Bookmarque’s Padded Cell 2024 - Shock Therapy (2)

New thread and a brand new dragonfly -



This is a male Blue Dasher (at least I think it is) just coming into maturity. Isn't he gorgeous?

Happy new thread!

>1 Bookmarque: Lovely!
I was going to try to subtly mention that your previous thread was getting a bit long in the tooth. Now I don't have to. Happy new thread!

>1 Bookmarque: Looking forward to following your reading and rambling and photography. Love the dragonfly and also the turtles in the old thread, thank you!

>1 Bookmarque: What a great way to start a new thread!

>1 Bookmarque:

Happy new thread. I love dragonflies.

Happy New Thread! The dragonfly is amazing.

Thanks everyone. I don't post as much as I have in the past, but still enough to make threads get a bit draggy. Here's another Draggy for you -



This is a female Williamson's Emerald drying off after emerging from her nymph life to that of the air. The females have those spikes which are ovipositors. They mostly live in the woods and are rarely seen. The eggs are laid in mud on the banks of slow-moving streams or lakes. Isn't she gorgeous? There was another one just to the left and behind her doing the same thing. I found them in a little nook on the Harrison Flowage while kayaking yesterday. She's about 2 1/2 inches long.

Happy new thread! And if I might say, it's not just your photos that make the thread interesting; it's also that you flesh them out with the little details like "The eggs are laid in mud on the banks of slow-moving streams or lakes." Tidbits that I wouldn't have any notion of, otherwise!!!

Since we took out our pond I miss the dragonflies. This morning, walking in my garden, I saw a black and white striped on resting/ sleeping on a branch. I haven't seen those in my yard before, but of course my phone was not with me.

Thanks jill & Mrs L. Nature endlessly fascinates me. My collection of field guides barely fits in the little cabinet in my living room anymore so I might have to transfer them somewhere else soon. If you go to my library and use the tag field guide, you'll see them.

Anyway, more dragonflies and nature tidbits. In many species of dragon and damselflies, the male and female remain attached after mating while the female lays eggs. The reason is that solitary males will attack the couple and try to dislodge the male in order to mate with her himself. First an unmolested pair of Common Green Darners happily coordinating their flying so she can lay eggs on surface plants -



And another couple on the other side of the lake a while later. Just as I got the camera on them, this very thing happened. I wasn't ready, but I managed to get this shot of the battle. The mating pair are on the right and the intruder on the left - the males are blue and green. It all happened in a split second, but the pair fought off the attacker and flew off to lay more eggs.



And here's what it looks like when they fly together (this is the first pair above) -



Not the sharpest, but I did my best. Anyway...all part of the drama. Dragonflies lead very rough-and-tumble lives.

Have taken the plunge and am listening to Dust the 3rd in the Silo series. So far it's better than the glacial Shift, but it feels more deliberately manipulative than either that or Wool. A 'little do they know' aspect of the dust itself, the whole conniving plan and the varying level of power in each silo. Interesting and somewhat surprising, but really, what do we expect from humans? We almost universally choose what's best for ourselves individually rather than collectively and the least amount of authority or the ability to get away with something makes us do the worst. Left to our own devices we aren't a terrific species most of the time. So circling the drain about 1/2 way through.

>11 Bookmarque: Amazing pictures. Very alien looking.

>11 Bookmarque: Incredible photos! Thank you for sharing :)

The photos are (as always) amazing! Why do the females have little spikes? They look a bit vicious.

I watched the first season of Silo. It was interesting. I thought about reading the book, but I have so many others to read. I’ll probably just wait and see if they make a season 2.

The ovipositor (the thing she lays eggs with) in this species looks like a spike as I said in the post and she pokes it into mud when laying eggs. There are some species collectively called Basket tails because the females gather their eggs together in a structure that looks like a basket and they lay them all at once. Most dragonflies lay them in singles or sometimes little groups or strings. It's really rather fascinating.

Here's a pair of Bluet damselflies in their mating ritual. Not sure if they have completed the circle yet or if they are getting ready for her to lay eggs, but I really liked the amount of detail I could get in both of them.

Just catching up on threads after my holiday, and wow! I love the dragonflies, and the turtles from the previous thread. I saw both creatures in Japan but didn't get nearly such good pics. You've really captured the dragonfly/damselfly behaviour so well.

Thanks much Sakerfalcon, I have a lot of fun photographing them, usually from the kayak where I can just sit for a while and see what comes by. That's what happened with these pairs of Dot-tailed whitefaces mating in the first one and laying eggs in the second. In that one, she is hidden behind him, but was still attached while they fly together and she deposits eggs on plants on the water surface. The same behavior as in the Common Green Darner photos.





The round red things on the female in the first photo are water mites, commonly found on dragon and damselflies, but this is a particularly heavy load.

>12 Bookmarque: I was never particularly enthusiastic about Hugh Howey and his trilogy although I know other folks who found his work very worthwhile. I think I agree with you that parts of the trilogy move at a glacial pace and are therefore rather tedious as entertainment reading goes.

As always, your photographic work is striking!

Thanks jill - yeah, the whole series of books was pretty uneven, but mostly good and it wrapped up in a more positive way than I thought it might. Only paid a couple bucks per so it isn't too hard to take.

