Another in the Heron Family…

I thought this was the same bird but it’s not (no orange around the one above’s eye or neck)

.. Evening is nigh. (actually this was sometime last week)

A “cold front ” is here!!!  My door is open!!!! It will only get in the mid to upper 70’s!!!!  Tonight will dip down to the low 60’s!!  I will dream of maybe being able to wear my sweats!!!! oh yeah! oh yeah!

Look at the photo below of all the gathering Ibis!… they look like a bunch of chickens!  Now if we could only teach them to lay eggs that we could gather and eat they’d help us all here at the old folks home alot!

Pigs and Penguins and Owls oh my!

and if that isn’t enough… at a thrift store I found a “horse” that I brought home!..  (just what I need.. horse poop to clean up!)

He won’t win any beauty contests but ..for no reason at all I liked him!  So I brought him home with me and he now resides with Fetch and Fetch’s brother. (the brown version of Fetch)

Since this post is a mish-mosh of things, here is a photo of the latest afghan I made..

I’m afraid I haven’t been doing real well emotionally and physically (physical is a painful neck and chiropractor at the moment). So I am sorry I haven’t been commenting a lot on blogs and haven’t even been posting interesting posts..

Things feel very hard for me right now.  I really didn’t feel that I could handle more problems that hurt and was handed more to cope with and I’m not doing well..sometimes I wish they would come and take me away before I go insane ..and not the fun kind of insane.  I am not saying this for any sympathy.. I just want you to know my blog and friends I’ve made mean a lot to me and keep giving me a reason to get up each day..I am still hoping the pain resides and I am able to cope better soon..

I looked out upon the Pond and what did I see?… Not one but the Pair of Cormorants!  (according to the bird book, they look like Double Crested Cormorants)   So I took a walk up to wee if I could get some better pictures.  (I did stay a little away so they wouldn’t be frightened)

The male was sunning his wings (although the sun was behind a cloud)  The female looked uninterested.. they both even looked straight at me!

I did some zooming on the male who was showing me his beautiful feathers!……..

He was quite oblivious to my camera.

I’d say he looks like a proud peacock but ya know.. no color but brown and more brown lol.

I see the female here a lot but the male doesn’t always follow her here.

The the male decided to go for a swim…. not the best photo but it is a “motion” shot…

a bit later when I was back in my apartment I saw the female taking off.. she was on the far side of the pond running towards me…

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Walker & Company; Reprint edition (February 17, 2009)
ISBN-10: 080271742X

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Summerscale (The Queen of Whale Cay) delivers a mesmerizing portrait of one of England’s first detectives and the gruesome murder investigation that nearly destroyed him. In 1860, three-year-old Saville Kent was found murdered in the outdoor privy of his family’s country estate. Local police scrambled for clues, but to no avail. Scotland Yard Det.-Insp. Jonathan Jack Whicher was called in and immediately suspected the unthinkable: someone in the Kent family killed Saville. Theories abounded as everyone from the nursemaid to Saville’s father became a suspect. Whicher tirelessly pursued every lead and became convinced that Constance Kent, Saville’s teenage half-sister, was the murderer, but with little evidence and no confession, the case went cold and Whicher returned to London, a broken man. Five years later, the killer came forward with a shocking account of the crime, leading to a sensational trial. Whicher is a fascinating hero, and readers will delight in following every lurid twist and turn in his investigation.

I really thought I would enjoy this book more than I did.  I’m guessing I’m into gothic mysteries but not so much into “detectives”(with the exception of Sherlock Holmes)..I enjoy things more like the 13th Tale and Drood.

The case was sad, being it was the murder of a small child.  Mr. Whicher was called in after the police did all their “investigation” and later it was felt that the police didn’t try very hard to help Whicher when he investigated the crime. Add to that he was given a very short amount of time to try to solve the murder.

It was different knowing that this was about a real detective and that the murder was also real.. and it was a little strange to see references at times from Charles Dickens.. and yes, even Wilke Collins is mentioned! (it would seem I cannot rid myself of these two writers and their books!!)

Though I wouldn’t call this book a favorite, that’s not to say this didn’t have it’s interesting parts, it did!  At times I felt myself really getting into the story and then I’d float out again.. not sure why that was. 

This book wasn’t a page turner for me..but as I said, it did have some interesting things about it.  I guess I’d say it was a good book.. just not one that when it was over I knew I’d want to read again sometime.

I’ve been awfully slow with reviews lately and haven’t mentioned any “new” ones… so I thought I’d catch you up on that…

What you see here is actually pretty good for me!  Only two of them are new books from Amazon (Shadow Dragons by James A Owen and Syren by Angie Sage), one ( Magic & Malice: Mairelon the Magician/ Magicians Ward  by Patricia C. Wrede)  is a used book from Amazon, and the other 4 are from thrift shops at which I paid not over 1.00 for each of them!

The bad part is that I can’t blame anyone for any of these!!!  I’ve been reading James A Owen’s series from the beginning and the same with Angie Sage so they were “have to” buys… the rest were steals I couldn’t resist, knowing I’d get to them sooner or later.. with my tbr pile so huge I am sure it will be Later!

November 2nd 4 am….

Later that morning…

What we have here (according to the bird book) is a double crested   Cormorant.

It is related to the Anhinga but smaller and does not have a pointy beak

… it does however have impeccable posture!

… I’m not sure but I feel like I’m getting the Evil Eye!

The large Heron has been a bit elusive lately.. comes in the dark of the morning and leaves as soon as it’s getting light out. But I caught him this morning (finally!).

“the tall and the short of it all”.. heh.. the long neck is amazing.

He calmly walked into the water and proceeded to take a bath.

I caught a good reflection during a calm moment.. Two for the price of one!

A day would not be complete without ol’ Deadeye..  the reflection colors on the waters were so nice I had to show him off.

