Waking Up In My Own Backyard

DIVFor James Barilla and his family, the dream of transforming their Columbia, South Carolina, backyard into a haven for wildlife evoked images of kids catching grasshoppers by day and fireflies at night, of digging up potatoes and picking strawberries. When they signed up with the National Wildlife Federation to certify their yard as a wildlife habitat, it felt like pushing back, in however small a way, against the tide of bad news about vanishing species, changing climate, dying coral reefs. Then the animals started to arrive, and Barilla soon discovered the complexities (and possible mayhem) of merging human with animal habitats. What are the limits of coexistence, he wondered?/divDIV /divDIVTo find out, Barilla set out across continents to explore cities where populations of bears, monkeys, marmosets, and honeybees live alongside human residents. My Backyard Jungle brings these unique stories together, making Barilla’s yard the centerpiece of a meditation on possibilities for coexistence with animals in an increasingly urban world. Not since Gerald Durrell penned My Family and Other Animals have readers encountered a naturalist with such a gift for storytelling and such an open heart toward all things wild./div

Like so many of us, Lucinda Fleeson wanted to escape what had become a routine life. So, she quit her big-city job, sold her suburban house, and moved halfway across the world to the island of Kauai to work at the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Imagine a one-hundred-acre garden estate nestled amid ocean cliffs, rain forests, and secluded coves. Exotic and beautiful, yes, but as Fleeson awakens to this sensual world, exploring the island's food, beaches, and history, she encounters an endangered paradise—the Hawaii we don't see in the tourist brochures. Native plants are dying at an astonishing rate—Hawaii is called the Extinction Capital of the World—and invasive species (plants, animals, and humans) have imperiled this Garden of Eden. Fleeson accompanies a plant hunter into the rain forest to find the last of a dying species, descends into limestone caves with a paleontologist who deconstructs island history through fossil life, and shadows a botanical pioneer who propagates rare seeds, hoping to reclaim the landscape. Her grown-up adventure is a reminder of the value of choosing passion over security, individuality over convention, and the pressing need to protect the earth. And as she witnesses the island's plant renewal efforts, she sees her own life blossom again.

Richard Kendall's first book, An Extraordinary Life, is an extraordinary tour-de-force. Richard shares with us in a very personal way his passion for music and politics by taking us on a tour of his meetings with the top stars in opera and the legends of the political world (with a few Hollywood stars - who happened to be opera lovers as well - added to the extraordinary tour). He has a special place in his heart for those individuals among us who can simultaneously create beauty and inspire us, but can also exhibit humility and warmth and generosity of spirit utterly devoid of artifice or phoniness. And Richard, with his own humility and his sheer joie de vivre, as well as his comfort with the art of honest conversation, brings out the warmth and the humor in all he meets. It turns out he is the right person in the right place at the right time! In a particularly engaging chapter, he describes his audition for the Los Angeles Master Chorale in front of Roger Wagner, who had a talent for creating fear and awe among those who aspired to join the Chorale. Richard successfully wowed the master by enjoying himself, having a little fun, and most of all taking the perspective that the audition would be an interesting learning experience. To his shock, Richard had exactly the kind of voice Wagner was looking for. For his opening chapter, Richard selected an apt quote from Marian Anderson, who aspires to a world where we don't see a black singer or a white singer, but only see a colorless soul. From the first to the last chapter of the book, Richard clearly has a "colorless soul" himself, seeing the essential humanity in political figures on the left or on the right, and the real person behind the "celebrity." The most engaging, and touching, chapters in the book have to be his sensitive descriptions of his friendships with his two favorite divas, Lily Pons and Joan Sutherland. Both divas clearly knew a kindred spirit when they met him, and opened up their hearts to Richard. Sutherland invites Richard's mother, who inspired Richard's love of opera and his interest in writing, to keep her company backstage after one of her numerous sold-out shows. And Pons gives Richard a lesson in the proper French pronunciation of Au Revoir, after graciously hosting him and some of his music students at her Palm Springs home. When it comes down to it, Richard has clearly created his own extraordinary luck by being extraordinarily humane.

Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos, hosts of the Cooking Channels's hit show Extra Virgin, bring together food, family, and style in a celebration of the pleasures of the rustic Italian table with 120 recipes for simple yet exquisite meals that are accessible, full of fresh flavor, and easy to prepare. Devi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos are ambassadors of contemporary Tuscan cooking. In Extra Virgin, Gabriele is a traditional Italian with a big heart, and Debi is an outgoing, brash New York City girl. Their sassy and playful exchanges illuminate what’s important in everyday life: good food and a lot of love. Ranging from traditional antipasti and soups to their spin on entrees, pizzas, and desserts, recipes include Pecorino and Honey Dip, a sweet and salty way to start a meal; tangy, luscious Grilled Apricots with Goat Cheese Ricotta, inspired by wild Tuscan apricot trees; and Sausage and Beans, which offers hints of fennel in a Tuscan red sauce. Here, too, are Braised Artichokes softened in guanciale-infused oil, Breakfast Pizza, and Coffee Granita just as Italians make it. So flag these recipes, get sauce on them, let splashes of olive oil mark the pages—and invite Debi and Gabriele’s charisma and passion for cooking to spill into your kitchen.