Off to paddle again today. Might see some more of these guys. No matter how many shots of GBHs I have, I will always try for more when one gives me such a great opportunity.

The hunt -

And the catch -

I occasionally get vids of GBH’s visiting a small creek that runs across my property. I love how methodical and controlled their movements are. I didn’t know until I started watching them on my trailcam videos just how omnivorous they are. They’ll eat small birds and mammals if the opportunity arises.

GBHs are so entertaining. The way they move is so distinctive of the species and a bit robot-like. And I don't believe they are omnivorous as they seem to be strictly carnivores. They will eat anything they can catch. Sometimes though, they have a hard time swallowing it!

Here's what I found yesterday; a solo Common Loon on a lake where I've never seen or heard one before. Could be that the Bald Eagle nest seems to be inactive this year that made it feel secure here. We will see if the lake can sustain it; they're not known for thier abundance of fish.

>23 Bookmarque: I know I keep saying that aI don't comment on your photos (or anyone else's) because I've run out of superlatives, but the second one with the bird's wings spread is just superb.

>23 Bookmarque:
Nice shots.

What >24 haydninvienna: said.

>23 Bookmarque: Really great pictures, as always.

Thanks peeps. Glad you enjoy the pics. Lately I've had a great time on the water even when my original plans go awry. Twice I've tried to get up to the Prairie River headwaters which is a pair of relatively undeveloped lakes (one house), but they are hard to get to and this year I've been stymied twice - the first time when I spotted what turned out to be an injured Pine Warbler so had to take him to my rehabber peeps, the second a logging operation in full swing. It's not a good idea to get in the way of those guys, so each time I went to Plan B. The Loon encounter happened on the second attempt when I had to paddle Horn Lake instead. And this happened the first time when I decided to go to Harrison Lake -







OMG!!! My first Belted Kingfisher photos! Isn't she incredible? It's a youngster newly fledged and very vocal; repeatedly calling to her parents who I could hear nearby, but never graced me with their presence. She did though and I spent about 20 minutes photographing and filming her before she flew off. I got incredibly close in the kayak, something I find happens often with young birds. Such an amazing and special experience.

>27 Bookmarque: She is incredible :)

>27 Bookmarque: Fantastic! I love kingfishers.

>27 Bookmarque:
Brilliant! No other word will do.

>27 Bookmarque: she is so cute! She looks like she has “bed head.” :D

>27 Bookmarque: How wonderful! She looks like she is about to say something equally wise and obnoxious.

Loons and kingfishers! What wonderful photos! Plan B certainly doesn't disappoint.

Thanks guys. She was a treat and a privilege for sure. Great experience and one I'll treasure.

>23 Bookmarque: That second shot of the loon is amazing. Caught at just the right moment. I hope that the lake does provide a sufficient food source for the bird.

Thanks jill - it was a lovely moment with that bird and I hope it can stay as well. There might be streams leading into or out of this lake ... I may have seen the beginnings of one from a little exploration, but I couldn't find anything on google maps. Here's a head on shot of the same bird. This can be a tough shot because the face won't be evenly lit, but the white feathers on its back reflected light back up and it came out pretty well.

I love my loons. Fabulous photos, as always..

>36 Bookmarque: Super shot.

>36 Bookmarque: I’ve always thought of loons as peaceful birds, just swimming along making their cool sounds. This picture makes it look pretty deadly, though. The expression on its face: don’t mess with me!

Thanks peeps. Loons are special - I woke up to one singing somewhere on the river nearby. Glorious sound. My quest to kayak yesterday was stymied by several factors so am hoping for better luck today.



Oh and today is my 18th Thingaversary!!! Woo hoo! Since I buy books all the time, there isn't any special celebrating going on. My latest addition is this, which I picked up earlier this week -

Congratulations on your Thingaversary! Here's to the next 18 years!

>40 Bookmarque: Congratulations, have a great Thingaversary :)

Congratulations!!!!

Happy Thingaversary :)

>40 Bookmarque: Eighteen years goes by quickly, doesn't it? What a wonderful find for your shelves.

>40 Bookmarque: Happy Thingaversary! Now you are an adult here.

>40 Bookmarque: Happy Thingaversary and thank you again for all of the wonderful pictures.

Happy Thingaversary. Have a great time on the lakes and rivers.

Thanks everyone - it's been a nice 18 years with you folks. Bookish peeps with hidden depths and humor. What the heck would I do without you?! So as a reward, here's a photo of a newly-fledged Bald Eagle I happened upon in the kayak yesterday -



See the July Weekend Thread for the backstory and a bit of a whine fest.

>49 Bookmarque: Wow! Stunning photo. You can even see where it's adult coloring is starting to peek through.

>49 Bookmarque: What >50 Narilka: said. Amazing.

Thanks guys. It was an incredible encounter - up close, these guys are really big and a little intimidating. Their feet are almost as big as my hand. But hopefully junior's folks came to soothe the little tyke. Am planning to head out onto the water again today, nowhere new, but where I've encountered eagles, herons, turtles, otters and even an osprey. We'll see what today brings, but in the mean time a tiny bird with a spider bailing out just in time -





Hummies routinely eat spiders so lucky for this little one. They also collect spider silk to construct their nests which are made of that and lichen for the most part. I have one on my mantel and it's about the size of a walnut in its shell.

