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Bookshop Tourism: The Bookstore Plus, Lake Placid, NY

I have many fond memories of childhood visits to Lake Placid – an Alpine town nestled in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, with the honor of being the Olympic host city in both 1932 and 1980. Although the Adirondacks are fun any time of year, when I was little we mostly went in the winter, to ski at Whiteface Mountain – so the bulk of my Lake Placid memories are tinged with cold: learning to ice skate on the Olympic Oval, skiing every trail on Whiteface many times over, tubing down a long slide onto an icebound Mirror Lake, and ducking into the charming shops along Lake Placid’s main drag to get out of the cold. Some of those shops are long gone and live only in my memory (like a hat emporium where I tried on every piece of headwear in the store, once, or the absolutely captivating toy and game shop where I could get literally anything personalized with my name – oh, the possibilities). But one shop that has remained and still graces its customary spot in town is, naturally, my favorite: The Bookstore Plus.

It really is a bookstore plus, by which I mean it’s so! much! more! than just books. (Not that I need anything more than books, mind you.) There’s a well-curated stationery section and lots of art supplies if you’re inclined that way, which I am not. But the books are really the hero – there’s plenty to choose from in every genre and for every taste, but The Bookstore Plus really excels in local offerings and Adirondack-themed reading. (For example, that gorgeous art book in the picture above – Great Camps of the Adirondacks – Steve bought and presented to me as an anniversary gift the last time we were in Lake Placid, back in 2021, and I’ve spent many happy hours turning its pages and gazing enraptured at the lakefront real estate.)

See what I mean? There are entire shelves of books dedicated to the Adirondacks.

Including this series, which looks fabulous. I didn’t buy this, and now I wish I had, along with the rest of the books in the series. They look absolutely hilarious. I can only hope they’ll still be there the next time I make my way to the Adirondacks.

Instead, I made my way here, to my favorite part of any bookstore – the classics section. There’s a good one at The Bookstore Plus. I picked up a lovely hardback edition of Walden (I know Thoreau was not a Barkeater, but a book about life in the woods seemed fitting, I didn’t actually own a copy, and I’ve been gradually buying the Gibbs Smith hardback editions of nature classics.) I never leave a bookstore empty-handed.

I also almost bought the two Elderly Lady books – An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good, which I borrowed from the library a few years ago and loved, and An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed, which I have not yet read. If I wasn’t trying to avoid overloading my luggage, I probably would have grabbed them.

I’ve bought many books here over the years (and had many books bought for me before I had purchasing power of my own – thanks Mom and Dad) and it never fails to make me smile, to see The Bookstore Plus with its whimsical window displays and wide selection of Adirondack (and other) reading material. Can’t wait for my next visit.

Do you have fond memories of book shopping on childhood vacations?

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The Week in Pages: August 21, 2023

Well – it’s Monday morning, and not just any Monday, but the first day of school! Gulp. How did summer go so quickly? Nugget was more excited than I have seen him in a long time – possibly more excited than he was on Christmas Eve. Peanut was… quietly enduring. (A note: I think it’s just wrong that school starts before Labor Day. Just wrong. I can only conclude that the school district is burying my comments from the annual scheduling survey. Get your tinfoil hats out, people!)

Anyway – as you can see from the above, despite the busy week of getting ready to go back to school, plus the ongoing unpacking push (last week was “clothes week” and I am SO happy with my newly organized closet…) I still managed to push through a lot of pages. First of all, in the “finished” category – Nugget and I wrapped up Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire after months of reading half a chapter to one chapter at bedtime every night. On audio, while commuting, running errands and unpacking, I whipped through At Bertram’s Hotel, which wasn’t my favorite of Miss Marple’s outings but was nonetheless time well spent. (As time with Miss Marple always is.) And finally, on paper, Bricks and Mortar, which is a story of an architect and his family in the first decades of the twentieth century – I liked it, but didn’t love it as much as I thought I would.

