May '26 Books Read

 Eight books read in the merry month of May.......

Tana French is one of my adopted authors which means I buy/donate the book to the library and get to be the first to read it. The Keeper is the third and final of a series set in the west of Ireland and featuring retired Chicago police detective Cal Hooper. French is a great author and I have really loved this series.

Birthright, Angels Fall, Black Hills and Come Sundown are all by Nora Roberts. I chose these four because of their settings - Blue Ridge Mountains, Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana - all places I have been to and have fond memories of. Roberts is a very good writer and great to read when you want to escape, lost in a well told story.

The Sugar Train is a book of poems written by, and sent to me by our friend, Becky Faber (University of Nebraska) with illustrations by her grandson, Robert Davis. 

Elizabeth Strout is an author I will always read. Her characters usually have had some setbacks to overcome. She writes in scenes rather than beginning to end. The Things We Never Say asks the question: "How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us?" It makes me think of how divided our country is, how easy it is to dismiss others without even trying to know them.

We Live Here Now is by Sarah Pinborough, an English author new to me. It is a modern gothic tale about a husband and wife who move into a haunted house. The couple has secrets they keep from one another - and the house has its own secrets. 

Next up is a book that "topped bestseller lists across Europe". I'm looking forward to beginning my first June read.

But before I go -- one of Becky's poems from The Sugar Train:

Gretel

I drop them carefully

small pieces of black on white

marking the journey from one forest

to the next

not bread crumbs to find the way back,

just words from where I have been

with no idea of where I'll go

End of May Catch Up

 

Mother's Day was a little late this year but definitely better late than never. 

Doug and Shelly came down the Saturday after MD bringing with them this very colorful hanging planter as well as the oranges and grape jelly Oriole feeder.

In the two weeks since putting it up, the birds have gone through the whole 32 oz. jar of jelly that came with the feeder.

Shelly also gave me these two pottery bowls made by a friend of hers.

I love the organic leaf designs on them.

It didn't take long for this beautiful female Baltimore Oriole to find the grape jelly.

They seem to prefer the jelly over the oranges.

The female Rose-breasted Grosbeak (and the male) also like the grape jelly and the oranges.

House Finches, too, have been visiting the colorful feeder. I just haven't taken pictures of them.

I finally convinced Hubby Dearest it was time for a new lawnmower. 

Because he is so handy at fixing things, he kept the old one going for years.

The new one is battery operated and self-propelled - so much nicer and easier.

At the first part of May, I hadn't even decided if I was going to have pots of flowers around the patio and deck.

By the end of the month.....well, you'll see---- 😍

Moss Rose in the 80-some year old mailbox my parents had on their farm.

Lemon Slice Calibrachoas in the Guy Wolff planter and ....

Impatiens in the 'papa bear, mama bear, baby bear' planters on the stairs.

More Moss Rose in the planter grandson Brock made for me and my ususual salmon Geraniums in the corner.

Pink Verbena in the planter on the deck and Rosy Dawn Wave Petunias in the hanging pots.

This is the first time I have had wave petunias - always considering them too much more expensive.

But maybe they're worth it - they're already bushing out and filling the planters.

You may notice in the previous photo that all four hooks have bird feeders hanging on them.

This female Downey Woodpecker found the suet feeder this morning. I've also seen a Blue Jay at it. 

There has been a Northern Flicker pecking on the bark of the oak tree but so far it hasn't come to the suet feeder - at least not while I'm looking out the window. 

Finally there have been some deer closer than up on the hillside in the meadow. But still none with fawns at their side.

This one posed looking back at me before jumping the fence into the trees on the other side.

This may or may not be the same doe. I'm calling her Renee because.....

..... this is what came to mind when I saw her leaving ......

🎶"Just walk away Renee

you won't see me follow you back home...." 🎶

And Then The Rains Came

Much of the work at Lake McKinley has been completed. Dredging is done, the new spillway is in place and the roads around the lake are now open.

We've had a lot of rain the past few days, time to take a look at what the lake looks like.

I knew there would be some water, but wow! It looks like a lake again.

This is the new spillway. Instead of going over the dam as the old spillway did, it now goes under the dam.

No more driving through shallow water in the old spillway or not being able to go around the lake at all when the water was too high.

I'd like to walk the path below the dam to see what it looks like now. Maybe when it is a little drier. 

I was surprised to see this new house on the southwest side of the lake.

Apparently it was built during the time the road around the lake was closed.

The first photo of the lake was from the SE side looking North.

This one is from the west side looking SE.

There is still work to be done on the jetties and I believe there is to be a pier for fishing and swimming. Waiting to see what that looks like.

It's good to have the all the improvements - including new blacktop on the road on the east side.

A Green Heron

 

Watching WHO-13 early this a.m. meteorologist Megan shared this photo of a green heron sent in by a viewer.

She commented that she had never seen nor heard of a green heron. I could understand her reaction because I had the same experience.

The herons I was familiar with were the Great Blue Herons.

On July 9, 2021 we went to Mormon Trail Park and Lake near Bridgewater. I was standing on a dock, looking around when I saw a large bird in a tree about 30 feet away. 

I tried taking a picture so I could identify it but I was aiming into the sun so this silhouette was all I had to go by.

