Saturday, May 1, 2021

Lost Among the Birds, Together in a Sudden Strangeness, and Out of Eden

 










Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion (Naturalist Book Club)

Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge (National Poetry Month) 

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (Classics Club)

Lost Among the Birds by Neil Hayward (Birds)

The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees (Graphic Novel)

Together in a Sudden Strangeness: America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic (National Poetry Month)


I had a good reading week. It certainly helped having Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon to start off the week; I finished four of the books during the readathon. I enjoyed two of my poetry books, Poemcrazy and America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic, but I had to turn in 100 Poems to Break Your Heart and now I'm #6 on the list, so I won't be finishing that one any time soon. Out of Eden was a scary book about invasive species that our naturalist group will be discussing next week. The Unwanted tells a tragic story I didn't know much about, the stories of Syrian refugees. And I loved reading Lost Among the Birds about a birder who spontaneously decides to do a Big Year.








The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman (Nonfiction Challenge)

Yes, and...Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr (Daily Meditation Reading)

100 Poems to Break Your Heart (National Poetry Month)

Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz (Chapter-a-Day Read)

The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America With a Typewriter (National Poetry Month)

Favorite Folktales from Around the World collected by Jane Yolen (Classics Club spin)

Parnassas on Wheels by Christopher Morley (Classics Club)






Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon was great fun, as always. I finished four books, almost filled in my BINGO card, and delighted in some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. 







After hearing so many bloggers talk about Atlantic Crossing, we watched that series last week. That was a story about World War II that I have never heard. We also took a look at the new David Attenborough series, Life in Color.






Good Thing #1
We saw this amazing butterfly during our Butterfly Monitoring last week. It's an American Beauty




Good Thing #2

We volunteered again at Quintana Neotropical Bird Observatory again, and this time I saw my first Baltimore Oriole, my first Yellow-Headed Blackbird, and my first Wood Thrush. Birders at the observatory reported seeing fifty different species.



Good Thing #3
This was my favorite photo from those I took at Quintana last week. I took it right next to the sanctuary, and there was just something amusing about seeing the Painted Bunting (female) posing while sitting on the barbed wire that surrounds one of the industrial plants that is nearby. No fence is keeping me out, this bird seems to be saying.








I'm happy you found your way to the Sunday Salon. Sunday Salon is a place for us to link up and to share what we have been doing during the week. It's a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

Some of the things we often talk about at the Sunday Salon:

  • What was your week like?
  • Read any good books? Tell us about them.
  • What other bookish things did you do? 
  • What else is going on in your life?

Other places where you may like to link up over the weekend are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.


My linkup for Sunday Salon is below.

64 comments:

  1. I am thoroughly enjoying Atlantic Crossing -- I knew a bit about the story from reading biographies of FDR and Eleanor but of course this is more rich. PBS has a fact-check page for each episode and podcasts with the people in the show. Very good!

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    1. I had never heard about the Norwegians. And my husband's family is from Norway, so he was very interested in it.

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  2. I love that bird pic on the barbed wire! Glad you were able to get some reading in for the readathon. I finished one whole book that Saturday while I was feverish and achey from the my second shot. Atlantic Crossing has been on my list to watch as well. Looking forward to it.

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  3. I love the photo of the bird and the barbed wire, the juxtaposition of the harsh and fluffy! I liked Unwanted, too, and thought it told the refugee story well.

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  4. That butterfly is pretty and I love the bird pictures.

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  5. You are adding a lot of new birds to your life list, aren't you? We used to see orioles in Nebraska, but I've never seen (or heard of) a Yellow-Headed Blackbird. That Thrush is a beauty too, isn't it? Great shot of the bunting on the wire. We've been having fun watching (and listening!) to a crow and hawk chase each other around our campsite for the past few days. I have a feeling one of them has a nest and is protecting it from the other, but I can't tell whose it might be. The crow is very vocal and the hawk is very persistent.

    Have a great week, Deb!

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    1. We've been watching the same thing in our campground! Our hawk just sits there and ignores the crows while they're dive-bombing him. We figure it's a territorial and/or nesting thing but it's so interesting to watch.

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    2. I did a Google search and it does sound like it's a territorial thing. Fun to watch!

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    3. It's crazy, but I saw a hawk and a crow chasing each other here, too.

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  6. I had a great reading week too. I love all the pictures - beautiful butterfly and those pretty birds. I hope you have a great week!

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    1. I'm thinking of getting a new camera that has an even bigger zoom.

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  7. Great to see you becoming a birder! A yellow-headed blackbird was visiting our area last week: quite a sensation! They aren't common here, though I think there are many of them in the West. We saw quite a few in Utah a few years ago. I'm always envious of people who can see painted buntings with ease. Thanks for hosting the Sunday Salon.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you for joining us, Mae. I always love to read your posts.

      The painted bunting was truly beautiful.

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  8. I love your wildlife pictures! I was excited to see a yellow-crowned night heron this week. My picture wasn't great but I may post it later anyway. I'm really impressed with your butterfly picture! They're never still long enough for me to take pictures.

    I had The Prince and the Pauper on my Classics Club list but I believe I removed it in favor of something else. I'm sure I'll get to it at some point though.

    Enjoy your week!

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    1. I am slowly learning how to take butterfly pictures. It certainly helps to have a camera that has a zoom.

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  9. What a lovely selection of books you read in April and are presently reading.

    In all the years that we have lived here, somehow I have never been to Quintana, but I know it must be a magical place, especially during migration. Congratulations on your firsts.

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    1. You would love Quintana, Dorothy. Maybe you can pop over before the end of migration.

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  10. The Out of Eden books sounds really good (and yeah- probably scary). Love the butterfly pic too!

    Happy Sunday!!

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    1. I thought the idea of invasive species was strange when I first heard about it, but now I understand.

