Blood moon

Did you see the blood moon yesterday?  We missed it for good reasons (asleep, cloudy) but when John left for work at 5:20, there she was, just going down behind the Olympic mountains to the west.  Still a spectacular sight, and it looked like the pinkish glow hadn't quite worn off. 

Google blood moon superstitions, and you'll pull up a astonishing load of nonsense about the lunar eclipse and the End of Days, "published" on the Internet by kooky apocalyptic evangelists (and others.) The fascinating thing about superstitions is they are often shared by unrelated religions and ethnic groups, indicating that superstitions have their roots in ancient times.  Across the board: Red Moon=Bad Thing.

But why does the moon turn scary reddish during a total lunar eclipse?  Let's hear from Cliff Mass, the voice of Reason and Science:

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon moves into the earth's shadow.  The atmosphere tends to preferentially scatter and remove the shorter wavelengths of light, like blue and green, leaving longer wavelengths like red.  That is why sunsets are red. Some eclipses are redder than others.  If the there is a substantial volcanic eruption that injects large amounts of particles into the atmosphere, more of the shorter wavelengths are removed resulting in a darker, redder moon during the eclipse.

April is National Poetry Month

I can always tell when I haven't been getting enough.  My ears begin to ache with the low din of disorder and the noisome burdens of the information age begin to overwhelm and when everything begins to sound like everything else...then I know I haven't been getting enough poetry. A daily dose would, like an apple or exercise or the habit of prayer, serve as a preventative against most vexations.

"Rescued by the Word"
Thomas Lynch

Poetry books don't sell well and poetry isn't especially user-friendly.  But poetry can make us think, and poems can be life-changing in a subtle but powerful way.  Poetry is a way of looking at the world we take too much for granted.  But the very best thing about poetry? Something for everyone, from Bob Dylan's Gates of Eden to T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land.

Below is a poem by Mary Oliver,  published in 2008 on Garrison Keillor's excellent  Writer's Almanac public radio program.  The Writer's Almanac is also available as a daily email subscription.  Give it a try, in honor of National Poetry Month.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Nice day for a ferry ride

 

It was a spectacular, warm spring weekend here in the Great Northwest. Sunshine from start to finish.  People were out and about enjoying themselves, or else going to Home Depot and working like dogs in their yards.

This probably sounds strange, but locals can go years without riding our tourist-famous ferries. So I was glad to have an excuse to leave John at home with chores and head over Bainbridge Island and visit my friend Candi. She just moved to Paulsbo from Missoula, Montana.

Other than the Big Bertha waterfront mess, everything was the same about the ferry experience except the fare, which seems to have doubled. Oh well, on a nice day there's still that million dollar view of the skyline across Elliot Bay.

Poulsbo is a small town about 10 miles from the Bainbridge Island ferry dock, an easy trip from Seattle.  The downtown area is slightly off the busy main highway, but I can't remember stopping there because we're usually speeding to someplace else on the peninsula.  

Candi has a cute house just a few blocks from this street. It's a charming town, without being over-the-top like fake like Bavarian Levenworth.  Paulso feels like Scandinavia meets Mayberry RFD.  

The setting is beautiful with water all around and three marinas, so many visitors arrive by boat.  The history of the town is fishing, farming and logging, with immigration from Norway and Finland. The old Lutheran church is still a town landmark.

Everything is neat as a pin. People are friendly. The streets are lined with cute vintage shops and antique stores for ladies in my demographic.

I restrained the shopping impulse, except for this useless little "Made in Japan" bird planter.  It must have been the bird's eyebrow that sold me. I don't have a sweet tooth, but for most folks the biggest draw in Paulsbo is probably Sluy's Bakery.

"Bakeries" in Washington are more about selling expensive coffee drinks, with a few cookies and stale scones as an afterthought.  Slauv's is a real old-fashioned bakery, loaded with cakes, pies, breads and dozens of pastries and Nordic treats. 

 

Not a bagel in sight, and buy your coffee somewhere else, thank you.

You might know my friend Candi from her Bone Marrow Boogie blog. We go back a long time, and I met her my first day at Microsoft in 1989.  She probably forgot this story, but I wandered into her work area lost and she led me back to the Library.  In those days, Microsoft buildings had multiple "wings" to maximize the coveted window offices, but the directional signs were diabolically confusing.  If you were new, it was easy to drift in circles and feel stupid.  Maybe that was the intention, a reminder to keep your brain turned on every minute at work!

Anyway, after ten years in Missoula, Candi's friends are all happy she's back with us in Washington.  Doesn't she look terrific? She has a big, new job at Western Washington University as the Director of Extended Education on the Peninsula. We had a great morning together, and look forward to many more.

Our ship comes in

The front porch was piled high with boxes when we got home yesterday.  Thank you Dan and Becky for the shipment of special Mexican coffee beans.  It will help fuel many an early morning blogging session!

Oh yes, then the poor UPS girl lugged a huge box up the stairs filled with goodies from the Olive Pit.  When we drive to California, a trip highlight is stopping at the Olive Pit Store in Coring for a shopping spree. It helps break up the monotony of I-5.

Corning, known as the Olive City, is home to the Bell Carter Olive Company, the world's largest ripe olive cannery.  And the Olive Pit  might be the only place where you can buy "super colossal" ripe black olives. Perfect for sticking on little fingers.

Along with other goodies like the freshest nuts, relishes, vinegar and unusual pickled vegetables.  The prices at the Olive Pit are low and the selection is amazing (how about an anchovie stuffed olive?)

To make a long story short,  it's easy to have your Olive Pit shopping spree from the safety and comfort of home, with the incentive of free shipping when your total purchase reaches a certain amount. (Not hard to do.) 

I don't know what UPS charges Olive Pit to haul 44 pounds all the way up I-5 to Seattle, but my box was on the doorstep two days after I placed the online order. And as John pointed out, it was a lot cheaper than a Napa Valley vacation. 

Amanda, that jar of "Spicy Feta Cheese Stuffed Olives" is just for you!

Summer food

You usually hear me complaining about bad weather on the blog, but the news this morning is the upcoming string of sunny, warm April days.  It is very green and beautiful in Seattle after so much rain. The trees and tulips are blooming, and the temperature might even touch 70 by the weekend.

I got the grill going again this week with a favorite: marinated, boneless, skinless chicken thighs.  They're just fatty enough to be juicy and tasty, and probably the easiest chicken parts to cook on the barbecue.  (Medium, indirect heat for about 30 minutes.)

Grilled vegetables are worth the trouble,  and the leftovers make a terrific salad.  And then my old summer stand-by, corn and bean salad.  What could be easier than opening some cans and mixing up a vinaigrette?

Anyway, I love cooking and eating summer food.  And it feels good to lighten up a bit in lovely April.

Memories

Amanda

 

Maya

I've been slowly sorting though shoe boxes of old family photographs, and scanning some of the best ones into my Aperture library.  I took a handful of slides to Costco last week-- for just a few dollars they transfer them to a DVD.  Among the surprises that came back was a lovely little picture of Amanda holding her favorite toys. She would have been about the same age Maya is now.