Thursday Thirteen 218: Recently Read

Here's what was read in July and August...













1. The Tales of Beadle the Bard. Borrowed from sister. A short, fast read that may be of interest to fans of the Harry Potter series.

2. Lilian Jackson Braun was the July featured author in the Cozy Mysteries group at Good Reads. I only managed to get through the first two of four books I have of hers, but they were pretty good mysteries. Fairly fast reads, at any rate, and I loved the mystery-solving cat, Koko.

3. If you sense a vampire theme, you would be correct, though I swear it was unintentional. It started as a desire to read a few books borrowed from a friend (Frost, Harris) so they could be returned. Then I won Dracula in Love from a blog contest and decided I wanted to (finally!) read Dracula before reading that one.

4. Summer in the South was another blog contest win, and pretty good. I read it in one weekend. Less than, actually.

5. One of the two Intrigues by Julie Miller was a gift from a friend, who sent me the two preceding books as well, as the trio was connected. The other related book was one I missed previously and lucked on to at the local UBS.


Eight of the above listed were featured in weekly Teaser Tuesday excerpts, which you can read here.




LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Maddy Barone * Alice Audrey * Gel * Sidney Bristol
Caridad Piniero * Cindy Swanson * Colleen
Paige Tyler * Darla M Sands * Hazel
K Taylor * Janet

Wordless Wednesday 19: Orange Berries

An August Sunset

This is what the sky looked like during Saturday evening's walk, between 7 and 8pm. No rain, just heavy clouds that rolled in and dissipated by morning. Temp was mid-70s, with a light breeze. In other words--absolutely beautiful!

Random Photo: Tia

For some reason, Tia (the boss's min pin) is afraid of the camera. She runs whenever she sees it pointed at her. So I had to be a bit sneaky and shoot this one facing away from her and under my arm. Hehe...

HAY!

Took these a couple weeks ago of the farm near work, but kept forgetting to post them.

Thursday Thirteen 217: Olbrich

Two weeks ago, I shared pictures from Olbrich's Blooming Butterflies exhibit. Last week I shared photos of some of some of the plant life found inside Olbrich's Bolz Conservatory. This week we go outside. As it was 90F that day, with humidity that made it feel a good ten degrees worse, we did not tour all 16 acres of the gardens as we normally would have, but I did get a few good pics from the two or three gardens we did walk through.




Entrance to Sunken Garden~
you can see Lake Monona in the distance.


Pretty blossoms everywhere.






Ornamental grasses.


Black-Eyed Susans


There are chairs and benches tucked in
quiet nooks all over the gardens.


"Fiddleheads" by Sylvia Beckman.


A memorial bench.


I absolutely LOVE this grape arbor.
The pathway leading to the herb garden
passes through it, and you can see
that there is a bench on either side.




Partial view of the pergola




LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Maddy Barone * Alice Audrey * Shelley Munro
Ron * Brenda * Janice Seagraves * Xakara
Jennifer Leeland * Paige Tyler * Darla M Sands
Robin L Rotham * Nicholas

Wordless Wednesday 18: Yellow

Teaser Tuesday 98: Protecting...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current book or recent read.
* Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere in the book.
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!


Just finished this rom suspense, part of Julie Miller's "The Precinct: SWAT" series. A good ending to the RGK saga, and yay me—I correctly guessed who the serial killer was.

"Shh." She kissed him again, lightly brushing her lips across his, testing the will of this coiled panther of a man, cooing sounds of desire and comfort in her throat."
(pg 19)

* * * * *

And because it's not only romance, but suspense...

Fire burned through the sleeves of his jacket and seared his right side before they slid to a stop. Josie held on tight and screamed against his neck as bits of hot metal and molten plastic rained down from the smoke-blackened sky above them.
(pg 167)

FROM GOOD READS:
Protecting the Pregnant Witness
By Julie Miller

A ruthless killer...an expectant mother…one determined cop.

