What's on my Mind

1.    Jace

We took him to the vets today, and are going to follow up on a few things. We're getting to know each other. Tomorrow will be a week with him.

2.    Mercury

A few years ago, I learned from Jeopardy that the dark orange Mercurochrome antiseptic that Mom used to dab on my cuts and scraps was toxic. Then I did some research on hat manufacturing for my WPA inspired writing class and learned about mercury poisoning. Mercury is in Cinnabar which Jeff collects. Then I read a book in which Mercury poisoning was a key element of the mystery. I re-read/skimmed it after finishing Mercury Boys--so what is about Mercury? The name Quicksilver sounds good, though.

3.    The Mets

The Mets beat the Dodgers tonight 2-1, evening the series. Jacob deGrom is now 4-1 and Edwin Diaz notched his 29th save of the season. Tomorrow's game will be big.

4.     Meal Planning

I do this to some extent. I resist against planning a full week.  I hate throwing out food. So I'm full of contradictions. Should I try more serious meal planning?

Book 25: Mercury Boys by Chandra Prasad

I was exhausted yesterday (not sure why) and had a slight come-and-go headache. I decided it was a great time to finish the last 60ish pages of my book.

The author Chandra Prasadwas was a presenter at the Crime CONN at Ferguson Library in June, and I liked her. I bought this book then--and got an autographed inscription.

About a third of the way through the book, I thought that I wanted to like this book more than I did. It took a while to get going. Truthfully, I might not have minded so much if the key plot points weren't listed on the inside of the dust jacket. It's like a movie trailer spoiling the main points of the movie.

Around that point, I read the line, "their eyes met," and I could only think of Bette from my writing class. In one of her stories, she wrote something about romance characters--their eyes couldn't just meet, they had to lock. After finishing the book, I thought the word choice was deliberate and smart. 

About half-way through, the book, I really got into the story. I didn't pay as much attention to the mean girl/toxic friendship subplot because I was focused on the sci fi plot. 

Thanks--Jace Edition

The Frugal Girl blog has a weekly Thankful Thursday post. Today is Friday, but I am still thankful--mostly about Jace. 

1. That we were approved to adopt Jace.

2. That Jace is adjusting well to life with us.

3. That we have a beagle living with us again.

It's been a busy few days getting things together for Jace. Tuesday I picked up some food, treats, squeaky balls, and a placemat and pulled bowls and things from the closet. Yesterday we picked up Jace. Today I got more food and a name tag. Jeff made an appointment with the vet. 

I feel lighter. 

Introducing Jace

We completed the paperwork, made the payment, and brought Jace home with us today. He was friendly and seemingly happy to come. 

He walked and sniffed around (indoors and outdoors) jumped up on furniture (we encouraged this) and he fit/melded/eased/blended into our family. (I'm still not sure of the right word--it was seamless--but it's only been about 10 hours.)

He certainly seems relaxed.

I'm afraid to say this, to post this, but Jace is the perfect dog for us. 

Big News!

Jeff and I have been approved to adopt Jace! 

Truthfully, I was leaning to a girl dog, but when I first saw Jace's picture online, I sent it to Jeff saying, "This could be the one," and texted my brother, "I think I'm in love." 

We had a talk with Jace's foster mother this morning, and there are no red flags. Okay, he barks at dogs he doesn't like. That reminds me of Spike and the "evil white dog." Lucky the Yorkie across the street didn't like the white dog either. That's why we called him "evil."

We're waiting to hear back about a "meet and greet" with Jace. We can go as early as Thursday, and take him home with us on the same day. We're not sure of any additional paperwork needed and the exact cost (Jace might qualify for the senior discount.)

We're excited; we miss having a dog around. I wonder if we should have gone away again before Jace joins us.  At least we got a few days in Delaware. We can take Jace with us on our next trip. 

We're going to get a beagle!

The Shoe Didn't Drop

Starting on August 4th, the Mets won 4 of 5 against the Atlanta Braves. After sweeping the Reds in three, the Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1.So far, so good.