More birds. Well one anyway, the elusive and very shy Green Heron -



In all my years of kayaking, I've never been able to get close to one. Last year I had one in my sights and was trying to position the boat when it flew. Of course. Usually I just see them ahead of me panicking and flying away. I think it's my preference for paddling undeveloped waters. This one was between houses on a stretch of river that has a lot of them in one area and the associated boats and noise. Habituated to us it was much less wary and let me park the boat on some sand about 25 feet away. Incredible. I love these little guys so much. They're much smaller (crow size) and more skittish than cousin the GBH and so harder to get photos of so even though the light is less than wonderful here, I'm pretty darn happy.

>53 Bookmarque: Not being a photographer, I cannot criticize the light. I can only say that is a fabulous shot of a bird I am never likely to see in life, and share your thrill at the capture. Thank you for sharing.

>53 Bookmarque: Incredible that you not only got close to the heron but managed to make such a good photo of it too!

Spectacular photos, as usual.

It’s more colorful than I would imagine. A beauty!

>53 Bookmarque: If you're happy, we're happy! Great picture.

>53 Bookmarque: Wonderful shot of the heron!

Thanks everyone - sorry so late replying. Just got back from a few days in NH visiting friends and family. The heron was such a treat - my first time getting close to one. It was so exciting and I was so thrilled it's amazing I got any photos at all.

I've been reading John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series for about 30 years now and there are about 3 dozen books in it, plus spin-offs like the Virgil Flowers books and now the Letty Davenport books. Seems like the latest round of paperback releases is calling out the fact that they are relatively old as far as the series goes -



I haven't seen all of the books together so I don't know which are labeled as Classic Thrillers and where the cut off is for that designation, but I thought it was fun. And yes, the main Davenport Prey novels are still going strong by themselves, but alas, Virgil has been folded back into them which is where he came from anyway.

Julian Simpson isn't known much here in the US, but I got hooked on his Lovecraft Investigations series a few years back and loved it. I think I found it on a podcast app or something and then I had to do some digging to get to the intersecting shows that came earlier. Some on the BBC Radio app, some on Soundcloud. So count me overjoyed to find Temporal in the Audible Plus catalog. It's equally twisty and crazy, but so much fun. Maybe more of his work will show up on Audible. If it does I'll grab it, too.



If you like audio drama and science fiction stuff involving time travel and real events that have taken place like Roanoake Island, DB Cooper's plane hijack and Roswell, check it out.

>62 Bookmarque: Oh, I think I will go add this one to my Audible library before I forget.

Done! Thank you.

I just finished it and gave it 4 stars, maybe I might nudge that up depending on how long it rolls around in my head. Really fun and thought-provoking.

I recognized one of the actors immediately from all of the Lovecraft Investigations stuff - looked her up and she's married to Simpson although she works under Jana Carpenter. She's great although I kept having to tell myself she wasn't Kennedy Fisher!

Had a nice little moment with this male Red-bellied woodpecker who was busy trying to satisfy the appetites of his offspring. He caught this...something...and beat it to death on the tree before flying off with his prize.

>65 Bookmarque: Wow! Amazing photo :)

>65 Bookmarque: Great shot. I love these guys. They are so vocal and feisty. (Not to mention gorgeous.)

Thanks guys. Have been traveling and busy lately and trudging my way through The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Parts of it are good and interesting, but it's a trial, too. Exhaustible detail over a lot of it and so much repetition. Am playing the audio a little faster than usual and have just skipped the endless scenes of cruelty at the limited agency women at this time had. Might just skip it altogether.

Despite the mixed reviews on Audible, I'm pretty happy with The Cut so far. I think it's Armitage's second novel and is available in the Audible Plus catalog. It's intricate and has a lot of layers - some connections I've spotted and others I haven't so it's keeping me quite interested. Two narrators are used to help keep the two timeframes distinct; something I appreciate and of course Armitage himself is one of them.



Now if he just sticks the landing.

Oh and boy am I glad I had a good bunch of friends in high school. Sure we had our spats and drama sometimes, but NOTHING like the full-bore cruelty and violence of the group in this book. What a bunch of assholes for the most part. It's no wonder the modern-day revenge plot is afoot.

Just about to the dual-timeline climax of The Cut. Pretty exciting if unsurprising.

Here's a little cutie I found under the trashcan the other day -



It's a Blue-spotted salamander, a native to Wisconsin, but one I've only seen and photographed twice. This one is about 1 1/4 inches in this cute little curl. I blended 40 separate exposures taken at different focal points to make this shot.

Awww! So sweet, and pretty too!

>70 Bookmarque: What a cutie.

>70 Bookmarque: Wow, so cute! Great photo :)

Thanks guys. What a face, huh? I just love salamanders of all kinds. As I don't go looking for them, I hardly ever see them. Secretive little guys.

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Am into the last 1/3 of The River's Edge by Joy Ellis which is the latest in a series I listened to thanks to the Audible Plus catalog. It's enjoyable and has good characters and vibes, but the crimes and the manipulation of the cops at the hands of a particular criminal has been a story arc through several books. This might be the culmination of that, or maybe he will continue to work his menace, but it's getting to the squirmy bit where the good guys are at risk as well as everyone they are close to. I almost want to put it down for now, but I'll keep on.

>70 Bookmarque: Great picture! I only see those animals in aquariums.

