Black-eyed peas

 Freshly shelled, from Full Belly Farms. I like the picture and I like the peas.

Two down, two to go

The Story of a New Name
Elena Ferrante

I finally got around to reading the second of the Neapolitan novels. I didn't like it quite as much as the first, but it is excellent throughout. The personal is political, big time. Once again, Ann Goldstein's translation is so good, you would think it had been written in English.

Your FSA/OWI Photo of the Day

 New England hurricane. Salvaging onions near Hadley, Massachusetts. Sheldon Dick, 1938.

Interview with Amartya Sen

I really cannot recommend this interview/ conversation with Amartya Sen too highly. It is wonderful in its detailed reminiscences about his intellectual upbringing, the place of Marxism in Cambridge economics, the importance of Marx, Arrow, and especially Adam Smith in his thought, name dropping (he actually was friendly with E.M. Forster), the place of philosophy in economics, his prickly intellectual relationship with his thesis advisor– the great economist Joan Robinson– life in India and Indian politics, etc. Throughout, his brilliance, empathy, and humor shine, as well as his false modesty. 

The interview has special resonance for me, perhaps, because during my formative years as a young undergrad economist at the University of Massachusetts in the 1970s, a number of the debates that played out at Cambridge a generation earlier were still raging, such as the so-called Cambridge-Cambridge capital controversy. Sen's takes on most of the matters he discusses seem spot-on to me. His near-reverence for Piero Sraffa, the leading figure of "neo-Ricardian" economics, also struck a chord. I learned much of what I know about Sraffa from an excellent economist who taught me at Stanford, Don Harris (see preceding post). 

Kamala

I think Biden's VP choice is probably second-order in terms of the election outcome. Certainly Kamala checks a number of boxes in terms of gender, ethnicity, and ideology. To me, more than anything she seems like... a Californian! That's a good thing.

Also, her dad taught me neo-Ricardian economics. I don't suppose that will come in handy, but you never know.

Your FSA/OWI Photo of the Day

Circus wagons made by Mr. Whitmarsh. Alger [i.e. Archer], Montana. Russell Lee, 1937

Your FSA/OWI Photo of the Day

Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family, Pie Town, New Mexico

Russell Lee, 1940

Lakes Basin

Aidan and I managed to snag the last vacant campsite in the Gold Lake Campground, one of several rustic little campgrounds in the Lakes Basin Recreational Area of Plumas National Forest. Is there a prettier place to stake your tent? Directly across the rutted dirt track from awesome Gold Lake and a family of robin fledglings and a short hike to any a number of other lovely mountain lakes and wildflowers, not to mention proximity to Frazier Falls, Butterfly Valley, and the Feather River canyon. And if you failed to catch any trout or are not in the mood for camp cooking, you can take a short drive down to Graeagle and find a quite acceptable restaurant, with distanced outdoor seating, naturally. Dad called that "living off the land."

Darlingtonia and Drosera...

... are the genus names of two of our bog-dwelling California native carnivorous plants. The more conspicuous Darlingtonia californica is a pitcher plant also known as the cobra lily, for obvious reasons once you have seen one. And Drosera rotundifolia is the lovely if smaller and prostrate native sundew. The pitchers entice insects into their bright green vase, from which they cannot escape and are digested; the sundews employ sticky red droplets to hold and then envelope their prey. 

Up in the far northern mountains of California, such as the Trinity Alps, you can find these wonderful plants in various locations, but they are rare in the Sierras. The best place to check them out is the Butterfly Valley Botanical Area, not far from scary Keddie, CA. I try to make a stop there every time I am in the Feather River canyon or Lakes Basin areas north of Tahoe.

On this visit, one of the dirt roads that used to cross the top of the boggy meadow had been closed off and is being restored (see last two photos below), connecting a pitcher-filled drainage ditch with the sprawling meadow below. The strange, waxy flowers of the Darlingtonia were a bit past their prime, but the meadow was still vigorously soggy during a very dry season, and the sundews were abundant. A very special place: Do check it out, but tread lightly.