Jaci Dawn

One of our gorgeous tree peonies. The double blooms are 6-8″ (15-20 cm) across.

Random notes:

I am reading “The Children’s Blizzard” by David Laskin. This is a gripping “Perfect Storm” tale of the great North American blizzard of 1888 that caught much of the Midwest Plains states by surprise – and which killed over 100 school children as they tried vainly to get home without proper coats. I highly recommend the book on several levels: the history of the immigration to the Great Plains from Europe (mostly of Nordic peoples), the details of how the storm developed, the humanity and to give yourself an excuse to NEVER complain about the weather again.

I am procrastinating working on my website. Again. I think it is fear of the unknown.

I keep getting sucked into Ancestry.com. I have stacks of documents to scan and convert to .pdfs so I can share them with family. I don’t want to put this off until two weeks before our big family reunion next summer (2011).

I am on blood pressure meds. That’s new. Apparently my naturally low blood pressure is no longer naturally low. I had symptoms. My doctor told me that most people don’t know they have high blood pressure, but I can tell you when it goes up because I feel it.What does it feel like? Well, my hands get warm, for one thing. I don’t have warm hands. My heart races. And my eyes feel strained.

My hands didn’t get warm even when I still had hot flashes. But my feet got warm.

I no longer have hot flashes with any regularity. I miss hot flashes. They are the only time I am actually warm all over.

My hair is getting very thin. That’s a bummer because I have always worn it long and now it is beginning to look anorexic and long. I don’t think short will help. I miss my hair. But I don’t have any bald spots (yet). And I only have a couple grey hairs. One grey hair is 15″ long and is actually silver, not dull grey.

I did not grow up liking to garden. Gardening was used as a form of punishment when I was a kid: we were often grounded for two weeks at a time (I can never remember why we were grounded) and we had to weed out some portion of yard in the hot Nevada sun. I seriously thought my dad just grounded us so he could get some cheap slave labor and I often imagined him as some overseer with a long black whip.

My best friend when I was growing up was never afraid of my dad. She thought he was funny. She left him notes on the chalkboard in the kitchen and signed her notes Krazy Kat. My dad wrote notes back. He also taught me jokes about Catholics so I would tell them at my best friend’s house during dinner, preferably right after the perfunctory Catholic grace. My best friend’s father then told me Protestant jokes so I could tell them at our dinner table.

I like ballads. I love female vocalists who can sing ballads. My favorite female singer of all time is Emmylou Harris and my favorite male singer is probably Hoyt Axton. I think JJ Cale recorded the best rendition of “Cocaine” ever. Sorry, Eric Clapton fans.

“Our” song is “Tupelo Honey” but I don’t think my husband knows that. Or cares. He probably thinks “our” song is “My Sharona.”

I love horses above all of God’s creatures, followed by domestic cats. I cry every time I think about Old Yeller, Savage Sam or Flag dying. If you don’t know who those animals are, you need to read more. I’ve read The Red Pony too many times.

My favorite poets are John Donne (of Holy Sonnets) and Langston Hughes (Raisin in the Sun). I’ve read Langston Hughes’ biography and that only deepened my love for him. He was truly an incredible poet.

There’s a chance one of my ancestors knew John Donne. I found a side mention of him on Ancestry.com. How cool would that be?

Unlike many people, I do not think my childhood was a place I’d want to return to. It was hard being a kid. I cried a lot. I’m not even particularly fond of high school. I much prefer being an adult to those times.

I am a terrible communicator. I forget birthdays, anniversaries, and other life events. I mail cards late.

I really have no favorite food, but I always write “lasagna” on those silly surveys.

I can’t think of anything else important. Except I killed a bug today and immediately regretted it because I think it was a very tiny mayfly.