>70 Bookmarque: Well, if you've seen him twice under the trash bin, then whether you had realized it or not, he is, for all intents and purposes, part of the household. You should ask what name he goes by (just to be polite).

Ugh, had to abandon The Influence because of the obsession with the main character's constant erections. Jeez, I know dicks are mesmerizing by most of the people who have them, but for the rest of us, not so much. Returned to Audible in favor of -



which has been on my wishlist for years. Need to put something sensible in my brain, even if it is basically the same thing.

>77 Bookmarque: I snorted. Thank you for warning the rest of us away...

>77 Bookmarque: A very nice warning, thank you. Lol.

Glad to be of service. Also picked up a William Boyd (The Romantic) and Homo Sapiens Rediscovered in the 2-for-1 credit sale they're running.

Finished the book about Marathon - thought it was comprehensive and had enough depth for me to understand a bit more than I had about this particular battle, but mostly it was about the Greek culture it preserved and allowed to grow. If it had been longer it would have been too much and too diluted. So a solid 3 stars.

Haven't been out shooting much, but here are a couple of my favorite mushroom photos from this year -





The first is an Amanita fulva and the second is a type of Mycena, but both are in gorgeous moss and are just single photos, no stacks.

>81 Bookmarque: I love mushroom photos! These are lovely.

Mushrooms and fungi are so amazing! Your pics really bring out their alienness.

>82 Alexandra_book_life: Have you read Jeff Vandermeer? His The Southern Reach and Ambergris series are both organically focused. Mushroom people, etc... It's all very weird - but in a good way, (if you like that sort of thing ;-).

I have read one Vandermeer and didn't like it much, unfortunately, since he's pretty popular and somewhat prolific.

>84 ScoLgo: I do like weird things :) Yes, I've read Annhilation and thought it was perfectly fine, as weird things go. I did not continue with the rest of the series, though.

This discussion made me think of Mexican Gothic. Have you read it? It was interesting, but not that great.

>86 Alexandra_book_life: I have read, and liked, Mexican Gothic. I'm actually a pretty big fan of Moreno-Garcia and have read almost all of her published novels. One that I have not yet gotten to, but have a copy of on the TBR shelf, is an anthology she edited called Fungi. Completing the circle, Jeff Vandermeer contributed a story to it.

I like Jeff Vandermeer's work a lot, especially the Ambergris books which will make you look askance at all fungi! The tainted cup by Robert Jackson Bennett also uses fungi creatively in its worldbuilding.

>87 ScoLgo: I'd like to read more by Moreno-Garcia. I happened to read her Prime Meridian some time ago and liked it a lot, so I wanted to try more of her books. I think I expected more/other things from Mexican Gothic. Which of her novels is your favourite?

>88 Sakerfalcon: The tainted cup is on my list :) I have enjoyed all the novels by Robert Jackson Bennett I have read so far.

>81 Bookmarque: Great photos, thank you.

>89 Alexandra_book_life: I too liked Prime Meridian. My other favorites are Mexican Gothic, Silver Nitrate, and Certain Dark Things. The first Moreno-Garcia I read was Signal to Noise, which I also thought was quite good. Velvet Was the Night was interesting too. Gods of Jade and Shadow didn't really do it for me because Magical Realism. I haven't read The Daughter of Doctor Moreau yet but that one is next on my list. Not sure I'm the demographic for her new one as it sounds like a romance. One thing about her books is that she moves into different genres, which I find refreshing.

>92 ScoLgo: It's a nice list, thank you :)

Went walking in the woods today for the first time in months. It was refreshing.

>94 Bookmarque: Lovely! Are the bugs mostly gone?

Yes, mostly. I had to dodge some now and then, but mostly the bugs were strange flies and moths.

This is my favorite time of year. Fewer bugs and still (mostly) seasonable.

>94 Bookmarque: The first six words of your post are a perfect title for the photo.

Ok. I just have to say this. Will narrators PLEASE FUCKING LEARN how to pronounce local names?!! OMFG - it's not Concorde Massachusetts like the defunct plane. It's Concord. Pronounced CONcurd.

Not. That. Hard. Is it too much to ask?

>99 Bookmarque: And that's before you get to UK place names like Alnwick ("annick") and Kirkcudbright ("kircoobri"). If they get those right they can learn that Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, was recently renamed to Gqeberha -- I won't even try a phonetic version!

It's driving me nuts. And there are other instances, too, but with regular words. Reveille is not pronounce ruh-VALLEY. Ugh. The one job they have is reading a book out loud, you'd think someone would bother to correct them when they blow it. Not everyone in production can be so dumb.

>94 Bookmarque: That is beautiful. I feel like I could walk into the picture along the path.

This came up in my Fb feed today. Scary.

>103 Bookmarque: A bit too close to the truth there.

>99 Bookmarque: >103 Bookmarque: They have been reading your comments! That would drive me nuts too, btw.

Yeah that was a bit of a strange coincidence. Tech knows too much.

Found this little trio near where I took the trail photo above. I think they are Honey Mushrooms. This is a 21-image stack and I had to do some tripod contortions to get it into a small tree that was in the way and then hold a diffuser to make shade over the group.

Pretty! I'm sure there is a conversation going on ...

>106 Bookmarque: Cool photo. Reminds me of this book cover... Fungi

>106 Bookmarque: Great picture.

