These are a few of my favorite things....

A patch of sunflowers visible from our kitchen/living room/dining room. The seed packet said 3-foot, compact flowers, but they are twice that heigth and quite splendid.



Dinner most every evening out by the garden with Courtney and Aaron.




The sweet potting table that Courtney built for me. And the beautiful lighting at the end of a summer's day.




Having my boy here for the summer. And now, thankfully, having him nearby in Eugene so that he'll be here with us each weekend. What an enormous improvement over the last school year of flying him back and forth between California and Oregon.




There's lots more I could list, like the evening walks that Aaron and I take after dinner. Or the bike rides into town that Courtney and I make.

And of course the good books I've been reading. Most recently I read After The Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order, by Emmanual Todd. The author is a French demographer and sociologist who gained international notoriety by accurately predicting, in 1979, the collapse of the Soviet Union by analyzing its fertility, infant mortality, marriage and literacy rates.

Todd argues that now, as the rest of the world is learning it can get along without America--as more countries are becoming increasingly educated, democratic and economically stable--America is realizing it cannot get along without the rest of the world. The U.S. can no longer subsist on its own production (as it's largely been moved overseas), is becoming ever more dependent on foreign money, and now assumes the role in the world of the consumer. And as the U.S. government continues to make foreign policy decisions that alienate the international community, the world's view of America has shifted from one of a protector to one of a predator.

He sees an enhanced role emerging for Eurasia, uniting two of the world's most productive industrial centers--Japan and Europe--with two regions of military and demographic strength--Russia and the Middle East. The role that Todd anticipates for the U.S. is that of one liberal democracy among many, and wouldn't that be a relief for us all? (And when I say "all" I mean the whole planet.) He says his book is an appeal for America to return to its founding ideologies and truer self--a democratic, productive, cooperative member of the global community. I can't think of a better project for us as Americans to be working on. Maybe this book is just the right Christmas gift for your favorite relative. It'll definitely stimulate dinner conversation.

Thanks for reading our blog, and I'll publish more soon,

Valori