a good book

i am about halfway through the book “a gentleman in moscow,” and have been reminded, although i shouldn’t have needed the prompt, what a uniquely satisfying feeling it is to be part way through a very good book, knowing you are in good hands, and the author is both going to maintain your interest and not insult your intelligence. it’s a luxurious feeling. a movie is over too soon. a tv show too interruptive. a podcast too beholden to its format. a good novel could in theory go anywhere, at any length, and the author is up there on the high wire, making magic look natural.

northern white-cedar with (female) cones

mask

i see this as a cute sort of bunny face. our friend paul, who stopped by to give my boys some fly tying lessons today, sees this as a source of some soft fur and some stiff fur, which mingled together will make up the perfect dubbing for a bead-head hare’s ear nymph. a matter of perspective, i guess.

european hare ears (Lepus europaeus)

empty

winter has emptied this grape cluster, leaving behind its essential structure. i feel pleasantly emptied at the end of this year, profitably poor, energetically depleted, burstingly spare. ready for a very active hibernation.

wild grape vine in winter

more or less straight

just finished a free-ranging discussion about the trials and temptations of high school and college students these days. i’ve concluded that my kids have bent a few rules, in a more or less healthy way, and generally reverted to the straight and narrow. #moreorlessproud

winter prairie stem

holiday embrace

i’m not sure i’ve ever seen quite so passionate a tango-esque embrace between two essentially non-sentient beings. i hope your holidays were full of love, offered and accepted, between you and as many beings as you were able to accomodate, sentient or not.

wild grape vine tendril