Thanks guys. I haven't been out with the camera much, but when I am, fungi will always captivate me.

Speaking of captivating, I finished this collection of radio thrillers by the now largely forgotten Patrick Hamilton -



Before Rope was made even more famous by Alfred Hitchcock, it ran as a play in London (I think) for many years. The radio version here features Alan Rickman in the role of Rupert Cadell that was played by Jimmy Stewart in the film. Gaslight is also more famous as a movie and gives us the basis for the term gaslighting. I've watched it and it was pretty great, but the radio version is tighter as it really had to be for that medium. The other pieces aren't as well known, but I was engrossed by most of them, even though the last one, The Duke in the Darkness was a bit confusing. I'm not sure if Hangover Square was filmed at all, but it reminded me a bit of Zola's Nana. Anyway...if you like audio drama, this is a good collection with varied stories and some outstanding performances (John Moffat in the Duke in the Darkness was especially memorable).

Well yay! I don't remember all the details of the first season of Unlicensed by Joseph Fink, but my review says it ends on a cliffhanger and so I'm pretty happy to see more episodes coming soon!



Have the first episodes queued up in my player, but I have a few things ahead of it including -



Borrowed from the library since I don't love this series, but like it well enough.

Also listening to some true crime stuff which I haven't done in years, but for some reason Paul Holes style of reporting on his investigations has me a bit hooked. The one going now is -



I know a little about the Golden State Killer, but not a lot and it is frightening for sure. The podcast that got me started was his investigation into Phil Hughes, a less prolific serial killer, but a scary dude for sure. It's a freebie if you have an audible subscription -



Here's what got me started on all this true crime stuff, another audible plus title -



Seems Michael Connelly is going back to his reporter roots a bit. I don't read his novels, but I've followed a few of his true crime series and liked them. Hope he does more.

I think I'm going to DNF Exiles since I'm 3 something hours into it and zero has happened. Even though the narrator is pretty wonderful to listen to, I've lost interest and have moved through a whole podcast series and have started another one.

>111 Bookmarque: Thanks for saving the rest of us.

>112 Bookmarque: I think one of her characteristic writing elements is that long, slow build. I always wonder how well that works in an audio book.

Well I'm glad I got it from the library rather than audible even though I know I could return it.

And speaking of audible, I got an offer email that said if I spent 3 credits before the end of November, I'd get a free one on them. So I click, but I can't activate the offer. Automatic help chat doesn't have solution so I hesitantly call. Surpringly I get a cheerful, helpful woman who fixes my problem by just giving me a credit since the system is confused. It didn't take long and I'm happy. Glad for the service since I've been a member since 2007!

Went walking in the woods about an hour south of my house and when I came off the forest road onto the trail itself, I spooked a Barred owl off the ground into a tree. It flew out of sight from there before I could get the long lens on, so it was a nice moment, but no photos.

But the trail I was on is an out-and-back if you only do a small segment and so I knew I'd be back in its neighborhood in a little while. When I got to the area, I scanned the trees ahead and above and - bingo! A silhouette.

Amazingly this time, it let me approach quite close and other than blinking and turning its head, it didn't move. I found this opening in the branches of the Hemlock it was perched in and I really like the framing. I didn't even need all the reach of my longest lens unless I wanted a portrait without the whole body. I did, but here's a fuller view of this most patient owl.



The trail went right under where it was sitting and it let me go by and I got a few shots from the other side as well. They aren't as nicely lit or framed so I may not process them, but we'll see. Anyway, it was a fantastic encounter and a really special moment.

>112 Bookmarque:, >113 Karlstar: & >114 jillmwo: I actually enjoyed that one almost as much as the first in that series. It definitely was a little slow to get going though, if memory serves me correctly.

I love your owl, Bookmarque!! I have a personal fondness for owls, ever since I was a girl and read that the owl was the bird associated with Minerva, goddess of wisdom, in mythology.

>116 Bookmarque: Your fame is spreading to the woodland realm. After you passed, one of the other critters told the owl that if it wanted a beautiful portrait, it should sit still and wait for you.

>116 Bookmarque: Gorgeous! Also, what >119 MrsLee: said :)

>116 Bookmarque:
That is a great picture and a wonderful encounter.

>116 Bookmarque: Wow. Great shot. I love it when I get videos of owls on my trail cams, but so far have only captured Great Horned owls (at night or dusk, never in the day, though I’ve spotted them in trees a few times during the day).

>>116 Bookmarque: Great, great picture. The birds must trust you.

Thanks everyone - here's a portrait. Sorry I hadn't moved over to get the branch out from in front of its face. Photoshop remove can do a lot, but it didn't handle that well so I left it in.

>124 Bookmarque: Oooh, definitely frame that one!

Thanks much jill. I might just do that.

Here's a bit of forest it most likely frequents often -

>126 Bookmarque:
Beautiful. The epitome of Autumn.

>124 Bookmarque: OOOOH

>126 Bookmarque: AAAAH! You are well ahead of us.

>126 Bookmarque: Now there's a picture puzzle photograph to warm the heart of pgmcc.

>129 jillmwo:
Just so.

Thanks guys. It was a fabulous day to be outside. Alas it's over, but it always goes quick and next week I'll be in Tennessee for more fall photography. There about about as many Red Maples down there as there are up here (not as many as in NH), but maybe I'll get lucky again as I did with this big beauty -

>131 Bookmarque: Absolutely beautiful!

