Owls are “present for us in some deeper way or place, where night lives inside us.” – Jennifer Ackerman, in her book What An Owl Knows
January’s official bird is the owl and what a magical and mysterious creature to start the year off with! Full of majesty, owls evoke a sense of introspection and wonder that Januarys also seem to do.
There are around 200 species of owls in this world so there’s a favorite owl for just about anyone! Like the cute little saw-whet owl, the striking Barn owl, the regal Great Horned owl, and the ethereal Snowy owl.
They also come in a variety of sizes, ranging from the smallest owl, the Elf owl which weighs 31 g to the largest owls, which include the Eurasian Eagle-Owl, which can weigh up to over 4 kg!
Most owls are nocturnal, solitary, birds of prey and have evolved to become exceptional hunters. Some anatomical features that help them with this include their stereoscopic, forward-facing eyes which allow for greater depth perception in low light and the asymmetric ear placements, which allows them to pinpoint the location of their prey.
In addition, owls have serrated edges on their wings, which allow them to fly almost silently! Since most owls hunt in the dark and they are all farsighted, the ability to fly silently helps them hear their prey (since they can’t see them too well once they’re close).
Owls play an important ecological role, keeping rodent populations in check.
Some of the threats to owls are hunting, habitat loss, pesticide use, vehicular collisions, and viruses. There are many organizations working on owl conservation and you can do a quick internet search to find some in your geographical region.
If you’re looking for a great, easy-to-read book all about owl facts and lore, I recommend Jennifer Ackerman’s What an Owl Knows. I have a review of the book HERE.
Winter is the perfect time for cozy introspection and for pampering yourself! Take inspiration from Nature and embrace a slow, quiet way of life for the next few months, practicing self-care and kindness to yourself and others.
Nourish your body and physical surroundings with good food, cozy blankets and scents, warm baths, and lots of hydration. Nourish your mind with books, crafts, and conversations with friends – phone calls, FaceTime, Zooms, and snail mail are all ways to chat with loved ones.
And, of course, nourish your soul by finding time to rest but also enjoying time by yourself and with your chosen community. It’s a great time to prioritize sleep but also remember to shake those dark weather blues by being physically active – you can still go on nature walks during this time and the cold, wet weather will uncover a whole new landscape of natural wonders! Take a look at the cute mushrooms I saw on a recent walk in the rain.
It’s important to have things to look forward to at all times of the year and especially so when things are so grey and the days are so short. Plan some celebrations and low-key get-togethers with your loved ones – game nights, potlucks, movie nights!
Remember, there is beauty in all seasons and you just need to be open to it!
“They are to have new names, the master says. They are to be called after birds.”
The Naming of the Birds by Paraic O’Donnell is the second in the gothic mystery series featuring Scotland Yard’s Inspector Cutter and Sergeant Bliss, and journalist Octavia Hillingdon. If you haven’t read the first book, The House on Vesper Sands, you should definitely check it out too!
I love mysteries and this one was satisfyingly twisty! Set in the 1800s, the characters are well crafted, with unique and memorable personalities and the plot is really well-paced, keeping you turning pages long after you should be asleep!
We learn more about our protagonists and their pasts in this installment, as they investigate a gruesome murder. This crime may have ties to a decades-ago fire in which dozens of children were killed at an asylum.
This is a dark tale that explores themes of revenge, justice, and abuse, but O’Donnell’s writing keeps things from getting too grim, with witty interactions between characters and evocative descriptions of the surroundings.
I particularly loved how he brought the natural world to life- full of wonder and rich imagery. For example, here’s a passage about a hawk that was spotted by one of the characters: “It vanished then, until he caught it settling on a parapet. It folded itself away, black brushstrokes against a black ground.”
Breathtaking!
If you’re interested in purchasing this book (or any others), please help support my site by clicking on this link to my book page at: BookShop.org
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The Pongal dish made by my mother this year, and served with coconut chutney, sambar, and vadas. The guest post below was written by my father.
“The greatest wealth is to live content with what we have” – Thiruvalluvar, Tamil poet and philosopher
My memories of the Pongal festival goes back to the late 1950’s, growing up in the southern Indian city of Madurai in the state of Tamilnadu (formerly Madras). Pongal is a harvest festival celebrating the abundance of crop, and to recognize everyone who contributed to the bounties.
The primary agricultural products are rice and sugar cane along with cow’s milk, coconut and clarified butter (ghee) – so these are, expectedly, the focus of the festival. Pongal is also the name of the ceremonial dish that is cooked with these products and was traditionally prepared in an earthen pot on a wood burning stove.
The word Pongal means ‘boiling over’ in my native language of Tamil and signifies ‘abundance that runneth over’. This is physically represented by the literal boiling over of the Pongal cooking in the pot.
While the main theme of Pongal is celebrating the bounty of agricultural crops, on the first day of Pongal, called Bhogi, people clean their houses and decorate the houses with flowers, Old possessions are discarded for new stuff – symbolizing the renewal of life itself. The second day is dedicated to Surya (Sun) the giver of energy and life and the end of winter reminding us the northward journey of the Sun – (uttarayana) or the winter solstice.
