The Fox And I

Catherine Raven has a PhD in biology. She worked as a National Park ranger in Washington and Montana. She bought a small isolated cabin in Montana. She taught classes remotely and also at Yellowstone National Park. One day she noticed a mangy looking fox hanging around her cabin. She thought garlic would cure the mange so she started feeding the fox raw eggs and garlic in half an egg shell. She and the fox developed a relationship. She read books to the fox. She used her relationship with the fox in her classes. She wrote the book The Fox and I. I enjoyed the book but I think the same story could have been told in half as many pages.  

 

 

Dingley Falls

 Dingley Falls is a literary novel first published in 1980. The author is Michael Malone. The book is long. I spent a little over 9 hours reading it. The author starts out introducing the characters. And there are a lot of characters. That part was a little hard to get through. After 20+ characters are introduced the book moves chronologically. The author describes a morning in Dingley Falls by talking about the weather. After that he tells us what all the characters are doing. We learn about what time they woke up, what they had for breakfast, and where they were headed for the day. The characters range from teenagers to senior citizens. One lady works at the post office and her husband is the sheriff. One guy is a banker. His wife is the town gossip. His two teenage daughters are getting into trouble. One guy, the owner of an antique store, has got to be a psychopath. The story telling is great. Many of the scenes are humorous.

 

 

Memorial Day

 This morning I traveled to lakeside park in Winona for the Memorial Day festivities. We started with the pledge of allegiance. The municipal band played the national anthem while the big crowd sang along. Two kids from a local high school read poems about Flanders Field (about a location in Belgium during world war one). The band played the song from all four branches of the military. People who served in each branch stood up while the song from their branch of the military was played. An English teacher from a local parochial school gave a speech. A man from a Quaker congregation gave one too. We heard four veterans shoot their rifles three times. The crowd moved over to the lake to honor those lost at sea. Then the crowd moved over to the gazebo. Before the gazebo were 200+ white crosses in the turf. As each name of a Winona resident killed in action was read aloud a boy scout (including girls) laid a wreath on that white cross. While this was happening a man playing a bagpipe played Amazing Grace over and over until all the crosses had wreaths on them. We had another volley of gun fire followed by a mournful/jazzy rendition of Taps.  We had a very nice ceremony.

 

 

Trempelau

Today I went to Trempelau National Wildlife Refuge. This is a 15 minute drive from my house and across the Mississippi into Wisconsin. Black locust trees were in bloom and the air smelled so sweet.

I saw sandhill cranes, Baltimore Orioles, Northern mockingbird, Northern Waterthrush, common yelowthroat, scarlet tanager, yellow warblers, gray catbirds, house wrens, song sparrow, field sparrow, red-eyed vireos, Canadian geese, American robins, blue jays, red winged black birds, tree sparrows and great blue herons. Someone else reported seeing a nighthawk here yesterday but I didn't see any.

This is spiderwort.

This is white campion. I loved pulling these flowers apart when I was young.

Slender leafy spurge

Yellow salsify

Driving on the wildlife loop I saw more lupine than I have ever seen before. These are native lupine. Some hills were covered in beautiful purple lupine.

I would have guessed false Solomon seal but my phone app says it is Solomon's plume.

I like the name of this one - mouse eared chickweeds.

I walked out on an isthmus on the Pine Creek nature trail. Minnesota is far is the distance. I only got 3 woodticks today. I found two of them crawling up my leg while I was parked with the door open reading on my phone.

 

The Jump Off Creek

 The Jump Off Creek is a historical fiction novel written by a lady from Oregon named Molly Gloss. A woman named Lydia decides to homestead on her own in the mountains of Oregon in the 1890's. Why anyone would choose such a difficult life is beyond me. She arrives at her cabin to find a couple of men squatting there. They move along and she starts to clean the cabin. She brought a couple of goats and a pair of mules. Her goal is to raise cattle on her land. Her nearest neighbors are a pair of bachelor brothers who lend her a hand and offer advice. Most of the book is about the weather and the hard work.

