Top 3 To Read (Slowly)

Did y'all know there's a new movement for "slow reading"? Which basically just means reading a book. Because peeps are forgetting how, can't sit still long enough, can't focus on something for more than 10 minutes without scrolling. Reading books is my thing! But I'm a victim, too. That shit takes me waaaay longer now. But I'm still doing it! You should, too.

Without further ado, I give you my top 3 favorite non-fiction books. All of them wild with adventure, of course.

North To The Night, by Alvah Simon: About a dude who winters alone in the arctic darkness on a tiny sailboat. See, he sails up there with his wife and cat (!!!), but she (the wife) has to leave, and he's left frozen there for months with his boat, with his demons, with polar bears, with the Northern Lights, with the storms, with the crushing cold.

The Man Who Walked Through Time, by Colin Fletcher: Mom sent me this book, so it's special. The author walked the entire length of the Grand Canyon in the 60s, all alone, and then wrote about it. Mom read it 30 years ago. Now me. An interesting cycle. Anyway, a quiet, relaxing text with much lovely language describing the hugeness of geologic time, the nature of beauty in the wild, and such: "Beyond shadow that still belonged to the night, a day’s incoming sunlight streamed across the rock reefs. Noon pressed down onto the Esplanade, hotter each day, more ponderously silent. Evening came, and a softer, richer silence.”

 Jacque Cousteau: The Sea King, by Brad Matsen: “He didn’t particularly care about money as long as he had enough, and his chief financial tactic was simply going out and getting more cash when he ran out.” You see, Cousteau was down for living only in the now—no rehashing things past or backward-looking. “The road to paradise is paradise,” he said, quoting an old Spanish proverb. Anyway, a bit of a womanizer, but a true adventurer, through and through, Cousteau pioneered the modern-day scuba tank by trial and error with sketchy homemade setups. He's fucking crazy! So much could go wrong!

What To Do Right Now

I heard something about "springing forward" when I was really tired and I couldn't comprehend what exactly that meant for me and my three bedroom clocks—none of which tell time quite right. Then the sun came out and all the dogwood blossoms popped overnight. Bless your heart, Portland.

I was wondering if you ever think about growing peas or kale? Lettuce, maybe? The reason I ask is because if so, then you should plant them NOW. It's simple. You barely need to lift a finger, much less a shovel. Requirements entail a couple seed packets and a plot of land. Some rich mushroom compost to swirl into the soil. Some rain. And some time.

These cool-season green crops are the easiest of the easy when it comes to yard gardening, and so you could very possibly be blowing it if you're not tending to at least a container or two of them. Also? Green stuff is good for you, and if you grow it, you will eat it. Funny how that works. See, I never buy lettuce because I forget about it until it turns into a brown mass in the bottom of my crisper. But if you grow your salad in a tidy row, you will be inspired to wander out and pull a few sprigs to put on your cheese sandwich or whatever. The rest will stay in the ground where it belongs, just, you know, photosynthesizing.

Seed packets? $1.50. No excuses. Buy and plant now, before it's too late!

My lettuce seedlings require the protection of chicken wire on account of the neighborhood cats mistaking the garden bed for a giant luscious litter box. I suspect the cats in your neighborhood will be equally as confused on this topic, just FYI.

I save my egg shells, crush them, and sprinkle them in the garden beds because they are filled with rich calcium goodness.