Day 2 Day radishes

March 31

I am nearly finished with the book, The Other Boleyn Girl. The story is told from the point of view of Mary Boleyn, younger sister to Anne Boleyn.  Anne was mother of Elizabeth I by Henry VIII. Mary was Henry's mistress during part of the reign of Queen Katherine of Aragon.  Mary had two children by Henry. And while she was pregnant with her second child, a boy, Anne was advanced by her family to "entertain" Henry until Mary was back in shape.  Henry was mad to have a boy.  Little did he know that Elizabeth, child of Queen Anne, would become such a powerful monarch.  He might have then kept it in his pants a little more, or at least not been so desperate to have a boy.    But this book was a fun memory jogger.  I have already had to rent the movie ELIZABETH which shows her ascension to the throne.  By the end of next week I will watch the movie A Man for all Seasons of Sir Thomas More and his involvement in Anne's beheading.

Reading up on Henry's wives was fun.   Katheryn of Aragon.  Anne Boleyn. Jane Seymour died shortly after  the birth of Edward, and Henry may have actually liked her as he did not remarry for 2 years. Anne of Cleves was too domestic for the court, and an annulment was fine with her.  , Katheryn Howard cousin to Anne, and Katherine Parr.  Remember the poem.

Divorced, beheaded, died

Divorced, beheaded, survived. 

                  

March 30/ Nordies

Today my sister and I went to Nordies.  We went through the young girls Brass Plum section.  This $58.00 skirt  was 10 inches long.  We were stunned.    My niece tells me that most girls wear,as accessories,  leggings, not tights, Leggings with thongs. Uggs (snow boots) are good too. I am unable to make it into the 21st century. Middle school is the new high school, she says.   It is sex for everybody.  She says dress does not reflect your easiness. 

March 29

March 28

I  am looking out the window of my sister's dining room.   Her house is similar to mine.  Basically the same floor plan, larger, taken to exquisite.  She looks out on a Lake and I look out on  Bay.  She has furniture of out parents home and so it is a very comfortable place to be. 

My sister has a phobia about crossing bridges.  I don't  like to walk in wide open spaces. (That is a little simplistic. ) We are working on her driving across bridges because she has to cross the  Columbia river to get to Portland for any kind of fun.  And we are walking out in the open on the far side of the lake in a large park.  Our theory is that the more we do this, the easier it will become. 

For our families, it is the month of changing homes.  Margaret has bought a huge beautiful house  and is moving even closer to Meredith.  This is a case, of a child achieving what 20 years ago, I could not have imagined.  It makes me feel old.  I  want to run after her and say, "Are you old enough and big enough to have this house.  But then I take a step back and think, no Sally, it is you who is not young enough, thin or fit enough for this house.  Yesterday and the day before we went looking with my nephew for a first house to purchase.   It is equally exciting to be looking with some one for his first house.  Tonight we are looking at apartments for my niece.  I am enjoying being included in everyone's hopes and dreams.

March 25/eating continued

Please read the comments from the previous day.   I think it is interesting that fruit is so important according to some groups.  Two of my doctors suggested that fruits were very high in sugars, so try cutting back, but then they said to complete my meal with fruit.  Hum.

I had hoped the Japanese diet would work for me.  I liked all of it. It was complicated to cook.  Contrary to limiting your options, the Japanese have small portions, tend to eat seasonally from different textures  and tastes.  They have a wide variety of food.  I was never hungry.   And they eat a lot of rice.  I think only a small part of their low weight is genetic because when Japanese come to the states, they too gain weight.   But the fact of the matter is that I did not lose weight.  Could be that I ate lunch out every day.  I miss those precious little Japanese dishes, and their weird pickles. There is fabulous rice, and white rice with the bran. I think the Japanese diet is very healthy except they do not have a lot of fruit.  I also became very cautious because the diet is high in sodium even with cutting back on soy.  I must be careful of sodium.  The Japanese cook fish very deliciously.   They could be the best. 

March 24/ food talk radio

I have just read about talk food radio.  I have heard in the past food shows, but I think you have to be traveling across the plains to appreciate.  But the shows are picking up speed.  Schucks! Even NPR has food talk.   

The Los Angeles Times food section on line this Wednesday had a long article on making spring soups.  Basically the same principles applied as I had suggested with celery soup.  Some aromatics sauteed in butter, a bunch of vegetables, and broth and a blender. Don't forget the salt.  But if you need specific recipes go there.  But even they encourage you to make it with out a recipe.   