DeadEye and the Moorhens (I named them George and Gracie) were keeping a sharp eye on the pond this morning.. because.. you know who..

…was close by watching them!

“Him” I have not named because he’s the villain of the pond!  Any suggestions?  Maybe Snidely Whiplash??

Well before I can say hello to November I wanted to show our  Halloween moon… of course it was also the moon I saw on Nov. 1st when I woke at 4 am ~

When daylight finally arrived at the Pond I found the Ibis up in trees… for the 5 months I’ve been here I’ve never seen them in trees before!

They seem quite comfortable… but I wondered why they were up there instead of on the ground looking for food.

I took a walk around the pond (5 times actually ..which equals 1 mile) and took this picture of one of the trees.. I liked it so I am posting it for you to see.

..slim pickin’s around the pond these days. … so I will add photo’s from a post I hadn’t put up yet .. actually it’s two posts of the pond I stuck together for the same reason… it’s been very quiet around the pond lately!

Oct 29…

The past few days have shown the return of the Anhinga (seen below) Although this female is much smaller than the one that was around here when I first moved in, so maybe it’s an offspring. 

This is typical of the Egret..but I thought there was enough shades of green to show the whole picture instead of just the Egret.

Another End of Day Shot…

Oct 30…

The large Heron shows up while it’s still dark in the morning and leaves as the sun rises.. I managed (after a week of this) to get one shot of him before he left… It doesn’t help that he’s not real close to my apt either!

I went to feed some crows and the Ibis showed up… there was one of a different color among them!..  so I made sure he got some bread *grin

When the sun decided to set.. it looked as if the sky was on fire!

I have to say the clouds and the sunsets are really unusual around here..

what an array of colors!  looks like a whole sky turned into a rainbow.

I can’t believe RIP and October are both over! Geez!

I was pleased and shocked at how much I read this year for RIP..  TEN books!!

And not just “any ten books”.. many were rather large!….

for a total of 4752 pages!!! Woo hooo for me!!

As always I want to thank Carl for Hosting the RIP Challenge.  It has led me into really enjoying Gothic Mystery!!! 

As for October’s Wrap up…

2314 pgs for the month.

My favorite read of them all is Drood. (if I don’t count my REreading The Thirteenth Tale)  Coming in second was Shadow of the Wind.. then (after a slow start!) is The Woman in White, and fourth place goes to The Forgotten Garden. (but a close tie with Angels Game)

I have to say I was on a really good run of enjoyable books!  None were what I might call a looser! I hope everyone enjoyed their choices for RIP as much as I did ! (did anyone notice that we were really close to having 700 reviews?!!! That’s amazing!)

Happy November 1st Everyone….

  Quoth the Raven, Nevermore…..

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!

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And if that’s not enough….  why don’t you have a seat and rest a bit..

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I hope everyone who partakes in Halloween has a terrifying time this Halloween Eve!!

Happy Halloween Everyone.. 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: Atria; 1ST edition (April 7, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1416550542

From Booklist
In 1913, a little girl arrives in Brisbane, Australia, and is taken in by a dockmaster and his wife. She doesn’t know her name, and the only clue to her identity is a book of fairy tales tucked inside a white suitcase.  When the girl, called Nell, grows up, she starts to piece together bits of her story, but just as she’s on the verge of going to England to trace the mystery to its source, her grandaughter, Cassandra, is left in her care. When Nell dies, Cassandra finds herself the owner of a cottage in Cornwall, and makes the journey to England to finally solve the puzzle of Nell’s origins. Shifting back and forth over a span of nearly 100 years, this is a sprawling, old-fashioned novel, as well-cushioned as a Victorian country house, replete with family secrets, stories-within-stories, even a maze and a Dickensian rag-and-bone shop. All the pieces don’t quite mesh, but it’s a satisfying read overall, just the thing for readers who like multigenerational sagas with a touch of mystery.

Yet another chunkster read!

When I found this book at B&N I loved the cover and when I read the inside flap I thought this sounded pretty good, and so I bought it.  As it sat in my tbr pile I came for find that the author had also written another book that I had read “The House at Riverton”.  Now, I have to say, that I remember I wasn’t thrilled with that book.  I also remember thinking it would be a book like The 13th Tale, which I loved, and I am guessing I expected it to live up to The 13th Tale which it didn’t. My expectations for this book dropped.

Needless to say I became concerned that I would not like this book either, so I entered it with trepidation.  I think I expected to wade thru the book doing a lot of skimming ….. More or less, I didn’t expect much.

I was wrong.

I was wrong wrong wrong!

I liked this book very much!

It was a mystery  spanning a few life times, and so the chapters were set up to jump from the granddaughter to the grandmother, to the great grandmother back and forth and it took some getting used to before I knew who was who (CRS..it’s old age what can I say) 

It certainly wasn’t a cliff hanger type of book but it kept me very involved to the point that I was picking up the book a few times a day to read a chapter or two… or more.

I might describe the book as: The Secret Garden and The Thirteenth Tale rolled into one.. but it’s family secrets weren’t as dark as the 13th tale and the garden itself was more than just a secret. 

The books main protagonist was Cassandra (the granddaughter) and the entire book wrapped around finding out who Nell (her grandmother) really was.

Which meant she would begin by going to England to see why Nell had bought a cottage there and told no one she had ever gone to England.  Why had her grandmother never told anyone??  Why would she buy a cottage and never return to England?

Who was the Authoress?  And what did the child’s book of fairy tales have to do with Nell? 

This book is very well written.

And a very enjoyable read.

It sure made me keep reading.. and, as happens when reading a book that has captured you, it was not easy to read the last page knowing the book was over.

This one.. is a keeper…. and it is book number 10 for the RIP IV Challenge.