Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 04, 2024
Smart Girls Read Romance: LIFE AND ART
Smart Girls Read Romance: LIFE AND ART: By Caroline Clemmons Since I’ve been an adult, I have loved Monet’s paintings, especially those done of his garden in Giverny. I wanted to ...
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: We are pleased to welcome a new reviewer, Damean, who has joined the BPL staff. Damean is an author and proud Appalachian native....
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Monday, August 20, 2018
How Plants Affect Your Mood, Spark Creativity and Improve Focus
How Plants Affect Your Mood, Spark Creativity and Improve Focus: Plants in the workplace could mean the difference between mild and great business success.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 13 Outdoor and Environmental Magazines that Pay Wr...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 13 Outdoor and Environmental Magazines that Pay Wr...: If you love the great outdoors and are passionate about conservation, you can get paid for writing about it! Hiking and climbing enthusias...
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
TEXAS BOOK LOVER REVIEW: BITTER WATERS: THE STRUGGLES OF THE PECOS ...
TEXAS BOOK LOVER: Review: BITTER WATERS: THE STRUGGLES OF THE PECOS ...: Bitter Waters: The Struggles of the Pecos River (University of Oklahoma Press) by Midland's Patrick Dearen has won the 2016 NEW MEXIC...
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: COOL STUFF TO MAKE YOU SMARTER!
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: COOL STUFF TO MAKE YOU SMARTER!: See how I tricked you into reading about one of my favorite animals, bats. No, don’t stop reading, please! You’ll be so glad you did if you...
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Review: "Widowmaker" by Paul Doiron
The ghost of his father
continues to haunt him in the latest in the Game Warden Mike Bowditch series, Widowmaker.
So too does a training film he saw on his first day as a cadet of the Maine
Criminal Justice Academy. That message five years ago stuck in his mind and
regularly appears in his nightmares.
He had just been
thinking about the film and the message delivered by the instructor when a strange
vehicle appeared at the road down by the end of his drive minutes after he had
gotten home on this January evening. That vehicle is a concern and he puts his
gun belt back on to deal with the situation. What had been planned as a quiet
evening at home by himself as his wildlife biologist girlfriend, Stacy, is out
of town, is now on the backburner due to the red Grand Cherokee parked with somebody
inside smoking. The driver turns out to be a 48 year old woman named Amber
Langstrom.
First, she says she
pulled over on the narrow road to make a call. Then she says she needs to use a
restroom. Finally, she says she was sitting at the drive trying to work up the
courage to come talk to Mike about his father, Jack Bowditch. The man is dead
and buried, but his criminal actions in Maine are legendary and that legacy has
been a heavy burned on Mike Bowditch. After coming up to the house, Amber Langstrom
drops a bombshell on Mike.
She claims that she
had a relationship with Jack Bowditch many years ago. It was a sexual
relationship. If she is to be believed, this happened right before Mike’s world
turned upside down, as his parents divorced and he moved away with his Mom.
Amber Langstrom goes on to allege that her son, Adam, is Jack’s son making him Mike’s
half-brother. Adam is missing and she believes Mike should look for him. Adam
was recently released from prison after serving two years time for a conviction
for having a sexual relationship with a minor. He was 17, she was 14, and they
were in love until her parents found out. Adam’s life was forever changed and
Mom is very angry as to what happened. Classified and registered as a sex
offender, Adam has been out for three months and been following all the rules
according to his mom. He has been working and living at a logging camp that serves
as a halfway house for registered sex offenders with nowhere else to go. She is
desperate for Mike’s help to find her missing son.
After some
preliminary checking by phone and a lot of thought, Bowditch eventually makes
the journey to the Widowmaker Ski Resort to start looking for Adam. The woods
surrounding the resort may be lovely, dark, and deep, but they also hide many
secrets. Secrets of a variety with lots of players determined to settle scores
and keep things hidden in the snows of Maine.
Widowmmaker is the
latest in the series that began with the Edgar award nominated The
Poacher’s Son. Six books later, the central character Mike Bowditch
continues to evolve and change as he gains wisdom and maturity. The mysteries
and complexities of daily life, person al relationships, and other issues
continue to be a background staple in this long running and very good mystery series.
Widowmaker
Paul Doiron
Minotaur Books
June 2016
ISBN# 978-1-250-06370-0
Hardback (available
in eBook and audio formats)
310 Pages
$25.99
Material supplied for me to read and
review by the good folks of the Plano Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016
Sunday, February 07, 2016
Review: "Terrariums: Gardens Under Glass" by Maria Colletti
If winter weather has got you down Terrariums:
Gardens Under Glass by Maria Colletti might be just the prescription
you need to chase the blues. The wealth of information in these seven chapters
and resources is designed to serve as inspiration to get you started in Designing,
Creating, And Planting Modern Indoor Gardens.