Whew! Still with me? Moving on to current reads, I have three on the go. Nugget and I started reading Winnie-the-Pooh at bedtime and are rolling right through it; we’ll finish it this week. Nugget was a bit skeptical (I think he may have through Pooh was babyish – at first) but he cackled through the chapter in which Pooh and Piglet think they’re tracking a Woozle through the snow but are actually just tracking themselves, and I think he’s a convert. On audio, I’m reading and loving Lucy Mangan’s memoir Bookworm. (I feel like we could be good friends. Anyone else?) And in print, I’m finally getting to The Greengage Summer, which has been on my TBR for years. So, so good!

Looking back at this list – I don’t know how I have made it through so many books this past week, but I love it! Reader power!

I can’t believe it’s the first day of school already – hold me. Summer vacation went by way too fast.

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Antarctica and Patagonia 2023: Danco Island

A new day brought a lot of excitement when the expedition guides unveiled the agenda: starting with a morning’s shore landing at Danco Island. Danco is considered one of the biggest penguin hotspots (coldspots?!) in Antarctica, so the penguin-huggers and bird nerds were pretty excited. (Don’t worry, there was excitement ahead for the whale lovers, too.)

Because ocean conditions were again good, we started out in the kayaks (as with any shore landing, half the guests went zodiac cruising and half were onshore at any given time, and the kayakers were paddling). The icebergs around Danco were absolutely glorious.

Our paddle started out under grey skies, but not long into the morning, the sun broke through the clouds and we saw some stunning blue sky.

Towards the end of each paddle, whenever it was feasible (i.e. we were far enough from the ship and zodiacs not to hear engine noise), our lead guide YT would gather the group together and direct us to be as quiet as we possibly could for two minutes. We’d bob around in the water, dipping our paddles in only when necessary to avoid bumping into another boat, and just listen.

We’d hear seabirds and penguins calling, ice cracking, waves lapping, and even occasionally a glacier calving. These were some of the most peaceful, serene and present moments I’ve ever experienced.

Eventually, it was time to leave the kayaks behind and go explore Danco Island. We unloaded at Big Bertha and steamed off for our shore landing.

Perhaps Danco was over-hyped, but it wasn’t the penguin mecca I’d expected. There were plenty of penguins, certainly, and they were waddling around adorably, doing penguin things. But there were more penguins at Port Charcot and Neko Harbour.

Any penguin time, however, is great!

Steve and I explored the island a little bit, but I didn’t want to walk around too much. At this point in the trip, going from penguin colony to penguin colony wasn’t that satisfying. What I really wanted to do was set up camp in one spot and stay there as long as possible, immersing myself in the penguins’ world and watching their behaviors. So after we’d seen the entire walking route the guides mapped out, Steve and I stood on a rock looking down on the beach and just watched.

Penguin rager!

One interesting observation – made by Jomi, the trip ornithologist, and pointed out to those of us who were standing around watching – was that the penguins on the beach had chicks. Gentoo penguins generally do not nest on the beaches, so this was a bit surprising. No idea why – perhaps just a side-effect of the weird nesting season that saw chicks being born at staggered intervals all summer instead of in one big baby boom?

I guess we’ll never know, but it was fun to watch, all the same. I filmed for a bit, caught a handful of penguins going for a swim, and just enjoyed taking in the bustling scene. At one point, everyone jumped out of the water in one big wave…

And then we saw why…

A Weddell seal, cruising by the beach looking for lunch. The penguins all stayed safely up on dry ground – or ice – until the seal was gone. It would be anthropomorphizing to say they looked nervous, but they were definitely on high alert.

Every day I’m shuffling.

(Who’s that^ guy? Wink.) It was a fun morning on Danco with my favorite paddling buddy! Before we knew it, we were hustling back to the zodiacs, ready to head back to the ship and warm up, because we had the most exciting activity of all on the schedule for the afternoon…

Next week: the whole reason I went to Antarctica!

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Reading Round-Up: July 2023

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby. I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book. Here are my reads for July, 2023.