It was a long time before I learned that the bird I saw that morning was a green heron.

Now I know them when I see them.

Where there's smoke......the view out my window yesterday afternoon. There is an area which stays too wet to mow with the big riding mower. The grass gets tall, then turns brown over winter, so they burn it off in the spring.

Rinse. Repeat

Yesterday morning Bud said he was going to Bomgaars for something. Did I want to go along to look for plants. Did I?

Even though I hadn't made up my mind whether or not to get plants this year, it didn't take me long to say yes.

I only got four, 4-packs of annuals (Snapdragons, Moss Rose, and two Verbenas) and this one larger pot of Dianthus Bank's Pink. This is the first time I've seen fringed Dianthus and could not pass them by.

By Friday I'll have them all potted and set around the deck and patio. (And probably gone back for more.) 

In the Merry Month of May

 

An early morning shot of the full moon shortly after five this morning.

For the first time since 1988, the Full Flower Moon has coincided with Beltane.

This month there will also be a Blue Moon when the second full moon of the month occurs May 31.

It's also the day for May baskets. I don't remember the last time I received a May basket but Bud gave me one this year. I commented that I had gotten a May basket from my sweetie, Budbo, a nickname for him I have used over the years. Then it hit me, it should be Budbeau. Why had I never thought of that before?

Going May basketing was a big deal when I was young. I tried to make it a part of my children's lives when they were young. I wonder how many of my great-grands go May basketing.

A few days ago I heard a personality of one of the Des Moines TV stations say that she didn't know about May basketing until she moved to Iowa - that it wasn't something they did in Missouri. I really don't think it is "just an Iowa thing".

Big Blue even flew in to mark the first day of May and spent part of the day at the pond.

He did a lot of stalking along the bank but I never did see him catch anything.

In ancient Rome, May Day was celebrated with the Festival of Flora to honor the Roman goddess of flowers and spring.

I have always wondered if my great-grandmother, Flora Richardson Duncan was named for her.

This photo of Flora is part of the 1st Century fresco from the Villa di Arianna in Stabiae. There are many more versions.

April ended with a very colorful sunset.

It also ended with a tie between me and Hubby Dearest.

Bud and I are both competitive and both cribbage players. He began playing in grade school and I began as a teen.

We played our first game on our first date 45 years ago. We now play a game every day during lunch and we keep track of who wins.

After yesterday's game, the 120th of this year, we were tied 60 to 60. A sign that we're evenly matched? He is the better player. I'm just glad I give him some competition.

April '26 Books Read

 A very slow month of reading - only four books read this month - a new 'low' total for me. That top book is the only one previously unread. I had read the other three years ago and liked them. I decided to go back and reread them. All four are authored by Kate Morton.

Homecoming has been at the Library since 2023 but I had missed it as being a new book. Set in Australia, it begins with a shocking crime in 1959 which isn't solved until 20 years later when a London journalist returns to her native land in search of a story.

The Clockmaker's Daughter is from 2018, first read in January 2019 - noted as my favorite read for that month and 'highly recommend'. 

The Secret Keeper is from 2012. I read and reported on it in March 2013 Reading List. Rated as a 5.0 and described as one of the best books I've read.

The Lake House is from 2015, read in March 2016 and rated as a 4.5. I enjoyed rereading the last three as much as I did when I read them the first time and remembered very little about the first reads.

Just a friendly reminder to myself (and others) that if it's been awhile since you read a good book the first time, you might want to go back and reread it in the future.

The first book on my May books read list will be by one of my adopted authors and paid for by me so I am the first to read it. I'm only a few pages in but already loving it. 

One last April surprise was adding a new bird to my life list.*

It's not a great photo, but hidden among the Oak catkins is a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle).

The Cruelest Month?

 In his poem, The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot refers to April as the cruelest month:

April is the cruellest* month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers....

Sorry Mr. Eliot, but in deference to your poem, I earnestly disagree.

In my opinion, April is one of the most hopeful months.

Spring rains and warmer temperatures encourage flowers and lush foliage like this on the north side of our house.

And while Autumn is my favorite season of the year, Spring is a very close second choice.

Is there anything cruel about catkins swaying in a spring breeze?

My only objections to the beauty of the Oak catkins is the abundance of acorns and leaves to rake in the Fall.

Otherwise, they delight me every April.

As does a small bouquet of Violets even if they are considered by some to be a weed.

And Lily-of-the-valley which is just beginning to bloom. Soon a bouquet of those will perfume my room.

It is possible Mr. Eliot refers to the snowstorms and the severe weather warnings, including tornadoes, that go along with the month of April. Those seem insignificant on a day like today when you can spend a little time on the deck and come away with photos like these:

Yes! Baby goslings! Just as in past years, these are not the ones from the nest floating on the pond but one hidden in the reeds.

 

A far-away flash of blue and a quick snap of a Bluejay on a fir tree.

A sprig of the aforementioned Lily of the valley just beginning to open.

As well as my very colorful Iris that bloomed a few days ago.

I only quoted the first few lines of The Waste Land and really did not garner the idea of April being the cruelest month from the rest of the poem, but honestly, can you believe that this second month of spring can be the cruelest?

(* British English spelling of the word.)

"Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems." Rainer Maria Rilke