INDEPENDENCE DAY

/ janpriddyoregon

Locals mostly hate the Fourth of July. Too many people, loose dogs, and illegal fireworks going off at all hours. During my run this morning, a dog charged me, barking deeply, and the owner didn’t even apologize. But also a great many brown pelicans, sand all the way around Hug Point, and Gary built a fort. Some bad news, but good food. Education.

There were dozens of brown pelicans onshore in front of our home when we went out about 6:30. We did not approach but took zoomed-in photos. By the time we got home there were people and loose dogs scattered across the beach, and the pelicans had gone off for the day.

The Supreme Court was busy this week, restoring debt to millions of Americans (which is bad), making it easier for business owners to discriminate (which is bad), and rolling back affirmative action (which is… bad) · Meanwhile, this seems be the year the planet’s climate systems have gone fully out of whack (which is bad). 

—this morning’s Literary Hub email
But pelicans…
A volunteer wild lupine (we think) that just showed up a couple years ago and we encourage.
Gary put this up yesterday with salvage and drift, just for fun and to stake our claim before the visitors decide to build a fire on our path (it’s happened) or use our path as a toilet (also happened).

If you think impoverished homeless people are the worst, let me tell you about entitled affluent people.

But no, I need to think on more pleasant things. The pelicans. Flowers blooming. Bread rising.

Also blooming in the front yard along with the double white and two pink rugosas. Salal berries look small this year but may improve in the next week or so.

Temperatures of up to 100° are expected in Portland over the next few days. The Portland Rose Garden was in full and extravagant flower when we were there Friday evening.

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A sky blue from horizon to horizon is not my preference. Give me a roll of cloud out over the water every time. Give me freedom to travel, to properly manage personal matters affecting myself and my family, social justice and opportunity for everyone, and good public schools that are not afraid to tell the truth about our history and about the world we share.

My favorite view the horizon with a roll of clouds.

I have bread rising this morning and I am thinking about what I learned from my mother and what I built after her. Mom baked bread, made strawberry jam, and encouraged me to cook. We had only the cheapest margarine, fake vanilla and maple flavoring, Bisquick, Jello, canned vegetable, KoolAide, and no pepper.

From The Guardian. Funding education for all is not a priority for people who can afford to send their own children to private schools, most often paying tuition rivaling that of elite private universities. Never mind that the cost of a strong public school is a fraction of that cost.

I discovered real butter, real vanilla, real maple syrup, and international cuisine while I was still a teenager. Olive oil. Parsley as food. I have two kinds of whole pepper in my kitchen and grind it fresh. I was making Asian dishes in the early 70s, including Thai curries before I’d ever seen or even heard of a Thai restaurant. I read books about nutrition. Cookbooks. When I became vegetarian/pescatarian in 1990, my mother and one of my oldest friends dismissed it as a fad I’d get over. But I had seen feedlots up close by then, been horrified by stories about slaughterhouses, and done the research. So I don’t eat what I would not kill. I would kill a carrot for food. Eggs. A fish a year. Grains and pulses. Greens and squash. I feel some guilt about dairy but still eat it daily. I believe diet is important. I take vitamin D most days but this morning I walked home from my run without a shirt over my sport bra—best to make that vitamin myself.

Yes, it’s really this color, Violet’s Pride. I thought at first that it was Angel Face, a floribunda I knew from decades ago. Perhaps a relative? More than a dozen of these shrubs were blooming their fool heads off. It is a “self-groomer” that drops its spent petals. I will keep an eye on it for hips.

20 thoughts on “INDEPENDENCE DAY”

  2. you gotta look on the bright side
    the only trick is ya gotta squint really hard to sea it
    a skink a skunk a Renzi monk
    a dog that talks more than an older owner and doesn’t bite
    a treed teepee and away we went
    the rocky road to Dublin
    requires sturdy soles souls
    on feet and on heart
    the extreme court just jumped out of the plane with my backpack on
    Lordy–next

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    • That is an excellent coincidence! Great minds think alike.

      I started the sourdough preferment yesterday afternoon, mixed the dough last night and put it to rise in the fridge, and then formed loaves after my run. They came out of the oven in time for lunch.

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  4. A skink! How wonderful! I wonder how often at a quick glance how I may be misidentifying them in my yard. I did plant a native Lupine about 3 years ago. I am glad it is spreading its wings.
    On an encouraging note about the mess our country is in, I recently listened to the podcast Clear + Vivid with Alan Alda, episode: Steve Israel: Disagreeing Without the Hate. Retired from the US House of Representatives, he teaches a class at Cornell University. He said being with his students has given him the most confidence about where the country is going regarding the threats to democracy, and their ability to solve those problems. His students said “congressman, you screwed it up so get out of the way and let us handle it!” He said he is encouraged because they are intolerant of intolerance and are critical thinkers.

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    • We wondered where that lupine came from! It must be from yours.

      Thank you for the positive outlook. Alas, Cornell students are not typical in their grasp of critical thinking. The teaching of that skill seems to be falling away or outright banned. I should not go on…

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  6. The world is a divisive/divided, criminal place. I stay informed but try not to dwell on what I may never be able to change.

    I’m far away from where you reside by the ocean but I enjoyed a wonderful lavender farm today, cutting our own bundles of deliciousness, reaching and weaving among the groups of bees.

    Happiness all day, especially when sharing some of the bounty, a meal ,and good talk with some of our family.

    I am also glad I can spend more time catching up with various creative folks here, including you, and it’s so good to do. Finally healing up well enough from that knee replacement madness!

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  8. I’m not trying to bee funny or anything, but when I took Typing class they made me give it back and I did so crummy that I scored a whopping negative four words per minute—I tried to flunk but they wouldn’t let me—gotta a D. As for the knee work, get better, get well and thank god we can still walk—my knees have been fun (sourcaschem) all my life—ouch—cest la vie

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