Mar 20, 2010 by Naomi.

Doubtless this dates the birth of millions, yea billions, of people worldwide even in this century. What it marks for me is the birth date of a sister-in-law, Ethel. She was born in 1912, third girl child who had ten years of experiencing what it was like to be the family baby with freedom to be herself. I can tell you how competent a ten-year-old girl can be as a baby sitter when the next babies arrive. In one’s own family the position is really a surrogate mother when the woman of the house is swamped with household chores which in the 1920s included planting, weeding, harvesting, and preserving an acre of vegetables as well as the care, feeding, and butchering of chickens, geese, and a pig. The chickens butchered, plucked, and cooked at least weekly for dinner, the geese butchered, cleaned and roasted for special occasions. And do not forget that every feather was saved for mattresses, pillows, and quilts. But I digress. Ethel learned the homemaker skills by osmosis if not by necessity before she was charged with the keeping of the next babies - boys. The first boy was a testament to a father’s virility reaping favors just because he was first, the second getting leftover chores just because he was second. But because Ron was the last baby and had rheumatic fever, he and Ethel formed a special bond held between them forever. When I married him she transferred her affection and attention to me and we coffeed away many happy hours while babies came and grew. Ethel pops into my memories when odd details crop up and I remember her dearly, how she appreciated going to Reno with us to challenge the one-armed bandits or joining us in our camper for an outing among the back roads.

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Mar 19, 2010 by Naomi.

‘Twas a bright sunny day. I took an allergy pill immediately upon rising because my sinuses ached and I needed to brighten my outlook. The swelling from my tooth extraction is settling down but the jaw is still tender to the touch and probably will be for some time to come. Whatever I put into my mouth seems to gravitate to the sore gum so it gets irritated often. I do not try to eat anything that requires hard chewing. It was too nice outdoors to sit around and nurse my owee. I enjoy my sun porch and painted the rough uprights white as a base for my acrylic paints on flowery designs. Last week I potted six of the plants from my yard and this morning I replanted them in the area in front of my sun porch so I could watch their progress. At the same time I brought the purple hyacinths from the front yard also for closer monitoring. The buds are ready to pop out of the leaves. When the plants mature and seeds come up I will have a great view of flowers. I am watering the Douglas Fir and the transplants. The neighbors are not only watering their lawns - they are mowing them! I will power up my weed eater soon and work on killing weeds and grass. I am ready for spring. I just didn’t expect it to come so soon.

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Mar 19, 2010 by Naomi.

Indulge me while I continue to focus on teeth because my left jaw is still tender from the invasion of pliers that recently pulled a tooth. I’ve seen x-rays of jawbones showing teeth before they actually grow out of the gums. Apparently they are visible very early in developing stages. Because I have them I accept the evidence that they were part of me well before I was born. But where do teeth actually come from? There are many things where science has discovered the answers and origin of teeth are among them. When skin begins several tissues interact, fold and secrete the proteins that build structures that develop within the skin: scales, hair, feathers, sweat glands, even mammary glands. There is similarity in the major genetic switches that are tweaked in the process and the evolution of an animal proceeds. Only the skin of the animal in which it develops will bring forth the proper teeth - a wolf will have wolf teeth, a turtle will have turtle teeth, and a mouse will have mouse teeth. Because the evolutionary pattern was in place three hundred million years ago, I have human teeth. And because a predator of sorts – decay - got under my tooth it had to be extracted. My tooth, capped fifty years ago, was susceptible to the invasion because the bone mass is often lost during aging. Teeth on the right side are doing very well and are able to chew all the good stuff.

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Mar 18, 2010 by Naomi.

Another day to heal my jaw from which a tooth was withdrawn. My jaw is sensitive to touch and swallowing is not simple pleasure. The outdoor temperature is too cool for lounging in my sun porch but pleasant enough for a quick warm drink and light snack. I feel unusually fatigued and do not romp and dance among the trees although I enjoy watching squirrels scampering delicately along the top of the cedar boards to leap and climb the heights. Crows call in the treetops, swooping down to the street curiously examining wrappings from greasy fries and crusts of unwanted sandwiches. There are insects about, not mosquitoes yet, but I am aware that plants are growing and surely the earth is warming to hatch new invertebrate life. Birds flit among the bare branches, too quick and small for instant identification. House finches emerge from my arborvitae warbling their glorious twittering notes from the power lines – scouting future nests, marking their territory with song. A vee of geese wing overhead pointing toward their nesting grounds in the north. Healing sounds. Healing place.

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Mar 17, 2010 by Naomi.

