We were re-stacking horse fencing panels yesterday when we discovered this little fellow, who, according to my field guide, is a Northwestern Garter Snake.
Northwestern Garter Snake
My middle son, the budding environmental biologist, immediately made a new friend on whom he bestowed the name, Dave.
Dave
It’s only taken almost three years, but I finally set up my bird feeders and bath. I’m pretty certain that I have too many feeders on one pole, but I’m on a fishing expedition at the moment to see who comes to dinner. The ornamental beds in front of the house provide beneficial cover for the birds who come to feed.
I will note that I designed and built the bird feeder stand, a project I really enjoyed. I also gave the bird bath a new coat of paint to match our front door. I’m pleased with the results.
Bird Feeders
Bird Bath
In Seasons in My Garden, Sr. Elizabeth Wagner ponders through each season the grounds of her home at the Transfiguration Hermitage in Windsor, Maine to discover thought-provoking meditations and reflections. Sr. Elizabeth often starts with an unexpected observation then gently leads the reader to an equally unanticipated insight. A tree crashing in the road on Christmas Eve leads to questions about human vulnerability and peace. Liturgical ordinary time during summer induces a discovery of the extraordinary in less celebrated moments. Autumn with its final blaze of color provides an opportunity to look inward and see our true selves, or God, as the light begins to diminish. Furthermore, although she encourages readers to follow their own questions to mystery or their dreams, Sr. Elizabeth also provides an interesting account of the daily life and challenges of a contemplative in a semi-eremitical community. In sum, Seasons in My Garden is a lovely book with insights to be savored.
(Reviewed in exchange for a copy of book via Netgalley.)
For Mother’s Day this past May, my boys gave a set of Hoya close up filters for my Nikon D5000. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted a better way to shoot close up shots of nature. This past week, I experimented with the 4+ filter.
African violet
Begonia
So, I think I’m sold on my filters!
After living here almost three years, I decided that it was time to reclaim the ornamental beds. As I dug out native tree saplings, well-rooted blackberry vines, mountains of oregano that had gone wild and some unappreciated shrubbery, I was not alone, thanks to the faithful companionship of Augie. He stayed right with me, tucked under the shrubs, unless he happened on a tennis ball or right-handed (never, ever a left one) garden glove that just begged to be buried in the freshly turned soil.
How can you complain about hard work when you’ve got good company?
Now that summer has arrived, I have more time to notice the wildlife in our own backyard. This past week, Thumper the rabbit came by to trim our grass at the same time Bambi and his brother, Bob, meandered through to trim our blackberry leaves. You really do have to appreciate helpful neighbors.
Thumper
Bambi and Bob
According to my best naturalist skills and the National Audobon Society’s Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest, Thumper is probably a brush rabbit, while Bambi and Bob are mule deer.
Dickinson in Her Own Times provides a fascinating, unique perspective into the life and work of Emily Dickinson. This book is a compilation of personal letters, interviews, and memoirs by those who knew Dickinson and her work including her family, friends and acquaintances, and her reviewers. These sources provide an almost eyewitness account of the transformation of Dickinson as the brilliant eccentric who broke poetic convention to her status as an almost mythic, literary legend. Beautifully organized, this book begins with documents elucidating Dickinson’s life from girlhood.
On arriving at her death notices, the book turns to the documents addressing her poems published posthumously, as they take on a life of their own. Finally, the volume concludes with the centennial celebration of Dickinson’s birth.
For those truly interested in the study of Emily Dickinson’s life and work, this volume is not to be missed. However, even those who are not passionate about Dickinson’s work may find value here because this book bears witness to the world’s treatment of genius and contains lessons for those who would break with convention and pursue creativity.
(Reviewed in exchange for copy of book in Manhattan Book Review.)
When the young daughter of Anna Pigeon’s friend, Heath, becomes the target of a vicious cyber stalker bent on destroying the young girl’s life, all three escape to Boar Island off of the Maine coast, where Anna fills in for an absent chief park ranger. Not long after they arrive, however, they realize the stalker has followed them. At the same time, Anna accidentally becomes the target of an exceedingly disturbed ranger named Denise, who murders the abusive husband of her newly discovered twin.
Boar Island is exactly the kind of mystery readers have come to expect from Nevada Barr. The protagonists are fierce women who do not take anything lying down. Heath, in particular, has a biting sense of humor that is a delight to read. The antagonists are deeply twisted. Furthermore, Barr uses a rotating point of view to let her readers fully understand her major characters. Finally, she knows how to pace a story to build the greatest amount of tension possible. For those new to this series and for veteran fans, Boar Island will not disappoint.
(Reviewed in exchange for copy of book in Manhattan Book Review.)
The Summer Guest is a beautiful novel which interweaves the stories of three women. In the summer of 1888, Zinaida Lintvaryova, a young doctor recently blinded by a terminal illness, begins a journal which records her new friendship with a summer guest on her family’s property in the Ukraine–Anton Chekhov. In London in 2014, Katya, a young Russian immigrant, places great hope in the publication of Zinaida’s journal as she struggles with mysterious marital difficulties and the impending failure of her publishing business. Finally a translator in a small French village becomes enthralled by the possibility of an undiscovered novel by Chekhov that she might translate.
This novel has been termed “evocative” and “atmospheric,” and it is difficult to find better words to describe it. In particular, Zinaida and Anton’s discussions about life, death, immortality and art haunt the reader. Furthermore, Alison Anderson masterfully closes the novel by tying the three story lines together with a delightfully unexpected twist. Finally, it may further intrigue readers to know that Anderson based the Lintvaryovas and the Chekhovs on historical people, further blurring the line between reality and fiction. The Summer Guest is a delightful novel to savor this summer.
(Reviewed in exchange for a copy of book in San Francisco Book Review.)