 

 

Culpability

 Culpability was published in 2025 by Bruce Holsinger. This literary novel is about a family of five. Noah is the father and he is married to Lorelei. Their son, Charlie, is driving the car when the accident happened. Charlie's sisters, Isabel and Alice are injured. The car was on automatic pilot when it crashed into a Honda killing an elderly married couple. Once everyone is released from the hospital, they rent a house on the Chesapeake Bay for a few weeks. At their vacation  home it comes out that everyone in the family thinks the accident was their fault. This book has drones, chat bots, artificial intelligence and self driving cars that lead to new discussions about ethics. I could hardly put it down. I read it in one sitting.

 

 

Top Notch Food

 Today was the final day of the nature convention in Saint Peter, Minnesota. I was up early. I checked out of my hotel and was the first one ready for bird watching. We saw blue birds. We saw a blue bird chasing a squirrel that approached his nest box. That squirrel was running away lickety split. We saw a hummingbird perched on a branch. We saw wood ducks, mallards, and great blue herons flying. We saw robins, field sparrows, chipping sparrows, and clay colored sparrows. We saw downy wood peckers and Tennessee warblers. In total we saw 24 species of birds. Later we had classes. I took one on harvesting fiddle head ferns (ostrich ferns). I took another on plant pressing. I made a greeting card and a book mark. I also made my own small plant press into which I put lilac flowers and fern leaves. Those should be dry in about 3 weeks. My last class was incorporating Indigenous culture into presentations. After that we had lunch and a wrap up session. Food at Gustavus Adolphus College was top notch. One of the servers knew I was a vegetarian and went out of her way to make sure I had enough to eat. Next year the conference will be at the arboretum at Saint John's University.

Nest Construction

This morning I went on a bird hike at the Gustavus Adolphus arboretum. We saw a Swainson's thrush, a black and white warbler, robins, downy woodpeckers, gold finches, Tennessee warblers, yellow warbler, Harris sparrow and a great blue  heron. But the best thing we saw was super tiny and far away from the path. One young woman spotted a hummingbird nest on an oak tree. We watched as the hummingbird came in and out of the nest. She was building a nest for her young ones. This was astonishing. A group of ten of us watched for at least ten minutes. I had other classes today. One was on nature journaling and sketching. One was on moths. That guy had thousands of pictures of moths. I had another class on plant medicine. The teacher is Native and she has a store in Mankato. She studied plant medicine from her grandparents on both sides. She studied at the Rosebud reservation and the Pine Ridge reservation. She made each of us a bag of tea. I chose the sleeping/calming tea. Any day where I can learn something is a good day.

 

Saint Peter

This weekend the MN Master Naturalist conference is at Gustavus Adolphus College. The campus is very attractive. I enjoyed seeing people that I usually see once a year. Dinner was great. We had caeser salad, wild rice, green beans, bread and butter. For protein they had steak and salmon. I had a Gardien patty that looked and tasted like chicken. I even brought it back to the kitchen to ask and they assured me it was vegetarian. I thought it tasted like chicken. But what do I know? I haven't had chicken for 40 years. For dessert they had chocolate cake, cheese cake and carrot cake. Tomorrow I am scheduled to go bird watching at 7 a.m. I hope I can get up that early.

 

 

Braver Than You Think

Braver Than You Think was written by Maggie Downs. This book is a mixture of a travel adventure story and a memoir about grief. Maggie's mother has Alzheimer disease and no longer recognizes her. This is hard for Maggie so she handles it by going on a year long adventure. Her adventure starts by hiking to Machu Picchu. From there she travels through Peru and Bolivia and South Africa. She doesn't have much money so she sleeps in hostels or tents most of the trip. She volunteers at an ape rescue place where she gets attacked and bitten by an ape. Then it's on to Uganda where she thinks she will be volunteering to plant rice or possibly teach English to children. Instead she anchors a radio show for several weeks. Volunteering is another way for her to travel cheaply. Along the way she runs into a few dicey situations. Some people try to take advantage of a woman traveling alone. The author rationalizes her trip by the fact her mother wanted to travel to most of these places but never did. I enjoyed the travel parts of the story. Regarding the grief I thought the author was a bit selfish. 

