There is a small park near my house that is being restored back to its natural state as a wetland. It has a marshy area, a few small ponds, and a small forested section. It’s only about 20 acres but it’s very diverse. The park district maintains the paths and it’s a nice place for a walk. Plus, it’s only 2 blocks from my house.
On a recent walk I heard a lot of honking, looked up, and saw several large groups of Canada Geese. They landed so fast I was quickly surrounded. They broke into a couple of groups and began marching around.
I suppose they were migrating south and decided to take a break. After eating some grass they all moved over to the small pond.
A few days later I saw a bird tucked into the reeds at the far end of the pond. It was a lone Great Blue Heron. I don’t usually see them this late in the year.
Chicago is on the northern edge of their winter range and the smart ones usually head south. This bird was probably just taking a break from his journey. I turned away for a second to try and get closer and he flew away.
I link up my bird photos on Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
See Mix Drink
by Brian D. Murphy
Genre: Food & Drinks
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publish Date: October 19th 2011
Format: Hardcover | 232 pages
Rating: 5 of 5
See Mix Drink arrives just in time for the holiday party season. A new concept in cocktail guide books, it uses an illustrated format with easy to follow graphic instructions on how to make 100 of the most popular mixed drinks. Eliminating text based instructions greatly simplifies the process making it quick and easy to mix up more than just the basic Vodka and Tonic or Rum and Coke. Click the browse inside this book button above to see for yourself.
There is a short introduction and a how-to on using the book, what tools and glassware a well equipped bar should contain, plus a description of the most common spirits and a color coded chart for easy identification when using the instruction portion of the book. There is also a handy alphabetical index at the end for quick drink look-ups.
The bulk of the book contains the drink making instructions. Each drink is presented on two pages, beautifully laid out using color photos, graphics and charts. In addition to the basic instructions the author also provides a brief history of the drink, interesting factoids, how to phonetically pronounce the name, time required to prepare, calorie content and a photo of the finished drink.
The book itself is a handsome hardcover volume with a water-resistant cover. There is no dust jacket; the cover photo is printed right on the book. This is a great idea and I would like all recipe and drink books to be made this way. I dislike ruining the pretty dust cover on my recipe books, and so often in a busy kitchen accidents happen.
Newbies just learning to mix drinks, experienced bartenders and those somewhere in between will all find this a helpful guide to creating some of the most popular cocktails. This would make a great gift for the aspiring bartender on your holiday list.
About the Author
Brian D. Murphy’s favorite mixed drink is the Old Fashioned, having been inspired to try it after watching Mad Men. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Nicole and their three pets Kate, MeowMeow, and Maya.You can learn more about Brian on Facebook.com/SeeMixDrink.
——
Source: Review copy provided by Hachette Books.
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Participation is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.
I Am A Reader Not A Writer and All-Consuming Books are hosting the Blog Hop Gratitude Giveaway. It will run through through midnight November 27th.
Over 175 blogs are participating and each will be giving away books or book related items to their followers.
I am giving away an audiobook CD of Does The Noise In My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler. It has been listened to one time (my review is HERE) but is in brand new condition. The audio performance was excellent and Steven Tyler fans will love the book. (There is some explicit language.)
Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?
Tyler tells what it’s like to be a living legend and the frontman of one of the world’s most revered and infamous bands—the debauchery, the money, the notoriety, the fights, the motels and hotels, the elevators, limos, buses and jets, the rehab. He reveals the spiritual side that “gets lost behind the stereotype of the Sex Guy, the Drug Guy, the Demon of Screamin’, the Terror of the Tropicana.”
Giveaway Information
- Contest is open to US addresses only, 18 years of age or older.
- You don’t have to be a subscriber to enter, but new subscribers are always appreciated.
- To enter, fill out the form.
- The deadline for entry is midnight, November 27th. I will draw one winner who will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond with a mailing address.
Before you leave you might want to check the sidebar for other giveaways. Then hop over to one of the many other blogs participating in the Gratitude Giveaway Hop. Click HERE for a list.
[Contest Now Closed]
Almost Wordless: Earlier this month the colors were gorgeous. This past week the leaves have all blown away.
Photo taken at Cantigny Gardens. (Click for sharper image.)
——————————–
More Wordless Wednesday.
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 November host is Marcia, the founder of Mailbox Monday at the Mailbox Monday Blog.
A win from Atria books:
Dear Me
by Joseph Galliano
In Dear Me, 75 celebrities, writers, musicians, athletes, and actors have written letters to their younger selves that give words of comfort, warning, humor, and advice. These nuggets of wisdom are offered by an Academy Award–nominated actor (James Woods), a popular comedian (Aasif Mandvi), and a world-famous novelist (Jodi Picoult) to their sixteen-year-old selves. No matter how accomplished and confident they seem today, at sixteen, they were like the rest of us—often unsure, frequently confused, and usually in need of a little reassurance.
