September Reading List

 With a full week of rain, the number of books read is going up - 7 this month.

There were some books I wanted to read that the old hometown library had that the local one didn't. I hadn't been down there since the start of the covid self-isolating, so I made a quick down and back trip and brought home the top four on this pile:

 

Everything I Never Told You is by Celeste Ng and after reading her Little Fires Everywhere last month, I knew I wanted to read her first book, too. It is good, but not as good as Little Fires Everywhere.

i'll be your blue sky by Marisa de los Santos is the third in her Love Walked In series. I read the first one of the series in April, 2012 and really liked it. Then she fell off my radar until I happened to see that 2012 book review again and was reminded of her. I searched both libraries and found two of her books at Corning.

This book has everything, romance, mystery, magic, lyrical prose, bravery, truths, universal love and a very satisfying ending.

I'd Give Anything is the other Marisa de los Santos book at my former library and this author's latest book. It begins with four very close high school friends and the tragedy that rends their friendship one night during their senior year. Twenty years pass before they are reunited and learn the true story about what happened that night.

This author gives us beautiful prose and believable characters and settings along with mystery and romance. But I did not like this book as much as her previous ones.

The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs was on the September new books list from my local library. I added it to my 'want to read' list, but knew it would be awhile before I found it on the shelf - there would be a number of names on the wait list. But there it was on the New Shelf at the Corning Library, I didn't have to wait to read it. Yay! (This has happened several times with other new titles.)

This book is part of Wiggs' Bella Vista Chronicles series, but they seem to stand alone without any need to be read in order. I can't remember any books about bookshops that I haven't loved and this one is no exception. There's enough mystery, romance and happy endings for any reader, but it is the references to books that stimulates me. Wiggs is a competent author who tells a lovely story.

A quote from this book: "Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."

Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel is by Ruth Hogan, a new author for me and one I would definitely like to read more of . This novel is told by the voices of young Tilly and Tilda, her grown up self. As a child she interprets her world from her limited viewpoint and doesn't understand the reasons behind her parents' actions. She blames her mother for the disappearance of her beloved father from her life, resulting in the lifelong rift between mother and daughter. Adult Tilda has to discover, then understand and come to terms with what really happened and how her life was affected. 

This was a good read and I would really like to read Hogan's other novels, especially The Keeper of Lost Things . 

The Guest List is by Lucy Foley, another new author for me. I knew I was going to enjoy this mystery from the first words on the inside jacket cover: "On a remote island off the coast of Ireland...." What a well-crafted murder mystery! Foley deftly weaves together a list of seemingly unrelated suspects to deliver the most unsuspecting, at least to me, perpetrator. I would definitely read more novels by this author.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters is a book I chose to read based on a review by a Facebook friend of mine from Portland, OR. (A real life friend of my daughter.) This isn't the title she was reviewing, but the only one by the author that my library has. And I have learned by experience that any author/book recommended by Joan is going to be good.

The book is set in London in 1922, when everyone is suffering and dealing with the devastations of WWI, even the genteel widow Wray and her spinster daughter Frances. Their plight is made more dire when they learn the deceased Mr. Wray had squandered away the family's wealth. With neither of the two women possessing work skills, their only way to earn some income is to open their home to boarders.

This was such a satisfying read, I'm going to get two more Waters' titles through Interlibrary Loan.

The days are already growing shorter and the nights longer. The weather cools. I foresee plenty of good reading hours in my future. 

September Birth Flower - Aster

 

 

My Song To You

Come to the meadow just you only,

Where Autumn weaves her spell;

On hills and purple moorlands lonely,

Where the magic of her presence dwells.

Beneath blue skies and fields of heather,

With soft humming of honey bees.

And I'll hold you, just us two together,

To share the scent of autumn leaves.

We've time to share Asters in the meadow,

With all that we love best;

With the swallow's wings and your shadow,

And Summer's grass that built the nest.

To hold and hear the soft wind singing,

To see your hair tossed and blown;

And meet the bluebird softly winging,

Through heaven and earth, we too fly alone.

      (By Elizabeth Wesley)

In memory of my sister Betty, born 75 years ago today.

 

Crossing the Causeway on the Equinox

 

What better way to celebrate the start of Autumn than a morning walk at Green Valley? Inadvertently, we started walking at 8:30 - the precise time of the Fall Equinox. 

Bud walks so much faster than I ever could so he walks a mile or so then returns to where I am and we walk back together.