 

 

In The Time Of Butterflies

 Julia Alverez is the author of In The Time Of Butterflies. This is a historical fiction novel based on the murder of three sisters in the Dominican Republic in 1960. The dictator at the time was Rafael Trujillo. Every house in the nation had to have his picture on display. The story starts when the four sisters are young and living with their parents on a cocoa farm. The farm is prosperous. Trujillo, also known as "El Jefe", ruled from 1930 until 1961. The daughters grew up and got married. Some of their husbands were in the opposition party. One sister and her husband refused to get involved in politics. In the end, she was the only sister who survived. This was a heartbreaking tale due in part because of the excellent writing but also because it really happened.

 

 

The Bear And The Nightingale

 In the fiction novel The Bear And The Nightingale, the bear is not really a bear and the nightingale is not really a nightingale. Katherine Arden is the author of the novel, the first of three in a trilogy. Set in Russia during Medieval times the heroine of the story is Vasilisa. Her name is spelled several different ways but she is the daughter of Petrov. Her mother died soon after she was born. Her mother had special powers and Vasilisa has them too. She can see mythical creatures and communicate with them. One year Petrov goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife, Anna. Anna can also see mythical creatures but she is frightened of them and clings to a rigid faith. She spends much time in the church because the creatures don't go in the church. Russian fairy tales are much darker than Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. The fairy tales in this book are not suitable for young readers. I am not sure that I will read the rest of this trilogy.

 

 

Joy For Beginners

 Erica Bauermeister is the author of the fiction novel called Joy For Beginners.  At a posh dinner party in Seattle, five friends gather to celebrate Kate's recovery from breast cancer. To celebrate her achievement Kate decides to take a camping trip down the Grand Canyon. She urges her friends to do something out of their comfort zone. She offers to choose their "out of the comfort zone" action for them. For one, it's to get a tattoo. For another, it's  not to care whether her mother disapproves of her anymore. For another it's to get rid of her ex-husband's stuff in her house. For another it's to landscape her yard. I know this sounds like Kate must be some kind of controlling freak but she's really not. It's a delightful book written for women.

 

 

Lawn Boy

 Lawn Boy is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Jonathan Evision. Set in Wahington state, a young man named Mike Monuz, just a couple years out of high school, lives with his mother and his older brother with behavioral problems. He works for a landscaping crew run by a cheating boss. His specialty is carving plants and hedges into topiaries. He has artistic talent. His truck breaks down. His lawnmower gets stolen. Nothing is going right for him and he knows he has to shake things up. Seems like he can't get one foot on the ladder to success. Slowly things start to change for him. With another landscaper he starts their own landscaping business and they run it honestly. This book is a cute coming of age story about a kid who keeps on trying.

 

 

The Sugar Queen

Sarah Addison Allen is the author of The Sugar Queen. This novel is set in the south in contemporary times. The main character, Josey, is 27 and lives at home with her hyper critical mother. Her mother is never satisfied no matter how hard Josey tries. Josey keeps a closet full of sweets which she sneaks in after her mother has gone to bed. One day she is surprised to see a woman in her closet. Della is a local waitress who climbed in Josey's window during the night. Della gives Josey advice. Although Josey is angry with Della she takes some of her advice and starts branching out into the world instead of focusing on her mother. I didn't like that there was some magic in the book but the story was compelling.

