Paul’s Book Reviews: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Ethnic Fiction

“That Fan did not see any of this is not so ironic, for all along her journey we’ve observed more of her than she’ll ever know. She moves on, she pushes forward, this her guileless calling, and we have to remind ourselves that it’s perhaps more laudable simply to keep heading out into the world […]

You Can’t Read That!

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. The photo is titled “Girl reading ‘Mickey Mouse and the Submarine Pirates’ comic book in newsstand with small dog lying across her lap.” It was taken in 1947 by Charles “Teenie” Harris, lead photographer of one of the USA’s leading black newspapers, the Pittsburgh Courier. I couldn’t […]

Birds, Bikes, & Bands

Friday, 13 days after it hatched, one of our hummingbird chicks left the nest. I think I saw it go … as I walked underneath the nest that afternoon I saw something fly away out of the corner of my eye. I thought at first it was the mother, but when I looked up at the nest only […]

Weekend Photoblogging

Hummingbird update: here they are this morning, eight days old: Their beaks are beginning to elongate, and they’re definitely plumping up, judging by how crowded the nest has become. We never see mama bird feeding the chicks, but she’s obviously hard at it when we’re not watching. And the patio floor is covered with her droppings […]

Monday Bag o’ Chicks

I thought it would take longer, but the hummingbird chicks are already out of their eggs. The photos are dated, so it’s easy to count the days. Mama bird laid her first egg on the 6th of April. She laid the second one a day later. Yesterday, the 27th of April, there were two chicks in the nest, […]