It takes a lot to be Miss Nomer.

When I heard about the all-new Rose Festival Walk I knew it was the walk for me. Getting to walk the Rose Festival Route before the parade? When all the people are sitting there waiting for the parade to start? Who wouldn’t want to do that? And I knew that I was going to go as my best beauty queen self. So I spent the evening before preparing to be Miss Nomer. Miss Nomer may be a misapplied or inappropriate beauty queen, but she tries her best.

Miss Nomer has to make her own sash. Luckily she has access to a large font in Word and a printer. That made tracing her name much easier.
Miss Nomer put on a mud mask for sparking skin and braided her hair to achieve appropriate “big”-ness.
You too, can make your own crown. All you need is a file folder, stapler, aluminum foil and glue.
After the glue dries, the crown is easily secured with a paper clip.
Miss Nomer even painted her nails. As she was doing this she was trying to remember the last time her nails had been painted. It may have been in college. Maybe. But it might not have been since high school.
Now it is off for a good night sleep for Miss Nomer.

No more building.

To update how the demise of the building has been going:

Here was the original picture I took:
I published the demolition here and here and today you can see the view minus any building.
It’s always a little strange taking a picture of a negative, i.e. where a building isn’t anymore. When sorting pictures for the blog my first reaction was “What is this supposed to be a picture of?” It took a few seconds before I realized it was a picture of where a building isn’t.

Review of Niagara Falls All Over Again

Niagara Falls All Over Again Niagara Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A nicely written novel about one half of a Laurel and Hardy-esque comedy team. The book begins in the waining days of Vaudville and continues through the 40s and 50s as our comedy team becomes famous. Mose Sharp is the straight man and it is interesting to watch the contrast between his life on screen as well as off screen when compared to his comic sidekick.

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Letters written in May.

Before my resolution, whenever I had to write a letter for business purposes I was annoyed at the actual sitting down to type the business letter. Not to mention the hunt for the stamp and the envelope. Now it’s one of those things I look forward to, because I can whip them out in about 7 minutes and I have fulfilled my resolution for the day.

I wrote letters or postcards 21 days this month. While there were more days in which I wrote than days that I didn’t write, I hope to write more next month. Mid-month June the new LEX listings come out and I look forward to responding to some new listings as well as seeing if I get responses to my listings.

I received 12 things in the mail this month, which was wonderful. Sara hit on the idea of sending me the free postcards available at bars and restaurants and other places. She places labels over the advertising part on the back and writes a quick thought. They don’t have free postcards in Portland, but I think this is a clever way to use them. When I lived in Boston, I would always take them, but because of the advertising, could never send them to anyone.

1 May. Sara, postcard.
2 May. No one.
3 May. First Unitarian Church. Business.
4 May. Bank. Business.
5 May. Joan. Card.
**Letter back. Sara.
6 May. No one.
7 May. No one.
**Letter back. LEX “Will you be a good old person?”
**Letter back. LEX “Do you have to suffer to write?”
8 May. LEX Jacqueline.
9 May. No one.
10 May. LEX Jan.
11 May. LEX Diane.
12 May. Sara, postcard.
13 May. Vivian McIrney. Re error in article about shoes. I would link to it, but now it costs $$
14 May. Sara.
**Letter back. LEX Diane (I have two Diane pen pals)
15 May. No one.
16 May. No one.
17 May. Sara
18 May. No one.
19 May. No one.
20 May. Kelly. (Written from the Multnomah County Courthouse while on jury duty!)
21 May. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
22 May. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
**letter back, LEX Diane.
23 May. LEX Gerry.
24 May. LEX Phyllis.
25 May. Sara.
26 May. No one.
27 May. LEX Diane.
**Letter back, Sara.
28 May. LEX Diane.
29 May. Aunt Pat, birthday card.
**Postcard, Sara.
**Postcard Sara.
30 May. Aunt Pat, birthday card. (I sent two, so one would get there on her birthday.)
31 May. No one.

Read in May

“In an era in which everyone has a truth and the means to fling it around the world, an era in which knowledge is increasingly broad but seldom deep, maybe that’s the ultimate act of sedition: to pick up a single book and read it.” Leonard Pitts.

Let’s call this the month of reading books that have been made into movies…

Finished
Atonement. Ian McEwan.

