochure, "Welcome to Confection Island, the sweetest place on Earth." The assignment was to make a real or fictional brochure, story, or poem with pictures and descriptions of 6 land forms.

Hers are: Meringue Mountain, Hot Chocolate Lake, Cream Cataract, Caramel Canal, Cake Canyon, and Peep Plain, where the Peep bunnies live.



The High School in our town has recently adopted a 1:1 computer initiative where each student was given a computer. The teachers are incorporating computers into their classrooms, and students are using them for homework and research. There are many opportunities for the school to be creative, and for the kids to learn at their own pace. There is also the chance that computers will interfere with the deep interaction and discussion between teachers and students.

And, of course, no sooner had we gotten the computers than a column appeared in the local paper calling for increased efficiency and class size to lower the budget. For our town, this is totally the wrong approach. Here's my response to our local paper in full support of our amazing teachers:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/wayland/topstories/x928643436/Letter-to-the-editor-Computers-cant-replace-interaction#axzz26SdRCmKb

We should do what is necessary to make parents across the country in every school so proud of their teachers and students. It is our most important investment.

Someone Likes Damp Cushions

Yesterday afternoon I wanted to sit on the reclining porch chairs as I wrote in my journal, but the cushions were wet. I took them off the chairs to hang dry. Underneath the damp crease of the cushion sat this toad. It was the second toad I found in two days. Toads are nice surprises. They make me smile and stay long enough to get a good photo.

Back with New Plan

I'm going to try to post the occasional (or maybe more often) single photo with a short text. Somehow the longer posts of the past seem too overwhelming now. I feel like my brain is always full of swirling emotions. I need to focus on the reality before me, focus on the things I'm doing.

Working: I got a job (paid) in our local library
Cooking: It seems my kids are growing so fast and need so much food. I feel like I'm shopping, planning, baking, chopping, and cleaning up so many times a day. It's seems never-ending.
Biking: I'm going to ride to Walden Pond with my daughter's 6th grade. I'm getting in shape.
Painting: Finally I finished the pieces for our pergola. They had been stained reddish-brown.

Update:
Painted pergola puzzle put in place.

Buildings, Floods and Risk Tolerance

Our first house was on the Passaic river. We purchased it knowing it was likely we'd have water in the basement on occasion and that we'd need to have flood insurance. We were young and felt quite invulnerable.

In the 17 years we lived in that house, we had 2 floods where between 1 and 2 feet of water filled the basement. By the second flood, we kept nothing of value down there. Flood insurance costs over the period more than tripled from around $800/year to more than $2500/year. We made only one claim for $1600 after the first flood in all that time.

When buying our second house, we made sure we were not in a flood zone. The Sudbury river runs through the town, however, and cut off parts of the town for over a week in April 2010.

I told this history to explain why I was so amazed at the destruction and rebuilding happening on the Outer Banks in North Carolina, where we spent our recent vacation.

We stayed in a lovely house with 4 other families. It was just across the road from the beach. From the top floor we could see the ocean out the front windows and the bay out the back.

The house we stayed in sat in a swamp near where there had been an ocean breakthrough in a recent storm.

The house 2 doors down to the right was tilted and condemned. The third house to the left had no ground left underneath it. The supports that held it up were in a swamp. Its pool sat unevenly and was filled with swampy water. Surprisingly, there was a FOR SALE sign in front of that house.

Notice the swampy pool and house standing in water.

Across the road on the beach, a family camped in their house with no water or electricity that had lost its first floor. Each day the owner worked to replace it. The stairs to the house were not complete. The inhabitants carried up their supplies on a ladder to the first stair platform.

Notice the ladders up to the stair landing.

When I took my morning walks I saw many damaged, abandoned houses. I also saw many that had been rebuilt even though water came up under them at high tide.

The orange and white sign on this house gave spa rules, but the hot tub was gone.

My husband found this video that showed the storm damage that had occurred in August 2011. The area we stayed last week is shown starting at 4 mins 50 seconds. The house that I show above without stairs is currently the last house on the this section of beach. In the video there are 2 more houses farther along that no longer exist. You can see one of them very well in its precarious position at 7 mins 30 seconds.





As I walked along the beach early each morning I pondered, "How do people buy here? Why do they rebuild when they've watched houses next to theirs fall into the surf?" I thought about the rising sea level and stronger storms expected as our climate changes. It made me so anxious.

Then I thought about how much my family enjoyed coming to these Outer Banks beaches, how the kids (and adults) loved playing in the warm surf. I thought about how much fun we have spending time here with a large group of friends. What if I were willing to take more risks? There are owners here who take the risk and get to live in this vacation paradise. They don't vacation here for a week. They get to walk the beach any day of the year. But they take great chances.

In my life, I often feel like I'm preparing for the worst. I'm insuring against a dangerous future rather than living well in the present. I doubt I could change so much that I could buy a flood prone beach house, but I'd like to take more chances, fret less, and have more fun. Seeing how people in precarious situations move forward is an example to challenge me.

Back from NC

written yesterday, posted this morning

We got back this afternoon from our 3rd trip to North Carolina. It's a wonderful vacation with friends of Doug's from college days and their families. Each time we have rented a big house and stuffed it full of kids, snacks and boogie boards, game boards, and fun fun fun. There's lots of activity, noise, sand, alcoholic beverages, freedom for kids, bobbing in warm waves, hot tubbing and renewing friendships.

But for this evening, I'm glad to be back in my quiet comfortable home.

All the doors and windows are open to cool off the house and clear the stale air. I hear the constant noise of crickets and the occasional car go by.

I'm noticing that all of a sudden the dark of night is coming earlier.