These days terrariums can come in
all shapes and sizes. Things have come a long way from the glass bowl with a lid style of terrarium we knew in our youth. In
her opening chapter “Terrarium Design” author Maria Colletti shows you how to
consider the plants you will use in relation to the vessel the plants will go
inside as you create a certain style of environment. Along with plenty of
explanation through the text and tip areas, there are numerous colorful
pictures to further illustrate the important points.
After taking readers through design,
the basics involved with a terrarium, and choosing a vessel to put the stuff
into, it is on to “Getting Started” in Chapter Four. This is when she shows you
how to put it all together through pictures and detailed instructions. This is
an incredibly informative section as she shows you step by step how to
construct a terrarium in several very different vessels.
While one could be in a hurry to get
started, one should pay a lot of attention to the following chapters which
cover all sorts of different plants and their needs as well as maintain the
terrarium once you get started. As in the rest of the book, variety is key here
and showcase by text and photograph.
An extensive resource guide as well
as glossary and a four page index bring this book to a close.
Published by Cool Springs Press, Terrariums:
Gardens Under Glass is a visual treasure trove filled with neat ideas.
This is one of those books that is done very well and can be a huge help in
your quest to recreate a little nature inside your home.
Terrariums: Gardens Under Glass
Maria Colletti
Cool Springs Press (Quarto
Publishing Group USA Inc.)
September 2015
ISBN# 978-1-59186-633-6
Paperback (also available in e-book
format)
176 Pages
$24.99
Material supplied by the good people
of the Haggard Branch of the Plano Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Review: "The Truth about Nature: A Family’s Guide to 144 Common Myths about the Great Outdoors" by Stacy Tornio and Ken Keffer
When I was a kid we went camping all
the time during breaks from school. Not only did my parents love the outdoors,
they thought being out in nature was as important as anything we learned in
classrooms when school was in session. That important idea was passed along to
my sons. That same important idea is behind the very cool book The
Truth about Nature.
It is a book designed to get kids
outside in the real world learning about nature and their role in it. As the
subtitle makes clear this book is A Family’s Guide to 144 Common Myths about
the Great Outdoors.
Broken into four sections based on
the seasons the book opens with Spring. The first myth is that “Birds sing
because they are happy.” The myth is busted as birds don’t have emotions like
humans and are singing because that is what they do. Bird song is their way of
communication.
Over the next fifty pages in the Spring
section are considered such as “Turkeys will drown in rain” (myth 14 on page
19), “Tornados turn clockwise” (myth 22 on page 31) and “Snapping turtles can’t
let go after they bite” (myth 36 on page 51) among others. Each myth is rated
on a 1 to 3 scale with 3 being absolutely totally false. Along the way there
are pages titled “Stranger Than Fiction” with interesting information as well “Be
A Scientist” pages geared towards fun experiments kids can do. For example, one
can earn how to make a rainbow using a cd, a glass of water, a flash
light, and a while piece of paper on page 36 or “Grow Your Own Mold” on page 49.
The ideas on the “Be A Scientist” pages might be a good starting point for
those science fair projects.
This same informative text is
continued through the Summer, Fall, and Winter sections. We learn that the idea
that “Mouthwash will keep mosquitoes away” (myth 62 on page 89) is massively
false as is that “Beavers eat fish” (myth 85 on page 120) or that “The brain is
the largest organ” (myth 130 on page 186.) According to the book the brain is
the third largest organ, coming in behind the liver at number two and skin at
number one. The idea that “Ostriches bury their heads in the sand” is myth 135
and can be found on page 193.
While the various myths may not
really fit the season section they are in, the myths are all informative and
interesting. All of the preceding leads
up to a five page index and a one page of author bios that bring this highly
entertaining book to be a close.
Filled with tips, fun facts and more
The
Truth about Nature: A Family’s Guide to 144 Common Myths about the Great Outdoors
is a colorful and fun book designed to make learning about a lot of things fun.
Published by “Falcon Guides” the book is a great way to teach kids as well as
adults about nature and our place in it while doing so in a fun way. Fun and
very cool, The Truth about Nature: A Family’s Guide to 144 Common Myths about the Great
Outdoors makes learning fun in many ways.
The Truth about Nature: A Family’s Guide
to 144 Common Myths about the Great Outdoors
Stacy Tornio and Ken Keffer
Falcon Guides (imprint of Rowman
& Littlefield)
October 2014
ISBN# 978-0-7627-9628-1
Paperback (also available in e-book)
232 Pages
$18.95
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano
Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
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