From the publicist for review:
Laughing at Wall Street
by Chris Camillo
Chris Camillo is not a stockbroker, financial analyst, or hedge fund manager. He is an ordinary person with a knack for identifying trends and discovering great investments hidden in everyday life. In early 2007, he invested $20,000 in the stock market, and in three years it grew to just over $2 million. Engaging, narratively-driven, and without complicated financial analysis, Camillo’s stock picking methodology proves that you do not need large sums of money or fancy market data to become a successful investor.
From the publisher for review:
Wayward Saints
by Suzzy Roche
Mary Saint, the rule-breaking, troubled former lead singer of the almost-famous band Sliced Ham, has pretty much given up on music after the trauma of her band member and lover Garbagio’s death seven years earlier. Instead, with the help of her best friend, Thaddeus, she is trying to piece her life together while making mochaccinos in San Francisco. Meanwhile, back in her hometown of Swallow, New York, her mother, Jean Saint, struggles with her own ghosts.
How was your week?:
Glow (Sky Chasers #1)
by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Read by: Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown
Genre: YA, Science Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publish Date: September 27, 2011
Format: Audio CD | 10 Hours
Rating: 4½ of 5
In the not too distant future Earth is becoming uninhabitable; its collapse is imminent. Two large ships and crews, the Empyrean and the New Horizon, leave earth on a voyage into deep space to colonize a new planet, New Earth. It will take many years and several generations to reach the new world.
On the Empyrean fifteen-year-old Waverly, one of the first of the new generation born in deep space, is an average teenager. The ship, a peaceful farming vessel, is the only world she knows. Her biggest problem is whether she should marry Kieran, a handsome young leader destined to be the next captain, or date others. But her life would soon change dramatically.
On the New Horizon, all is not well. The women of that ship are infertile and there is no next generation to carry on the mission to New Earth. In desperation the crew plan and carry out an attack on the Empyrean and kidnap the young girls with the intent of using them to repopulate their ship. The unsuspecting adults on the Emyprean are easily captured or killed as their world has only known peace for decades. Now the children must quickly mature and assume leadership roles.
This was a fast-paced, dystopian tale filled with timely and relevant topics that I found riveting to listen to. Fertility and religion were both addressed and presented well. There was romance, conflict and a love triangle. This is not hard scifi but more of what I would call space opera. We were in a new world but without a lot of the world building that often accompanies scifi, fantasy and dystopian novels. That did leave a lot of questions unanswered, and more than a bit of mystery to eventually be revealed, but that did not distract from my enjoyment or understanding of the story. On the contrary, it kept me listening.
The book is written in the third person and our narrators are Waverly and Kieran. A disadvantage of using third-person storytelling was that I couldn’t really feel what Waverly or Kieran were thinking. This was a story with a lot of emotion and first person would have worked to convey more of that to the reader or listener.
The audio production had two narrators, Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown, neither of whom I had listened to before. Both did a nice job with the reading. It was easy to tell the difference between the adults and children’s voices and emotions such as anger and rage were clearly expressed.
Glow is the first book of the new series, Skychasers. The second book, Sparks, has an expected publication date of July 2012. I don’t read a lot of YA, but this series reminds me of the type of books I adored when I was a teen. I am looking forward to the next installment.
————————————–
Source: Audio CD provided by the publisher.
Mourning Doves are a common backyard bird and most days I see a few of them, occasionally sitting in the tray feeder but more often walking around on the ground picking up seeds. One afternoon a flock of them were in the yard and when I went outside they all flew away. But when I looked up I realized they hadn’t gone very far.
They were roosting on the roof antenna waiting for me to leave. They may have been using it as a giant perch for a while and I just never realized it. And of course I had to get a picture of it!
Mourning Doves are a common bird seen across most of North America. The Doves that breed in the northernmost areas will migrate south for the winter, sometimes thousands of miles. Those in central and southern US will only move a few hundred miles or may stay year round.
I have Mourning Doves here all winter. If they can find food they will remain even though it gets cold. They readily eat cracked corn, sunflower seed, nuts, milo and thistle, all seeds I put in the tray feeder.
Interesting Facts:
- Mourning Doves eat roughly 12 to 20 percent of their body weight per day.
- The Mourning Dove is one of the most abundant birds with a U.S. population estimated at 350 million.
- The female builds the nest and will lay only 2 eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs.
- The whistling sound doves make when they fly is caused by air rapidly moving across their wings.
I link up my bird photos on Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
Under My Apple Tree 