Sunday, June 2, 2024

     In the late 1940’s, we live in a summer house at Camp Steffani on Carmel River. At the river, the kids tie hot dog bits on a string and catch crawdads. It is creepy to watch my mother drop these live creatures into the boiling water. I can’t eat them. This is the beginning of my life long hesitation with eating fish.

    Sitting outside when the sun finally shines through the fog.  First the 5pm army bugle call, then the panicked crows shouting in the tree, sirens in the distance, my neighbor walking by coughing, then the dogs start barking. The trees whisper as the breeze whips through the branches. No silence here.

     The photo guy brings me a cooked salmon bowl for dinner. Enough for two meals. I eat this tasty dinner while watching another episode of NORTHERN EXPOSURE. I don’t want this series to ever end.

     I have moved back to Singapore in my reading. The second detective story, A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER by Qiu Xiaolong. The hardest part of reading this book is pronouncing the names of the characters, the foods, the streets. Even the author’s name is a mystery to me. The stories and the descriptions of Singapore life are great.