Harris hawks hanging out on an Agave behind the tree in our backyard on New Year’s Eve.
I feel like I’m emerging from 11 days of cocooning. I’m not quite a butterfly yet, but I can breathe and stretch my wings after a nasty bug that kept me in bed.
The day is bright and sunny. Absolutely stunning. The past few days have been cloudy and my weather app said air quality wasn’t good.
Here’s a clear view of the perch the hawks enjoyed on New Year’s Eve. Look at that sky!
At one point, there were five Harris hawks hanging out together.
During my cocoon phase, I listened to an outstanding book. Ann Patchett’s “Tom Lake.” It was published August 2023. I enjoy reading books the old fashioned way with paper pages and spines. However, because I was laying in bed with my eyes closed, propped up on pillows for my deep cough, I chose listening to an audiobook.
Meryl Streep was the reader! I could distinguish characters, not by a big change in her voice, but by subtle rhythms and intonations. I believe her reading added to the book so the experience was better than it would have been if I had held the book in my hands and used my eyes.
Here’s a summary from Amazon:
In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.
“Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature.” —The Guardian
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.
amazon.com
I have one major question in the story that wasn’t resolved after going to back to re-listen to certain chapters. I won’t ask that question here, because it’s a spoiler. I’m waiting for someone else to read the book so we can discuss. I wonder if Patchett left this question unanswered on purpose?
Here’s a 10-second video of the hawks leaving my yard:
Do you like listening to audiobooks, using a reader or old-fashioned books?
Have you read “Tom Lake?” If so, what are your thoughts?
So glad to hear you’re feeling better EA! I haven’t read this book, probably not one I would typically choose and audio books also not my thing! I get most of my books from the library on my reader. I will always prefer a real book but the reader is convenient plus our current library is small so even though it’s close by they aren’t great about getting a lot of new material physically.
Thank you. I think one of the things I liked about “Tom Lake” are the details and subtleties. Patchett is a master.
Cheers to feeling better….for a lovely book recommendation and for a peek at nature — those impressive hawks. 🥰
Thank you! It’s amazing to feel better and listening to Meryl Streep read a book was a treat. As for the hawks, they mesmerize me.
I rarely listen to Audiobooks. I would rather listen to Sleep Stories.
I don’t know what Sleep Stories is, but whenever I turn on an audiobook at night, I fall asleep!
I mix it up, but I like audiobooks in the car while driving and also because my eyes get tired. When the writing is especially poetic and with non-fiction that’s especially informative, I want to see it with my eyes.
I’m with you on car rides and audiobooks. Whenever we take a long car trip, we choose a book my husband and I will both like. Also, while I was sick, I enjoyed listening and not tiring my eyes.
I’m glad you’re starting to feel like yourself again. Blessings for the new year!
Thank you! I’m relieved to see my husband out of bed today, too. He doesn’t know we have surprise house guests Friday and then a small birthday party for him Sunday. I was going to cancel everything today. Blessing for your 2024, too.
I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better. What a treat to have so many hawks visit you at once!
It was, although it made me nervous. Our first few months here, a hawk swooped down to get a quail and flew into our window — breaking double-paned glass! The hawk survived and the quail made its getaway, but I’ve been a little nervous with hawks as well as in awe.
Oh no!! That really can be intimidating. You need to be careful with pets. My boyfriend’s parents lost two small dogs to wildlife–a great horned owl and a coyote. Not they have a German Shepard… hopefully too big to fall prey to the big birds.
Owl and coyote. Wow! My kitty Olive was an indoor/outdoor cat in Palm Springs. We had a big walled-in yard, downtown. Our realtor here told me to never let the cat out or she’d be gone within one hour. Olive’s adjusted well to indoor life and enjoys watching birds from inside. She got out twice and I freaked, but she ran right back into the house.
That’s some great advice from your realtor!
Agreed!
I’m glad that you are feeling better! I love the picture of the hawks. I wouldn’t have thought each branch of the agave bloom was strong enough to support them.
I recently read Tom Lake and loved it. Although I read an actual book from the library, I think listening to Meryl Streep would have been wonderful too. I’m trying to think of what might have been unresolved in your mind.
I wondered the same thing about the agave! It doesn’t look strong enough to hold them. As for “Tom Lake,” wasn’t it wonderful?
SPOILER ALERT for anyone reading comments who wants to read the book. DON’T READ FURTHER 😊 Could Emily’s father be Duke? I went over the timeline and Joe and Lara met at the theater, it seemed within weeks after. Also, at the end, Lara talked about her family and how youth changes their minds. Food for thought.
SPOILER ALERT! No, he isn’t. I wish I still had the book (it went back to the library) so I could point you to the answer. The timeline doesn’t work either.
I looked at goodreads and there were both answers to the question. Thanks for getting back to me.
E reader! I read the book but I’m iffy about Patchett. Email your question. I read the book awhile ago but I’ll review my notes
Will do!
I love that you are feeling better, Elizabeth. That book sounds wonderful. I don’t listen to audiobooks as much as I used to but I really enjoy them. What’s interesting to me is that I’ll do something like weed an area of my yard and it’ll remind me of the audiobook I was listening to when I did the same activity years before. So, it’s created some memory markers that are different from when I sit and read a book. Hope you are back to being a butterfly soon!
Thank you, Wynne. That’s interesting that an activity will bring back a memory of an audio book. I guess I have those whenever we go on a trip by car, because that’s one of the only times I listen to audiobooks.
Glad you are better now! Did you ever determine what it was? I see the border crossing will open tomorrow. Yay! I’ve never seen five hawks together in such close proximity. Seems very unusual behavior, especially since this isn’t migration season.
Many years ago, when I drove a lot, I listened to many audio books – on cassettes! (Later on CDs.) I rarely listen to them these days, but as we start taking more road trips, I will listen to some then. I prefer hard copy books, but do read an occasional ebook, either on my phone or laptop.
I read the Meryl Streep’s reading of Tom Lake was one of the most popular library books last year. I have not read it. Might someday – low priority at this point.
Thanks! I think it’s either the flu or RSV. I’ve read there’s a bad flu going around that lasts and lasts.
The Lukeville border reopens tomorrow. We’ll wait awhile before we go back to Puerto Penasco because I’m worried about the cartel moving to the border area. There was a shootout right across the border last week! I think more than 20 people injured and six dead.
The hawks were so amazing to watch!
I wouldn’t have listened to “Tom Lake” on audio except for being sick. The only time we listen is taking care of trips, too.
I am glad you are feeling better! We have hawks around us. I love to watch them. A good sign. We were both very ill for about one week to 10 days. Just getting over it now. It was a wringer.! On a positive note, I did lose a few pounds.
I am glad you’re feeling better, too. This was a real doozy and it seemed like I wasn’t getting better for at least 10 days. We just had a Cooper Hawk on the fence three minutes ago.
Thanks! Wishing you and your family a good 2024.