nature

A couple weeks before everything turned upside down, I had requested Mary Oliver’s essay collection Upstream from the library and was lucky enough to have it on hand as we started our isolation. The slim volume is Oliver’s reflections on…

National Geographic has done it again. Their new Atlas of the National Parks is a stunning piece of art and beautiful reference book. Over-sized and perfect for the coffee table, this book will be a favorite book for young and…

Story: Joanna Howes is called to return home to Martha’s Vineyard to play nurse for her injured uncle. A set back during recovery has Joanna facing months of care taking instead of weeks, and turns her entire world upside down.…

When was the last time you used a physical, printed map? No zooming in and out, no street view, no search boxes. I absolutely love geography and the physical sciences so I find maps fascinating. If you don’t, National Geographic’s…

Story: Saving Tarboo Creek by Scott Freeman and Susan Leopold Freeman is a collection of stories about the family’s ecological conservation efforts both in the Tarboo Creek watershed in Washington state and across the country. Significant time is also spent sharing…

Why: Honestly, I start feeling depressed when I dig into current events in the United States and around the world. From natural disasters to man-made Twitter storms, there is just so much negativity that I start to feel tired and…

Why: I have always wanted to develop a green thumb, and since moving in to our first house in September, gardening has been high on my priority list. When I saw this title and read the teaser, it felt made for…

Please note that this short message is intended as continuing education for those that have read my review of How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack. While the information that follows is still beneficial, it is best to prepare yourself to…

Coming-of-age stories that are deeply rooted in their physical surroundings have always fascinated me. When I was 10, I read My Side of the Mountain, which is a story about a boy who lives in the hollow of a tree…

I can’t remember exactly where I first saw this book, but the most likely place is our local bookstore, Magers and Quinn. A fairly new book, Portage was published in October 2015 by University of Minnesota Press, a publisher of…