>126 Bookmarque: >131 Bookmarque: Beautiful pictures. The leaves are in full color here too, the ones that haven't fallen already, this was a big week for falling leaves here.

I love the autumn pics and the owl! Lovely to see.

Oh my gosh! Your photos are so amazing!

>131 Bookmarque:
Wow!

Thanks everyone. Getting through some of the photos I took down in Tennessee last week. There wasn't a lot of flow on some rivers, so the falls aren't as impressive as when there is more water, but you work with what you have.

Twin falls (no idea why it's called that, there is no other) -



Machine falls -



Bobo Creek -



Probably will print that last one.

>137 Bookmarque: Very nice!

>137 Bookmarque: Beautiful! :)

>137 Bookmarque: Absolutely lovely :)

What amazing fall photos! So peaceful :)

Thanks guys. Here are some rural scenes from TN including a shot of some of the tent graves specific to certain rural areas in the state. My research into it showed no real benefit the stone tents have for the dead person, but I suspect it was kids fooling around and it became a thing. I saw them in passing in a few other cemeteries and I think the practice died out in the early 20th century.

>142 Bookmarque: How interesting! I've never seen anything like that before.
I love the autumn colours.

>142 Bookmarque: No real benefits to the dead person, but what about the undead? Hmmm?

Ah the undead, well, they love them as they're easy open and close, like batwing doors on a saloon.

>142 Bookmarque: I had never heard of these before, much less seen any. Between your photo and a quick visit to Wikipedia, I now know more. (You might want to add the bit about the convenience to the undead to the current Wikipedia entry. They didn't think to include anything about that aspect.)

Wikipedia wars!! Could be fun.

In reading though, I took my eye off my Stephen King project a bit, but recently dipped into If it Bleeds which is a collection of four novellas. I read The Life of Chuck and found it to be one of King's more sentimental books. My quick review -

Although I had read this before, I had no memory of it so it was quite fresh for me. At first given the connection between Chuck’s death and the Earth’s (or at least the Earth the way it is now) I thought it would go in a much darker and bleaker direction. It didn’t and ended up being a positive story with nostalgic memories of Chuck’s life and his joie-de-vivre take on living it. When he finally gets into the little room at the top of the tower in his grandparents’ house, we see a reason for that in the fact that he sees himself in the future on his deathbed. That could have been a downer, but the tone is positive and not exactly resigned, but at peace with how the end will come. The story ends abruptly at that scene and I noted the quickness of that ending and a sentence that came just before -

“The man did not fade, as ghostly apparitions did in the movies; he was just gone…”

Five sentences later, the story was, too.

>147 Bookmarque: I need to put this on my TBR. In the past I've enjoyed his collections more than his novels.

It's a quite varied collection - like in the way that Different Seasons is. I only read Chuck this time out, but I may do The Outsider and the titular novella in If it Bleeds together since they are directly tied. The Outsider was great, btw.

Right now I'm reading Thinner which I have in 3 variations - an ebook and paperback versions, plus an abridged audio narrated by Paul Sorvino. I treasure that last one even though it is abridged and since I only had it on tape and I've never seen it anywhere, I digitized it and have it that way now. Backed up on two separate hard drives, too, I think. What I wouldn't give for a complete book narrated by him.

This year we seem to have even more black morph Gray Squirrels than ever. It's a normal pigment variation that occurs when a recessive gene is selected, like red hair. They seem to be more skittish than the grays so I have to try to sneak up on them. I missed an earlier shot, but got this one because instead of going out on the deck, I opened a window.

>150 Bookmarque:
Excellent.

The North American gray squirrel is an invasive species in Ireland and has for years been dominating the territory and competing for food with the native red squirrels which reduced greatly in numbers. There was a lot of commercial timber production and the trees planted were pine rather than the native deciduous varieties. I recent decades there has been a move to plant more native trees and encourage the spread of the type of forest that used to cover Ireland. This has no suited the gray squirrel as much as the red and the red squirrels are making a recovery.

One of the reasons the native forest does not suit the gray squirrel is that the native woodlands have been beneficial to pine martens who have been industrious in focusing on gray squirrels as a food source.

Reds are much more dependent on conifer seeds in my experience, at least here they are. Because timber is a huge crop in Wisconsin, many "forests" are devoid of fir, spruce and white pine, thus reducing the red's numbers.

I must admit it's odd to come across invasives going the other way although I know they do. Mostly it's North America that's been destroyed, mostly inadvertently, by European and Asian species. But now with travel and commerce being what it is, it goes both ways. Luckily for some, the potato was one of the "good ones". Good to hear your reds are coming back. They're gorgeous little critters.

>152 Bookmarque:
Interesting difference in the reds here and there. The native forests of Ireland are deciduous and the pines etc… were introduced for timber plantations. The red squirrel flourished in those forests before the pines were introduced while nowadays the grays flourish in the pines.

Hm...that is interesting - kind of a reversal in terms of what they eat. Right now we have about a dozen grays in the yard scarfing the huge amount of samaras from the million maples. Last year was a bumper crop of acorns, this year it's maple seeds. Just funny.