The book is about nature. Photos of sunsets, sunrises, lakes, waterfalls, photos taken uniquely. Strange photos, great photos, not something you will see on daily basis. For example capturing a heart shaped cloud in the sky is not something you see everyday and not many had the chance to see it today.

The road may be long or short with twists and curves. It is traveled with friends and pets and lovers, where the ultimate journey ends up where it needs to be. They say that it is how we get there that makes the trip worthwhile, and not the final destination in itself. In this book we will take a close look at the lives that are affected in a very positive way. Fasten your seatbelts and maybe have a box of tissues ready just in case. Emotions run high as the author will take you through a series of journeys traveled and spent on loves path.

Three complete novels in one volume from a master of dark noir and comic mystery... PINK VODKA BLUES Russell Murray is the editor of a literary magazine in Chicago. He drinks way too much. And he's in big trouble when he wakes up in a hotel room with a beautiful woman just before two men come into the room and kill her. They try to kill Murray, too, but he gets away. Things never slow down after that. Wanted for murder, Murray winds up in a detox center in Wisconsin. He escapes along with a beautiful redhead named Sherry Lou Wynn. One of his many problems is that he has no memory of where he's been or what he's done. He and Sherry Lou try to stay alive while being pursued around the country by homicidal goons, including the murderous Wacker twins and a blue-haired, tennis-shoe wearing granny with an Uzi. Bones Pinelli wants his briefcase back, by golly, and he doesn't care who dies as long as he gets it. DEAD DOG BLUES Nothing ever happens in Pharaoh, Texas... Drunks and missing auto parts headline the local crime wave until a barking dead dog shows up in millionaire Max Coomer's backyard. Then Coomer himself is discovered frosty cold and very dead, running for fame and glory forever down the gridiron at Pharaoh High. That's just the beginning of the mayhem that erupts in a sleepy Texas town — and the start of temporary constable Jack Track's nightmarish pursuit of a maniac who doesn't like anyone in Pharaoh, Texas. There are enough bizarre characters in Dead Dog Blues to convince any reader to steer clear of small towns. There's Jack's best friend, Earl Murphy, a black man who made a fortune on Wall Street and sleeps in his white Aston-Martin Lagonda by Jack's creek. There's George, the catfish mogul, and cheery funeral director Eddie Trost —plus an ever-growing cast of the local missing and dead. Jack is content with lovely Cecily Benét, the frozen-yogurt queen, until Max Coomer's widow, Millie Jean, decides to fan the flames of her high-school romance with Jack — an affair that turns into double trouble when Millies jailbait daughter, Smoothy, takes a run at Jack herself. BAD EYE BLUES Dinner with gorgeous aeronautical engineer Claire de Mer holds the promise of heavenly bliss for Wiley Moss — until two manic mobsters toss him on a cross-country bus and shuffle him off to Idaho. Hey, no big deal. All Vinnie "Spuds" DeMarco wants from Wiley, who earns his living making illustrations of insects for the Smithsonian Institution, is "semi-decent pitchas — no smut — "of his eighteen resident cuties, naturally named the Spudettes. Nice work if you can get it, only Wiley can't seem to find the time for romance and art. Someone's knocking off the hoods at the Mount Vincent High Country Lodge and Whitewater Resort — someone with an attitude who wants everybody dead.

This book is about waking up God's children. "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." Romans 13:11 KJ It is time to wake up His slumbering bride. We have been lulled to sleep by the enemy of our souls and been caught unaware. The enemy has come in just under the wire, not to be seen. I believe the Lord God Almighty has stated to Wake up and warn His children! It is a time to wake up to His call. It is a time to realize our weaknesses. It is a time to stop straying like sheep. It is a time to recognize the tactics of the enemy. It is a time to fight for our family. It is a time to knit together. It is a time to stand. Our country needs a wake up call. It is time to take the blinders off. "He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed," Luke 4:18b NIV This book is power packed with a message for this day and time! The new believer will be captured by the sound of the wake up call and the mature believer will obtain golden nuggets needed for such a time as this. This book has a word for the preparation of the flock. "Wake up His Children" has a warning to be given to the church. "And he (the watchman) sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people." Ezekiel 33:3 NIV This book is written in a thoughtful, from the heart way, for this day and time; a helpful message for everyone.