I see that the garden is overgrown with weeds, but there were lots of purple green beans hidden among them. They became part of dinner.

The majority of unpacking is done, and I'm looking forward to doing some organizing tomorrow when R is at camp and J is sailing. I do like my alone time, and that is rare on the NC vacation... only during 6am sunrise walks.

 

 It was amazing and intense spending the past month in close quarters with my hubby and kids for the majority of our days. The kids are growing so fast, learning new skills, becoming so independent.





Time with my hubby is sweet, no rush, no fuss. Instead, relaxing walks and silly talks.

 

A Vacation Full of Physical Challenges

Here are some special moments from one of the best vacations we've ever taken. It was a "deluxe" camping trip with Backroads. "Deluxe" means that after we hiked, biked or walked up the Narrows at Zion National Park, we would come to our campground to cold drinks and appetizers. The tents would be set up and dinner would be cooking. All the preparation, shopping and lugging was done for us. In addition, the wonderful group leaders guided us to wonderful experiences, encouraged us to try new things, and were supportive as we challenged ourselves.

Heading out on a beautiful hike through the "hoodoos" at Bryce.

 

 

 

 

On the bike trail though Red Canyon.

Canyoneering near Zion National Park

This was taken about half way up a 1500 ft elevating 4 mile hike. Up and up the switchbacks.

Kicking back on Mexican Fiesta night in camp.

Sharing the Share

I'm making an effort to describe how we use the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share we get each week. I showed pictures of the farm during our end of season party last year in this post. This CSA and others work by having a farmer paid early and up front to buy his seeds and employ his workers with the promise that shareholder will receive a portion of the crop each week. What you receive is based on what is growing well. Shareholders benefit in wonderful years and take the risks with the farmer in times of drought or blight.

 This is our 5th year of doing a CSA with 2 different farmers and we've never been disappointed. It has really expanded the kinds of vegetables we eat. I had to do quite a bit of cookbook and recipe searching the first time I got fennel and turnips and so many greens. But now I can whip up so many different things no matter what arrives. I've become very experimental and capable.

Here is a photo of last week's box unpacked. It includes fava beans, turnips, lettuces, cucumbers, beets, carrots, chard, summer squashes, fennel, cilantro, fresh garlic and some other herbs. This is a typical early summer box. But it will be very different in a few weeks in full summer with tomato and eggplant. Fall brings other root crops and winter squashes. The produce changes week by week throughout the season.



My lunches for much of the week looked like this perhaps with a cheese or egg sandwich added if I was very hungry. There are veggies from the share, peas from our own garden, blue cheese crumbles. I dress it lightly with balsamic vinegar.



One of the first nights I made veggie pancakes with squashes, carrots, garlic, cilantro with potatoes, onion, eggs, flour, salt and pepper added from the pantry.

Ingredients are shredded by hand with a box shredder.

 

Frying about 5 minutes per side in vegetable oil. I drain them on paper towels and they are great served with apple sauce, salsa or sour cream.

 

Another night was greens with pasta and sausage. Sadly, I was too anxious to eat, and forgot to take a photo of the completed dish. But here are the chopped ingredients: turnip greens, beet greens and chard. In the glass pot are onions and fennel sliced. I saute 1/2 lb sausage from the farm across the street, add the onions and fennel when there is no pink left in the sausage. When those are soft I add the greens and steam for just a few minutes. While all that's going on, I boil a pound of pasta. It gets added to the veggie/sausage mix along with romano cheese. YUM! This is a common and flexible recipe for us. This feeds our family of 4.



Here's a salad night finishing up what's left before today's share comes. Three salads plus eggs with cheese.  There's shredded carrot salad with raisins soaked with a little orange juice and honey. Squash sauteed with a few peas and green beans from our garden, and green mix with roasted beets.

City Outing (Fleet Week)

The last post showed one of our recent outings to natural places. We often go to local beaches, woods, and gardens. Soon, we'll be off to our summer vacation in some of the most striking landscapes in the United States  But we live near one of the greatest cities, Boston. As a transplant to the area, I've fallen in love with the history, the charm, the Atheneaum, old bookstores, Beacon Hill, the Harbor, and more. July 4th celebrations here are living history.

This year the July 4th celebrations coincided with Fleet Week and the 200th anniversary of the war of 1812. The war was won largely because of the USS Constitution, a Navy frigate built in Boston that defeated 5 British ships. The Constitution is now a Boston museum. It makes a yearly trip from Charlestown to Castle Island, where it explodes its cannons, and sails back (it doesn't really go by sail now).

USS Constitution closeup

Those sailors on the sidearms give you an idea of the size of this ship.

 The photos that follow are from both Saturday June 30th when a number of international ships came into the Harbor and Wednesday July 4th when there were flyovers and water parades. Thanks D, I used some of your photos.

The Coast Guard Eagle

I love seeing the sailors on the yardarms.

The sailors on the top yardarms are women.

Tug boats helped the boats park along a wharf.

Boston's World Trade Center is not very tall or showy.

A Blue Angel flyover

What's a flyover without parachutists jumping out of planes?

Colorful Flags were everywhere

A fireboat welcomes the tall ships.

The kids no longer like getting their picture taken, especially in the hot sun.

R found a shady spot.

These guys were on their way to set up a recruiting tent. The ICA's shady bleachers are in the backround.

Here's the view from the windows of the ICA above those bleachers. Awesome!

We headed into the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) to see a new exhibit and cool off. We primarily wanted to see the art of Josiah McElheny. His favorite medium is glass. He explores the properties of mirrors, art and the universe with his sparkling, reflective works.

one of McElheny's universes

Another wonderful day in the city. Such days can alter your perspective.