My friend Charlotte’s bunny, George, has outdone himself today in The Hay Diaries.

This poem about a barn owl on the Birdchick Blog led me to explore our Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, and this collection of his essays. I just started reading it yesterday, as my school workload is finally easing up, and have really enjoyed what I’ve read thus far.

I will be sooo glad when the semester ends and I don’t have to *play teacher* for a month and will have time to read. Hopefully, I’ll get lots of books for Christmas and will be able to take full advantage of the extra time.

Here’s my wishlist:

The Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Bedside Book of Birds by Graeme Gibson
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Ardent Birdwatcher: On the Craft of Birdwatching by Todd Newberry

I took this photo of a Black Swallowtail cat two summers ago as it was feeding on a bronze fennel plant in my veggie garden.

Two or three of these beauties appeared one day (or so it seemed; I just hadn’t been looking for them) and then disappeared again when they made their cocoons. I was disappointed to not have been able to find them as they underwent their metamorphosis. The same always happens with the Monarch cats I find on my Swamp Milkweed plants. They grow to be big and fat and then disappear. I wonder if some hungry bird comes along and picks them off just when they are ready to morph?

Today was a cold and wet wintry day that had me wishing (too soon) for sunshine and butterflies.

FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
O’Brien is the author of three novels (most recently, Brendan Prairie), a short-story collection and a popular nonfiction book, The Rites of Autumn. A resident of Rapid City, S.D., he is also an aficionado of falconry. Here, he explores his lifelong romance with birds of prey. For O’Brien, falcons are an ideal “point of entry” into the larger webs and cycles of nature. As the title suggests, this is also a book concerned with middle age, specifically with the author’s approaching 50th birthday. O’Brien’s laconic prose is well suited to this autumnal theme, and his treatment will likely appeal to many baby boomers. O’Brien also writes frankly of the not always pleasant burden of possessing an acute mind and imagination, of the joys and travails of daily life on the ranch and in town, of the highs and lows of an existence lived faithfully in the service of art and nature. After “twenty years of working in the wind,” he has “learned a few things.” The book contains the essence of those revelations, and most have to do with love-the love of a man for his wife (a physician in Rapid City), for his closest friends (Jim Harrison, Rick Bass, various ranching buddies), for his falcons and for the land that has nurtured him. O’Brien is one of the West’s stellar talents, and this is one of his finest books. (Mar.) Courtesy of BarnesandNoble.com

Dan O’Brien is one of my favorite authors, and Equinox was the first of his books that I discovered. If you enjoy nature writing and share an interest in falconry, see if you can’t find one of his books at the local library. He wrote a few novels and short stories related to falconry and ranching in South Dakota and most recently has been writing historical novels about the Great Plains.

I tend to read by author when I find someone that I enjoy. I like to read everything by a particular author, regardless of subject, just to see where the author takes me. With Dan O’Brien I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying his historical novels (The Contract Surgeon, The Indian Agent) as well as his novels about falconry and the outdoors.

Well, it was good while it lasted – for all of three days!

I didn’t accomplish much of anything this weekend, other than taking this lovely photo of Boomer relaxing in the sunshine.

Boomer is such a handsome rabbit. As a Flemish Giant he is destined to be extra large, but if he keeps eating the way he does and laying about, boy will he be huge! Right now, he’s about 18 lbs. and I don’t want to see him get any bigger, really. He has the most adorable way of laying on his belly to eat with his legs spread-eagle behind him. His is the picture of contentment when he flops on his side for a nap with Cricket beside him. Pure bunny bliss!

I spent a fair amount of class time tonight discussing with my students the novel we’re reading this semester, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. It seems that most are enjoying the book (or so they tell me) and it is exciting to see these *non-readers* anxious to talk about a book!

I think it was a good choice, despite my misgivings about the sometimes uncomfortable to discuss (in a roomful of college-age students) subject matter. They are handling it well and maturely.

We are counting down now to the end of the semester and a well-deserved break!

I thought this might be a fun diversion from all the things I should be doing; like laundry or schoolwork.

I’ve always wanted to be a person who enjoys writing and who writes daily. Maybe this will help. It does take a commitment to write everyday. I envy people who do.

Not sure what I will post here aside from random thoughts and photos. We’ll see. Today’s photo is a favorite of Boomer and Cricket. Typical of how they spend their days. Not a bad life, right?