A Sultry Month: Scenes of London Literary Life in 1846, by Alethea Hayter – This group biography of several writers and artists living and working in Victorian London was well-written and interesting. It’s quite cerebral, so word to the wise – save it for a time when you’ve got the energy and attention to devote. Like, maybe, not while you’re moving house.

The Thirty-First of June, by J.B. Priestley – I absolutely loved this fun and silly romp. An Arthurian princess looks into a magic mirror that shows her the face of her beloved and sees a low-level advertising firm employee in 1960s London. With the help of two feuding magicians, the two end up time-traveling to meet each other, but they keep missing one another. A fast read and absolutely hilarious.

The Last Chronicle of Barset (Chronicles of Barsetshire #6), by Anthony Trollope – The final installment in the Barsetshire series and the finally book on my Classics Club list, finishing this was bittersweet. It was a good story with lots of old friends. Fully reviewed here – I loved it.

In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden – Everything I read by Rumer Godden just blows me away. This “contemporary” chronicle of nuns in a Benedictine abbey was gorgeously written and the main character’s story was heart-wrenching.

One Summer: America 1927, by Bill Bryson – We 2023 Americans think that we’re living through hectic times in the news cycle, and we are, but it’s not for the first time. 1927 was a very eventful summer, for example. Charles Lindbergh flew across the ocean, Babe Ruth broke his home run record, Sacco and Venzetti were executed, and so much more happened – the main plotlines aside, every chapter is filled with interesting little detours and hilarious Bryson-esque asides. I listened to this on audio – read by the author, it was a fabulously engaging listen; I kept finding myself inventing errands to run so I’d have an excuse to drive around listening more.

Swallows and Amazons (Swallows and Amazons #1), by Arthur Ransome – I’ve been meaning to read this for years – literally for years – and always thought it would make a perfect summer read. So it did. The story of four siblings and their friends, who sail and have adventures on an idyllic English lake one summer, is a total job. I’ve been trying to convince Nugget to let me read it aloud to him at bedtime, because I already want to revisit it.

House Woman, by Adorah Nworah – This was a book club choice that I didn’t love, to be honest. Thrillers are not my jam and some of the details really bothered me. It’s a good premise – a Nigerian woman is lured to the United States and held captive there by friends of her parents – but I didn’t care enough about the characters to find it tense or exciting.

The Jasmine Farm, by Elizabeth von Arnim – I’d heard this lesser-known von Arnim was even more charming than Father, which I adored. I don’t know that I would go that far, but this story of a judgmental aristocratic woman and her collision with a social-climbing actress in a rustic little farm in France was fun. The problem was that it took too long to get to the good part. But any von Arnim is going to be a worthwhile read for me and I can certainly see myself returning to this one – just maybe not as often as I return to The Enchanted April.

Whew! This post took a long time to write up and publish, but I can certainly say that July was a good month in reading. While I didn’t love everything I read last month, there were some real highlights – The Last Chronicle of Barset stands out, as does One Summer. Lots of good summer reading, too – quite a few of the books I read last month take place in the summer season, which is of course why I saved them to pick up at this time. I’m starting to pay more attention to reading books in the season they’re set, and while it doesn’t always work out it does add to the experience.

How was your July in books?

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The Week in Pages: August 14, 2023

Welp, it’s Monday, I’ve been back from vacation for over a week, and routines are happening again. Our road trip through New England actually brought more reading time than vacations usually do – all that car passenger time; I’m fortunate to be able to read in a moving vehicle – and I’m glad to report I was able to keep up the momentum over the week at home, notwithstanding it being rather a stressful one. As we rolled back into Virginia last Sunday, I started The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfeild, which proved to be a quick and delightful read. I blazed through, finished it on Tuesday, and turned to a book that has been on my TBR for ages: the Australian classic Picnic at Hanging Rock. This tense and atmospheric story of an unexplained disappearance of several girls and a teacher from a posh girls’ school actually takes place in February, which is the height of the hot Australian summer. So I was torn: should I read this in the heat of my own summer, or save it for Valentine’s Day reading? In the end I opted for the summer reading experience and it was definitely the right call to read when the mercury is through the roof – the heat is such an important part of the story, I think reading it in winter would have felt odd.