The third day of Pongal is dedicated to maadu (cow) and to recognize them for all their contributions to agriculture and humanity. The cows and calves are bathed and decorated with flowers and their horns are colorfully painted. They are also fed with ‘Pongal’ dish and sugar cane. I remember these acts increasing the bonds with the household livestock and in developing compassion towards other beings.
Of course, other members of the household livestock e.g. chicken were also part of the festivities. The fourth day of Pongal (KanumPongal) – kanum literally meaning ‘seeing’ in Tamil i.e. meeting with friends and family to strengthen to appreciate their respective hard work that no doubt was intended to increase the bondage and spirit of community. It was also the day we remembered the downtrodden in the society by sharing the meals.
Pongal festival reminds me of the importance of recognizing fruits of labor and hardships, respecting nature and fellow humans and above all it reminds me of the ancient Tamil poet and philosopher, Thiruvalluvar who told us that “The greatest wealth is to live content with what we have” and “ True happiness is found in giving away and not in keeping”.
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“And now we welcome the new year full of things that have never been.” – Rilke
Happy New Year! Let us head into the coming year with wonder, hope, and possibilities – moving towards the best version of ourselves that we can dream of.
This is not a call for perfection but, rather, an invitation to kindness. We need to accept the beauty that is within us and in other people and treat ourselves, and others, with kindness, respect, and compassion. If we’re doing something that is disrespectful to others, or disrespectful to the best version of ourselves, in most cases we have the power within to stop. By choosing kindness, compassion, and respect at every step of the way, we will find our way down the path we should be on, ready to welcome a new year full of things that have never been.
So many good books to look forward to in March!! Here are a few that I’m excited to read! If you’re interested in any of them, be sure to check out my bookshop.org links to learn more and purchase a copy for yourself! All purchases made through the links below go to support this site.
Anita de Monte Laughs Last Xochitl Gonzalez “…mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death.”
Pub Date: March 5
Thunder Song: Essays Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe “….razor-sharp, clear-eyed collection of essays on what it means to be a proudly queer indigenous woman in the United States today”
Pub Date: March 5
The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay “first English translation of a cult science fiction favorite by Hemendra Kumar Roy, one of the giants of early Bangla literature, and other sf stories from the colonial period in India”
Pub Date: March 12
Say Hello to My Little Friend Jennine Capó Crucet “Scarface meets Moby Dick in this groundbreaking, darkly comic novel about a young man’s attempt to capitalize on his mother’s murky legacy—a story steeped in Miami’s marvelous and sinister magic.”
Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future Daniel Lewis “global exploration of nature and survival as seen via a dozen species of trees that represent the challenges facing our planet”
March 12
All Are Welcome: Wherever You Go Alexandra Penfold (Author), Suzanne Kaufman (Illustrator) “…modern and inclusive picture book that celebrates the many milestones of a child’s life ranging from a school play to graduation…”
Hi, Friends! I hope you had a good reading month! I got a chance to read some wonderful books in February – some old, some new, some yet to come! As always, I have a one-word review of the titles books below, but please head to my Bookshop.org shop to learn more about these books and purchase a copy of any that catch your interest! (All purchases made using the link help support my site!)
P.S. Distilling my thoughts down to one word to describe these incredible books is really, really hard!! 🙂 I will have longer, professional reviews coming for The Formula and The Wives, so stay tuned for when those are published! For the others, be sure to follow me on Instagram @gracerajendran for brief reviews as I read them!
Every year, starting February 18, thousands of people around the world participate in a free community project known as “The 100 Day Project.” The purpose is simple – to unlock dormant creativity, encourage consistent creative practice and joy, and/or to improve pre-existing skills by repetition and practice. All are welcome to join in and the project can be anything that inspires you. Possible commitments could include: listing three things daily that you are grateful for, spending 10 minutes a day learning a new language, knitting one row of a scarf, or learning one guitar chord each day. It can literally be anything that you would like to spend time learning about or practicing.
What I’m doing for my own 100 Day Project in 2024:
I have a large number of beautiful fountain pen inks and I am really into fine writing and stationery! Unfortunately, I don’t get to use all of my stash regularly, so this project is the perfect way for me to give my inks some love. Therefore, this year, my project will be to swatch my fountain pen ink collection!
What are the supplies I’ll be using? Mainly a paintbrush and dip pens in a 2023 A6 Hobonichi planner. I never got around to using it as a planner last year and, this way, this beautiful journal will have a second life! I also ordered Col-o-dex rotary card refills that I will also be swatching to create a customizable catalogue of all of my ink, present and future! (See photo below. I got mine from Cult Pens.)
I’m looking forward to sharing my progress here and also on Instagram. You can follow me @gracerajendran and the hashtag #GraceRajendran100DayProject .
How long will my project take?