 

 

 

 

Endangered Ancient Snails

Yesterday I attended a showing of a movie put on by a non-profit organization called Sustainable Driftless. The name of the movie was Spirit Of The Driftless; Preserving Our Legacy. Driftless refers to a landscape from Hastings, MN to south of Dubuque, Iowa, including parts of Wisconsin and Illinois, that wasn't covered by the latest glacier. I watched the movie with 40 other people at a local lodge. The movie talks about the unique and beautiful landscape that is the driftless region. Here we have unique land forms. One speaker told us about endangered ancient snails. Their first record of them was in fossils. But then one live snail was found in Iowa. They kept looking and eventually found 37 groups of these rare snails. The snails, about as big as your pinky fingernail, are found on the north facing slopes. Here the rocky ledges of limestone, marble, and gypsum break apart and fall down the bluff piling up on itself. This is the karst region. When a sinkhole forms in the flat land on top of the bluff, moisture and air gather in the sinkhole. In winter ice forms in big sheaths. In summer the ice recedes but does not disappear keeping the area cool. That is where these Iowa Pleistocene snails live. They like it cold. They like this rare habitat. Not all 37 of the snails habitats are protected by the Driftless Area National Refuge but 21 are.  I thought it was bizarre to first learn about a creature by studying fossils and then finding a live one.

 

 

If The Creek Don't Rise

 If The Creek Don't Rise is an historical fiction book set in North Carolina. The author is Leah Weiss. Characters are introduced by chapters as they tell their side of the story. The first character is Sadie, a young pregnant bride who is being abused by her husband of just a few months. The second is Gladys who is Sadie's grandmother. Gladys acts angry at Sadie for marrying Roy against her advice. Next is the pastor, Eli, who hires a new teacher for the town school. Next is his angry, spiteful little sister who hates change of any kind. Next is Kate, the teacher who is hired by Eli. This is an honest and gritty tale that does have some hopeful moments.

 

 

Sisterland

 I always thought Curtis was a boy's name but Curtis Sittenfeld is the female author of Sisterland. Twins Violet and Kate are middle aged and living in Saint Louis, Missouri with their father. As youngsters they both had a special sense. Kate tried to downplay her special sense. Violet embraced her talents and made money as a psychic. While Kate is trying to raise her two young children Violet predicts an earthquake will shake Saint Louis on October 16th. While reading about the two sisters was interesting I thought the book was too detailed and overly long.

 

 

 

Moon Of The Crusted Snow

 Waubgeshig Rice is the author of Moon Of The Crusted Snow. Do you know crusted snow? Where the icy layer of somewhat firm and the powdery snow is underneath. I once walked through a field of crusted snow with bare legs and cam out with tiny cuts bleeding down my leg. Would have been smarter to stick to the streets. In this dystopian novel the author writes about an Anishanaabi group in northern Canada. Some members of the group stick to the old ways of speaking the language and hunting for moose and deer and geese to eat. Others prefer playing video games. One day, before Thanksgiviing, the internet and cell phone and electricity go out in the area. Food supply dwindles. Band leadership tries hard but eventually looses control over the community. A skeezy white guy moves in to help or so he says. The author grew up north of Toronto and wrote a very moving yet horrible story about a fictional community struggling to survive.

 

 

Furiously Happy; A Funny Book About Horrible Things

Jenny Watson is the author of Furiously Happy; A Funny Book About Horrible Things. Jenny is quite open about her mental health. She has labels like anxiety, depression, and ADD. Her mother said she is just quirky and quirky is the right word.  ADD is very apparent in her writing. Sometimes she writes discussions she has with her husband. He is loving and tolerant. I have worked with people who have untreated ADD and I find it to be a real struggle. Also, her dad is a taxidermist. She is into taxidermy which is the reason the stuffed, furiously happy raccoon is on the cover.  She actually owns 2 stuffed raccoons and one bear head. This book is not for everyone. I enjoyed it but was not disappointed to come to the ending.

 

 

