Review: Confessions of a Middle-Aged Runaway

 An RV Travel Adventure

by Heidi Eliason

I don't know what she meant to confess in this memoir. Probably her inability to find a good title. But I do know what I have to confess:  as much as I wanted to like this book, I just didn't.

 Very sorry. She went all kind of places (where I'd love to go), and saw all kind of things (that I'd love to see), but her approach to it all lacked the kind of insight and understanding that makes me enjoy reading a memoir.  About halfway through, I started reading faster in hopes that she'd eventually get to something deep and thoughtful and insightful--and it just started reading like a to-do list. Grand Canyon?  Done that. Manatees? Saw the tops of 'em. Friends? Made some. Etc.

The early part of the memoir and her trip to Baja was my favorite.  After that, nada. And her romantic interlude just gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Again, sorry not to be able to recommend this.  The RV repairs and mishaps were amusing but not really funny; the approach to life and living, shallow.

Couple more birds of the year

Bluebirds are all over right now, but I had trouble getting a good picture of one. They seem to be noisily advertising for mates or staking out territory.

Also noisy right how--Red-shouldered Hawk--but this one sat quietly on the power line for a long time.  I wanted to go out and dump the compost, but I didn't want to interrupt his musings. So I waited--that's how I know it was a long time.

Gardening: begin February

Lettuce is still growing, but awfully slowly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, here's the weird one. Years ago, I planted cilantro and arugula.  And every year, it replants itself.  But not in the same place--at least the cilantro confines itself to the garden (mostly) but the arugula is sprouting all over the yard.

Cilantro

Arugula

And these stupid daffodils!  Two years ago, I dug them all up and moved them about six inches away from the sidewalk.  And the ones I moved are still where I put them.  But, lining the sideway, are hundred of thousands more!  Did I really miss that many?

Review: Seeking Justice

Seeking Justice (A Sam Mason Mystery #7)

by LA Dobbs

 I like the series pretty much, but I find each book to be awfully weak.  The characters are likeable, with great backstories and amusing idiosyncracies; the plots are pretty good; the action riveting. But each book leaves me feeling unsatisfied.  It's hard to pinpoint it.

 And I will note that although she calls this a "K-9" series, or at least her publisher does, the dog doesn't really play all that much of a role in the investigation.  It's there, but it doesn't seem to be all that well-trained or important to the solving of a mystery.  Lucy is nice to have around but never does much of importance other than to growl at people she doesn't like or have amusing battles with the cat.

I'll go on reading them. But not as happily as I'd like to.

Review: Lawns Into Meadows

Lawns Into Meadows: Growing a Regenerative Landscape

by Owen Wormser

 Very good information in general, and very inspiring, but not nearly enough information. The beginning and the end include a bunch of "success stories" (and a failure) that are good to read, but I expected a lot more meat in the middle.  And then he went into a descriptions of 21 meadow plants that, he says, are good for starter meadows anywhere.  I don't think half of them would thrive in my North Texas hot and dry clay soil.  They were nice for examples, but not useful for me.

 
If the book had been twice the length with a lot for information, it would have been well worth a purchase. As it is, getting it from the library suited me just fine.

Review: The Birds That Audubon Missed

The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness

by Kenn Kaufman

Absolutely a hundred stars in every regard!   Even the narrator was brilliant.

I can only guess that the reason some people gave it less than 5 stars on Goodreads (it averaged 4.13) was that they wanted him to hate on Audubon for his failures--racism, plagiarizing, theft, giving different names to different specimens of the same bird, and other lapses of science--and he didn't.  He didn't gloss over them either, simply explained what happened and put it in perspective for the times in which Audubon lived and the state of science at the time.

For example, Audubon's naming a bird in honor of a prospective sponsor, even though he'd already named the same yellow warbler something else (several times!), could have been a deliberate deception or a minor failure of memory, spurred by the strong desire to get his work published.  Owning and selling slaves, well, that's what white guys did back then. We could wish he'd "risen above the norm", as Kaufman suggests, but not blacklist his entire life's work on that account.

Kaufman goes off topic a lot, talking about topics like the science of bird study and how it has changed; the patterns of bird movement and extinction; island fauna; and his own attempts to draw Audubon-style paintings of some of the missed birds.  And lots of other stuff.  Some people may have griped that he didn't stick to the topic, but he did--this was all important to understanding what Audubon saw and what he didn't. (Except maybe Kaufman's art attempts, but I found that to be an amusing sideline)

 

Great writing; great research; great, great book!

Review: Desperate Creed

 by Alex Kava

 Even better than the last four books in the series!  In this one there's a mystery about a woman who was talking to her coworker on a video call when he was murdered--and she sees the culprits!  Plus they take possession of her coworker's phone, and they see her!

But the real villain in this adventure is mean ol' Mother Nature.  She showers a series of tornadoes on southern Alabama just as the woman is heading south to meet with FBI agent Maggie O'Dell.  Guess where they end up?