Rafe Delgado had been there for Josie Nichols her entire life. So when he turned to her one night, emotionally drained thanks to a heartbreaking case, her longtime crush on the brooding cop reached a whole new level. But afterward, Rafe went back to being untouchable and Josie didn't know how to break through his shell...even to tell him she was pregnant.

Everything Rafe did was by the book and so his moment of weakness could never be repeated. He didn't deserve someone like Josie...even if it was a daily struggle to keep his hands off her. But learning she could ID a cold–blooded killer changed everything. Now she was in his protective custody and caring about her only made his job harder. And learning about his unborn child made it nearly impossible.


This book was a gift from a friend. Thanks, L!

Random Photo: Rainbow

Seen Saturday evening just before sunset and after a bit of light rain. Can you see the double rainbow in the second picture? The span of this rainbow was so wide I couldn't get the entire arc in one picture.

Random Photo: Canary

Canary at Bolz Conservatory
Olbrich Botanical Gardens * Madison, WI

Random Photo: Each Moment

Each moment is a place
you've never been.
~Mark Strand

Thursday Thirteen 216: Bolz Conservatory

Last week I shared photos from the "Blooming Butterflies" exhibit at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, which is held every summer in the Bolz Conservatory. As promised, here are a few pics of some of the plant life you'll find inside.

The Bolz Conservatory opened in November 1991 and has seen more than 1.5 million visitors since then. Many of the tropical and sub-tropical plants grown and conserved here are endangered in the wild. There are more than 650 different plants, as well as birds, geckos and tree toads that help control insect infestations.

The glass pyramid measures 100 by 100 feet, and is 50 feet tall at its center. The temperature is kept at a constant 65 to 80 degrees, but may warm up to 95F on hot summer days. It is kept above 60 percent humidity year-round, so is especially nice to visit during those cold, dry winter months.



Pitcher Plant These are one of my favorite plants in the Bolz Conservatory. While they may be cute, they are also carniverous plants that eat insects. Also known as "Monkey Cups," they are native to India, South East Asia, Madagascar and Australia.



Oranges are one of many food plants that can be found here. You might also see cacao, coffee, banana, vanilla and papaya.



Hibiscus There are several hundred species of hibiscus, and they are found world-round in warm-temperate, tropical and subtropical regions.



Hanging Lobster Claw Another cool tropical plant. Native to Central and South America.



Moth Orchid There are several different species of orchids, including these pretty purple ones.



Fuschia There are around 110 different species, most of which are native to South America, but they are also found in Central and North America, and from New Zealand to Tahiti. While most are purple or magenta in color, they can also be orange or white (or any combination thereof).



Fishtail Palm Native to Southeast Asia and India, this tree can be grown in some southern states. It is "cold hardy" down to 15F and requires shade to partial shade. It requires a lot of water with good drainage.



Anthurium or Flamingo Lily Also called Boy Flower (for obvious reasons, snicker). There are some 600-800 species of these, and maybe even up to 1000. Primarily found in wet tropical mountain forest of Central America and South America.



Chenille Plant Also called Philippines Medusa, red hot cat's tail and fox tail. Originally native to Oceana, it can now be found in parts of the US and Mexico. While it can be grown as a houseplant, it is poisonous to animals if ingested. And yes, it is as fuzzy soft as it looks.



Calathea Also known as prayer plants, calatheas are native to the tropical Americas. In some areas the large leaves are used in handicrafts (such as containers) or to wrap fish for transport.



No idea what this one is--I couldn't find the placard naming it. It was probably hiding somewhere under all the foliage. I think it might be a type of orchid.



Phalaenopsis, or Bamboo Baby Orchid



Blushing Bromeliad Native to tropical South America.




LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Adelle Laudan * Xakara * Shelley Munro * Ron
Janet * Jennifer Leeland * Colleen * Maddy Barone
Paige Tyler * Darla M Sands * Alice Audrey