Happy May Day

 Today I attended the Winona Indivisible rally at Windom Park. Part of the reason I went is because they had a maypole. I always wanted to try a maypole. Unfortunately I walked .7 miles to get there and left my phone at home. I didn't have time to walk and come back. So I got no pictures of the maypole. I did do the maypole with another guy. Was it fun?  Yes, it was fun until the final three trips around the maypole when dizziness set in. I think I looked inebriated. They had a food drive for immigrants. A couple people running for office spoke. Another lady spoke who wasn't running for office and she was the best speaker. She was a teacher at Winona High School for many years. She became a union representative. She was part of the negotiation team. Once a group of Winona business men asked to meet with the negotiation team. All of the business owners were millionaires. All the negotiators salaries combined did not reach even one of those guy's salary. This happened when Tim Pawlenty was in office. Pawlenty liked slashing budgets and taxes. The negotiation they were working on was a two year negotiation. The businessmen asked the negotiators to stop asking for an increase in salary for two years. None of the businessmen were willing not to get a salary increase for two years. Anyway, the teachers got their salary increase with the help of the negotiators. I think there were about 100 people in attendance. I saw people of all ages. They had a drumming circle of 7 drummers which was fun to hear. They had popcorn and apples and candy. This was a good night. Here is one photo I snagged off their FB page.

 

 

A Spot Of Bother

Mark Haddon wrote A Spot Of Bother. He also wrote The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time which I really loved. This book is good but not as good as the other one. The story revolves around a family living in London. George Hall is the father and a bit of a hypochondriac. The story is told from his view. He gets a bit of eczema on his thigh and totally freaks out. His wife is busy planning a wedding for her daughter, Katie, who is set to marry Ray. She is a single mother and really has no filter. She is quick to judge and quick to anger. George and his wife also have a son who is gay and just lost his best relationship through his own fault. George's anxiety builds up before the wedding. His panic attacks are coming fast and furious. By the morning of the wedding George has decided that giving a father of the bride speech is more than he can handle so he takes off walking. If this book were turned into a movie it would be slap stick comedy. 

 

 

A Family Matter

Claire Lynch is the author of the fiction book called A Family Matter. This book is about a broken family. This heart breaking story explores the social differences between the world of today and the world of 1980. A young mother has a daughter with her husband. When the girl is four the stay at home mother falls for another woman. The mother follows her heart. The husband has the law on his side. He raises the girl telling her her mother didn't want her anymore. This wasn't true. She asked for custody but the judge gave it to the father. The girl grew up to have children of her own. Only when his father was on his deathbed did he confess that he was the one who kept her from seeing her mother. The book was written beautifully.  

 

 

The Price Of Honey

Meg Waite Clayton is the author of the fiction book The Price Of Honey. Five young mothers start meeting at the park while their toddlers play at the playground. Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett and Allie becomes friends and mentors to each other. The year is 1967 and the park is in Palo Alto, California.  They all share a love of literature. One is athletic, one is shy and secretive, one wears white gloves every day, one is brusk. Both moving and comedic, this story about female loyalty was a pleasure to read. 

 

 

The Lotus Shoes

The Lotus Shoes was written by Jane Vang. She writes about two girls. One of the girls is a servant and one is a member of a wealthy family. Although she is a servant Little Flower's mother decides to bind her feet to improve her status. Li Jing, the girl Little Flower is sold to be her maid does not have bound feet. Her father decides against bound feet because he does business with foreigners who do not approve of bound feet. Li Jing forces Little Flower to unbind her feet because she is jealous. When the fortune of Li Jing's family burns and crashes Li Jing and Little Flower must fend for themselves. At times the two girls are rivals and tentative friends. Little Flower grows up to be less of a push over. Li Jing grows up to be less cruel.

 

  

How To Be A Good Creature

I listened to How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir Of Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery. The author talks about some of her many pets. She is also a scientific traveler to many countries for research work. She once had a pig named Christopher Hogwood. Two teenage girls would come to her house to give her pig their own special spa treatment. The pig enjoyed the warm baths and attention. She gets quite emotional when her pets die. She even mentioned suicidal thoughts after the death of a favorite dog. The author is definitely an animal lover. 

