old friends...

I hadn't seen the two coyotes on the dike for a very long while, but they're back! I managed to get a picture of one of them -- unfortunately a long ways off...



Here's the zoomed in version:

lots of rain...

...makes for a washed-out hiking trail.



Not complaining though -- it's always nice to get outside.

Friday Five: Books!

This week's Friday Five about books and reading got me motivated to fire up the ol' blog! (Thanks, Jan!)


1. What books have you recently read? Tell us your opinion of them.
For Christmas, Doug (Christina's boyfriend) gave me Steve Martin's An Object of Beauty, a novel about the business side of art. The book features reproductions of artworks which are cleverly worked into the story. It is ultimately a morality tale, and I predict that the novel will be made into a movie in the future. I loooove Steve Martin.

I am in the middle of reading (and enjoying!) The Book of General Ignorance, which was a Christmas gift from Christina. The subtitle is "Everything You Think You Know is Wrong" -- and that pretty much sums up what the book is about! It seems we have all acquired a lot of misinformation during our lives.

2. What books are awaiting your available time to be read?
My next novel will be The Mysterious Benedict Society, which looks like an easy, fun read. David recently purchased it as a book that he and I could share. I'll read it first, since he is up to his eyeballs in college reading.

3. Have any books been recently recommended?
Amazon recommends allllll sorts of books to me. :)

4. What genre of books are your favorite, along with some titles and/or authors you like best?
Hmmm.... my interests are pretty wide, so it's hard to pick a 'favorite'.

5. What have you read lately that you have a strong urge to recommend? (or to condemn?)
My 'stock' recommendation is Willa Cather's My Antonio, consistently in my top 5 books of all time.