Last week in the course of a dental exam a sneaky invasion of decay was discovered under the only cuspid I had on the left lower jaw. This morning I had it pulled. My gums in the vicinity were pumped with stuff that numbed the area. It swelled up nicely, so noted the dentist. And then he pulled the tooth. It wasn’t quick and easy. The root had straddled my jawbone like a bronc rider and was quite happy with the arrangement. Decades of togetherness bound that relationship like cement. The rider was not willing to sever the friendship so casually. But the man with the proper skill degree on his office wall had my permission and took action. The rider was pulled off. And it hurt. My blood clotted as it should have so I didn’t bleed to death. The jaw swelled up in indignation. My jaw throbbed after the first numbness wore off. Hours later the swelling went down but the pain came up. I took a pill for relief. I can take another at bedtime. By tomorrow I expect the bone will gum some chicken. I also expect that my ears will ache no more.

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Mar 16, 2010 by Naomi.

Weekend happenings become blurred. I spend hours out in the warming spring weather. All week I worked. After much raking I had piles of spent wet leaves marring the view from my cozy sun room. I sat back with a sigh to have done all that work. And I grimaced at what lay in store for my aching back. There would be no magic to make the piles disappear. Well I dreamed. Friday I had a visitor from the wet coast who came with determination and resolve. Rakes went into action attacking the leaf piles and big black bags bulged with the results. Now I sit and sip coffee in my bright sunroom appreciating a clean view. Quite obviously the leaf piles have disappeared. Not magic, just a whirlwind.

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Mar 11, 2010 by Naomi.

Time travel through the witten page – from Scotland in 1497 to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, 2002. Imagine being in the presence of a real Scot in kilts and at the change of a book being along side a secret agent in a modern business suit. Those are the subjects of two books with which I took turns on this day. A shift from one book to another puts me in diverse cultures - as simple as that! Good writers make the characters so real I know them. I can absorb a paperback each evening. But I need to write as well as read – am compelled to write and so I do. Actually I need only to think of a noun and I am ready with a paragraph. Here it is. A blog for the day. Symbols, these little spots on the paper, the great invention of the human brain. To write is to read.

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Mar 7, 2010 by Naomi.

Sunday is a day of leisure - set aside from the rat race of the forty hour work week. I attend a loosely knit group of nonbelievers who come together at a local bookstore for coffee and free talk early in the day. Individual members come to discuss or unload their grievances/ideas/preferences. Often these are secrets, intensely personal and the communication never goes beyond those who wish to share. Quite unique. Not completely private, simply withdrawn from public view. Makes for an energetic exercise of intellectual free thoughts and action. Among other information I got today, I learned about old fashioned carburetors and sticky brakes. Never can tell when that will come in handy. To mull that over I retreated to bask for the afternoon in the sunshine from my back porch. Darkness creeps in and my thoughts are free to fly away.

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Mar 6, 2010 by Naomi.

One time won’t do the trick - trim down my middle - but I hope to start a habit of using the exercise machines in Richland Community Center. I did five minutes on the tread mill and five miles on a machine while sitting stationary and pushing with my feet. Increased my heart rate. I was already tired from the treadmill. The day was sunny going on sixty degrees. Off to my library I chose a dozen more books, paperbacks to read in bed except some para normal books about werewolves that are not beddy bye stuff. Those are a real change of pace for me. My usual choice is Johnston romance or Coulter FBI thrillers. I spent several hours in the sun walking in the back yard and sitting on my back steps with lunch. Good place from which to see my flowers grow. After dark I watched the second DVD of the Civilization BBC series, Kenneth Clark narrating. Three hours of renewing history, rather fun. Late now so I will find out just how long my eyes will stay open for Nora Roberts.

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Mar 6, 2010 by Naomi.

Think again about evolution - Some things never cross my mind. I’ve gone through decades of existence and only in the past few years have begun to think why. How did I get here is an old question. Also for decades I accepted the idea that people were at the top of power and I am one of that species. Well that part is true. Homo sapiens sapiens is a superior species for only one outstanding fact. Speech. Language. Not just the communication. Many other species communicate with sounds and actions. We have just begun to realize the extent of that. However it appears that they say only what is relative to the present – greetings, pleasure, danger, excitement. History is not passed on. Human communication goes much beyond the immediate and the future. Ours is the ability to assign and record symbols that will be processed and understood by our offspring for generations. That did not happen over night, nor in the past hundred years. The human brain developed and figured out many things. Everything right up to the keyboard on which I work came about by evolution. Experiences recorded for centuries and built upon by those who could decipher and understand and add more experiences. Contrary to fantasy preachers’ contention that knowledge leads to sin and distruction, information adds to the foundation of greater technology. True, selfish hearts and minds can lead to violent actions but our species will survive that. We wouldn’t have evolved to the present without the ability to reason. Two hundred years ago, Darwin predicted in “Origin of the Species” – There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one: and that whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

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