 

 

 

 

Best To Laugh

 I saw Best To Laugh on the shelf at the library and I thought to myself, "Here is a Lorna Landvik book you haven't read yet. This book is about a girl growing up with her Grandmother in Minneapolis. Her Korean born mother died at a young age. Her father was depressed by her death and he died when she was in high school so Candy Pekkala relies on her Grandmother. As a child Candy and her Grandmother watched the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. During commercials Candy would imitate Carson and the guests to her Grandmother's delight. Candy is a little lost after finishing college. When her cousin calls and asks her to sublet her Hollywood apartment while she works as an entertainer on a cruise line Candy agrees to go. She moves into the apartment building and decides to make friends by asking to borrow a cup of sugar. Candy loves to bake and her neighbors appreciate her yellow cake with fudge frosting. She gets a job at a record production agency as a temp. Her biggest ambition in life is to do stand-up comedy. When she finally faces her fears she finds out that eventually she is quite good at it. Her special talent is handling hecklers. If she has a heckler, she is bound to do well on stage. She takes the stage name Candy Ohi (yes, like the county in western Minnesota). The book is a hoot and I did laugh at this description or Lorna's years living in Hollywood.

 

 

Sugar, Salt, Fat

I just finished reading a non-fiction book called Sugar, Salt, Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us. The author is Michael Moss. His book was a best seller in 2013 so it is a bit outdated but the topic is still relevant. He writes about Coke and Pepsi, Kraft, Nestle, Capri Sun, Frito-Lay, and Cargill among others. These companies had techniques to find out bliss points. They know the exact amount of sugar, salt, and fat it takes to keep you coming back for more. These processed foods lead us to be a nation beset with obesity and heart problems. As I read along I was proud of myself for never buying a Lunchable for my children. Those meals are terrible for kids. The book is long at almost 1900 pages but the last 300 pages are references. Some of the CEO's of heavily processed food or drinks feel remorse about their work and they refrain from the products they produced for their own health reasons. The book was certainly an eye opener for me.

 

 

Stuff I Saw On My Walk Today

Walking around Lake Winona today I, for the first time in my life, found some Dutchman's breeches. I have looked for these before but never found them.

I also found a leucistic robin too.

Usually when I walk around the lake I see up to a dozen turtles. Today, because the trees haven't leafed out, I saw a grand total of 87 turtles. Some were painted turtles and some were map turtles.

 

The Magician's Assistant

 I like Ann Patchett's writing so I was happy to find The Magician's Assistant available on Libby. In this story Sabine is the magician's assistant. For twenty years she helped her husband with his magic tricks. When he died she learned that he had kept a secret from her. He made vague references to his past and his childhood but they were all lies. The magician's name was Parsifal. Parsifal was gay and had a lover named Phan. The three of them lived together. Parsifal married Sabine so she would be taken care of after his death. After his death Sabine learns that Parsifal grew up in Alliance, Nebraska and has siblings and a mother. Sabine gets to know Parsifal's family and has to do much explaining regarding his choices in life. His family helps ease her grief. I could hardly put them book down because it was so intriguing. Also, it doesn't have chapters so I never knew when would be a good time to put it down.

 

 

Mudbound

Mudbound is a historical fiction story that starts in 1946 near the Mississippi delta on a small farm. Author Hillary Jordan took seven years to write this book. The farmer, Henry McAllen marries his bride in Nashville, Tennessee. He promises her a house in town but circumstances prevent that from happening. Their farm is near a river. When it rains that river rises turning the farm  into mud. She struggles to raise two daughters in a home without running water and without electricity. She also struggles to live with Henry's racist, angry father.  Henry decides to keep only the best tenant farmers. When Henry's younger brother, Jamie, returns back from fighting the Nazi's in world war two he notices his sister-in-laws distress. Jamie becomes friends with the black son of one of the tenant farmers. This guy also fought Nazi's in world war two. Their friendship sets the stage for a tragic conclusion. This book held my attention the entire time I spent reading it.

 

 

 

 

  

Stoner

Stoner was published in 1965 by the author John Williams. The story is about a boy who grew up on a farm in Missouri. His family was dirt poor and he was the only child. His parents expected that he would inherit the farm someday. He was sent to agricultural college. After his sophomore year he switched his major to literature. He didn't tell his parents because he was afraid they would be disappointed. At his graduation ceremony they were very disappointed but tried to hide it as best they could. He went on to get to get higher degrees. Eventually he got a job as a professor of literature. He meets a girl at a college event and falls in love based on her looks. They end up marrying. She turns out to be a very poor spouse. She was less than a wife and more of an enemy. All of his life he is very accepting of the bad luck that falls his way. He does get some petty revenge against a plotting coworker but other than that he leads a very sad life. The book is about a literary hero suffering through a stark life of disappointments with very few real friends.