So much for my finished books: on to current reads. (One is missing here: Nugget and I read reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at bedtime and we’re almost done – down to the penultimate chapter. So that’s a current read but it takes so long I don’t include it in these posts until we finish it, which will probably be this week.) After Picnic at Hanging Rock I was originally thinking I’d move on to The Greengage Summer, but I think that might be another tense read, so I decided to put it off and read Helen Ashton’s quiet domestic novel of a family and their various houses, Bricks and Mortar. I’m working on some DIY renovations around my unpacking schedule, so a house novel felt like it might be fun for this week. And speaking of those DIY renovations, yesterday was dedicated to priming and painting the kitchen cabinet doors, and that’s a task that always goes more quickly with an audiobook. I started At Bertram’s Hotel on Audible and listened to about a third of it while working on my paint project (before switching to Taylor Swift to get my energy up). Between commutes and errands, I expect I’ll finish it this week – it’s not very long.

This turned out to be rather a bigger project than I thought it would, but I’m almost done! Nineteen cabinet doors, all given a coat of primer and two coats of paint on each side yesterday – oof, and you can bet I’m sore today. I’m reinstalling them in the kitchen, updating the handles, and then they’ll get one little touch-up in a few spots and I’ll be DONE applying lipstick to this pig.

What are you reading this week? And any home renovation projects underway?

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Antarctica and Patagonia 2023: Humpbacks in Paradise

After our exciting morning at Neko Harbour – first an absolutely stunning paddle, followed by a mainland landing and penguin-watching – we headed for another breathtaking Antarctic location: Paradise Bay. Although the cloud cover that had descended just as we were landing at Neko stayed around all afternoon, there was no wind and the ocean conditions were good, so kayaking was a go. Yay! We launched from Big Bertha as usual and I was immediately wowed by the incredible mountains all around us.

One of the things the trip photographer had told us was that the icebergs seem to glow from within when the skies are moody. It was definitely true.

Paradise Bay promised some fun sights. First, we paddled by Base Brown – formerly a British outpost that is now in the hands of the Argentinians, it has an interesting history. As we’d learned in one of the history lectures we attended to pass the time while crossing the Drake, Base Brown was burned down by a doctor who was over-wintering there when it was still a British base – apparently he couldn’t handle the darkness and loneliness. Over-wintering in Antarctica is definitely not for everyone.

We paddled right under the sea cliffs on which Base Brown perches and I tossed off a comment to Steve, over my shoulder, about “that crazy doctor.” One of our kayaking buddies, who happens to be a doctor – a psychiatrist, actually – was paddling by just as I made the remark, and shouted over: “What? You mean me?” Nope! The other crazy doctor! Just keep paddling, nothing to see here.

The penguins seemed comfortable enough at Base Brown.

After we had a chance to check out the scene, our lead kayak guide YT beckoned to us to follow him over to a big nesting colony of Antarctic cormorants.

The cormorants were perched all over a massive sea cliff – it was a really impressive sight. And they had two chicks!

We spent awhile bobbing around under the sea cliffs watching the cormorants. Steve and I joked that Antarctic cormorants must be better at flying than other cormorants, or maybe they climbed up there. We love to rag on cormorants. Who doesn’t?

There were a couple of solitary penguins too.

After Base Brown and the cormorants, we paddled around a bit more looking at the stunning scenery. Paradise Bay was well-named, indeed.

Ahhhhh – too beautiful. Before any of us were ready to say goodbye, it was time to load up Big Bertha and head back to the ship to warm up. One by one, we clambered out of our kayaks and into the zodiac while guides Jess and YT bobbed in their red kayaks offering helping hands. As we settled into Big Bertha, with just the guides to follow, we heard a theatrical shout from YT, and then a splash. A similarly dramatic scream from Jess, and another splash.