 I took this picture of him from across an inlet on his way back toward me.

Someone else greeting the new season in, perhaps, his own favorite way.

There were so many blackbirds gathering in the trees. You might call it a flock, but I thought of it as a cacophony of blackbirds due to their loud, discordant chorus.

Evidence of one of Mother's small creatures being sacrificed for another. An owl hunting in the dark and finding a mouse unaware?

Doesn't it look like a lonely teardrop on this white fungus?

                                   A colorful trio: green grove, red sumac and goldenrod.

Just part of the reason I think of Autumn as the golden time of the year.

Red leaves.

Heron in flight.

Delicate white and pink flowers.

This monstrous tree trunk at the south end of the causeway is so grotesque it is like a piece of art, especially with the dried algae caught in its prongs.

A morning walk with my partner, my friend, my love, was the very best way to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox. 

A Puzzle: "The Artist's Studio"

I've posted before about working a daily online jigsaw puzzle as part of my efforts to keep the ole brain going. I've also mention how the colors in certain puzzles draw me in. 

I always do whatever daily puzzle is given me because I must have all the ones across the top say: SOLVED. (I know. I know.)

But some days I don't like the daily puzzle. I have learned to change it to 50 pieces and only spend 2-3 minutes working it just so it will be 'Solved'. Then I choose one I do like from the optional puzzles along the side. 

Today's puzzle was fine, a pretty scene of Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, but in glancing at the optional puzzles, my eyes went immediately to this one, "The Artist's Studio". I had to work it, too. I mean, all those browns and tans and grays with just a few hints of some muted color! And the jumble, the detail, so much to examine. I found myself wondering what FB friend Bob Hicks, an Oregon art reviewer who each day posts a new piece and writes about the artist, would have to say about this one.

I also wondered who the artist was. There was a name in the bottom left corner which I was able to discern by enlarging the picture - Charles Spencelayh, English Painter - not someone I remembered encountering before. 

Naturally I had to look for information about him, as well as view many more of his works. This is what Wikipedia says about the artist: "Charles Spencelayh [October 27, 1865 - June 25, 1958] was an English genre painter and portraitist in the Academic style. Spencelayh was a favorite of Queen Mary , who was an avid collector of his work."

Spencelayh obviously worked his entire life. The Artist's Studio was painted in 1953 when he was 92+ years old. This one, "The Old Dealer" (The Old Curiosity Shop) was painted circa 1925 when he would have been around 60 years old.  This painting sold at Sotheby's Auction in 2009 for more than £345,000. 

These are a few of his many other paintings that I found attractive:

Always Busy

Blackberrying

Dig For Victory 

This one made me think of my Grandma Delphia.

And......

Helping Mother

This one sort of reminded me of myself, though we never sat down to prepare food, always stood either at the table or kitchen sink.

As much as I enjoy discovering new artists and poets you could think I would be able to draw/paint and write poetry. At least I think I should be able to do so. But I guess the artists and poets do need admirers. I am happy to fulfill that roll.

An Afternoon Foray Under The Deck

It has been at least two years, probably longer, but definitely before I had knee replacement surgery, since I went under the deck to pull the weeds growing there. It's been on my mind for quite awhile to try my "getting under the deck maneuvering" again. It's a little harder with only one leg I can kneel on, but I made it down to the ground, onto my back side and started scooching along, pulling weeds and stuffing them into a big black garbage bag.

This is how it looked before I started. Most of the weeds are those Asiatic dayflowers. I've managed to pretty much keep them out of the flower beds, so I guess they had to go somewhere. I was more concerned about a few small trees though.

You know that feeling you get when you think someone's watching you? Can you see him?

Here he, or she, is after I pulled the weed it was under. It hopped farther away a couple times as I got too close and then I lost track of the little cutie. My biggest fear was that I would accidently scoop him up along with a handful of weeds.

Not long after seeing the toad, I almost sat on a slimy slug. That one I did put into the garbage bag.

There were some small, dark mushrooms growing. I left them alone. I have no idea what they are, but it is the kind of fungi I wouldn't mess with. 

Here is the after photo. The weeds may not have been that big of a deal, but they bugged me. I feel like I accomplished something for the day.

There was still some room left in my garbage bag so I started working my way back to the front of the house along the flower beds, pulling some more weeds. I was just about done when look what I saw in the day lilies - a larger, pretty green toad. I guess it was my day for amphibians.

This one didn't like my nearness, either. It was doing its best to get behind my rock. 

