The Nature of Things

My daughter says she doesn't think she can read Go Set a Watchman , the just released first draft of Harper Lee's beloved book, To Kill a Mockingbird . Both of my daughters grew up with To Kill a Mockingbird and the image of a morally impeccable Atticus Finch. He was one of their heroes. That heroic image was enhanced by the wonderful movie in which the sainted Gregory Peck played Finch to such perfection. It is hard to think of that image being tarnished and changed by the knowledge that the author initially had an entirely different profile in mind for Atticus Finch, and I understand that many of those who loved Mockingbird are very troubled by that. I feel quite ambivalent about it myself. But having now read several reviews of Watchman and more about the history of how it came to be, I think I better understand what Alabama writer Harper Lee was trying to do with her first draft and why her editor in New York wanted her to change it to focus on the voice of the younger J...

In July of 2013, I featured a poem by a local poet in one of my Poetry Sunday posts. The poet is a Palestinian-American and his poem touched me on many levels. It spoke of the way that we treat others, even non-human others, and it still seems particularly relevant this summer. Here is that two-year-old post once again. *~*~*~* On July 9, the local  Houston Chronicle  featured a story about a local poet, Fady Joudah. Joudah is a Palestinian-American, a physician, husband and father, and all of these roles inform his poetry. He has a new volume of poetry,  Alight , out this year. I admit I had not heard of Joudah before, but I was touched by some of the examples of his poetry that were included in the story and, in particular, this one: Mimesis My daughter             wouldn't hurt a spider That has nested Between her bicycle handles For two weeks She waited Until it left of its own accord If you tear down the web I said It will simply know T...

Welcome to my July garden, located in subtropical zone 9a, near Houston, Texas.  It is hot and humid here in July - well, actually that's true of most months, but July and August are the worst. The rains that we had in spring and early summer have slowed down and things are beginning to dry out, but there are plants that thrive in such weather. Here are some of them. July in the South, of course, means crape myrtles in many colors, including pink. Lilac. White And watermelon red.   The milk-and-wine lilies start blooming in mid-July. That's summer phlox next to them. The crinum 'Ellen Bosanquet' also is at its best in July. Some of the daylilies are still blooming - or reblooming as this one is. This is a mid-summer bloomer. 'Black and blue' salvia continues to flower. Marigolds are beginning to bloom. 'Pride of Barbados' which I showed you last week . Butterflies, like this Gulf Fritillary, love the 'Pride.'  And bees love the African blue basil...

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey My rating: 5 of 5 stars I first read The Daughter of Time long ago in my callow youth. I can't recall much about that first reading experience. I don't think it made much of an impression on me. I was not well-versed in English history and knew little of the Plantagenets, the Wars of the Roses, or the Tudors except what I had gleaned from Shakespeare, so there was very little background for my understanding of what Josephine Tey was doing with this novel. Since that long ago time, I have read dozens of books about that period of history, especially during the past couple of years when it has been something of an obsession of mine. The result is that I'm now much better equipped to follow Tey's plot and the reasoning of her protagonist Inspector Alan Grant. When I ran across a reference to her book recently, I was intrigued and decided it was time to read it again. I'm very glad that I did. The plot of the book is that Inspecto...

The Broken Places by Ace Atkins My rating: 4 of 5 stars It begins with a prison break. Three inmates from Mississippi's notorious Parchman Prison manage to abscond from the place. One in a big truck goes through the gates, while two others escape on horseback. The two on horseback cut their way through the wire fence around the prison farm and manage to find a car to steal. Then they are on their way to North Mississippi, Tibbehah County and the little town of Jericho, where they plan to confront the man who they believe has the money from an armored truck robbery they pulled off before they were caught and sent to prison. Meanwhile, in Jericho, Quinn Colson, the veteran of the war in Afghanistan who returned to his home town and was elected sheriff, is, one year later, still adjusting to his new life after several years as an Army Ranger. His latest challenge is an ex-con named Jamey Dixon who was convicted several years before of killing a local woman. He had made use of his tim...

We lost another poet last week. James Tate, a much-honored American poet, left us much too soon at the age of 71. He was a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Wallace Stevens Award, the Tanning Prize, a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Poetry, among many other recognitions of his unique talent. His poems were variously described as tragic, comic, ironic, absurdist, hopeful, lonely, haunting, and surreal, and perhaps they were all that. I can't personally claim any special knowledge or insight into his work, but I do like what I've read. I particularly liked this one. It was published in 1991. A Wedding BY  JAMES TATE She was in terrible pain the whole day, as she had been for months: a slipped disc,    and there is nothing more painful. She herself was a nurse’s aide, also a poet    just beginning to make a name for her    nom de plume . As with most things in life, it happened when she was changing channels  ...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : The sentinel of the backyard - the Blue Jay . Jays are noisy, rambunctious birds and some people find them obnoxious, but they are beautiful and intelligent and of great benefit to other birds in their ecosystem because they are always on the alert for predators and are quick to give the warning when they spot one. *~*~*~* The idea that walking in the woods is good for your physical and mental health seems like a no-brainer, but if we needed confirmation, we now have it. A new study conducted by Stanford University compared ninety minutes of walking in natural areas to the same period of time walking in urban areas and discovered that the body and mind get more benefits from Nature walks . Perhaps we should consider the National Park Service as part of the public health service. *~*~*~* The American Birding Association has announced through Twitter that it believes that the amendment that would have stripped the protectio...