Then things got tense. The Braves beat the Mets three out of four in Atlanta. In the first two games, the Mets lost their starting pitchers to injury in the early innings. Max Scherzer prevailed in game three, and we expected Jacob deGrom to do the same in the fourth game. A spilt would have been a success under the circumstances. But the Mets lost deGrom's game 2-3. As a Mets fan, you may think that everything bad is going to happen to the team.

I was worried heading into Philadelphia.  Entering the fourth game today, the Mets were up 2-1. Today was the debut of two Mets pitchers. The first gave up four runs in first inning. The Mets came back, then the Phillies hit another three-run homer. Mark Canha to the rescue. His first home run tied the game in the the seventh, and his second was the go ahead run in the top of the ninth. Nimmo provided a needed insurance run: the Mets won 10-9.

The Mets record is now .642, second best in the majors. They're heading into a two games series against the Yankees. Apparently they have a relatively easy September schedule. I hope they can take advantage of that and rest a few players (even those who don't want to be rested.)

LGM!

What's for Dinner?

I've been reading The Frugal Girl blog for awhile. One weekly feature is WIS/WWA (What I Spent, What We Ate.) I spend a lot for two people: we live in an expensive area and buy some organic. I don't want to write about that. 

Instead, here's what we ate this week 

Monday: Mama Hu's Spicy Salmon Sushi Bake; salad with romaine and carrots

Tuesday:  Asparagus/Smoked Mozzarella Bongo Capacci ravioli with ramp pesto and cherry tomatoes, roasted asparagus with Parmesan 

Wednesday: Chicken Milanese with Romesco sauce, sauteed kale with garlic 

Thursday: Turkey fajitas

Friday: Pan-roasted salmon with red pepper and spinach and coconut milk; roasted carrots/beets

Saturday: Baked clams casino; salad with romaine, carrot, Brussel sprout, tomatoes. (We went out to lunch with my brother and his girlfriend, so a lighter dinner.)

Since I'm retired and have no kids, cooking is easier for me than many. 

I recently stocked up on some entree items, so that helps. Every week, we usually have salmon, chicken, and pasta. Now I have Sushi Bakes and crab cakes in the freezer (among other things) for the next few weeks. I think we'll do crab cakes on Monday and a sushi bake the following week. 

What about tomorrow? We've already decided to have my leftover Devil's Pass Pasta from Sedona Taphouse. as a course. I have plenty of time to figure out the rest. 

Hanging on to Summer

I heard that some kids are back in school already. It's nothing personal, but it really bothers me. It's the middle of August, too soon for school. 

A weather report graphic on TV at the gym reads, "Summer Weather," but that's not unusual. Hell, it's still summer for another month. Don't tell the schools, retailers, and meteorologists. 

Fall is my favorite season. That doesn't mean that I don't cherish the end of the summer. I'm not rushing into the fall. 

We have another month. Let's do something fun!

Book 24: The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

I picked up this book while browsing at the library last week. 

Four women invent a time machine in the 1960's. When one of them Barbara suffers some kind of breakdown in front of the press, she is sent to a psychiatric hospital and exiled from the team and the successful time travel business that develops. 

The book jumps back and forth from character to character and time to time. It gets confusing especially because some minor characters are given their own chapters and relate only tangentially to the main characters. It's hard to keep them all straight.

Ultimately, I didn't really like any of the characters. Most of the time-travelers become jaded and lose empathy for non-time travelers. Hazing rituals designed to harden new recruits to protect against breakdowns such as Barbara's are needlessly cruel. 

A few minor thoughts.

Multiple versions of time travelers can exist together, so we have the silly image of 55 Angharads dancing a ballet at a wedding.  

All of the main characters are women with a few men as love interests or husbands. I didn't even notice this until I read a review that mentioned it. 

A nitpick. Some of the dialogues didn't have paragraph breaks between the speakers. It was confusing to determine just who was speaking, and took me out of the story.

Overall, I'm glad I read the book but wouldn't recommend it. 