Since it takes time to create the pages, photograph things, and write up posts, I am going into this realistically noting that I will take more than 100 chronological days to complete this project. And I am absolutely fine with that! So many times, I find myself rushing through challenges and tasks to post an end-result on social media or meet some other arbitrary deadline. We have so many deadlines in our (day) jobs anyway, that I want to leave them out of my creative practice as much as I can. So, for this project, I want to take my time, enjoy the process, learn what I want to learn, and do things as slowly as I need, or want, to.
How you can share your own project:
All are welcome to share their 100 Day Project progress on Instagram using the hashtags: #The100DayProject and #DoThe100DayProject.
Here are the new releases in February that I’m excited for! I have reviewed JoyFull so when that review is published, I’ll link to it here and make a separate post for it but, in the meantime, here are some brief blurbs from the publisher. As always, I’ve created a collections page on my Bookshop.org store where you can learn more about each book and author and purchase a copy if you’d like!
MY BELOVED LIFE by Amitava Kumar An absorbing, exceptionally moving novel that traces the arc of a man’s life, an ordinary life made exceptional by the fact that he has loved and has been loved in turn. (Feb 27, 2024; Knopf)
THE FOX WIFE by Yangsze Choo Manchuria, 1908. In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. (February 13, 2024; Henry Holt & Co.)
THE BOOK OF LOVE by Kelly Link In the long-awaited debut novel from bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link, three teenagers become pawns in a supernatural power struggle. (February 13, 2024; Random House)
SMOKE AND ASHES: Opium’s Hidden Histories by Amitav Ghosh Ghosh unravels the impact of the opium trade on global history and in his own family―the climax of a yearslong project. (February 13, 2024; Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
THE UNCHARTED FLIGHT OF OLIVIA WEST by Sara Ackerman 1927. Olivia “Livy” West is a fearless young pilot with a love of adventure. She yearns to cross oceans and travel the skies. When she learns of the Dole Air Race—a high-stakes contest to be the first to make the 2,400 mile Pacific crossing from the West Coast to Hawai’i—she sets her sights on qualifying. But it soon becomes clear that only men will make the cut. (February 6, 2024; MIRA)
THE FRAMED WOMEN OF ARDEMORE HOUSE by Brandy Schillace An abandoned English manor. A peculiar missing portrait. A cozy, deviously clever murder mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Anthony Horowitz. (February 13, 2024; Hanover Square Press)
JOYFULL by Radhi Devlukia-Shetty A passionate self-taught cook and nutritionist, Radhi Devlukia-Shetty’s JoyFull is abundant and inviting. With more than 125 plant-based recipes, it is designed to balance health and satisfaction. (February 27, 2024; S&S/Simon Element)
BIRDING TO CHANGE THE WORLD by Trish O’Kane In this uplifting memoir, a professor and activist shares what birds can teach us about life, social change, and protecting the environment. Trish O’Kane is an accidental ornithologist. In her nearly two decades writing about justice as an investigative journalist, she’d never paid attention to nature. But then Hurricane Katrine destroyed her New Orleans home, sending her into an emotional tailspin. (February 27, 2024; Ecco)
THE CURE FOR BURNOUT: How to Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life by Emily Ballesteros In The Cure for Burnout, burnout management coach and TikTok influencer Emily Ballesteros combines scientific and cultural research, her expertise in organizational psychology, and the tried-and-true strategies she’s successfully implemented with clients around the globe to demystify burnout for our post-pandemic world – and set you on a path toward a life of personal and professional balance. (February 13, 2024; The Dial Press)
ON LOCATIONS: Lessons Learned from My Life On Set with The Sopranos and in the Film Industry by Mark Kamine and Mike White This page-turning account of starting at the lowest rung on the production ladder among enormously famous & outrageously demanding people will be devoured for its insights, gossip, humor, & storytelling. Married and with a child, the author takes unpaid gigs to get a foot in the door, and eventually ends up working on all seasons of The Sopranos, often named the best TV show ever. (February 6, 2024; Steerforth)
BIG MEG: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator that Ever Lived by Tim Flannery and Emma Flannery Internationally bestselling author and renowned scientist Tim Flannery and his daughter, scientist Emma Flannery, deliver an informative-yet-intimate portrait of the megalodon, an extinct shark and the largest predator of all time. (February 6, 2024; Atlantic Monthly Press)
What books are you looking forward to in February and are there any here that you’re interested in checking out? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram!
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Receiving a beautiful, old copy of Moby-Dick for Christmas has really made me want to read some books set on the ocean this year. I’m not ready to re-read Moby-Dick (again), but I’ve never read Hemingway’s Old Man And The Sea and I’ve been wanting to for a while so that’s on my list for March.
However, I’ll be starting off the year with a book that was just published this month and that I’m eager to read! Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts. I talked about it in a couple of posts this month already if you’d like to read more about it!
And, in February, I will be reading Whalefall by Daniel Kraus because I’ve been intrigued by it for months now! Publisher MTV Books describes it as a “scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.”
I’m not going to write out my list for the entire year because I want to be able to add things that I may discover as the months go by.
You can read more about and purchase copies of these books on my Bookshop.org page HERE.
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