A few weeks ago a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak stopped at my backyard feeders. They are migratory birds and I usually see a few of them in my yard in the spring. They live mostly in the deciduous and mixed forests but are tolerant of people and will sometimes stay in parks and gardens. Last year I watched a pair build a nest on a golf course.
This is the male. The female looks dramatically different resembling a large sparrow with a big white eyebrow and streaky breast. I’ve never had a female stop at my feeders and when I see them in the forest they are difficult to photograph.
After sampling what I was offering in the tray feeder, Mr. Grosbeak moved on to the sunflower seeds where he happily ate until a noisy Blue Jay showed up and chased him away.
Interesting Facts:
- The name “grosbeak” is from the French word grosbec and means “large beak.”
- This is a fairly common bird in eastern and central North America and if you have feeders in your yard you might catch a glimpse of them.
- The male has a beautiful song which is similar to the American Robin. If you hear what sounds like a robin that took singing lessons, it might be a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
- The females are a brown color resembling a large sparrow or finch.
Saturday Snapshot was originated by Alyce at At Home With Books. For the summer it will be hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2013 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Almost wordless: This pair was busy catching bugs over the DuPage River. They stopped on the bridge railing for a few minutes to preen. Male, with the redder underparts, is on the left and the female is on the right. Their nest is under the bridge.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2013 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Lucky Bastard
by Deborah Coonts
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Forge Books
Publish Date: May 14, 2013
Format: Hardcover | 352 pages
Rating: 3½ of 5
Lucky O’Toole is back with another adventure at The Babylon on the Las Vegas Strip in book four of this fun-filled series.
Lucky has been promoted to Vice President of Customer Relations but that doesn’t make her job any easier. She has barely settled into the position, her new office isn’t even completed yet, when the next crisis strikes. A woman is found dead, sprawled across the hood of a new Ferrari in the Babylon’s on-site dealership, a Jimmy Choo stiletto stuck in her neck. At The Babylon it is never just another boring day!
Lucky already has a full plate. Nursing a broken-heart along with constant reminders of her previous relationship, fending off the attentions of the new chef, dealing with her mother who wants to start a phone-sex business (mom previously ran a brothel) and her new job responsibilities were already keeping her busy. Plus the Smack-Down Poker Tournament is holding its final round at the Babylon and Lucky needs to maintain business as usual, never mind that more people are turning up dead and the body count is rising. Things are only going to get more hectic and soon Lucky begins to fear for her own safety. Lucky is running on no sleep but there won’t be any time to catch up now.
Throughout the series Lucky has remained a fun and exciting character. Still totally in control in her professional life, her romantic life is in constant upheaval with her propensity to choose the wrong guys. While romance is still an underlying theme, this installment had a lot less swooning over her men than in previous books. I missed Teddi, Lucky’s ex, but without him Lucky’s strong, independent character was back on display.
There was lots of energy and non-stop action with the reader being taken on a roller coaster ride, always a little off-balance and never knowing who to suspect or who else will end up dead. I did miss Newton, Lucky’s talking pet bird, a belligerent macaw with a foul mouth, who didn’t have much of a part this time. His snappy lines of dialog were some of my favorites in the first novel.
Lucky Bastard can be read as a stand alone even though it is the fourth in a series. The author does a good job of filling in the pertinent details of the back story, but I would recommend reading the first book Wanna Get Lucky, to get a real flavor for the main characters. Also, several previously minor characters become more developed, which is nice to see, but the extra background does help.
Funny, clever and action packed, this fast-paced page turner is a good choice for a light summer read.
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Visit the author’s website for more information.
Connect on Twitter. Click HERE for the tour schedule.
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Source: Review copy provided by JKS Communications
© 2013 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Mailbox Monday was created by The Printed Page. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week.
Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blog each month. The May host is Abi @ 4 the LOVE of BOOKS
I can’t believe May is almost over. Summer will be here in a few weeks and I don’t feel like we’ve even had spring yet!
I thought I was going to have an empty mailbox and then towards the end of the week a few books showed up.
For review from Thomas Dunne Books:
Amy Falls Down
by Jincy Willett
The endearingly bitter writer, Amy Gallup has happily isolated herself from the world spending the last two decades teaching and reviewing—she’s done a lot of thinking . . . but very little writing. On an unassuming morning, in her slippers, Amy trips in her backyard, goes head-over-heels, and into the side of a birdbath. The hospital clears her of head injury—so Amy returns home. When a local reporter shows up for a scheduled interview—Amy is not quite herself.
For Review from Harper and TLC Tours:
If You Were Here
by Alafair Burke
Magazine journalist McKenna Wright is chasing the latest urban folktale-the story of an unidentified woman who heroically pulled a teenaged boy from the subway tracks, seconds before an oncoming train. When McKenna locates a short video snippet that purportedly captures part of the incident, she thinks she has an edge on the competition scrambling to identify the mystery heroine. She is shocked to discover that the woman in the video bears a strong resemblance to Susan Hauptmann, a close friend who disappeared without a trace a decade earlier.
A win from Picador:
The Pink Hotel
by Anna Stothard
A seventeen-year-old London girl flies to Los Angeles for the funeral of her mother Lily, from whom she had been separated in her childhood. After stealing a suitcase of letters, clothes and photographs from her mum’s bedroom at the top of a hotel on Venice Beach, the girl spends her summer travelling around Los Angeles returning love letters and photographs to the men who had known her mother. As she discovers more about Mandy’s past and tries to re-enact her life, she comes to question the foundations of her own personality.
