Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books and DVDs

Happy Mother's Day to all of you… whether you are mothers, daughters, husbands, or sons. 

From my window, I can see a lot of little mother birds teaching their fledglings how to land on a given perch (or even how to push the other little birds away from the bird feeder!) and I am made aware of how many different mothers there are all around us.

Again, I digress…

Happy Mother's Day to ALL. 

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I am currently looking out my window, watching a Black-chinned Hummingbird at one of my feeders. These little guys are so cute to view, I only wish we had more of them around here.

Our backyard is again full of little, tiny fledglings. Some of them seem to be so clueless, that I wish I could go outside and teach them how to use the two bird feeders. I know that nature has a way of teaching them, but it is a little frustrating to see them try to feed from the plastic sides of the feeders.

This brings me to the real reason for this entry. I just want to make sure that all of you have a chance to watch some truly amazing birds grow up, before leaving their nests.

A few days ago, Denise posted a comment telling us about this site:

"… I know alot of us like birds and so I thought I would share this. http://www.allaboutbirds.org has a camera with a live feed on a pair of red tail hawks and their babies at Cornell . My first graders have been fascinated to see the parents nest sitting, seeing the little hatchlings, feeding time (dad brought a small mouse one day) etc.. Pretty cool."

Thank you, AND you're right, Denise, "Pretty cool."

As I usually do, I have gone overboard watching all of these little nestlings. I am not only watching the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Red-tailed Hawk nest, but I am also watching their Great Blue Heron Nest, as well as their Eastern Bluebird Nest. Oh, and I am also watching USTREAM's raptorresource's Decorah Eagles Nest.

All four of these live cams are truly incredible, and if you want to spend some time with nature, in the comfort of your air-conditioned home, then you might want to give these wonderful sites a try.

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A few days ago, Linda posted a comment that got me thinking about something that I have been debating (with myself!)

"… Since we are getting into the warmer sunny days I was looking for books that take place along some seashore. Anything that takes place on the American shore line or on an island appeals to me… "

I started writing my reply in the comment format, but decided this would probably make a good entry topic. My answer started out as this:

"Linda, I am having sort of the opposite problem. I have read myself up to a Christmas mystery by one of my favorite authors, and I don't want to have to wait until December to read it. However, I have so few Christmas mysteries left by my favorite authors, that I don't know whether to -

(A) Skip this Christmas theme mystery, read the next book in the series, and then go back to it this coming December.

(B) Put this author's books away until this Christmas season, so you can read them in the order they are intended to be read, and enjoy the mystery during the appropriate holiday season.

(C) Read this Christmas book now, not during the holiday the book is set in.

What would you do if the next book (by one of your favorite authors) was a holiday mystery, and that particular holiday was several months away?

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