The Nature of Things

Can this really be the twentieth in the V.I. Warshawski series? It seems like only yesterday that I was reading the first in the series, Indemnity Only . But that book was published in 1982 and I read it probably within a year, so, yes, Paretsky has been writing these books for almost forty years and I have been reading them for almost that long. The wonderful and unusual thing about this series is that the quality has stayed consistent. In a long series, you almost always get one or two books that are real clunkers. Not with Sara Paretsky. I've read them all and I can't think of a single one that wasn't good. Sure, there have been some that I've liked better than others, but there's not a one that hasn't been good and a worthwhile read. Another great thing about the series is that V.I. has been allowed to age naturally and she has grown and learned things throughout the series. She's had many romantic relationships over the years, and now she is invol...

This book is an amazing work of imagination. N.K. Jemisin imagines that we live in a world where cities become living, sentient beings by picking a human to be their avatar and becoming animate through that person. The avatar is assisted in becoming by the previous city that was "born" through this process. That avatar then becomes the protector of its city and when the city is in danger, the avatar can marshall all the resources of the city to fight for it. Does this sound weird and crazy? Only at first. Jemisin seduces us into this fantasy world and we accept it and just go with it. The city of the title is New York and New York's birth is a bit more complicated than some cities because it is made up of five distinct and different boroughs. There is actually a New York City avatar extant at the beginning of this tale, but he had already fought his city's enemies and won temporarily, but it cost him. He is in a coma, hidden away under the city. In order to assi...

This is quite a well-known poem, unlike many that I feature here. Well-known and well-loved. I remember it, and perhaps you do too, from high school days. Wordsworth was a popular and easy introduction to poetry. He's also pretty good, as I'm sure you will agree.  I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie I...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Male Baltimore Oriole on feeder. The spring migration has continued in full swing this week. When I stepped outside on Monday, the first sound I heard was the unmistakable call of the Yellow-breasted Chat . There seemed to be several of them all around the yard giving their whistles, chuckles, rattles, and squawks. It always makes me smile to hear them. The Great Crested Flycatchers arrived the same day, but the stars of the show had to be the Baltimore Orioles. It's always a thrill when they pass through. Some years the yard has been filled with them, but I've only seen a few this year so far. They do love their oranges as the one in the picture shows. *~*~*~* For Earth Day, The New York Times offered a crash course on climate change on the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day. *~*~*~* As the price of crude oil collapsed this week, producers were forced to shut down rigs. The shale oi...

Louise Erdrich builds the characters in this book with infinite patience and care until they completely come alive for the reader. We feel as though we could reach out and touch them, have a conversation with them. Perhaps they are so real because they are based on real people that the author loved. All of the books in her ongoing Chippewa chronicles feel personal, but this one feels almost visceral. It is a story derived from her family history. The night watchman of the title is Thomas Washashk (the word means muskrat) and he is based on Erdrich's grandfather who was, in fact, a night watchman. Thomas works guarding a factory where the women of the Turtle Mountain clan work during the day to fashion gemstones as drill bits for Defense Department ordnance and for watches. The factory must be protected at night from potential thieves. It is the major employer on the reservation and vitally important to the Turtle Mountain economy. One of the women who work in the factory is T...

Serenity might be something we all wish for in this time of chaos. Nature goes on, goes its own way, unmindful of human trials and tragedies, and I find that a source of serenity. I hope you have a source of serenity in your life as well. Time for Serenity, Anyone? by William Stafford I like to live in the sound of water, in the feel of mountain air. A sharp reminder hits me: this world still is alive; it stretches out there shivering toward its own creation, and I’m part of it. Even my breathing enters into the elaborate give-and-take, this bowing to sun and moon, day or night, winter, summer, storm, still—this tranquil chaos that seems to be going somewhere. This wilderness with a great peacefulness in it. This motionless turmoil, this everything dance.

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Female Indigo Bunting image by Morris Finkelstein. We've had lots of neotropical migrants passing through the yard this week, mainly videos and buntings. On Thursday, a female Indigo Bunting , like the one in the image, dropped in on my little fountain to have a drink and take a bath. She's not as colorful as her bright blue mate, but isn't she a lovely bird? *~*~*~* As our country and the world struggles with the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a bright spotlight on the governor of New York and his daily briefings, and yet New York has in many ways been a tragic example of the price of delaying in response to the warning signs of oncoming disaster. A better example of success has been on the West Coast. California, Oregon, and Washington were hit early by the virus but acted quickly to contain it and now show signs of flattening their curves. *~*~*~* The American Southwest has b...

I was recently reminded of this book by my blogging friend, Judy Krueger , and I've been thinking about it for a few days. I read it a couple of years ago and loved it but it seems even more timely now as so many of us are sheltering in place. Our shelters have become increasingly important to us. And what of those who have no shelter? The characters in this book faced that prospect. ~~~ Wednesday, November 28, 2018 Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver: A review Is it my flawed memory or have there been an unusual number of new books out this year that have featured a house as a central character? It seems to me that many of the books that I've read recently have had a house as an important element in the plot. And now here comes Barbara Kingsolver's contribution to the genre. Perhaps the emphasis on houses - shelters - is a reflection of the unsettled times in which we live when it seems only natural to long for sanctuary and asylum from the daily onslaught...

In my zone 9a garden near Houston, the March showers have brought April flowers in abundance.  All the roses are blooming, none more profusely than this pink Knockout rose.  'Julia Child' with a little visitor on one of the petals. This rose was actually a "volunteer" in the garden and I have no idea what its name is, but I like it.  'Belinda's Dream.' And here is the 'Lady of Shallott.'  Isn't she lovely? This is a wildflower called Texas groundsel that has seeded itself in my garden beds. I've let it grow there because I think it is quite pretty. And this is another wildflower that seeded itself in a garden bed last year and has now returned. It is called Philadelphia fleabane.  My camellia still has a few blooms.  And nearby, the Encore azalea has been blooming.  Red hibiscus with a few dianthus blossoms.  And white hibiscus, variety name unknown. This plant caught my eye o...

Micah Mortimer, aka the Tech Hermit, may know a lot about computers, but he doesn't know beans about relationships. Especially relationships with women. When his woman friend (he refuses to think of a woman in her thirties as a "girlfriend") of three years tells him that she is afraid that she is going to lose her apartment and be homeless, he jokes that at least she has her own car to sleep in.  Shortly thereafter she comes to his apartment and finds that he has invited the son of one of his college sweethearts to sleep on his daybed. A person with any insight might have intuited at that point that there was a chilling of the atmosphere, but when she later breaks up with him, declaring the relationship over, he is totally surprised. And about that son of his college sweetheart, he had turned up on Micah's doorstep, after an estrangement from his mother and stepfather, declaring that Micah is his father. But since Micah never had sex with the young man's mot...

I've been thinking a lot over the past week about the people that help. The people who, as Marge Piercy says in her poem, " do what has to be done, again and again." We see them all around us, even - or maybe even especially - in chaotic times like these. When things seem to be falling apart around us, they are the ones who step up and accept responsibility for trying to make things better. I especially like the sentiment expressed in the last stanza: The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident. The thing worth doing is to be of use and when we can accomplish that, our work has a shape that satisfies, that is clean and evident.  To be of use by Marge Piercy The people I love the best jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives o...