Sorry I'm a day late with this post. I simply forgot about writing my blog. How is that possible? Well, sit back and listen (or at least read) and you'll learn why.
It was the perfect Northwest day. The clouds were hanging heavy in the sky and light rain broke through from time to time. I had about 60 pages left in the book I was reading (for those who are interested, it was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I thought it was OK, not as great as the acclaim it received) and I wanted to get through it and on to other things. So I fed the dogs, made myself a cup of tea and a slice of banana bread, turned on the gas fireplace and sat down to finish the book. Which I did.
Sixty pages usually doesn't take me very long to zip through, but this book has a plodding sort of pace so it took me a couple of hours to work my way through it. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't really go out of my way to recommend it to anyone. If you like books about Nazi Germany told from the point of view of Death, about a little girl, her foster family and what happens to them, you'll love this book. My friend Lauren told me that she gave up on it after 10 pages because it never captured her interest. I had the same struggle but worked my way on through. They are making a movie out of it and I have hopes for the film. It is a good story, but the telling was a bit annoying, in my opinion. Obviously, others love this book, because I've found it on several "must read before you die" lists. Hopefully, the fact that I've now read it doesn't mean I have to die now... I'm not ready and there are still loads of books on those lists that I haven't read yet.
After finishing the book, I needed to get outside and move around. We all decided to pop over to Forest Park to wander on the Leif Erikson trail. I told you about this trail before. It was built as a road back in 1902 or so, for home development through the hills of Portland. When the hills kept having landslides, the road was given up and eventually the area became a park. It was beyond lovely in all the rain.
The colors were a lush and verdant green (ferns, cedars and moss), a pale yellow (maple leaves still hanging on the trees), a gun metal grey (the sky), a greyish white (fog hanging up in the branches at the top of the ravine), and deep blacks and browns (dead leaves, rocks, tree trunks, mushrooms, stumps). Everything was wet and drippy and so beautiful. There were whole trees enrobed in a thick bright green moss. Branches that were an inch or two in diameter became 6-8" around with moss. Dead trees on the ground were decorated by whole families of mushrooms, sitting merrily on the logs like spectators at a parade. We passed one stump that had huge shelf mushrooms poking out on either side, like it was trying to make a seat for three, instead of just one. The shelf mushroom was towards the end of its life and instead of being soft, white and fleshy, it was hard and brown with just the edges showing signs of their previous color.
We all wore our best Gortex rain armor to stay warm and dry despite the soggy, 50 degree weather. It was an easy three miles out and back, although small Buckley made it somewhat more difficult, since he wanted to pull, pull, pull all over the trail to pick up whatever scents he could find. He also did what every little boy in the world does and stomped through every mud puddle he could find. He was soaked and muddy when we returned to the car, and oh so proud of himself! Katy was a princess and kept her paws as clean as possible, which is still mighty dirty, but she has a whole lot of fur, so it wasn't her fault.
Since we were taking it nice and easy, I never really warmed up and by the time we got back to the car, I was a bit chilled. That got me to thinking about udon. Mmmmm, udon. Soup delivered to your table so hot you can't possibly eat it. Soup filled with thick noodles, vegetables and seaweed. Soup a little on the salty side and oh so flavorful. Soup of the evening, beautiful soup! (Of course that last line is from the Mock Turtle song from Alice in Wonderland, or Through the Looking Glass, I can't remember which.)
Guess what we had for lunch? We went home to drop off the dogs and the rain gear, then quickly went to lunch. I warmed my still chilly hands around a mug of green tea while waiting for the California Roll and the vegetable udon. Finally they came and were every bit as good as my fantasy had made them on the walk. Marty had tempura udon and Brian had Nabeyaki udon, so we were all happy. By the time lunch was over (Thanks for buying lunch, Marty! It was wonderful.) I was so sleepy I could barely hold my eyes open.
When we got home, I made a valiant effort to keep my eyes open, but to no avail. I slept soundly, despite the hammering and construction sounds from the neighborhood being built right outside my window. When I woke up, it was 90 minutes later and I had missed seeing the movie I had planned to see that afternoon. No big.
I came downstairs and called my mom, then realized that I hadn't written a single word in my National Novel Writing Month novel, and that I had to write at least 2000 words before going to bed. I was still behind from not writing at all on Saturday, and couldn't afford to get behind again. Three hours later, I looked up and realized that I was hungry. Good news, though, I wrote 3000 words, so I'm almost back in track.
We were out of bread, so Brian and I went to the grocery store. Here is where the not so good news comes in. Not only did we get bread, I also got some chocolate sorbet and some Cougar Mountain cookie dough (chocolate chunk/peanut butter). I think that my body tells me that I need to balance salt with sugar. I've noticed that over the years, but never really put it together until right now. Every time I eat a really salty meal, I crave sugar for the rest of the day. I wonder if that is just a Linda (me) thing, or if there is some body chemistry that makes that craving happen. All I know is that it happens to me.
I gave into the craving, but exercised a modicum of self control by having a single scoop of sorbet and two cookies. I had those after my peanut butter and muscadine jam sandwich (I know, I know... more sugar... at least the peanut butter is made with only peanuts and salt, and we made the muscadine jam ourselves). While we ate that stuff, we watched the second half of the movie we started the night before (Can Can with Shirley McLaine, Frank Sinatra and Maurice Chevalier). It was OK, but the girl got the bad guy in the end, rather than getting the good guy. That part was annoying, but it was made in 1960, so I suppose it was of its time. Still, it was fun to watch and the dancing (by Hermes Pan) was pretty inventive. Turns out that Hermes (born Panagiotopoulos) was a life long collaborator with Fred Astaire. Interesting facts from the internet. Anyway, that movie was over around 9:00 pm, so I went upstairs to brush, floss and go to bed.
It was a full day by all accounts. It wasn't until I got into bed that I remembered that I hadn't written my blog for the day. Perhaps you can forgive me for not getting up and writing it right then.
Be happy and healthy!
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