 

 

Mistletoe

 On our trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and France spring appeared in various stages. In the Netherlands the forsythia was in bloom and the trees were barely beginning to leaf out. Twas the same in Belgium. In Paris the trees were halfway leafed out and the lilacs were in bloom. I stopped to smell every lilac I could reach in Paris. In Normandy the forsythia was back in bloom and the trees were beginning to leaf out. Along the journey we saw trees infested with mistletoe. Some trees had 30 plus globes of mistletoe hanging from their branches. Others had one or two globes. Mistletoe is a parasitic growth. Too much mistletoe can kill a tree. Mistletoe spreads via birds eating the seeds and excreting the seeds on tree branches. One bird likes mistletoe berries so much it is named the Mistle thrush. Once the mistletoe seeds pass through a bird's gut they become very sticky and will adhere to the branches. Normandy has an abundance of mistletoe and exports it during the holiday season. Mistletoe threatens the apple trees that Normandy has in apple orchards. If humans eat the mistletoe berries or drink a tea infused with mistletoe the results can be deadly. The mistletoe we did see was mainly in hedgerows which are rows of hedges with a few trees mixed in between fields. I didn't see any mistletoe in forests nor areas where trees were close together. Years ago I saw mistletoe in Poland but it wasn't nearly as common as in Normandy. As we traveled by bus and train we saw miles and miles of European countryside. Not once did we see a raptor. We saw no eagles, no vultures, no buzzards, no hawks, and no kestrels. We saw several gray herons, lots of gulls and several sparrows. Also, just in case you are wondering where the milk is in a grocery store, don't bother looking in the refrigerated section. You can find cream in the refrigerated section but the shelf stable milk is kept on the shelves.

 

Mistletoe

 

Etretat

We took a train and a local bus to travel from Bayeax to Etretat. Etretat is famous for the tall chalk bluffs and stony beach. We got to the top of this bluff by taking the hop on/hop off mini train. The beach was crowded with people. I can't imagine the crowds in the summer. We watch two motorized boats help sailing students navigate the English channel.

This is a beautiful section of northern France.

Here is the view from the top of the bluff.

Also at the top of the bluff are the Etretat gardens. They had a dozen faces stuck in the bushes. Each section of the gardens had a sensory theme. We heard music.. We heard the word "art" spoken in 30 languages. We left Etretat on a Friday morning. As soon as I awoke I could see the farmer's market setting up in the town square. Besides vegetables and fruit they had flowers, leather goods, striped long sleeved shirts, scarves, scents, shoes, dresses, clothes in every size, food and pastries. I was able to successfully navigate a Americano coffee by myself and come back to our apartment without getting lost.

The author Maurice Leblanche lived in Etretat. We visited his house and saw where he wrote his mystery stories. His famous character is Lupin who was known as the gentleman burglar. For example he stole a necklace from the Queen when he was six. As an adult he returned the necklace and won accolades for finding it for her. The character Lupin has a series on Netflix which I plan to watch once I get home.

 

Mont Saint Michael

Today we took another tour about 45 minutes away via van to Mont Saint Michael. This church, Abby, fortress, former prison is on the coast of the English Channel. We came at low tide. During high tide the structure can be completely surrounded by sea water. We walked up about a thousand steps to get to a balcony. We saw great views of the English Channel and the Normandy countryside.

 

John Steele

On D-Day a paratrooper named John Steele got tangled on the steeple on the church in Sainte-Mere-Eglise. That night there was a fire in the town. The townspeople broke the curfew imposed by the Nazi's to fight the fire. The fire illuminated John Steele so he played dead. He actually survived this ordeal and lived into his 70's in North Carolina. He was awarded the Bronze star for valor and a purple heart. This town has an American Airborne museum that was very interesting.