Mark, our zodiac driver, immediately ordered us all onto one side of the zodiac. Thinking he was going to capsize us next, one of the group said “Mmm-mmm!” and immediately adjusted her wool hat. But Mark didn’t capsize Big Bertha, and the guides had not simultaneously lost their minds. It turned out this was a rescue drill for Mark, which – as the kayak group’s safety zodiac driver – he is required to complete once a season. He never knows when the guides will intentionally capsize themselves, so he has to be ready at all times to make a rescue.

Working as a team to help Mark, we hauled Jess and YT back into the zodiac, where they sat on the floor looking cold and drenched. Definitely time to go back to the ship and warm up – or was it?

As we steamed towards the Ocean Diamond, we caught sight of something exciting off in the distance – a black back in the water! Mark asked YT and Jess if they were good to stay out for just a bit longer. They confirmed they were warm enough, and we zoomed off to have a look at a whale.

We got a bit closer, then killed the engines and watched our new friend diving and surfacing. This was a quite young juvenile – not quite a calf, but young enough that we were surprised he was on his own. Hopefully he was just having a little explore and wasn’t separated from Mom.

What a lovely way to cap off a fun and engaging paddle! First Base Brown, then cormorants, then guides in the water, and now a playful humpback whale!

Thank you, Antarctica, for delivering treasured memories once again.

Next week: more penguins in one of their favorite spots – Danco Island!

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Reflections on Finishing the Classics Club Challenge

Five years. Fifty classics. I’ve-lost-count-of-how-many pages.

I can’t resist a reading project; I know this. Give me a challenge to attack or boxes to check and I am all over it. (My kids, by contrast, aren’t even interested in the library’s summer reading program – which comes with prizes. Prizes. Who are these children?) This was my second – or maybe third – round of the Classics Club Challenge, which sets the audacious goal of reading and reviewing fifty classic books in five years. In a previous round, I set the even more audacious goal of reading 100. I figured, I read over 100 books in a year; 100 classics over five years – less than 20% of my reading – should be no sweat. Joke’s on me; I discovered that while far more than 20% of my reading is devoted to classics, I tend to read classics other than what is on my challenge list. Apparently the quickest way to guarantee that I won’t read a book: put it on a list. Who knew.

I’m going to try to remember that. Because I did read some really wonderful books over this round of challenge reading, and it would have been a shame to miss out. There were re-reads, like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall… new favorite series, like the Chronicles of Barsetshire or the Mapp & Lucia novels… hilarious books like Three Men on the Bummel… lesser-known treasures like The Priory…

Still, I did note that especially once I got to the end, I was getting weary of the project and weary of the books I’d gleefully listed out five years before. I didn’t want to read these; I still wanted to read classics, but different classics. I’d made the cardinal error of making reading feel like school. (And I liked school.) It was almost reading slump territory.

I am glad I did this project. I read some really spectacular books, and the review requirement forced me to think about them critically and carefully. I discovered some new-to-me favorites, and I’ll certainly be going back and re-reading many of the books on my Classics Club list. But I think I need a good long break before I do this particular challenge again – if at all. I’d rather just read what I feel like reading, without the pressure of checking something off a list. And the funny thing about that is: what I feel like reading is generally classics, so I’ll still be working my way through plenty of those.

Still, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have some goal or project or another in mind. And I do, rather.

A few years ago, I was heavily addicted to library books. I was walking to the Barrett Branch library in Old Town Alexandria at least twice a week, and maybe more, and bringing home stacks. And as I read my way through library book after library book, I sometimes glanced at my own shelves and sighed; I never seemed to have time to read the books that I’d deemed worthy of a permanent space on my shelves. How could this be? Then the pandemic hit, and my library visits screeched to a halt – and I was forced to read from my own shelves. This was just the spark I needed. Even after the library cautiously reopened for curbside pickup, I only returned sporadically; it was too much fun to read my own books, like I’d been wanting to do for years.

Of course, over the three years since my enforced return to my own bookshelves, I’ve added more books (and another shelf). Because of course I have. So I am not sure I’ve actually made much progress towards reading everything I actually own – classic.

