What is National Bird Day?
The Avian Welfare Coalition’s National Bird Day campaign aims to reduce the suffering of birds by raising public awareness of the destructive bird trade, the realities of cruel bird breeding mills, and ways to improve the welfare of birds already in captivity.
Adopt, Don’t Shop!
From the Avian Welfare Coalition . . .
Exotic bird sanctuaries across the country are overwhelmed with hundreds of unwanted and abused birds in need of rescue and life-long homes, while thousands more languish deprived and ignored in their cages because their “owners” have lost interest in them. Others are simply released to fend for themselves; most of these birds will perish. Meanwhile, pet stores and breeders across the United States continue to treat birds like merchandise, peddling them into the pet trade.
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Almost wordless: No one is taking a bath in the below zero temperatures, but the birds and small animals appreciate the unfrozen water. You can just see the steam rising off the water.
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Happy New Year!
And welcome to First Book of the Year hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Join us as we kick off another year of great reading.
Second Book in a Supernatural Trilogy
This year’s choice is Crown of Stars, book two of a trilogy.
I’ve been having trouble focusing lately – even with books I should enjoy, I’m having trouble staying engaged – so I wanted to pick something I was pretty sure I could get into right away. The first book, Love is Red, was a creative, engaging mashu-up of genres I enjoy — murder mystery, suspenseful thriller, horror, fantasy, and the supernatural. Hopefully this one won’t suffer from “second book syndrome”.
Crown of Stars by Sophie Jaff
Rumors of witchcraft have haunted Margaret ever since she was born. A strange, dark-eyed child, she was feared and then shunned by her medieval English village after her mother’s brutal murder. When her father remarries, Margaret—now a young woman—realizes that she must leave the village for good.
Hundreds of years later, as fall comes to Manhattan, Katherine Emerson prays her horrific summer is over. She survived a killer’s attack, but her roommate Andrea was not so lucky and now Katherine is raising Andrea’s son, Lucas. However, the rest of her world is in ruins: the man she loves has left her and she’s pregnant with his child. She accepts she’ll be a single mother—until he insists on doing “the right thing”, which means taking her and Lucas with him to London for his new job. Katherine hopes that maybe she too can start over.
But starting over doesn’t mean that the disturbing and dangerous encounters with strangers will end. As Katherine begins to fall apart, Margaret’s fight to survive in a hostile world reveals she has inherited her mother’s extraordinary gifts—but will she use them for good or evil? Can Margaret change the destiny of Katherine and her unborn child? And what will happen if she succeeds?
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Almost wordless: The cheerful Song Sparrow is a year-round resident in the Chicago area. I see them often in the nature park and forest preserves.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2017 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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© 2017 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Advertisements appearing on this site are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed or approved by me.
Only 88 more days until spring.
I am so not a winter person and I countdown the days to spring every year. But I celebrate the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, because from now until summer, the days keep getting longer.
Astronomical winter began this morning at 10:28 a.m. CST in North America. Here in Chicago, we will have only 9½ hours of daylight today. It hasn’t been too bad with no measurable snow and mostly average temperatures. We’ve even had a few sunny days. But I miss the color of the other seasons and will have to make do with shades of brown.
Solstice facts
- The solstice occurs because the earth’s axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees.
- The word solstice comes from ancient Latin. Sol meaning “sun” and sistere, “to stand still.” For several days before and after the solstice the sun appears to stand still in the sky and it’s noon time elevation does not change.
- Some say early Christmas celebrations have their roots in the Feast of Saturnalia, a winter solstice celebration to the Roman god Saturn. When Christianity was introduced to the Roman Empire, the church allowed the feast to continue but dedicated it to the birth of Christ.
- The custom of giving presents comes from the Roman feast of Saturnalia.
- Stonehenge is aligned with solstice. The timber circle is orientated towards the rising sun on the midwinter solstice.
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Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
Another busy week without a lot of writing time, but I was still able to listen to audio books. A few new ones arrived in my email box last week . . .
New Arrivals
From PRH Audio
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
A charming unconventional love story about the owner of a record shop and the mysterious young woman who steals his heart.
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next.
The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor
A riveting and brilliantly plotted psychological suspense, this whip-smart debut will keep listeners guessing right up to the shocking ending.
The Maze at Windermere by Gregory Blake Smith
A time-traveling novel of love, lust, and avarice set in the destiny-altering dreamscape of Newport, Rhode Island.
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