The Nature of Things

I love a good mystery. That's why I read so many of them. What I don't like is gimmicky mysteries. I especially don't like mystery writers who don't play fair; who use tricks, games, wordplay like anagrams, etc., to mislead and misdirect their readers.  I'm looking at you, Anthony Horowitz. I am most seriously displeased. I had had Magpie Murders in my reading queue for months, but decided to read it now because of a television show.  We had just finished watching the third and final season of Mackenzie Crook's wonderful gentle comedy about metal detecting, Detectorists, in   which magpies play a major part in the plot. Can you say "serendipity"? It seemed the universe was sending me a message so I decided to get on with it and read the book.  I had read mostly glowing reviews and my expectations were high. At the beginning of the book, we meet book editor Susan Ryeland who has a new book from her publishing house's most popular author to read. T...

There are many poems by Maya Angelou that are very well known and are integral parts of modern culture. Poems like Caged Bird , Still I Rise , and Phenomenal Woman spring readily   to mind, but not all of her poems are so well known. This is one of those. It may not be so famous but when I read it last week I felt a flash of recognition from this poem. As a woman who is no longer young, I understand very well the sentiments expressed here, and it comforts me somehow to know that Maya Angelou felt them, too. On Aging by Maya Angelou When you see me sitting quietly, Like a sack left on the shelf, Don’t think I need your chattering. I’m listening to myself. Hold! Stop! Don’t pity me!  Hold! Stop your sympathy!  Understanding if you got it, Otherwise I’ll do without it!  When my bones are stiff and aching, And my feet won’t climb the stair, I will only ask one favor: Don’t bring me no rocking chair. When you see me walking, stumbling, Don’t study and get it wrong. ‘Cause...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Pine Siskins having a meal at my backyard feeder today. Siskins will be one of the species I'll be looking for next weekend during the Great Backyard Bird Count . Have you signed up to count? If not, never fear; there's still time. The count is always held on Presidents Day weekend. It starts on Friday and runs through Monday and it is a great way to become more familiar with the birds in your neighborhood. *~*~*~* Birds don't understand glass which is why they tend to fly straight into it and why large buildings with lots of glass are such death traps for birds. That most definitely includes U.S. Bank Stadium , home of this year's Super Bowl. It is the cause of more bird deaths than any other building in Minneapolis.  *~*~*~* The toad thought he had found a tasty meal, but once inside the amphibian's stomach the beetle exploded and was expelled and lived to fly another day. That is the modus operandi ...

Once again we enter N.K. Jemisin's richly imagined world called Stillness. It's a world that is never still. As we learned in the first entry in this trilogy, The Fifth Season , Stillness is populated by human or humanoid beings called stills, orogenes, stone-eaters, and guardians. And floating somewhere above them all are a series of obelisks. It is unclear who made the obelisks or just what purpose they serve. At the time of events in The Obelisk Gate , the apocalyptic, world-shattering action of The Fifth Season is in the past and the residents of Stillness are trying to find ways to adapt and survive in a world gone mad. In the first book, we had the point(s) of view of Damaya/Syenite/Essun. In the aftermath of everything, we now get Essun once again as she makes a place for herself in an underground comm (community) led by a strong female head. This comm is not without its conflicts and some of the arguments sound very like what we hear in the daily news in our own countr...

Langston Hughes was an American poet of the twentieth century who gave voice to the experiences and aspirations of African-Americans. This is one of his more famous poems. Harlem by Langston Hughes What happens to a dream deferred?       Does it dry up       like a raisin in the sun?       Or fester like a sore—       And then run?       Does it stink like rotten meat?       Or crust and sugar over—       like a syrupy sweet?       Maybe it just sags       like a heavy load.        Or does it explode?

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Little Spotted Sandpiper standing on a bridge railing at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. The bold spots indicate that the bird is in breeding condition. During nonbreeding times, the birds mostly lose their spots. They are distinctive for their walk; they have relatively short legs and they constantly "teeter" up and down when taking a step. These birds are fairly uncommon but very widespread, found near ponds and streams, rocky shores and steep banks. *~*~*~* Yesterday was Groundhog Day (No shadows here - too overcast - so spring is just around the corner!) but it was also World Wetlands Day .  Wetlands are perhaps the most important type of habitat and they certainly support the most diverse population of animals and plants. The focus of World Wetlands Day this year was urban wetlands, emphasizing the importance such places have in the greater urban environment. *~*~*~* A presidential order has reduced prote...

Reading this book reminded me of an old story (possibly apocryphal) about Aaron Copland. It was said that, when told that Copland had written a new piece of music, a critic said, "What's he calling it this time?" Well, this time Andy Weir is calling it Artemis but it is basically The Martian just reset on the Moon.  I read The Martian a couple of years ago and really, really enjoyed it. Especially the science stuff. Even when I didn't understand it, it was fascinating. And then there was the personality of Mark Watney, the astronaut trapped on Mars. His wisecracking smartass never-say-die schtick seemed just right for the situation. Now, imagine Mark Watney transferred to the Moon and changed to a Saudi woman who has lived in the one lunar city, Artemis, since she was six years old and was brought there by her father, a welder. She was trained by her father to be a welder and displayed a real talent for the craft, but she was a rebel and grew up to pursue a minimal...