Several Olga photos today. She and I have been taking short neighborhood walks and yesterday she even went on the loop through the nearby housing estate, which she hasn't done in months. As expected, she seems to have more energy than she did when she was going out daily with her dog walker.
Not that yesterday was a particularly energetic day. It got up to 87º F (31º C) and we mostly sat in the garden and tried to stay comfortable.
Olga found a bag of discarded bagels among the trash stacked on the corner. I let her have one. She was very excited. She's a freegan!
As usual when we walk through the housing estate, she looked for the cats. Her main nemesis has been gone for ages but there's still at least one other cat at this address, and she never passes the door without checking.
We walked up a street parallel to our own with this beautiful blooming rose arching over the pavement.
As usual in summer, when the sun comes up early, Olga is our alarm clock. She's been getting me up right at 5 a.m. pretty much daily. The sun is up even before that but I try to draw a pretty strict line at getting up before 5 a.m.! I love these long days right around the solstice but there is a drawback to an early sunrise -- an early dogrise.
Yesterday I used the cool early-morning hours to do some gardening. I dug up a kniphofia, or red-hot poker, that had become buried in overgrowth from surrounding plants. It's been struggling for a couple of years, not getting enough sun, and I finally decided to put it in a big pot and move it to a sunnier location.
This is what it looked like ten years ago, and here it is now:
Hopefully we can get it thriving again.
During the heat of the day I sat out in the garden and read "All the President's Men." As you may remember, Alan Pakula's screen adaptation with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman is one of my favorite movies, and it even helped inspire me to pursue a journalism career. But believe it or not, I've never read the book, which obviously goes into much more detail about Watergate and the investigative processes of The Washington Post. It's pretty easy reading and quite compelling.
It's also interesting to read it now, in the Trump era, because it shows that many aspects of Republican politics just haven't changed that much. (Not surprising, considering Nixon's "dirty trickster" Roger Stone is still around advising the Trump camp.) For example, did you know that in the early '70s some Republicans insisted the 1960 election had been stolen by the Democrats? Sound familiar?
It goes back to that certain strain of paranoia that permeates American politics -- a fundamental distrust of government, of "tyranny," which many Republicans in particular feel. I think Democrats, by and large, don't think that way. We have more trust in the system and in our fellow human beings. We see government as beneficial, not oppressive. Even when the Supreme Court ruled against Al Gore in the knife's-edge election of 2000, changing the course of the country forever, the Democrats went along with it. We were skeptical, but we relied on the system and we didn't storm the Capitol.
Anyway, it's making for interesting reading!
You have hit on the sort of walks that Olga obviously enjoys!
ReplyDeleteReading back into the history of USA politics is interesting...and a surprise that certain people are still ther
There...when you see that it isn't a surprise that some things are repeating...
ReplyDeleteThe kniphofia will be fine, just don't over water it and let it take its time. You could add some white pebbles or gravel to the top of the pot to help it hold its warmth. We have several beds of kniphofia in the grounds here and most are covered in white stones of some kind.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a rich, reflective day. Olga’s quiet comeback, a touch of garden renewal, and a deep dive into history that resonates so strongly with the present
ReplyDeleteShe looks great!
ReplyDeleteGlad you are bending to the wishes of Olga and taking her on the walks she enjoys. Which obviously entails 'scrumping' for food and smelling out cats.
ReplyDeleteUp here the sunrise wakes me just after 4:30 a.m. even with the Velux blinds down ... it is light enough to read!
ReplyDeleteOn the parallel street, I wonder if there's a noisy Russian couple living above a pair of grumpy American guys with a pampered chihuahua called Volga. Parallel Lives... wasn't that an album by Blondie? Oh no, it was "Parallel Lines". Hope you have another lazy day today.
ReplyDeleteI think Olga's getting her later years organized just fine. Early walks, cat hunts, bagels for breakfast. Made in the shade.
ReplyDeleteThe shot of Olga and the blooming rose is beautiful. It’s amazing how long those memories linger (for us and our pets). It shocks me (although it shouldn’t) that so little has changed in the Republican party since the ’60s. Just dirtier.