Topics for a Tuesday

Today was my day to care for the birds at New Canaan Nature Center. All went smoothly despite the recent escape of an Argentine tegu (I don't know if the NCNC one is black and white--I don't know much about lizards.) 

I recently took pictures of two of the three owls; I still need a photo of Jasper, but he likes to stay in his house.

Here's Gus, a Northern Saw-whet owl. He's been at NCNC for two years. The organization that  rescued him determined he was non-releasable after a brain injury from an auto collision.  

This is Hedwig, a barred owl. Her right wing is partially amputated, and she's been at NCNC since 2001.

 

I left NCNC, went grocery shopping, and had lunch. Then I kept dozing off; I ended up sleeping for about two hours this afternoon. I didn't realize I was that tired. Later I managed some housework, but I wish I had exercised. 

My summer writing class ended on Monday. As I predicted, we had some wonderful true crime stories.

We start up again in four weeks. I want to prove to myself that I can do some serious writing of my own during the hiatus. 

I had a new anxiety dream last night. This time I was doing laundry at my sister's place. Then I couldn't find a load of laundry to put into the dryer. A friend of my sister's had arrived to go to lunch, and I delayed them when I looked for my laundry. The friend eventually left. It was unusually low tech for one of my anxiety dreams--almost charming (not really.)

I had planned to go to lunch with a friend tomorrow, but we rescheduled to next week. That gives me more time to get to the gym, do the laundry, and maybe write. (I should never say "maybe write and expect to be a real writer.) Okay, go the gym, do the laundry, and write. That's better. 

Book 23: Dreamland by Kevin Baker

I remember reading a review of this 1999 book in The New York Times, thinking that it sounded good, and that I would like to read it. What can I say? Better late than never. Last spring I had to write a story about Coney Island, and our instructor Kim mentioned the book. It was also last year when I read Paradise Alley, and learned it was the second book of Baker's The City of Fire Trilogy. Dreamland was the first. 

Dreamland, named for a great Coney Island amusement park, is a jam-packed story of factory workers, gangsters, labor organizers, prostitutes, carnival folk, and politicians in New York City at the turn of the 20th Century. 

I was fascinated with Esther "Esse" Abramowitz a sewing machine operator and union organizer. Her story includes her rebellion against her strict rabbi father, her role in the Uprising of the 20,000 in 1909, and her romance with a gangster in hiding from her gangster brother.

Baker skillfully weaves historical figures including Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung (the least interesting characters in the book) union organizer Clara Lemlich (I learned about her in Triangle) and Big Tim "Dry Dollar" Sullivan with his own characters.

Some reviewers compared Dreamland to Ragtime which I read in May. I thought Dreamland was much better. 

On My Writing

I finished the first draft of my last summer writing class assignment today. I liked the story. Let me be specific. I liked that the narrator was a reporter. I liked the opening scene--more like the end of a movie scene--and I liked the description of the booth in an aging restaurant. 

I've had at least three true-crime assignments in writing classes. I like them. It's not because I'm morbid, but the stories generated from these prompts seem extra entertaining.

My writing has been described as pithy and tight. For this assignment, I was worried that the two-page maximum would be difficult. The lack of gossip and speculation led me to write a short story. Yes I could have made up anything I wanted, but I found that, this time, I didn't want to do that. 

It's a mystery. 

Midweek Miscellanea

The heat wave is over. Temperatures remained in the 80s today. And looking at the 10 day forecast, nothing is coming up in the 90s. Yay.

I went out for an afternoon walk today. It was nice when I was in the shade and a cool breeze was blowing. It was a bit uncomfortable in the direct sunlight with no breeze. 

It was nothing like Sunday. I went with a few friends to the Sono Arts Festival. Originally they suggested walking from one of their houses, thinking there would be no parking available. On my way to the house, I saw plenty of parking, so I drove us. It was well worth the parking fee. Just walking the few blocks of the festival in the heat was exhausting. 

