Excellent response to the fledgling situation! Chipping Sparrows are easier to ID here in Seattle, as the rufous head is distinctive, whereas you also get Swamp Sparrows there which can look very similar. We only get those here as rarities.
The best decision I ever made about my yard shortly after I bought Dog End was to take out the grass. I hate mowing and am allergic to grass, so now I have 3500 sf of trees, shrubs, flower beds, roses, herbs, paths and paving -- it's a ton of work but the kind I thoroughly enjoy (weeding is very therapeutic!).
Seattle clearly has no such ordinances on its books, judging by the mini-prairies I've seen around town. Not that I'd ever have one myself, but it's nice to know I can let things go should I wish to!
I'm not at all accustomed to seeing any sparrow other than juncoes right in my yard. I was really pleased.
I have thought of at least reducing the amount of grass, but fortunately am not allergic to it, and could never get up the energy to do the initial work. Also, it's much easier to just flatten everything with the mower periodically than to be weeding and mulching. I always fail at gardening when the midsummer heat and humidity descend; also if I have a book deadline.
Minneapolis will let you have a mini-prairie, but it has to be an actual prairie with native grasses and plants, not just random stuff that hasn't been mowed.
What a lovely find. It's kind of neat that something so vulnerable was able to have the power to get you (willingly, as you say, but still!) to hold back on lawn mowing.
It can't help being part of an imported rapacious species, any more than I can.
Amen!
I find lawns boring and am much more interested in seeing what comes up and blooms if I leave them alone. --me too. High fives for shared feelings!
I'm very glad to hear about all your reissues, especially the ebooks. I *prefer* physical books, but it's nice to have the option of ebooks.
The fledgling so clearly didn't know what to do other than be very quiet and watch me, and it had an air of "not scared yet" that was very touching. And such a bright eye.
*high fives back* I actually found a patch of Virginia waterleaf way back in a corner a couple of years ago. It's not spreading, but I don't feel that moving it would please it either. Maybe when I take out the peony next to it, which can't bloom in such dense shade, it will feel free to increase a little bit.
I had to look up a picture of Virginia waterleaf on Google (all the while thinking how handy this is: as it happens, I have wildflower books, so if this were 20 years ago, I could have looked it up in one of them, but how much more handy it is to be able to just type the words and have the picture appear).
Ah yes, I remember finding it rather difficult to get hold of Juniper, Gentian, Rosemary. And I have to say, I don't know which particular point you think was overstated and obvious, because I found it even more poetic and elliptical than your usual novels - which is not a complaint, incidentally, just noting that I don't think you are as obvious as you think you are. I did find it rather a sad novel to read, because the friendships were the core of the book for me.
This made me snort with laughter (the bit about Finnegans Wake). I had a great deal of trouble with the end Fire and Hemlock myself until I read an essay about it describing the influence on it of Eliot's Burnt Norton.
I've been studying how to answer this without committing too many spoilers. The friendships were very important to me too, and I did intend a very strong note of hope about them to be evident at the end.
I was attempting to say a lot of things about gender essentialism and the imbalance of romantic relationships in American (at least) culture.
So delighted to hear that your work will be both eBookified and PODified! We treasure our hardcovers, and have been hesitant to lend them out -- now we'll be able to recommend them more freely, by pointing people to the links for purchase. Yay!
After three or four days of hearing fledglings meeping and parents chipping warningly, all fell silent. I checked the yard, and there were no fledglings. So I did have to mow it. I have looked for the sparrows, but there is so much uncut brush and tall grass and weeds that they could easily disappear if they didn't like the look of me. Their basic call sounds so much like any bird complaining of danger that I can't tell if they are out there.
I hope that JG&R will be out soon. We are still wrestling with the cover.
Perhaps we are not quite at the wrestling stage, as the whole thing is rather misty at the moment and we are still looking for the images we need. Apparently late-Victorian houses with telescope domes are not common, not photographed, or do not have their photographs on the internets.
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The best decision I ever made about my yard shortly after I bought Dog End was to take out the grass. I hate mowing and am allergic to grass, so now I have 3500 sf of trees, shrubs, flower beds, roses, herbs, paths and paving -- it's a ton of work but the kind I thoroughly enjoy (weeding is very therapeutic!).
Seattle clearly has no such ordinances on its books, judging by the mini-prairies I've seen around town. Not that I'd ever have one myself, but it's nice to know I can let things go should I wish to!
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I have thought of at least reducing the amount of grass, but fortunately am not allergic to it, and could never get up the energy to do the initial work. Also, it's much easier to just flatten everything with the mower periodically than to be weeding and mulching. I always fail at gardening when the midsummer heat and humidity descend; also if I have a book deadline.
Minneapolis will let you have a mini-prairie, but it has to be an actual prairie with native grasses and plants, not just random stuff that hasn't been mowed.
P.
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It can't help being part of an imported rapacious species, any more than I can.
Amen!
I find lawns boring and am much more interested in seeing what comes up and blooms if I leave them alone. --me too. High fives for shared feelings!
I'm very glad to hear about all your reissues, especially the ebooks. I *prefer* physical books, but it's nice to have the option of ebooks.
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*high fives back* I actually found a patch of Virginia waterleaf way back in a corner a couple of years ago. It's not spreading, but I don't feel that moving it would please it either. Maybe when I take out the peony next to it, which can't bloom in such dense shade, it will feel free to increase a little bit.
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It's very pretty!
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love
Catherine
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I feel a re-read coming on.
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I was attempting to say a lot of things about gender essentialism and the imbalance of romantic relationships in American (at least) culture.
P.
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So delighted to hear that your work will be both eBookified and PODified! We treasure our hardcovers, and have been hesitant to lend them out -- now we'll be able to recommend them more freely, by pointing people to the links for purchase. Yay!
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I hope that JG&R will be out soon. We are still wrestling with the cover.
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