ReplyDelete'Freegan' - I like it. Very fitting.
ReplyDeleteI have a houseful of dogs. A 5 a.m. wakeup is our norm. Have you read Katherine Graham's Personal History? I loved it. When I was young, I wanted to be the editor-in-chief of the WP; then, a photojournalist for National Geographic. Sadly, I became neither.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, I wanted to be a photojournalist for Natgeo too!
DeleteBob Woodward is one of those writers that can get into the weeds re: subject matter and yet you don't feel like you're lost. He's entertaining, clear, and easy to follow -- and boy, does he do his research. I've never read this either, but that's one of my favorite films and I think I should. I'm glad to see Olga is looking a little peppier. We're due for 90s-100s in the next few days. Naturally, I came home from the lake yesterday for things here this week before I go north to stay for a bit. Timing is everything. Mine is off this week for sure!
ReplyDeleteHistory repeats itself.
ReplyDeleteI liked Olga in her element!
I have always sided more with the Democrats when it came to trusting the government. I'm not sure why I feel that way when I also feel that most politicians can't be fully trusted. I guess I just trust the system even if I don't trust the characters.
ReplyDeleteI have never gotten worked up about things that some claim have tested our government like never before or crossed some line that will lead to future chaos. Like you said with Nixon and countless other examples that come to mind, most of this stuff has happened before in one way or another. It just seems new because of the media form it is presented to us these days. There are a few things that have happened though that worry me a bit, like Jan 6th and Biden's use of pardons to forgive his staff for past and future crimes they hadn't even been charged with yet. But I still trust our system will survive these tests and eventually recenter itself and our democracy will be here for many generations yet to come.
I wonder if Olga is willing to walk further because she is with you? As in, she is willing to take a walk with someone else, but she doesn't want to get too far from home base.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to get up in the morning with the sunshine. It will not be that long before it is dark when rising at 6 AM.
ReplyDeleteOlga loves her walks with you, and she is striding along very comfortably.
These are hard and difficult times, and the democratic system is being challenged. Over time, history has shown to repeat itself.
Yes, I agree with Debby - Olga likes walking with you and so she enjoys it more.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read that book either. I surely do remembering it all happening. I know that nonfiction by true journalists can be some of the most interesting and enjoyable books written. Have you ever read "And the Band Played On"?
ReplyDeleteOlga is enjoying HER retirement, revisiting old favorite places with one of her two favorite people. It cracks me up so much the way she STILL looks for cats and squirrels.
I remember reading that book. I bet it takes on a whole new dimension now. When I watched the film Lincoln a couple years back, I remember being struck by how little the adversarial nature of our congressional politics had changed. America has always been America I guess. Love seeing Olga on her walks with you. She seems to have extra pep.
ReplyDeleteI always let Minnie decide which direction when we get to the end of the driveway. More often than not she chooses left, down the street and back but sometimes right which means the next street over. Our walks are short in the summer as even late in the evening it is still hot with very little shade. I read a post on the local chat group by a women who posted a long screed about how she's never seen such disrespect given to a president before now and she even mentioned Obama by name. She must have had her head in the ground because Obama and Michelle and their daughters were attacked constantly with the most disgusting racist crap including by Trump who still claims Obama was not born here while the Republicans vowed to oppose everything he wanted even if it was good for the country.
ReplyDeleteThe subject material was very easy to get for all the president's men.
ReplyDeleteI read in the paper that there is a heat wave across Europe and there is certainly one here too! It got to 117 yesterday. it's always fun to see Olga out and about. That's an interesting book to be reading at this time. Between Roger Stone and Stephen Miller, I'm not sure which one is more evil.
ReplyDeleteSweet Olga (with the memory of an elephant). I have to wake Pat up and think he would sleep all day if I didn't. I try to set out on my walk by 6:30 at the latest since the heat and humidity are still crazy even at that early hour!
ReplyDelete