The Nature of Things

When I read that Kate Atkinson had released another book featuring former police detective and now private detective Jackson Brodie, I put my reading list aside and picked it up. I never miss a chance to spend time in the company of Brodie. This entry is, it seems to me, an homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None which I read long, long ago and which, along with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd engendered and confirmed my love of mysteries.  Atkinson takes us to Rook Hall, the east wing of one of England's stately homes called Burton Makepeace where a "Murder Mystery Weekend" is being hosted by the cash-strapped owners of the home as a way of raising money. For only £1250 per person, the guests which include a vicar who has lost his faith and his ability to speak, an army major who lost a leg and his interest in life, a countess, and the Dowager Lady Milton as hostess will have the opportunity to solve a murder mystery.  But then a real mystery intervenes wh...

There are no autumn fires where I live in Southeast Texas unless they are the fires of neighbors burning their leaves. If we are lucky and actually get a winter this year we may have fires in the fireplace at some point. We can hope for that. In the meantime, let us enjoy Robert Louis Stevenson's take on the seasons: " Something bright in all!  Flowers in the summer,  Fires in the fall!"     Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson In the other gardens    And all up in the vale, From the autumn bonfires    See the smoke trail! Pleasant summer over,     And all the summer flowers, The red fire blazes,    The grey smoke towers. Sing a song of seasons!    Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer,    Fires in the fall! 

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : It's the cutest of the waterbirds - a Pied-billed Grebe enjoys a swim in the afternoon sun. *~*~*~* Climate change is a reality that even the most adamant deniers must now admit. Some believe that polluting the atmosphere will help to slow it. Meanwhile, climate scientists warn that we have already breached seven of the nine boundaries of Earth's ecosystems. *~*~*~* But some astronomers see a possibility that Earth may actually outlive its star . *~*~*~* Methane emissions keep rising   which is not   a good   omen for the continued survival of life on Earth. *~*~*~* How can you help? Well, you could plant a garden . *~*~*~* Another way to help may be to bury wood in the soil . *~*~*~* This autumn will be an exciting time for skywatchers . *~*~*~* Native American farming practices have evolved to deal with heat, drought, and water scarcity .  *~*~*~* How can a lake the size of New York City simply...

It is important to call things what they are. The poet Ada Limon agrees. Calling Things What They Are by Ada Limon I pass the feeder and yell,  Grackle party!  And then an hour later I yell,  Mourning dove afterparty!  (I call the feeder the party and the seed on the ground the afterparty.) I am getting so good at watching that I’ve even dug out the binoculars an old poet gave me back when I was young and heading to the Cape with so much future ahead of me it was like my own ocean.  Tufted titmouse!  I yell, and Lucas laughs and says,  Thought so.  But he is humoring me; he didn’t think so at all. My father does this same thing. Shouts out at the feeder announcing the party attendees. He throws out a whole peanut or two to the Stellar’s jay who visits on a low oak branch in the morning. To think there was a time I thought birds were kind of boring. Brown bird. Gray bird. Black bird. Blah blah blah bird. Then, I started to learn their names by the ...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment :  My yard is still alive with migrating Ruby-throated Hummingbirds . Sitting on my patio today, I counted nine at one time who were jostling over access to my feeders that hang next to the patio. But so far, I am seeing only adult females and immatures - nary an adult male like the one in this picture that I snapped last fall. I assume the males will be passing through soon.   *~*~*~* Floods and wildfires in Europe are a direct result of climate change according to authorities there. And it is not only in Europe that rising global heat is causing catastrophic damage . *~*~*~* Moreover, a new reconstruction of prehistoric Earth shows that it was indeed a very hot place . *~*~*~* Why do birds migrate ? *~*~*~* The Zimbabwe government has ordered the culling of 200 elephants because an extended drought has caused food shortages for the animals. *~*~*~* Rising sea temperatures have contributed to a decline in the po...

On trips to the coast, I have sometimes seen frigatebirds and truly they are magnificent! A bird that lives up to its name. The Magnificent Frigatebird by Ada Limon Is it okay to begin with the obvious? I am full of stones—             is it okay not to look out this window, but to look out another? A mentor once said,  You can't start a poem with a man looking              out a window.   Too many men looking out a window . What about a woman? Today is a haunting. One last orange             on the counter: it is a dead fruit. We swallow dead things. Once, in Rio near Leblon, large seabirds soared over the vast             South Atlantic Ocean. I had never seen them before. Eight-foot wingspan and gigantic in their confident gliding, black,             with a red neck like a wound or a hidden treasure. Or both. When I looke...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment :                                                                                                          Photo by Susan Borders Evans The orb weavers are out and doing their thing. They are wonderful critters. Please be kind to them. *~*~*~* Defending Nature is a dangerous business in a world where at least three defenders are killed every week. *~*~*~* Unfortunately, Nature must be defended not only against those who harm intentionally but also those who harm through carelessness .  *~*~*~* Fall migration is in full swing. According to BirdCast , nearly two million birds passed over my county last night. *~*~~*~* Sometimes humans actually manage to assist ...

So, I had my reading list all set, and then I heard that there was a new Vera Stanhope mystery out. Reading list tossed aside, I jumped right into that new book. I regret nothing. I will always drop everything for a new Vera mystery for she is probably my favorite of all the fictional detectives of my acquaintance. I strongly identify with the middle-aged, frumpy, overweight Vera. ( I wonder why that is? ) The Dark Wives of the title refers to a stone monument in the Northumberland countryside. But the story itself revolves around Rosebank, a care home for troubled teens in the coastal village of Longwater.  The mystery begins when a dog walker discovers a man's murdered body outside Rosebank one early morning. The victim turns out to be a Rosebank staff member named Josh. He had been scheduled to work the previous night but he never showed up.  At the same time, one of the home's residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spence has disappeared. Is it possible that this child committ...

The beginning of September means that the year is winding down. But wasn't it only yesterday that it was February? It must be true that the older we get the more time flies. This year has seemed but a brief moment. Now my yard is aflutter with the autumn's yellow sulphur butterflies and I wonder what happened on that day of one September that the poet never could forget... September by Helen Hunt Jackson The golden-rod is yellow; The corn is turning brown; The trees in apple orchards With fruit are bending down. The gentian's bluest fringes Are curling in the sun; In dusty pods the milkweed Its hidden silk has spun. The sedges flaunt their harvest, In every meadow nook; And asters by the brook-side Make asters in the brook. From dewy lanes at morning the grapes' sweet odors rise; At noon the roads all flutter With yellow butterflies. By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer's best of weather, And autumn's best of cheer. But none of all thi...

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is one that most of us have not seen and perhaps will never see. It is the largest of North America's auklet species, the Rhinoceros Auklet . It is a seabird that nests in burrows or deep crevices on rocky islands and cliffs and winters at sea and is decreasing in numbers. *~*~*~* Electricity generated by solar power is increasing across the country. Moreover, solar farms not only produce power, in many cases they produce habitats for pollinators and other wildlife . *~*~*~* Expeditions to the sunken RMS Titanic are still making discoveries . *~*~*~* More proof that everything is connected: New research has linked crashing bat populations and infant mortality . *~*~*~* Chimpanzees and other apes, just like humans, use meaningful gestures to help communicate and make their point.   *~*~*~* Flash floods can happen even in deserts. *~*~*~* According to a report ...