Saturday

Suzanne and I attended the Green Thumb 10:00 talk on native California plants. I thought it was going to be about recommendations for planting and growing them, but it was actually on medicinal uses. I'm not completely sold on that stuff, but the talk was pretty good. It was delivered by the guy who wrote the book, Medicinal Herbs of California, which was, of course, for sale.  Suzanne had a sore throat, so said she might want to leave a bit early. No prob for me, as I regularly bus to the area. However, after an hour and a half--it was supposed to be two hours, but he was only on the seventh category of twelve--I suggested we might want to head out and she was glad to agree. 

Had a quick lunch at home, then decided to bus to The Bargain Box. Walking to the bus stop, I passed near Von's and saw a notice that the biannual book sale at Von's by Friends of the Ventura Library was going on. AAGH--fatal attraction! Of course, no power on earth could have kept me away from it. I went over, browsed, tried to resist, but couldn't and bought four books, ranging from Marilyn Monroe's last days to the last days of Tsar Nicholas II to the notorious Durst murder thing to the life stories of John Foster Dulles and his brother, Allan.* Continued on and bought a few small items at The Bargain Box, then walked to The Market for veggies.

I had emailed my tenants, Susan and Cliff, to tell them Tony, the landscaper, would be cutting the tree limb shortly. Incredibly, I got an email back from Susan, telling me Cliff was happy to do it--he has the tools and the know-how. Incredible, but I called Tony to tell him to skip it (he was very gracious about it, I was glad to realize; I think he's busy now). Susan also send me a picture of their house in Florida after the hurricane:

This is where they intend--or intended--to move after they retire and leave my place. Originally, that was going to be in August, but they moved the time back. Now, of course, Ma Nature has moved it further back still. 

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*Why these?  Here's why: I love true Hollywood stories and the more gasp-worthy, the better; I'm a devotee of true-life murder, also (there must be something wrong with me); Russia under the Tsars just fascinates me; and as for the Dulles brothers--well, don't our politics entail show biz (lots of pretense and posturing going on there)--as well as constant pointing to Russia as the Evil One? What about murder? According to the author, Stephen Kinzer, the Dulles brothers were instrumental in the carnage committed by the U.S. in Vietnam. This is what he said in an interview: 

It's quite possible, even likely, had the Dulles brothers not been [in Vietnam] or had acted differently, there never would've been an American involvement in Vietnam at the cost of a million lives and more than 50,000 Americans. 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading all of them, but woe is me:  I'm still into Who thought This Was A Good Idea?, a reminiscence by Alyssa Mastromonaco, Obama's deputy chief of staff, plus the boring and badly written one on Natalie Wood by her sister. I also must read the one Suzanne lent me, by her cousin who wrote about the women in her extended family. I wish I could say I was intrigued, but it's pretty saccharine--they were all so very virtuous and holy. Sorry, but I'm afraid I prefer Marilyn Monroe.