What are you reading?
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© 2013 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Stephen King writes books faster than I can read them so when I saw an ad for the mini-series adaptation of his book Under The Dome it was no surprise I hadn’t read it yet. I vaguely remembered talk about a readalong for Under The Dome but figured I must have missed it. But no, I didn’t miss it and it is happening now!
The Readalong
The readalong began yesterday and is hosted by Natalie at Coffee and a Book Chick. There is still time to sign up and plenty of time to read or listen to the book. The event runs through July 27th giving us ample opportunity time to squeeze in a 1,000+ page book!
The Details
Do you need a blog to participate? No, anyone can join in.
Timeline: May 25 through July 27
How many posts? It’s informal. Do as much or as little as you want.
Twitter-chat? Use the hashtag #domealong (#DomeAlong is better to avoid any confusion)
The Kickoff
Show us your copy! Audio or print?
Audio! I am already backed up in print books that I want to read. I listen faster than I read. I’m often on the go, working around the house or out in the garden so audio is perfect for me.
Have you read Uncle Stevie before?
Absolutely. I am an long-time fan going way back to Salem’s Lot, which I read when it was first published.
What are you familiar with about Under the Dome or Stephen King?
I don’t know much about this one other than what I can deduce from the title and that it’s classic Stephen King horror, which is fine with me. I like creepy!
What are you looking forward to?
Reading it with the group.
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© 2013 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
The nesting season is well under way and the American Robin is one of the first songbirds to lay their eggs. They are short distance migrants and usually get a head start on summer residents who travel greater distances to arrive at their breeding territories. So it was no surprise that I am already seeing fledgling robins.
Last week I was walking at Lincoln Marsh on the nature trails and spotted a parent robin, the dad, trying to coax a newly fledged youngster off a branch along the trail. The youngster was having none of that and sat frozen on his branch. As soon as the parent saw me he flew off to a nearby tree.
As I walked past I noticed another little robin nestled in some brush. A sibling. He didn’t look any happier about being out of the cozy nest.
If the parents sense danger they will stay away. I heard the dad chirp out an alarm call telling them to be quiet, a yeep followed by clucking. After taking a few quick shots I located a tree I could hide behind to observe them. After a while they forgot about me.
Eventually the little guy decided to give flying a try. He stood up and began flapping his wings in place and soon took off to a nearby tree branch. As I walked away I noticed the sibling was still hiding in the brush.
Interesting Facts:
- The first chick will fledge, or leave the nest, after about 13 days. Nestmates will leave over the next 24 hours.
- Fledglings wander a short distance and are still fed and cared for by the parents for about 3 weeks.
- Once all the nestlings have all fledged, the female will begin building a second nest and the primary care of the youngsters falls to the dad.
- For the first few weeks out of the nest they cannot maintain flight and will spend a lot of time hiding in shrubs and cover. That stubby little tail is the reason why. It will take a few weeks for it to grow.
- After about four weeks the juveniles can manage on their own.
Saturday Snapshot was originated by Alyce at At Home With Books. For the summer it will be hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2013 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Looking for Me
by Beth Hoffman
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Viking / Pamela Dorman Books and Penguin Audio
Publish Date: May 28, 2013
Format: Hardcover | 368 pages
Format: Audiobook: Approx 12 hours
Rating: 5 of 5
Publisher’s Synopsis:
Teddi Overman found her life’s passion for furniture in a broken-down chair left on the side of the road in rural Kentucky. She learns to turn other people’s castoffs into beautifully restored antiques, and eventually finds a way to open her own shop in Charleston. There, Teddi builds a life for herself as unexpected and quirky as the customers who visit her shop. Though Teddi is surrounded by remarkable friends and finds love in the most surprising way, nothing can alleviate the haunting uncertainty she’s felt in the years since her brother Josh’s mysterious disappearance. When signs emerge that Josh might still be alive, Teddi is drawn home to Kentucky.
My Thoughts:
This was beautifully written story, timeless in its portrayal of a young woman growing up, establishing her independence and achieving her goals with strength and grace. Teddi has a passion for restoring furniture and vows to follow her dream, even if it means leaving her family and moving to Charleston. It’s a simple story and yet there is so much happening. Teddi will always be haunted by the loss of her brother, Josh, her distant relationship with her mother, and the many things she didn’t know about either of her parents until it was too late.
I adored the country setting. From the descriptive prose author Beth Hoffman’s love of nature shines through. I felt like I was there in the woods of Kentucky, breathing in the fresh air, surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature. I delighted in her inclusion of some of my favorite birds: the brilliant Indigo Bunting, the chipper Downy Woodpecker (with its black and white spotted tail feather), and the beautiful Red-tailed Hawk to name just a few.
I also have an audio copy of the book and listened while I was working in the garden. The audio was narrated by Jenna Lamia, a first-time narrator for me. She has a fantastic range giving each of the characters a unique sound. The voice and accent she used for Teddi was exactly as I had imagined her. I love when this happens, it makes the audio so much more appealing. As much as I enjoyed curling up with the print book in the evening, I highly recommend the audio.
This book oozes charm and was a delight. It only took me a few days to read, and I wasn’t ready to leave and move on to my next book.
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Source: Thanks to the author for a print copy and Penguin Audio for the audiobook.
© 2013 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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