I purchased the magazine REAL SIMPLE this month.   They have yet another article on the secrets of thin people.  I always look at these articles with hope in my heart.  One secret which was new to me, is thin people LIMIT THEIR OPTIONS.  I tend to cook a real variety at the same meal.  There is a book the Volumetrics Eating Plan  by  Barbara Rolls a Penn State nutritionist.  I think the following statement applies to me;I am still hungry for the foods I have not yet eaten and I can manage to make room for more.  The Japanese solve variety with five different foods at most meals. Dr.Ball says people should increase the variety of low-calorie-dense foods they eat--such as vegetables. fruit, and soup  to get the nutrients they need." 

March 23/Callie/garages

This is Callie in front of her winning exhibit. This photo will not enlarge. How wonderful it is to live in this age when I have a grandchild in Brazil and I can see her photo as fast as her Mother can get the pictures on the web.  When I was her age it would take at least a week to gets photos developed, another week procrastinating to actually put the photos in an envelope and mail them. Then the pictures would have to take the train to Miami, and from there a slow boat to Brazil.  My husband says I am historically challenged here. 

This morning I went with a real estate agent and Margaret to look at houses east of Seattle.  She is lucky enough to be looking at homes in nice neighborhoods.  Three things made an impression on me, none particularly new.  First, the houses are large, the lots small.  With small yards you run the risk of staying inside your house if you do not like the neighbors.  That is as old as biblical times.  Then the master bathroom is big.  Only the master bathroom is big.  In one house the bathroom was at least as big as the dining room.  I have to laugh. While there is a huge bathroom, el bano is placed inside a closet of a telephone booth.  And no windows.

Most prominent, most every house had three car garages taking up most of the front of the house.  What does that say about us as Americans?  It says that automobiles are very, very important to us. Three car garages, (not tucked neatly in back), but are out in front for all the world to see.  Or perhaps it says there are not enough closets in the house. I did not see many automobiles in driveways, so I presusme people  put their cars in their garages.   Maybe putting an expensive car in a garage is like wearing expensive underwear; only you know you own it. 

March 22/

This is Callie, my first grandchild.  She lives in Campinas, Brazil, about 90 minutes north west of Sao Paolo.  She has just won first prize in her school for the science fair.  But because she is in seventh grade and not eighth grade, she can not come to the states for the advanced competition.   Her project was which nut, peanut, cashew or Brazil nut provided the most energy per weight.  I will let you guess which nut it is.  Here is a hint: it is not the United States nut.   She has lived either in Mexico or Brazil since she was two.  Her Portuguese is good, so good that she gets the best grade in her class in Portuguese literature. She is growing her hair to give away for a wig for some needy person.    She plays the drums, and she is so grown up, she sits at the adult table with us in summer.   That is until she gets tired of adult nonsense.  "Oh Grandmere".

March 21 /Robert Duvall

The first year that we were married we lived in Los Angeles.  We loved movie going.Through school Michael knew children from Hollywood families, and   Margaret O'Brian was in his high school class. It was during that time that TIME MAGAZINE had fabulous movie reviews.  One of our favorite pastimes was to go to sneak preview movies showings.  We would review the movie afterwards on the prepared questionaires, then read about it in TIME magazine later. We liked to see how close our review was to their review. 

We watched 'Tender Mercies" last night, and it is still a wonderful picture.  Robert Duvall won an Academy Award for his role as "the alcoholic drifter who comes into the life of a woman and her son in the barren flatlands of Texas".  Like Johnny Cash and Ray Charles and the movies about them, he had a painful past during the time he was a star country singer.   I have always liked this actor.  He IS his characters.  In this movie he can walk like a Texan, talk like a Texan, dance like a cowboy, and sing his own song.  So if you are looking for a movie and dare to go in the old section of movies at the video store, think about Tender Mercies.  Here is an interesting fact that I was reminded of: in theater school he roomed with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman.    I adored the movie 'Second Hand Lions' in which he co-starred with Michael Caine. Occasionally it is possible to 'go back again'. 

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March20/ Spring/WA tourism.

Now that the sun is out, the garden whines, and spirits are lifted, we will see how dedicated I am to this blog.  I did go down below to cut back the lavender on the weekend.  I feel so good about starting after a major gardening slump.  And I am happy to report that I liked being outside.   My worms had not died over the winter, and I am ready to feed them again.  Michael sprayed the weeds.  Yes SPRAYED with HERBICIDES. 

The state of Washington has a new tourism slogan as reported in Seattle Times on Thursday.   The winner after 18 months of deliberation is . . . 'SayWA'.   "Say what"? The slogan was developed by a 32 member task force which included the Chamber of Commerce.  Some thing about the word 'location' in the Aymara language from Africa. We have to know that there was lots of tax money spent here.  I am not the only one who finds this bizarre I could not care less about a tourist slogan.  Everyone who visits here, moves here.  I find it quite strange that we spent money on some thing my ten year old grandson could have devised.  To him, we all would have said, "Arr". This is another case of the emperor's new clothes in government.