What Did You Read This Summer?

How many times did we hear this question when we came back to school in the fall? We asked this of our students and we asked our colleagues the same question, too. Now that I'm retired, I'm finally getting around to some of those books I've missed over the last year or two. So this is what I've read recently (with some of my comments) . . .

A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson) -- author's humorous account of his attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail -- funny, delightful -- celebration of the wilderness and history of the Trail.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards) -- impact of choices and secrets on family -- emotional.

The Last Chinese Chef (Nicole Mones) -- romantic plot (American food writer in modern Beijing) intertwined with insight into Chinese culture and traditional imperial Chinese cuisine -- delicious.

The Cellist of Sarajevo (Steven Galloway) -- siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s -- struggle to find meaning and humanity in time of war -- gripping -- emotional -- I need to read this one again.

Zoli (Colum McCann) -- story of a young Romani woman -- ranges from rise of fascism in 1930s Czechoslovakia, through Communist rule, to 2003 -- search for identity and home -- author brings Zoli and a little-known culture alive -- haunting.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows) -- British island of Guernsey, following the World War II occupation by the Nazis -- correspondence between a London writer and members of a book club on the island -- entertaining characters.

Girls of Riyadh (Rajaa Alsanea) -- young upper-class Arab women and their conflicts with cultural traditions -- light read.

Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) -- human and animal members of the gritty world of a Depression-era traveling circus -- emotional -- could not put it down.

So what am I reading next? My "books to read next" pile is twice as high as the one in the picture -- so guess I'll get back to reading. Or maybe I'll head off to the book store first to get some more.

Hampton on Labor Day

We spent the weekend with a friend who lives in Hampton, New Hampshire. This was the sunrise over the ocean on Labor Day morning.A short time later, I took a walk along the beach and found these Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers were also out for a walk.The sandpipers were the hardest to get photos of in the early morning light -- they are very fast as they skitter across the wet sand, not even pausing very long when they find something.


The plovers were just as fast, but for some reason I had a little more luck with them.

Wildflowers

Daily Variety

Today's visitors included the hairy woodpecker . . .







and the white-breasted nuthatch . . .





as well as the chipping sparrow . . .

Feed Me, Dad!

It's been family time -- and noisy -- lately in the trees, especially when the kids decide they're lazy and hungry.

Today it was father goldfinch's turn to keep up with the youngster. Dad would spend some time at the feeder while the youngster waited impatiently in the tree. And when dad came up to the branch, the begging and wing fluttering started. I watched this cycle several times, until the youngster finally joined dad down at the feeder. The juvie grabbed some seeds on his own, but still tried begging -- and was ignored, until he returned to the branch again.

Black and White All Over

I added another "first" to my bird list this evening. Just as I started to step out to our deck to check the bbq grill, I caught a flash in the tree. My husband slowly handed me the camera and I was able to get a few shots as two black-and-white warblers jumped from branch to branch. The pair came back again a little later -- both times they came from the woods across the street, along with the chickadees and nuthatches.

Evening Grosbeaks

The evening grosbeak is only an occasional visitor to my feeder, either early in the day or late. But I think I miss most of their visits. Recently, I had the male . . .

who was joined by the female.





And then a third one -- the youngster of the family -- came "crashing" into the scene. He spent a lot of time in the tree, just looking at the feeders as he went from branch to branch.

Mom and dad occasionally glanced up at him, but they didn't let that crazy kid distract them much from filling up with the seeds.



He made several attempts to get to one of the feeders, usually ending up back in the tree. But a couple times, he actually made it to the feeder next to the adults.

And I did end up with one image of all three of them.