The Lost City of Z by David Grann

We have had two beautiful days of 50-60 degree weather but I have been trekking through the Amazon jungle searching for PH Fawcett who started out in 1925 for the lost city of Z in the kingdom of El Dorado and never returned.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book. From the back cover  "The Lost City of Z is like a wonderful nineteenth century tale of exotic danger-except that David Grann's book is also a sensitively written biographical detective story, a vest-pocket history of exploration, and a guide to the new archaeological research that is exploding our preconceptions of the Amazon and its peoples." Charles Mann

Percy Harrison Fawcett was a man obsessed with finding this lost civilization although many did not believe it even existed. Reading about the dangers in the jungle --the mosquito being one of the worst --made my skin crawl. The fact that he had survived many trips into the Amazon while many others did not, made him think this last trip would not be any different.

David Grann is a journalist who started out with the purpose of simply recording how generations of scientists and adventurers became fatally obsessed with solving the mystery of what happened to Fawcett and the two young men who were with him on this trip (one being his oldest son, Jack). Grann, who was not the type who could be considered an explorer, did a lot of research and even met Fawcett's granddaughter in Cardiff, Wales. He then went to Brazil and made his own journey into the jungle in an attempt to find out what really happened to the three men. 

I have no desire to go to the Amazon but feel like I have been there and survived.  Give it a try--and there are pictures!

Tom's Shoes

There was a story on the CBS Sunday Morning program about a 33 year old guy who has a shoe company and for every shoe that he sells he donates a pair to people who need shoes.. His name is Blake Mikowski and he and his sister were on The Amazing Race in 2002.  His shoes are called Tom's-- for Tomorrow shoes.  To date he has donated 400,000 shoes that go to people around the world. The story focused on Ethiopia where there is a disease called podoconiosis, which causes swelling of the feet and legs and is the result of  prolonged exposure to soil that contains volcanic ash. Many of the children have never had a pair of shoes and without them they would be a candidate for this disease. Calling himself a social entrepreneur, he sold most of his possessions and lives on a sailboat near LA.  To paraphrase, he said 'Once you have seen the happiest people you have ever seen who have nothing, you start to rethink what the world and society tells us we need to be happy.' The interviewer called it 'A business with soul' which I thought was a great pun.

This story made me cry and it makes me  want to go out and buy a pair of Tom's shoes. I love stories like this--better than listening to the stories of greed and corruption that are in the news every day.

Outlands Yellow

I did it! My back aches but I am glad that I was able to get the job done. The paint is from Lowes as is the paint edger--the best $4 I've ever spent. This little thing saved me time because I did not have to do any taping. As long as I went slowly and was careful not to get paint on the 2 little rollers it smoothed the paint on straight and easy.

No captions today as it is not working --Megan could not even help me with it. I forgot to add the pictures in the opposite order so they would come out in the order I wanted. The last 2 pictures are of the great edger and what the wall looked like after I edged.

You can see how the color looks different in different light.

Woodwork

Sliding glass door-I just liked this picture

East wall

Door to garage

All the woodwork and trim are complete-now I am now practicing  new 'insert caption' skills.  I also discovered the font and size icon.  

Tomorrow will be the color on the wall and more pictures with captions!

Paint and Snow

We have about 5 inches of snow and it is still coming down. Barkley and I both love the snow and our walk this morning was white and quiet.

I met Jan for breakfast in Ault and then stopped at the house to get Barkley as I was all out of dog food. Off to Petsmart we went and then stopped at the dog park for another romp in the snow. Unfortunately there was only one other dog, a European German Shepard (that is what the lady told me) all black who was on her first trip to the dog park since having 8 puppies. I don't know if that was the reason she was so aggressive but she was growling at Barkley when he tried to play with her. She really was a beautiful dog but wanted nothing to do with a dog who wanted to play.

I am in the process of painting the kitchen and had a major meltdown this week when I thought I was not going to be able to paint the ceiling myself. The new thick roller became very heavy with all the paint that it absorbed and I was trying to paint standing on the floor using an extender on the roller. It looked as though it was not going on smoothly (I have a 'cottage cheese' textured ceiling-a real bugger to paint)and I had an emotional moment of doubt. I called Collin who calmed me down and said he would come as soon as he could find the time--probably next week--and that I was to go ahead and paint the woodwork and the walls.

I started to think about the mistakes I made --1. I had bought a new plastic paint pan and discovered that it was shorter than my old metal one--therefore there was not enough room to roll the excess paint off the roller. 2. Because it was a new roller it was very heavy with all the paint it absorbed. 3. Standing on the floor with this heavy thing and trying to put enough pressure on the roller was just not working for my 5'2" frame.

The next day I was going to try it again with the old metal paint pan, a shorter extension and a step stool. I was only going to go around the room and leave the middle for Collin but as I got going I discovered I could do it myself. I finished the job in a couple of hours, took 2 Aleve, soaked in the tub and took the rest of the afternoon off. Ahhhh, the joys of retirement--no pressure to finish in one day.

I have a small sticker on the bumper of my car that says Wales. No one has ever commented about it until recently. I had taken the shuttle from DIA to the car park and when we got to my car the driver took my luggage for me and asked if I was from Wales. This Ethiopian who lives in Denver has a brother who is married to a Welsh girl and they live in Cardiff. It is really a small world!

Top picture--Barkley loves to sit and lay in the snow
Bottom picture--my new painted ceiling (with the tape still around the light)

Megan--I was hoping to try and add captions to these pictures but I do not see anything that says 'add caption' as stated in the email you sent me -so we will have to do a phone tutorial when you have some time.

Avery and her friends

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I need Megan to give me a lesson in arranging photos with captions on the blog. I added these pictures in the opposite order in which they now appear and I had added a caption while in Picasa--obviously that doesn't transfer.
So my version will have to be this:

Picture #1 Avery on her new tricycle
#2 Avery and Josie
#3 Avery and Henry
#4 Avery and friend Elise (that's what Avery calls her)
#5 Avery

Clutterers

I just googled Clutterers Anonymous--there was mention of it in the Ask Amy column. Yes, I am going though all the newspapers I missed while I was in Portland. I just can't help it --I need to know what I missed in the news--I guess you could call it an obsession. It is funny because I really do not miss or even think about the news when I am at Megan's (they do not get the newspaper or listen to the news on TV). But when I get home I go through the papers, take out the sports and classified sections and make 2 neat piles--one with our local newspaper and one with the Denver paper. I then proceed to go through each paper and this could take me a few days to a few weeks.

Back to the Clutterers site. There is actually a group for people like me. It is fashioned after AA with 12 steps and everything. There are 'face to face' meetings but none in CO. Most are on the east and west coast. I do have some of the symptoms mentioned but don't think I would ever want to go to a meeting--there is too much de-cluttering to do at home--no time to meet with others who clutter.

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PORTLAND

I do love Portland. I had a very nice week visiting with Megan, Damian, and Avery. Avery is changing so quickly that I need to see her every couple of months. Even though it rained almost every day there was one whole day of sun. I love the dog walks through the forest--I find new beauty with each walk. Megan talks and sings on their walks and Avery has learned the states, days of the weeks and other bits of knowledge. I am always looking for the sun to come out but I know that the beauty that is Portland in the summer comes from all this rain.



My last night there was 'date night' and Avery went to Aunt 'Chele, Uncle Jay and friend Elise for the evening. As Megan, Damian, and I left for dinner and a movie, Avery and Elise were having a conversation about a book --so cute as they were each repeating the same thing --the title. We had dinner at Pepito's, their favorite Mexican restaurant and then saw Crazy Heart.