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    2. We get them here too with the Great Lakes... different species come through on the ships or whatever and get in the Lakes and cause all kinds of havoc. I imagine it's a problem everywhere now though with our increased travel...

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    3. Yes, most of them seem to travel by boat or airplane. One of the worst is the snake on the cover...

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  11. I remember Bryan mentioning America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic. It landed on my wish list as a result. I am glad you had a good reading week. I feel like I did too. I read Morley's The Haunted Bookshop years ago and really enjoyed it. I hope you are enjoying Parnassus on Wheels.

    Such beautiful photos! Thank you for sharing.

    I hope you have a great week, Deb!

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    1. If you liked Haunted Bookshop, I may read it, too. Really, really enjoying Parnassus on Wheels.

      Yes, it was Bryan that first shared America's Poets Respond to the Pandemic.

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  12. Love the butterfly and bird photos. I missed The Readathon, but was cheering you all on from afar :)

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    1. Maybe you will be able to do the readathon this summer.

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  13. Love the butterfly and bird photos and you have a really interesting selection of books. I love the fact that you are in a naturalist book club, such a good idea, is that an in person or online phenomona?
    Charlotte Burt's Books

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    1. It was originally in person, but it became online during the pandemic.

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  14. Made a note of Atlantic Crossing, sounds good.

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  15. Great butterfly and bird photos!

    Your readathon went well, and someday I plan to actually join in!

    This week I especially loved reading Jennifer Weiner's book That Summer...an ARC from NetGalley. The book will be released on 5/11.

    Enjoy your week!

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  16. Hope you enjoyed Atlantic Crossing ... it was a bit different eh? We liked it ... even if some of the Roosevelt / crown princess stuff might have been a stretch? The intro & first chapter of Tuchman's Guns of August seemed brilliant to me but I haven't ever gotten through the whole book. Is it too dense? Someday I will do it. The bird & butterfly photos are terrific. thanks for those. Someday I will get to Quintana beach to see ... we have been to Galveston

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    1. Guns of August is 800+ pages, and I'm not a big book person, but the writing is terribly good. I did get a little bogged down in the chapter about ships and the navy and the war, but I am pressing on.

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  17. 50 different species,Wow!!That's so great. Reminds me of the mornings when I can really hear the birds talking , in the parking garage near our home as there is an echo.

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    1. Our county is the top birding county in the US, they say.

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  18. I had an awful reading week, lol. Your posts always inspire me. I need to read some classics.

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  19. Your photos of the birds and that lovely butterfly are wonderful - thank you, they really cheered me up:)). Taking part in a readathon is definitely on my bucket list, though it's out of the question right now. Perhaps next year:)). Have a great week, Deb.

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    1. There will be a reverse readathon this summer that might work better for you.

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  20. It did my heart good to see your wonderful bird pictures! Well done on the books read during the readathon! Yesterday I had a coupon so I bought myself a pint of limited edition Ben & Jerry's it's call punch line-cherries/almonds/brown sugar bourbon ice cream.

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  21. Love the pictures! One year, I'm going to have to join Dewey's 24hr readathon. Four books was excellent going! :)

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  22. I love how you handled your Dewey update! Well done! And that bird photo is lovely. Yes, nothing is keeping them locked inside a fence.

    Glad you had a good reading week! So did I!

    Hope the upcoming week will be good too.

    Elza Reads

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  23. I might check out Atlantic Crossing. Love the butterfly and bird photos!

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    1. It's a good story, although some of it felt like a bit of a stretch.

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  24. What great pictures, since lockdown started the birds seemed to have multiplied in my garden and I love watching them.

    Have a lovely week ahead!

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    1. I feel like I have a lot more birds these days, too.

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  25. Sounds like a great reading week! We have billions of wood thrush in our yard but I have yet to see a Boston Oriole so I'm a tad bit jelly.

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    1. The Boston Oriole was just as beautiful as I knew he would be.

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  26. I am so grateful to you for making this Sunday post spot available to us. Thank you. What do you think of Mark Twain's The Prince and Pauper. It is on my Classic list but when I tried it I wans't sure I could do it. Perhaps I should retry. My Sunday Salon post

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    1. I love having people link up. I look forward to the weekend because of all the blog visiting I get to do.

      I listened to Prince and Pauper and that helped me.

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  27. Parnassus on Wheels sounds intriguing. I will have to look for that one as I know little about it. I love the bird pictures. My husband and I have talked about getting into birding because we love seeing the ones that come to our feeders so I'm interested in reading more nonfiction/memoirs of people who do. I hope you have a great week!

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    1. Parnassus on Wheels was such a delight. I recommend it to everyone. Gentle. Sweet. With a bit of humor and a strong main character.

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  28. that yellow headed blackbird is so beautiful (well all of them are but that yellow certainly catches your attention).. The Unwanted sounds like it will be a tough read..

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  29. Lost Among the Birds sounds so good!! How cool would it be to do a Big Year? It sounds like you are spotting some great birds by you lately. :)

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  30. The bird and butterfly pictures are so cute! I had a long weekend this week because of Orthodox Easter and instead of Sunday posting all I've done was eat and nap.

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  31. I've had Parnassas on Wheels on my list for a very long time, so will look forward to your thoughts.Congratulations on such a successful readathon... and your bird photos are wonderful!

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  32. I've been hearing about Atlantic Crossing as well and need to make some time to watch it soon. Love the sound of Life in Color.

    Beautiful pictures of the birds - thank you for posting them!

    I love how much reading got done at Dewey's readathon. For life reasons, I missed it but maybe next time.

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  33. You certainly had a good week, and lots of good birding! I had a let-down after Dewey's intensity and haven't wanted to read anything! It doesn't help that I have four students who haven't finished the semester yet.

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