The Mets had an afternoon game today against the Reds: the Mets won 10-2 for their sixth straight win. Now they're headed into a tough part of their schedule against the streaking Phillies, the second place Braves (seven games behind the Mets) and the faltering, but still dangerous Yankees. LGM.

We have one week left in our summer writing class. Our homework assignment is to write a first person story based on a true crime. Our instructor Kim selected a case for us: a man who died of a heart attack in his backyard while burying his girlfriend he had strangled. We each select the point of view narrator. 

I had an idea for a narrator even before Kim finished discussing the assignment and quickly wrote the opening scene. It will be challenging to tell the story in just two pages, though I've done pretty well with shorter stories lately. I've written a little over a page and don't know what will happen. The story will have to tell me.

I Believe

This weekend the Mets hosted its most important series of the 2022 season--a five game series with its closest rival in the National League East--the Atlanta Braves.  

In the opener, the Mets prevailed 6-4 based in part on homeruns by new additions Tyler Naquin (two) and Daniel Vogelbach. Carlos Carrasco notched his 12th win.

Friday wasn't so good. Mets starter Taijuan Walker seemed distracted by catching a cleat in the dirt and gave up eight runs in the first two innings. The Mets fought back, but it wasn't enough. They lost 9-6. Okay, I got a little nervous. Taijuan Walker was brilliant in the first half of the 2021 season, but then fell apart. Was that history going to repeat itself?

Saturday's double header was a sweep of the Braves. In Game One, David Peterson led the Mets to an 8-5 win. Max Scherzer was masterful in the nightcap, winning 6-2. 

That brings us to today--the return of Jacob deGrom to Citi Field. Jake pitched 5 2/3 perfect innings before giving up a walk to Ehire Adrianza, followed by a two-run homer to Dansby Swanson. The Mets won 5-2.

In the games that the Mets won, there were moments when the Braves threatened, and it got a bit scary at times. But the Mets won 4 of the 5 games. 

At the end of the day, the Mets hold a 6.5 lead over the Braves in the NL East winning 8 of their last 10 games. 

LGM!

Stocking Up

I mentioned recently that I sometimes stress about what to make for dinner. This has been a recent stressor, and I don't understand why I feel this way. Recent heat waves have made the dinner decision even harder--who wants to turn on the oven? Even using the stovetop heats up the kitchen.

I've been taking advantage of several farmers markets and loving fresh corn, tomatoes, and fruits. I've also bought some other food: Bongo & Capacci ravioli and cavatelli and Mama Hu's sushi bakes--I bought four today. (I won't mention the things I tried that we didn't like.) 

Last week I stocked up on our favorite crab cakes, buying 15 at Bon Ton Fish Market. I also picked up chicken, ground turkey, and ground buffalo at ShopRite. I even got some frozen mandarin orange chicken from Trader Joe's. Jeff's on a low-sodium diet so I can't buy most frozen entrees, but this chicken is fairly low in sodium. It's nice to have an easy option if I'm tired or busy or if it's too hot. 

I like having options. 

The Word of the Day is Frustration

I started to list all of my frustrations of the day. But I have already discussed these with Jeff and decided that they weren't enough to upset me, even though they did. 

Maybe I need to meditate. 

I need to learn how to let things go. Swat them aside like annoying gnats. (As soon as I write this, I think I hate gnats---not the best response.) It's just a metaphor. 

Even if I ignore the earlier frustrations of the day, the Mets are behind the Nationals 5-1 on the night of Jacob deGrom's return to the mound after more than a year. 

Breathe.

Book 22: The Puzzled Heart by Amanda Cross

I swept through this book. I haven't read a mystery in a while, and it was fun to try to make sense of what was going on and what would happen next. I especially liked that a dog--a St. Bernard puppy--was an important part of the plot. 

Maybe I don't know all of Kate's literary references--for example, I never read Auden--but I can appreciate the way she thinks.

I searched online and found there were two books in the Kate Fansler series after this one. I'll check if they're in the library when I go on Thursday to research railroads in Connecticut. That sounds like a plan.