Tackling a Classic...

I often listen to National Public Radio while working at my desk in the afternoons.  Last week there was a discussion about the "literature that stumps us".  People were calling in to talk about the books they just couldn't seem to get through...very often the teacher-assigned tomes that so many high school students are made to dissect with their adolescent knowledge of the world.

The book that immediately came to my mind was John Steinbeck's classic, The Grapes of Wrath, the celebrated novel that defines the devastating era of the Great Depression.  What a fascinating topic for a room full of 16-year-olds in the era of big hair and neon socks! I can still remember sitting at the desk in my bedroom, bent over this book with my chin resting on my hand.  My eyes moved over the words, but when I'd reach the bottom of a page I would realize I couldn't remember ANY of what I had just read!  Every assignment was a struggle, and I really couldn't tell you too much about the story because it just didn't leave an impression on me.  What DID leave an impression was the boy in our class whose parents wouldn't let him read it!!  He was dissecting a less controversial novel, and seemed to be enjoying his book much more than the rest of us were enjoying ours.  I was very jealous...why couldn't MY parents be more concerned with what I was being exposed to!!

After thinking about this for awhile, I decided I did not want to be stumped by Steinbeck!  This must be a great book, or it wouldn't be shoved into the hands of so many unsuspecting teens.  On Wednesday, I walked into the public library with a mission.  I quickly located the shelf filled with heavy Steinbeck volumes.  Surprise, surprise...there were 4 copies of the Grapes of Wrath available, and by the way they kind of stuck to the shelf when I pulled one out I would guess they haven't been checked out in awhile.  I cracked it open last night and began to read.....and read.....and read.....

I am pleased to report that while my teacher may have been misguided in thinking my younger self would appreciate these pages, she really did know a good story when she saw one.  My adult self is thoroughly enjoying rediscovering an American classic.

The Weed from HELL!

This is a picture of Japanese Knotweed...a horribly invasive plant, once sold as an ornamental, that always seems to be planted exactly where one would like to plant something (anything!) else.  A member of the rhubarb family, this thing grows from the ground up to about 8 to 10 feet tall in approximately 2 months....really.

Every spring we begin the "spruce-up-the-yard" season with the removal of the dead stalks from the previous growing season (we left them in place all winter to provide a barrier between us and the scary neighbors).  Today I accomplished just that, snapping or cutting off the stalks at the base, breaking them into workable lengths and hauling them out to the curb for the village to pick up.  Don't worry....these stalks are dead and will not sprout into new, noxious growth at the county compost site.  I can already see the new, bright red   shoots poking up through the soil.  Over the next few weeks These buds will stretch 3 or 4 feet into the strangest, asparagus-looking shoots with very little in the way of leaves.  Then, while I'm out running an errand, these stalks will burst into foliage and stretch the rest of their height, thoroughly hiding the sight of anything on the other side that you don't want to see...so it does have some value.

Getting rid of Knotweed.....is impossible. Or, nearly so.  I have yet to succeed in eliminating it from the property line.  We tried very hard to do so several years ago.  After months of digging and squirting Round-Up into the stalks and on the roots, we discovered that efforts to remove the plant only stimulates it's super-powers and causes it to grow faster...and spread further into the yard.  Feeling sorry for us, a well-meaning neighbor thought he would make things better by running his roto-tiller through the area.  I came running out of the house with arms waving, yelling "STOP!  You don't know what you're doing!!!"  A week later, every one of those chopped-up little pieces sprouted into a new plant...creating a lush carpet of Knotweed. (Have I mentioned that desperate people in Great Britain have gone to jail for throwing this stuff in ditches in the dark of night?)

A year later, the scary neighbors moved in and we gave up on getting rid of this blight on the plant world.  We let it grow up on the property line once again....and after the neighbor kid tried to steal our basketball, I fertilized it.