From the Woods

Research into the California Fivespined Ips Beetle continues. Glenn Kohler from Washington’s Department of Natural Resources came today to collect samples of our Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine. He will give the samples to WSU Extension researchers, Todd Murray and Henry Adams, who will then attach “lures” to the pile of pine bolts. These lures are plastic bags filled with Ips Beetle pheromones, which beetles can detect from a quarter mile away. I wonder how they collect the pheromones.

We will supply two more samples this year. The goal is to see if the Ips Beetle has not two, but three life cycles—one in the fall-in addition to a spring and summer cycle. We’re hoping for just two so we can thin in the fall without worrying about beetles burrowing into the downed trees, hiding for the winter, and coming out to chomp on trees in the spring.

Glenn fell two trees, I limbed them, he bucked them into 2-foot bolts, and I hauled them to the pick-up. Good exercise for a sunny April day.

Lest you think it is all work and no play around here, Julie, Lou Jean, Finn, and I had a glorious walk through the woods this morning. Trilliums, mushrooms (in this case a deadly Western Panther), mahonia, and lovage made their presence known.

People Older Than Trees

My friend Laura gave me Maira Kalman’s Women Holding Things when we were in NYC. It is fabulous—each page features a painting of a woman holding something with a short caption. At first the women are holding a parasol, a sick dog, an apricot then it moves to a woman holding court, and then Gertrude Stein holding true to herself, etc. (the above link includes lots of sample pages) Mom read it in one setting, and I decided to ask her what she holds, has held during her 92 years.

• She held sheers and garden trowels.

• Mom holds her love for Doug and her children in her heart.

• As a newlywed, Mom held her tongue around Doug’s family—but she could talk freely with her sister-in-law, Lorraine.

• Mom held organ concerts, in her home an in churches.

• Mom held clay, lots of clay.

• Mom holds in her stomach—a habit she acquired after birthing three children.

• Mom holds up the airplanes flown in by loved ones.

• Mom holds opinions, strong ones. Here’s a brief selection (Julie collaborated on this list.)

  • women of a certain age shouldn’t wear long hair

  • bras are optional

  • show no cleavage

  • cloth should feel good on her skin—cotton, wool, silk

  • socks need to be just right

    

  But the first thing that came to Mom’s mind when I asked what she held was my head in her palm. It was 1963, I was just a few months old and had woken up in the middle of the night, fretful. We were in Edna Bay, Alaska, a logging camp, in a room at the end of single-wide inflatable trailer. Dad and Steve were asleep down the hall.

What I’m Reading

Laura also recommended Karla Cornejo Villavivencio‘s The Undocumented Americans. Harvard graduate, Cornejo Villavivencio, takes a deep dive into different pockets of people living without papers in our country: day workers recruited to help clean up 9-11, people living in Flint during the water crisis, Floridians turning to herbs and voodoo because they have no access to healthcare. Cornejo Villavivencio was born in Ecuador, and brought to the US by her parents. She inserts her childhood, her mental health struggles, her compassion, her offers of help into her reporting, making this book an engaging, even compelling read.

Stumptown

I was taking photos of blooms around our neighborhood to send to my dear friend Luci who is tending to her brother after a lengthy surgery. Portland in the spring is glorius.