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On another note, I think I'm going to abandon Odd Thomas with less than 2 hours to go. I've reached the bit about his inhuman mother who is a poster child for women who shouldn't be mothers, but probably had no choice and so basically does the worst she can with it. Should just skip this bit, but I really just can't stand the twee tone and Odd's continued ineffectiveness and the long, very long, needlessly drawn out confrontation. It's so torpid and eye-rolly. Ugh.

>154 Bookmarque: I concur about Odd Thomas, and yet I found that the story in parts stuck with me. Maybe because I watched the movie shortly after reading the book. I think I read the sequel as well. Can't remember. It's one of those stories I could find fault with, but found it a quick fun read as well.

>150 Bookmarque: I remember seeing black squirrels in New Jersey. I didn't know that they were a mutation, rather than a separate species, for the longest time. Great photo, as always!

>151 pgmcc: Pine martens are carnivorous? Do they eat the grey squirrels? Or just fight them for access to a particular kind of food? I had thought they were somewhat timid, furry creatures.

>150 Bookmarque: You really have launched a highly educational thread.

Well I'm always happy to learn new stuff. Yes, adorable as they are, Martens (European and American) are predators as are all members of the mustelid family I believe. This includes mink, fishers, wolverines, badgers, otters and weasels. Adorable, but deadly. Here's only ermine photos - it's a Least Weasel I think -





It was scavenging a dead turkey and so tiny you could fit a dozen of them inside the carcass. Cute as anything though.

>158 Bookmarque: Love the photo progression. Cute, and terrifying.

>158 Bookmarque: My illusions of peace in the animal kingdom have been shattered. ;>)

>158 Bookmarque: What a cutie!

>158 Bookmarque: Cute and scary! On the most recent season of Alone, up in Northern Canada, two of the contestants were constantly trying to keep their food cache (fish or meat) away from the pine martens.

It's cute it doesn't look real... until it opens its mouth!!!

Yeah, they are fierce and feisty little guys. Haven't seen one in a while, but I know they're around.

I don't do this a whole lot, but some of you have shown interest in my jewelry so I thought I'd give you a head's up on a sale -



Save 25% on orders of $45 or more. I have holiday wrap and free shipping.

That little guy is so cute! And then fierce. Kinda reminds me of my youngest cat. :)

Ooh, heading over to your website. I do love your work!

Aww, thanks. I think things are coming along for me skill-wise. I just can't get too ambitious too quick.

oh and the sale starts at 11pm tonight. Didn't read the etsy fine print. Doh!

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On another note, discovered this new Comixology original and it was fun -



It's well drawn and has a good story about two rival pizzerias that have to come together to defeat a larger enemy. There's some backstory and history to be discovered, a little violence and a cute dog. Wish there were more like this, just fun and engaging little vignettes. Sliced (Comixology Originals)

>158 Bookmarque: Amazing photos! It's so hard to spot weasels and their kin, let alone get photos of them!

Thanks Sakerfalcon - it was a totally chance encounter when I parked the car to go investigate the Prairie river. There it was dashing between a pile of pine branches and a dead turkey. I thought it would take off, but it didn't.

And here's a fun painting that came up in my facebook feed. I think it knows too much -



I should have noted the artist, but I didn't. It's a pine martin scoping out some dinner. From the 1960s or maybe 50s.

Oh and the Peridot and Chocolate sapphire ring in the sales collage up there has sold. Yay me!

That's a beautiful print of a pine martin.

Thanks, I thought so. Haven't been doing a whole lot of reading, but I did finish Thinner the other day. It's weird, but fun.

Have been working at the bench and alternately listening to books or audio dramas and music. Recently have gone in for an Apple music subscription and still getting used to the algorithm and trying to teach it what I like and don't like. Amusing sometimes.

Photography wise I've been inside doing mostly jewelry stuff.



The urge to go out in nature or at least look for abandoned stuff is creeping up on me though. Too bad it's stick season.

>170 Bookmarque: Beautiful work.

>170 Bookmarque: Lovely stuff.

Thanks. The Garnet & Pearls on the bottom are sold.

>170 Bookmarque: These are lovely!

>173 Bookmarque: The garnet and pearl earring set was the thing I admired the most.

Yeah, they went fast. I have a pair of Peridot cabs that are almost a match like the Garnets, but a bit smaller and more triangular than teardrop. Will do smaller pearls on those with gold filled wire. At least that's the plan for now.

>170 Bookmarque: Lovely jewelry and photos. I like the way you put the bit of color behind some of them to make them pop on the white background.

Thanks guys. The topaz pendant is also gone. It's been a nice couple of weeks.

PSA - the Falco series is part of the Audible Plus catalog until the end of the year. I'm taking advantage and listening to Last Act in Palmyra which is book 6 and narrated by Simon Prebble. Not my favorite for this series, but it's ok.

Have been having fun making new thread graphics for next year. Get ready peeps!!

Oh, I am really looking forward to the unveiling. I love your talent for graphic design!!

>179 Bookmarque: Looking forward to them!

>179 Bookmarque: Wonderful! I am looking forward to this :)

>179 Bookmarque:
I await your images with great anticipation.

ETA:
There is always an elephant.
:-)

>179 Bookmarque: Ooh, I was hoping you’d do those again. You are so talented!

>179 Bookmarque: Our beloved pub to the life! Love the elephant (with a nod to a well-known denizen).

