The Nature of Things

The Iran hostage crisis of 1979 was a story that consumed Americans for months. When the American embassy in Tehran was stormed by revolutionaries, 50 Americans were taken hostage. The failure to get them back was probably what doomed the reelection hopes of President Jimmy Carter. Of course, we later learned that his opponent in the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan, was working behind the scenes to make sure all those people stayed captive until after the election. Such is politics - at least as some people practice it. But there was another part of the storming of the embassy that went under the radar at the time. Six Americans managed to escape and had to find refuge in a city that had gone mad for American blood. Where could they turn? They turned to the Canadian embassy and its ambassador, Ken Taylor. Mr. Taylor gave shelter to the six and worked on a plan to get them out of the country. In fact, he was the person who President Jimmy Carter called the "main hero" of their e...

The Stargazey by Martha Grimes My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well into Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series, one finds the quality of each individual book sometimes a bit hit or miss. This one was definitely a hit for me. I enjoyed it quite a lot, even though I suspected pretty early on who the culprit(s) was(were). Or maybe it was because I figured it out pretty early and was able to watch Jury and his friend Melrose Plant struggle to the same conclusion. It's a somewhat complicated plot with definite noir tendencies. It involves art forgery and theft, the consequences of political murder, the activities of a professional assassin, a couple of murders, and has the usual characters from Northants that we have come to expect and enjoy, as well as the London contingent of Scotland Yard, cats and dogs, Jury's neighbors, and the quirky Cripps family. Yes, all the essential elements are here and Grimes concocts a very tasty dish of them. Jury, as always, is inexplicably lonely on a Sa...

What happened to autumn? We were having a nice cool spell at this time last month, but, suddenly, over the last couple of weeks, summer has returned with temperatures in the 90s F. The only saving grace has been that the humidity has generally been low, so it hasn't felt quite as hot as August. Still, it's really not what we expect in October. Even though the temperature hasn't indicated it, fall is here and plants are beginning to prepare themselves for winter. At least what passes for winter here in subtropical zone 9a.  We still have a few things blooming, so let's get right to that. If it's October, then the goldenrod must be blooming. And the yellow-orange marigolds are hanging in there. My chrysanthemums, on the other hand, have been slow to get started this year. Blue daze ( Evolvulus glomeratus ) is at its best in autumn. October also brings some late blooms from 'Darcy Bussell' rose. And from my ancient 'Caldwell Pink' polyantha. Blue plumba...

I am so proud of our Houston Astros. What a season they have had! For most of the season, they led their division and played one exciting heart-stopping game after another. They gave us thrill on top of thrill.  Their season ended today with a loss at Kansas City, but they've nothing to hang their heads about. One of the youngest, most inexperienced teams in the Major Leagues came this close to going to the American League Championship Series. Next year they'll be older, more experienced, and better. Now, we wish them a long and restful winter. As for us fans, like in the song, we'll wait'll next year and hope. As for now, go Cubs!

Fall migration is beginning to wind down a bit, but almost every day, I still see birds passing through on their way farther south for the winter. My tiny backyard fountain continues to be a magnet to those birds. It's a popular stopover, especially for warblers.  Just within the last few days we've had Wilson's Warblers , Black-throated Greens , and Tennessee Warblers . Like this Tennessee Warbler, they all look the fountain over very carefully before dipping in to take a sip or to have a luxurious bath.  

The Internet performs many important functions in our lives, but, of course, the most important of these is to serve up videos of cute cats and babies. Sometimes, it even gives us a bonus when the cat and the baby appear together. Just because the cat in this video looks like my Beau, here's one of those bonuses to brighten your day. Unfortunately, Beau doesn't have a baby to play with, but, if he did, I'm sure the video would be just this adorable.

“[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.” ―  A. Bartlett Giamatti ,  Take Time For Paradise: Americans And Their Games ~~~ So, the Astros have a 2-1 lead in games of the Division Series in the American League going into today's game. With just one more win, they can take this series and go on to the League Championship Series. In the seventh inning of today's game, they opened up a 6-2 lead over the Kansas City Royals. In the eighth inning, the manager, who has made brilliant moves all year, turned it over to his usually reliable bullpen to...