Cool Yer Turtles

If this is my Jupiter summer, how can I interpret pulling my shoulder (painful!) yesterday as lucky?

This morning these lines from a Donovan song came to mind…

“Do few things but do them well, Heartfelt things go slowly…”

—From Brother Sun, Sister Moon, the hippie St. Francis biopic

Okay, I’ll go slowly. I can’t lift with my right arm, so not much point going to work, and I’m wary of biking, but I can explore my neighborhood on foot. I know the area pretty well but I’m positioned in an entirely new angle to everything. 

I’ve never lived so close—less than a mile?—to the Lake Harriet Rose Garden, for instance, with my favorite fountain.
I’ve walked here and am sitting on a shady bench. Can you see it’s turtles spouting water?

It’s a pleasantly windy, hot sunny day.

Luckily the other day I’d idly started rereading the last Harry Potter book —I’d found a nice copy and was going to take it into work to donate. I’d skimmed it when it came out (2007!) but never paid close attention. 

I’d only ever liked HP because of Alan Rickman’s Snape, and this is the volume that spells out his story, so before I gave it away I thought I’d see if I’d enjoy reading it more thoroughly. I am enjoying it, despite the sometimes distasteful caricatures.  Rowling uses “hook nose” as a bad thing, for instance—was she totally tone deaf to anti-Semitism? 

Where was the editor?

And why is Hermione always crying, and why is the talent of a grown witch (female) demonstrated by her ability to magically clean an oven, while the wizards (male) have a propensity for motorbikes?

It makes me wince sometimes, but it’s good entertainment for a partial invalid. The other book I’ve been reading is a bio of Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations  —worthy, and interesting, but I’m feeling more like pudding than meat.

 And along those lines, I’m walking to the grocery store now to buy food I don’t have to chop with a knife.