6 July 06
Google Earth Meets The Tour
Following the Tour de France has taken a second seat next to the World Cup, but as the latter is almost over, we will begin paying more attention. At this point, nobody has any idea who might win the Tour, the favorites all being out due to drug scandal or injury. Right now, the sprinters are having their time in the sun. Today I looked at the official Tour website to see when we’ll be hitting more decisive stages. There I found that they’ve produced a Tour de France overlay for Google Earth. I don’t remember if they did this last year—Google Earth didn’t run on my computer then. At left is a Google Earth image (click to enlarge) of the famous climb up L’Alpe d’Huez, which is on Tuesday 18 July.
5 July 06
Haricots Nains
Not content simply to intersperse my new dwarf string beans in and around the lettuces, I’ve dug another bed.
This is a small square one and will be getting afternoon shade from the tomatoes. It’s ideal, in other words, for taking up the lettuce slack so I can plant some more beans. The ones harvested very early by the French and wonderfully tasty in salade niçoise. Or on their own.
Digging in this heat is sort of nuts but at least it went quickly.
After working the bike race yesterday morning followed by Italy-Germany, it made for an interesting day.
The World Cup’s nearly over. It always takes a few days to recover from the intensity of the immersion…
4 July 06
Cat's Cradle
Pica’s sister once gave us a woven wood basket that we use for recycling newspapers. But Charlie loves to hop in it when we empty the newspapers!
3 July 06
The Horses are Back
There’s a paddock outside my window at work. It’s been emtpy for nearly a year. A delivery of contaminated sand led to a horrible injury (a horse stepped on a nail, got a bad infection, had to be put down).
The place has been thoroughly combed with metal detectors. There are now horses back in there, a gentle presence when I”m trying to think of a synonym for “part” that isn’t “component” which in my opinion is a word that should only be used in connection with cars.
I like having them back.
3 July 06
Towards Footie Enlightenment
Last time the World Cup came around, I thought of buying a soccer ball. Walking past the garden today, I had the similar idea. As a kid I did get my fair share of soccer, mostly at the summer rec camp I participated in for a few years. This wasn’t very competitive, nothing at all like today’s AYSO, but they did teach fundamentals of ball handling, and I enjoyed it. But soccer was not a sport I grew up watching. Unlike Pica, who followed the fortunes of both England and Spain while growing up and every four years goes on a World Cup football binge. In 2002 the World Cup was of course in South Korea and Japan, which meant the matches were at ungodly hours in the morning here, and I wasn’t able to see many of them.
This time around the matches have all fallen conveniently between 6 in the morning and noon, and I’ve been able to watch bits and pieces of many of them, and a few complete games. Saturday we went to Little Prague for the Portugal-England match. This is the Czech restaurant in town that has been serving a breakfast of scrambled eggs and dumplings to all who come in to watch the World Cup. There were about a hundred people in there, mostly rooting for England, but there was a vocal Portugal contingent near the big screen. Having had enough of a sports bar scene for the day, we borrowed the 3-inch telly from Pica’s workplace and watched France-Brazil at home. In my short history as a soccer spectator, this was the best match I have ever seen—there was the biggest sense of story about it, with the two teams having met in ‘98 with many of the same players, and with this being Zidane’s final hurrah. It’s been good this past couple of weeks—I’m really starting to understand the game.
30 June 06
Like and Unlike
Botany
keys
yes no one zero
differentiated or opposite
five petals or four
a series of
cancellations
Madrone is not
manzanita
smooth bark
but different leaves
quieter
less showy
hidden in the
chaparral
yes
no
not
a
cancellation,
its bark says
smooth and red
peeled and sheer
me
I’m here
I am
madrone
the sweet smell
in late sun
oak titmice
and ravens
say
oh, sure,
that’s madrone,
not a
nothing
you
blindhuman
afternoon
sun
Madrone
submitted for Festival of the Trees Carnival
30 June 06
Read And Release
I just picked up my first BookCrossing book. I was stepping outside for a break at work when I saw on a bench just inside the door a book entitled Joy in a Woolly Coat. Maybe it’s about sheep, I thought, and had a look. Actually it was about dogs, companion animals, and grief, and it was illustrated with nice pencil sketches. Then I noticed the BookCrossing bookplate and figured why not, I’ll pick it up. Bookcrossing is a neat concept. If you have a book you want to pass on to the world, you register it online, and then leave the book in a public place. With luck somebody will find it, read it, and jot down where it’s been in its online journal!
28 June 06
Farmers' Market Visit
We don’t end up buying food at the Farmers’ Market very often, since good, organic produce is available at the Coop along with whatever else we need. Today, though, I biked over there after a retirement party to find some bread, some blackberries, and some peaches (the peach tree outside the kitchen window has finished bearing but I’m used to eating them now and wanted some more).
I ran into three people I know, which is normal: Susan of bicycle and Vet Med designer fame; Wave of Commencement fame; and Anita the poet-cum-fiddler, which was great. (I didn’t know Anita had taken up the fiddle.)
And I was asked to fill out a survey about whether the Yolo Master Gardeners should grow a vegetable garden on B Street. do you have a garden? Do you consider yourself a beginner? Oh yes. But now with my lettuces and squashes starting to overflow, I’d have to say I’m hooked.
This is fun! Who knew?
28 June 06
Birders Passing In The Night
I don’t think I can count hearing the spotted owl on Saturday’s trip. At dusk we went on a two-mile circuit through this nature preserve in Placer County. Kevin who was leading us was doing his best spotted owl imitation and losing his voice in the process. About halfway through, Kevin was convinced he heard one calling in response, and we continued on, past some very fragrant western azaleas. Finally I heard the bird as well, calling faintly to the left and upslope. We walked quietly through the darkening forest, and I remarked to Kevin that the owl was probably back at the parking lot. We emerged up on the dirt road to hear the owl calling close by. Except when we walked on, it turned out there were two cars in the parking lot, rather than just ours. Outside of the second car was another birder, Stan, who seemed to recognize Kevin. Stan had been, naturally enough, trying to call in the owl himself.
25 June 06
Living Room Full of Half-Full Bottles
My mother left today. Left for Maine. We all went up to Mosquito Ridge Road last night to look for owls. Heard spotted, saw-whet and flammulated but saw none of them. We didn’t get home till about 1:30 pm; she’d been up nearly 24 hours.
My brother has put her on the red eye to Boston this evening in Seattle. I am left with a living room full of the things she removed from her house yesterday morning the movers didn’t take but she couldn’t take, either. We have enough laundry detergent for a year.
Her presence will linger here for a few days as she starts this next chapter in her life.
The self portrait I’ve done today and will post here tomorrow has me looking at my reflection in the kitchen window. It’s dark out. I look tired and feel conflicted. I look like a child, I think, in the drawing. It’s sort of how I feel.