Re: The Second Journey of the Magus

Just so you know where I’m coming from, I like talking about gods, but I get tired of hearing about the Christian variant. Which means I thought “The Second Journey of the Magus,” by Ian MacLeod treads familiar ground. We meet the Magi Balthasar on the road. He’s an atheist now and fears being executed […]

Sedum Autumn Joy, Full of Bees

“Autumn Joy” pink sedum is one of the easiest ways to feed your bees. It’s one of those plants that you only have to plant once. Just pick a sunny spot and it will thrive. And every autumn, it will put up pink balls of flowers. If there are any honeybees around, they will find […]

Looking for the Monarch migration

Every year around this time, I start looking for Monarch butterflies, hoping to see the migration going by. Usually I see a few straggling by, or stopping to fuel up, like this one on my butterfly bush the other day. When I see a Monarch in fall, I always remember the time I saw streams […]

Re: Elegy for a Young Elk

It’s easy to talk about things you don’t like. In fact, it’s so fun you can get totally caught up in hacking a story to pieces. But even though it took me two tries to properly read “Elegy for a Young Elk,” by Hannu Rajaniemi, I liked it so much, I’m having trouble explaining why.

Too bad my time-machine is on back order

D’oh! I’ve had plenty of D’oh! moments when I thought I had a post scheduled the night before, and today’s another one. Anyway, you haven’t missed much. I really like the current short story entry, so I’m having trouble writing about it. And I guess my backbrain decided that a filler post last night just […]

Two pears down, one not found

There’s a pair of pears Down there. And a third has fared Somewhere. Maybe it rolled downhill To be feasted on by a squirrel. Or a raccoon gave the tree a whirl And its belly is sweetly filled. I was going to pick them some day Before one was stolen away And the other two […]

Return of the raspberries

My Heritage raspberries have finally gotten their second wind. They’re classed as everbearing, but what that really means is they can offer a dual crop: one on last year’s growth in midsummer, and another on this year’s growth in fall. They’ve been in flower all August, but the inconstant dry weather seems to have held […]

E pur la pietra muove

One consequence of the collision between cat and yard is the carnage among the littlest of critters. Every now and then, some poor little thing is laid out as a dead mousie by the door. So I bury them. And plop a nice big rock on top. But this time, it wasn’t big enough. Either […]

Weed patrol: Beggar-tick

I looked for ragweed. And didn’t find any in the spot that was infested last year. Or anywhere else. Yet. I looked for nightshade. And found plenty in the usual spots. Those bright red fruits made it easy to spot, but they plop out everywhere when you pull it up. I didn’t have to look […]

Re: Game Change

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, by John Heilemann & Mark Halperin is such a fast, trashy read, it almost takes longer to say the title than to read the book. The anecdotes are interesting, but the writing is pedestrian. It’s more entertaining to hear the […]