The Hatbox Baby. Carrie Brown

Persepolis. Marijane Satrapi

Gone, Baby, Gone. Dennis Lahane

Lucky. Alice Sebold

The Painted Veil. W. Somerset Maugham. (25 May)

Started but didn’t finish.
I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark by Brian Hall

My review


rating: 1 of 5 stars
I really, really wanted to like this book. Really. As a former history major, I should welcome such well-written first-person historical fiction about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. But I didn’t like this book. I didn’t like it 10 pages in and I didn’t like it after reading 50 pages. Hall wonderfully creates his characters: Lewis, Clark, Sacajawea and eventually Sacajawea’s husband, though I didn’t get that far. The language painted vivid pictures in my mind. The plot pacing was good. I just did not like it. I tried, but I didn’t.

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Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener” src=”http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180348844m/1029033.gif” border=”0″> The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener by Deborah L. Martin

My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
All you need to know to get started composting. I skimmed this book and found it handy. I especially liked the many different plans that one could use to build home composers.

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Enneagram at Work” src=”http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189868662m/1891045.jpg” border=”0″> Getting Your Boss’s Number; And Many Other Ways to Use the Enneagram at Work by Michael J. Goldberg

My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
A good “how to get along with people at work” sort of book, it also included interesting information about the nine Enneagram types. For instance, when I tell stories about my childhood my mother always says, “Why do you always remember the bad things?” Whichsurprises me, as I don’t think the story in question is particularly “bad”. It turns out that “eights” (of which I am one) have a whole narrative structure based on overcoming struggle. So while I’ve just told a great story about my triumph over whatever, my mother hears me complaining about my childhood. That was well worth the price of the book alone. (Although, full disclosure, I got it from the library and didn’t pay anything.)

A great book if you are at your wit’s end with dealing with someone at work, or in your life in general.

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Didn’t even start.
In America. Susan Sontag.

The Way West. A.B. Guthrie, Jr.

Open Me. A Novel. Sunshine O’Donnell

Uniform!

Police Officers. Lunch Ladies. Park Rangers. Nurses. Only some of the professions where people wear uniforms. And now: Administrative Coordinators at The Emerson School. Yes, that’s right, I’ve decided to assign myself a uniform.

It all started with one of my LEX friends. We write topic letters back and forth and one of her topics was, “do you dress for yourself or others?” In answering that question, I said that if I had my druthers, I would just wear a uniform to work every day. I’ve had several jobs that require a uniform and I’ve really enjoyed wearing them. When I wore a uniform, I would get up in the morning and I already know what I was going to wear.

“Hey!” I thought to myself a few days later, “I could just wear a uniform.” And so I did.

So this is it:
I have three pairs of Dockers black pants, four shirts from Eddie Bauer in “deep basil” and–what I am most excited about–I now own two cute black sweaters that I really like wearing. I bought some clogs, too. We shall see how we get along. I already have a few black skirts that I can wear when I feel like it.

When the weather turns colder, if I still like wearing the uniform I will buy some long-sleeved shirts and sweaters. I’m pretty excited about this venture. I’ve told my co-workers at work and they are amused/supportive. We shall see how long it takes before any of the parents or children at school say anything.

Also! I treated myself to some new Keen shoes. I really, really love them. And I’m allowed to wear them with the uniform, too.

Review of the Painted Veil

The Painted Veil The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not only was jury duty fun, but in chatting with one of my fellow jurors we got to talking about books made into movies. We discussed Atonement and she asked me if I had seen the Painted Veil. I had, but hadn’t read the book and so the next day she gave me her copy.

I didn’t seek out the book after seeing the movie, because, as mentioned before I’m a lazy reader and don’t like to work while reading. For me, many authors published before 1950 require more attention that I’m willing to give. Not this one. This was a very readable book and the internal thought process of the characters were fascinating. My favorite book/movie difference was the “did you leave your toupee?” question as the lovers were hoping to avoid detection. I also found the descriptions of the babies in the Chinese orphanage interesting. More than once they were described as “not quite human” I hope that we have evolved to the point where we find babies around the world darling, rather than “not quite human.”

Once again, the book does a much better job illustrating the internal shifts in the main character. Not surprisingly, this was a much better book than movie.

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