So that’s my new goal, or really, my ongoing goal: to read my own books. It’s a loose goal, or a non-goal. There’s no timeframe and no rules: I just want to keep reading my own books and maybe someday get down to Inbox Zero on the bookshelf situation. Maybe I’ll do this methodically or maybe I won’t – I haven’t decided how I’ll keep track, if at all, and I know I won’t read according to any order or system. I’m just going to pick up books from my shelves that look good in the moment and try not to buy too many more for awhile. We’ll see how that goes.

Have you ever done a reading challenge? Did you find it valuable or did it kind of ruin the books for you?

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The Week in Pages: August 7, 2023

I once read the phrase “August is the Sunday of summer” – I can’t remember who said (wrote?) it or when or where, but it always stuck with me. This year it feels particularly true; last week we were on vacation – pictures and stories coming soon – and this is the first Monday back, settling into the last two weeks of camp before back to school (WOW, did that ever speed by) and reminding myself what my routines are after three weeks of nearly nonstop traveling. If anything, this month feels like Sunday afternoon before the rush of September.

Anyway. So, yes, I was on vacation last week! For those keeping score at home, that’s trip number three in three weeks – first I spent a week on the west coast for a work retreat, then a week working remotely in the Adirondacks (and hiking around the workdays), and then finally a week of vacation, which was road-tripping around New England with Steve and the kids. All of that hasn’t left a ton of time for reading, but I did have a couple of long car rides and some pool time last week, so I got my page-turning in then. It was a very good week of reading, indeed – as far as quality and enjoyment went. First up, I finished up Excavacations, by Kate Myers, which was a fun, feminist romp of a debut novel. I absolutely loved it, and it was perfect vacation reading (although even better would’ve been to read it on vacation in Greece; not that I’m complaining about Maine!). Then I turned my attention to Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah, which I have somehow missed out on up to now; it has been on my to-read list for ages, but I just never got around to it. That’s all changed now – I snagged the paperback off my mom’s coffee table and took it with me on vacation, finishing up in the car on the way home. I’ll have more to say in my monthly reading round-up, but it absolutely wowed me. And then finally, I picked up my current read, The Growing Summer, by Noel Streatfeild, about four children who are shipped off to spend the month of August with an eccentric great-aunt in Ireland. It’s a fun and fast read and I’m already 80 pages in, despite just starting it yesterday afternoon.

The week ahead: more of the same, as far as reading is concerned, anyway. Once I finish The Growing Summer, I’ve got a few more summery reads on my stack for August. I’ve been wanting to read Rumer Godden’s The Greengage Summer for years now, so I think that will be next – I specifically pulled it off my shelf before moving, just in case I didn’t have time to unpack books before all of my summer travel (as indeed I did not). Reading around work and camp schedules and workouts and unpacking – I am determined to have a functional, working kitchen by Friday, so that’s my evenings for this week – will be a challenge, but I’m sure I’ll find time to squeeze in the pages.

We had such a wonderful week on vacation in New England last week! Road-tripping around Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont was a perfect family trip for us this year.

What are you reading this week?

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Antarctica and Patagonia 2023: Neko Harbour, Part II – A Shore Landing on the Mainland

Just as we wrapped up our morning paddle and unloaded from our kayaks into Big Bertha the zodiac, the sky darkened and the clouds rolled in – perfect timing to get off the water. We made for a small demilune shaped beach: our landing spot on mainland Antarctica. I couldn’t believe this day had finally come!

As with all of our shore landings, the expedition guides had landed first and staked out a hiking route for us to follow. This time, we’d be climbing about 45 meters up a steep hill to a ridge overlooking the bay – a spectacular view.

The penguins, of course, had their own ideas about where to walk. These deep grooves in the ice were called “penguin highways” – the favorite routes for penguins going to and fro between the nesting colony and the shore. Our route crossed the penguin highway, and one of the expedition guides was standing at the intersection to hold up traffic when a penguin was coming or going; the wildlife always has the right of way! I don’t know about anyone else, but I personally didn’t mind being held up for a few minutes and watching the penguins waddle adorably up and down their highway.

