The Nature of Things

Brush Back by Sara Paretsky My rating: 4 of 5 stars A sure way to get V.I. Warshawski's attention is to cast aspersions on the character of her beloved family, especially her adored mother and father and her favorite cousin, Boom-Boom the hockey player. In Brush Back , all three of these now long-dead loved ones are attacked by a harridan of a former neighbor named Stella Guzzo and that sends V.I. into action. Stella is the mother of Frank Guzzo, a high school sweetheart of V.I. The mother always hated and was jealous of V.I.'s family who she accused of thinking they were better than anybody else in their South Chicago neighborhood. The fact that they probably were just lent fuel to the flame of her hatred. Stella was a violent mother who beat her children and she was convicted of beating her daughter, Annie, to death. She spent 25 years in prison for the young woman's murder and, as we enter this story, she's out and causing trouble again, even though she's almost...

Recently, my blogger friend Jayne Wilson of Green and Serene had a blog post featuring quotes about the autumn garden. One of those quotes was a short poem called "Indian Summer." It seemed perfect for this time of year and especially for November's Bloom Day. Let's make it our featured poem for Poetry Sunday.    Indian Summer   by Emeline B. Smith Just after the death of the flowers, And before they are buried in snow, There comes a festival season, When nature is all aglow— Aglow with a mystical splendour That rivals the brightness of spring, Aglow with a beauty more tender Than aught which fair summer could bring…. *~*~*~* Well, the death of flowers may have already come in some regions, but here in zone 9a, we still have quite a few, and we are nowhere near being buried in snow. Our first frost is still weeks away, and, since we don't get the brilliant fall colors that others enjoy at this time of year, at least we can take pleasure in what are surely some of...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Pine Warblers , one of our three winter warblers, are allegedly back in the area, although I can't actually claim to have seen one yet. They are typically one of the most faithful avian visitors to my feeders during the winter. *~*~*~* The headlines this week about Sea World "phasing out" its orca shows were apparently misleading. A closer reading of the stories reveals that the "entertainment" shows will be ending but they will continue "informative" shows in a "more natural setting" that will "carry a conservation message inspiring people to act." Evidently, that "conservation" message hasn't quite gotten through to Sea World which will still have these large sea mammals in captivity in big tanks - which is what people object to. *~*~*~* The future of bats in this country, especially in the Northeast, continues to look very bleak as populations are stil...

France, we stand with you.

Ever wonder what the Rockettes would look like if they were kittens? Of course you have! Well, wonder no more. Of course, cats being cats, one or two of them sort of lose interest there toward the end, but I see potential here.  

In December 2010, I told you the story of one very lucky Red-tailed Hawk . Stories of animals found injured or ill in the wild do not often have happy endings. This one did and since I needed to be reminded today that sometimes such stories do end happily, I thought I would repeat it for you for this Throwback Thursday. *~*~*~* The Good Samaritan and the Red-tailed Hawk The magnificent Red-tailed Hawk . Red-tailed Hawks  have a claim on our imagination. They are so majestic in appearance, so cool, so... Zen . Some of them have become quite famous.  Pale Male , the 5th Avenue, New York City bird, for example, has his own website and Twitter account and a host of followers and fans, as the authorities found to their chagrin when they tried to move him and his mate a few years ago. The birds' nest on the side of an apartment building at a posh address on 5th Avenue was causing a mess so the owners of the building had it taken down. That resulted in a series of noisy protests and ...

The first of our winter warblers has arrived in my yard. We have three species of warblers that winter here: Pine Warbler , Orange-crowned Warbler , and Yellow-rumped Warbler . Other birders in the area have reported all three in recent sightings, but so far the only one I've seen in my backyard is the Yellow-rumped. They are very active little warblers. They eat a wide variety of foods - from insects to seeds and berries. They do visit our feeders, as well. Notice the faint stripes along the sides. And here's a glimpse of how the bird got its name.  And there it is - the Yellow-rump! A very well-named bird.