Her area of expertise is obstetric fistula , which she endured as a teenager in Ethiopia. By being in the right place at the right time, she learned the skills to perform fistula surgery, and routinely trains gynecologists in her specialty. Now she is going to school to learn to read and write.

Three foreign movies, all of a rather heavy nature, and I’m thinking I should see something light next. In the last few weeks, I’ve seen two movies where someone eats glass, and three of four where the main characters plunge into water, and you’re not sure if both will make it back up. Three movies where someone gets hit by a vehicle. A digit very realistically shot off. A particularly vivid emergency tracheotomy.

I really, really miss X-files on a Sunday night, before it got bad.

Tis the season. A tomato/cucumber salad with sour cream dressing and poundcake for dessert. Not much meat on these ribs, but what’s there is, as Spencer would say, ‘cherce’.

The first of the year. Unfortunately, there is still a bag of bulbs yet to be planted. I bought several dwarf varieties, and they might be blooming in a few weeks.

Where someone might see a poppy and an unidentified insect, I see a possible item of food for the mantis. Since this last molting, the mantis has practically hung a sign around its neck, saying ‘Feed me’.

The nursery’s vegetable section was sparse and picked over, but I couldn’t leave without a moon and stars watermelon plant . Generally, my yard doesn’t get enough sun for melons, but who knows? You can’t be a pessimist, and have a vegetable garden.

All week, I’ve been trying to get this right. Sometimes the light is just so, and the leaves seem to glow from within. Obviously, I didn’t catch that. There’s a sculptural quality to canna that is also hard to capture. This one didn’t bloom last year, and I think it was in a group that I plucked out of a bargain bin somewhere.