>179 Bookmarque: Love it! :D

>179 Bookmarque: Awesome. On first glance I thought that trunk was a brontosaur's head & neck!

>179 Bookmarque: That is perfect!

Thanks guys! I think I have enough for everyone, but it's so fun I'll probably make more.

Here's one of the locals -

I'm waaaay behind in this thread, but I just had to note that I have seen a film version of "Hangover Square." It is a 1945 American film directed by John Brahm, based on the 1941 novel "Hangover Square" by Patrick Hamilton.

It stars Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell and George Sanders.
Wikipedia calls it a horror film, but that's stretching it. It's much more in line with "Rope" and "Gaslight."

Thanks for the info TorMented. I'll see if I can watch that in some way. Older films are so hit and miss. Having listened to this set, I agree that it is closer to the vibes of both Rope and Gaslight, which for me aren't horror.

Speaking of horror (nice segue, what?) I'm wrapping up this year with another Stephen King even though I don't think I did very well on my project as outlined. I've decided to tackle The Outsider and If it Bleeds - a novel and the titular novella in a separate collection.



Ostensibly, both are thrillers and/or mysteries, but there is a strong element of the supernatural because it's Uncle Steve. I've been working at the bench a lot this month and while I do love it, I don't want to get burned out so I'm going to attempt a DNBR day or maybe even weekend. Aside from laundry that is. LOL.

Since I’ve gotten through so many books this year, I’ve decided to break down my Top 5 picks into different categories since if I didn’t, and restricted myself to novels only, it wouldn’t be fair. It made things a lot easier for sure and so here goes -

Top 5 Comic books & Graphic novels (all read as part of my Comixology subscription on Amazon) -



Harrow County by Cullen Bunn (series) - ostensibly a horror series, but it is so much more than that. Through all the books we get to know the characters and their relationships and it ends up being more about friendship overcoming evil. The main character, Emmy, has also sworn to protect her town from same. The artwork is phenomenal and I loved the watercolor washes that are done in most of the pages and panels. Can’t say enough good things and I was glad the main series was so long and then there was a spin off.



Night Owl Society by James Venhaus (single) - who doesn’t love a good revenge tale? In this one a motley gang of teenagers investigate the murder of one of their dads because the police won’t. Since the artwork is such an important part of a graphic novel, I really have to engage with it as well as the dialog and narration and this artwork is terrific. Also there is a nice, but not altogether surprising, twist.



Sliced Comixology Originals by Raphael Svavone (single) - Fun art style and story about two rival pizzarias that have to join forces to overcome a bad actor and rival. Nothing too serious or violent although it shades there a little. Told and drawn well.



Bad Mother by Christa Faust (vol 1) - Not sure if this will continue, it has some potential to do so at the end, but for now it’s just a single collected volume about a mom going after the bad guys who snatched her daughter. It’s a bit unbelievable in the sense that a regular person could go all Rambo and Reacher on their asses, but it is fun. Artwork is semi-realistic and depicts the spatter and violence pretty well. Good panel arrangements, too.



Severed by Scott Snyder (series) - a supernatural fanged creature haunts the highways and byways of post-WW2 America and a young runaway musician faces him more than once. The ending/solution isn’t going to be a total shocker to most readers, but the journey is worth it. The kid is a great character and the artwork is gritty and well suited to the material. Plenty of gore though.

Ok, so moving on to my next category. I listened to a ton of these in 2024 -

Audio Dramas -



Temporal by Julian Simpson - space and time travel? Yup. Julian Simpson isn’t well known in the US, but somehow I stumbled on some of his earlier audio dramas and loved them. I’ve searched out more of them on many platforms just to immerse myself in his odd worlds and strange scenarios. I can only hope that if Temporal has success at audible, more of his work will be added.



Brief Lives: Series 1-6: The BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Psychological Crime Drama
by Tom Fry - it took me a while to understand the role of Legal Advisor in the UK system as we don’t have something quite like it here in the US. From what I can get, it’s a person trained in the immediate legalities involving a person’s arrest, but is not a lawyer per se. Even with that bit of a hindrance, I quickly got caught up in not only the individual situations presented in each episode, but the larger stories involving the office and hangers-on. Told with humor and heart, I ran through all 14 episodes in a short time.



Agatha Raisin: The Complete BBC Radio Drama Collection by M.C. Beaton - having never read the books, I was still captivated and delighted by the acerbic (but a secret softie) Agatha Raisin and her somewhat painful transition from career and city to retirement and country. Funny, but understandably compressed dramas with murder and shenanigans.



Sherlock Sherlock Holmes: The Complete BBC Collection: 60 Full-Cast Dramatisations adapted by Bert Coules - absolutely all the stories and novels with the SAME actors for Holmes & Watson. Phew! Pretty well all done beautifully and although some reviewers complained about Holmes’s manic laughter, it was appropriate and mostly done when it made sense. The popular stories will be familiar and were fun, but for us not steeped in the canon, the obscure ones were even more so. A lot of fun and a relative bargain audiobook-wise.



The Safe Man by Michael Connelly - a short drama featuring a man who specializes in opening safes. Even though Brian is a doormat and kind of a dunce at the beginning, I came to really enjoy the piece and found the course of events surprising and interesting. Lately it seems Connelly is branching out from his usual novels and I hope he continues.