Even though my foray under the deck didn't take long and wasn't really all that taxing, I have the feeling I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow. 

After A Week Of Rain

I would have loved to share the seemingly endless cloudy, rainy, cool days of Labor Day Week with my relatives, friends and ALL the inhabitants of Oregon, California and Washington. Alas, it doesn't work that way. 

When last Sunday turned out to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day, I felt the need to get out and enjoy it. HD was okay with staying home and watching football, so I took off for a relatively close county park - one I hadn't visited before, but found on an online search of Ringgold County Parks - Kokesh County Recreation Area. The information and photos looked interesting; Diagonal here I come.

Diagonal is a small town with a population of 330 people according to the 2010 Census. It was so named because two railroad lines intersected diagonally near the town site. In addition to Kokesh park a mile south of town, there is Fogle Lake Wildlife and Recreation Area which includes campgrounds, on the Northwest side of Diagonal. There was also the mention of something called Mapleleaf Pathway on the NE side of town.

You take the high road and I'll take the low road.... Because I missed my morning walk, I decided to go to the Mapleleaf Pathway first. Signage wasn't great, but I found the parking area and started down the path. It soon split and I went right. (The high road.) 

  

It was a nice path, fairly level, but with little to see of interest. 

I started off walking at a pretty good stride, which I kept up for about 15 minutes, then turned around and started back at a more leisurely pace. 

Reminder to self: It is not a good idea to walk for exercise right after lunch.

Back where the two paths diverged, I tried the low road. It was the better of the two, in my opinion; shaded, slightly hilly, and leading down to a secluded bench and picnic table.

I had the feeling that had I kept going along the upper trail it would have led me to this same spot.

The most interesting thing about the Mapleleaf Pathway, I thought, was that I did not see one single maple tree. 😕

The 15 acres of Kokesh Recreation Area were donated to the conservation board in the early 1970's by Fred and Pearl Kokesh. It seems like a very nice, attractive little park. Electric and primitive camping sites are available as well as drinking water, picnic tables and a restroom.

I couldn't help but think how much some of my great-grands would enjoy the playground. Ayden and Greyson especially are just the right age for this.

Aunt Pearl's Shelter overlooks Pearl's Puddle. It has six picnic tables and a grill.

 

There was no one else around while I was there, but there was evidence that anglers have tried their luck at the pond - several bobbers caught in tree limbs. 

You could even sit on this bench and cast a line, though I envision it as being a spot for quiet contemplation.

I didn't check out any of the trails through the timber. I think the time for that will be when the trees are showing their fall colors. A little purple on the Sumac bushes was all I saw this time.

I did stop at Fogle Lake on the way out of Diagonal, just long enough for a quick look around and to admire this old iron bridge. It most likely once carried traffic across the nearby Grand River. Now it connects the path from the campgrounds to a boat ramp and parking area. 

It was a pleasant little two hour get-away, just enough to offer a sense of freedom after a week of being cooped up in the house. 

Which is not to say I didn't appreciate the 4.2 inches of rain we received, because I did - we needed it.

Another rock addendum like the one I added to the end of "Wallace Prairie Walk Continued" August 30.

I found this on the Mapleleaf Pathway. I picked it up because of the quartz stripe and the odd shape. Is it a rock or a fossil? Or a fossil rock?

September Sunrise at Green Valley Lake

It has been almost eight weeks since my last sunrise walk at Green Valley. The biggest differences are: the sun comes up farther south, it is quite a bit cooler and I don't have to be out there quite as early to catch the sunrise. So, here it is:

I mean here is the first photo of the sunrise.

I was greeted in the parking area by this small flock of turkeys.

On the trail, starting down the hill.

Eight minutes later. Can you tell the smoke from the western wildfires is affecting our skies?

First turkeys, then a heron.

I thought I had the trail all to myself, but just around the corner from here I met a gentleman and his Australian Shepherd out for their early morning constitutional.

I walked to the marina, turned and started back.

On the return, these two Flickers were sitting on the path. If you look in the upper right corner, there's a bonus Cardinal.

When I saw these two from a distance, I thought they might be Ravens. Alas.

First turkeys then Turkey Vultures. Does it seem fitting that they are perched in a dead tree?





It was, as always, a great walk at Green Valley, though too early and too cool for the butterflies to be out. I'll go again soon, but later in the day to stalk them.

Happily there were some Monarchs on my Autumn Joy Sedum this afternoon, reminders that the first day of Fall is only six days away.