Steve and I felt rather like orange and green penguins in our drysuits and neoprene kayak skirts.

We picked our way over the ice, past a smallish colony of nesting penguins – fluffy chick alert! – and finally reached the high point in our climb.

The view was indeed spectacular. Our massive ship looked like a toy from up here!

And we could look down on a huge glacier – WOW.

I got in line to take a picture on a little ledge overlooking the bay. As I was stepping onto the ledge, the previous guest – who was stepping off – slipped and grabbed me by the arm, almost taking us both over the edge. I quipped, “A little notice next time,” and she replied, “I just figured if I’m going to die, I’m taking a friend with me.” “I really don’t know you that well,” I replied. Clumsy McSlippingfall giggled – no, but seriously, lady, we’re not friends – and went on her way. And I had the ledge to myself.

I’m the queen of the world!

On our way down the slope, with plenty of time before our zodiac would be leaving to head back to the ship, Steve and I stopped to spend some time with Jomi, the expedition ornithologist, who was posted up near the largest penguin colony at the landing site. We watched the penguins comfortably brooding their little grey bundles of joy – and then I noticed some interesting behavior.

One of the brooding penguins suddenly tilted its beak to the sky and gave a trilling call. It looked like the alarm calls I’d seen at Port Charcot, but none of the other penguins at the nesting site looked bothered at all; they just went about their business. I concluded, then, that this couldn’t be an alarm – it must be a contact call to a partner just returning from the water.

Sure enough, before long another penguin arrived and made a beeline for the nesting penguin and chick I’d been watching. I leaned over to Jomi, pointed them out, and said, “Is that the partner?” He looked at the pair and replied, “Must be, or the nesting parent would never let the other one get that close to the chick, it would be snapping at it.”

The next moment, both penguins raised their beaks to the sky and made the same trilling call. Clearly the partner, then, and this was their contact call. I was tickled to have figured it out.

The returning penguin craned its neck down to inspect the chick. I imagined that this was mom returning from a fishing trip, and not entirely trusting Dad but wanting to see the chick for herself, in one piece and not playing video games.

LOL. Obviously not – but I don’t care what anyone says, it’s fun to anthropomorphize penguins. (Also, this could easily have been Dad returning to Mom; male and female penguins are indistinguishable. I just like making up little stories for them.)

The returning parent then bent down and fed the chick with fish from its beak; sadly, this is the best picture I got. And then the returning parent took over the nest while the brooding parent left for its own fishing trip. I was beyond thrilled to have witnessed the entire encounter from beginning to end – and really pleased with myself for deciphering what was happening throughout (with my hypotheses confirmed by Jomi!). Especially being a bird nerd, it added a layer of meaning to the whole day that I understood enough about penguins and their behavior to know what was happening.

See you later, Dad (or Mom!) – have a good fishing trip, bring me back lots of krill!

Next week: we kayak in Paradise Bay and see more whales!

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The Week in Pages: July 31, 2023

Goooooood morning, team! I’ve been traveling for two weeks and I’m running on fumes, a little bit. After my business trip, I was home for two days, just enough time to turn myself and pack the kiddos with all the sports gear I could find before we all drove up to New York for the week. The kids got a week of grandparent time, and Steve and I headed up to the Adirondacks to work remotely for four days and squeeze in a few hikes. So as you can probably imagine, reading time was thin on the ground – when I wasn’t working last week, I was hiking.

I did manage to get through one book – The Jasmine Farm. It wasn’t as much fun as Father, after all, but any Elizabeth von Arnim is bound to be a good read and this one was, of course. And I started another – Excavations, which I’m excited about. Began it curled up in bed while the boys watched F1 right next to me. It’s another busy week ahead, so I don’t know how much reading time I’ll have, which made the cozy Sunday even more precious.

Adirondack high peak six of forty-six! Still a long way to go, but we enjoyed Tabletop.

What are you reading this week?