MotherReader

I’ve been ignoring my little front garden. While that is a strategy I often employ to see what will grow next, this time I’ve also avoided the basics of weeding and watering. When my potato plants met an untimely end, I lost a bit of interest. Though, now I notice that the Halloween pumpkin I dumped in the same place has begun to reassert itself. Should be an interesting year in the garden.

One plant that we can count on is the butterfly bush. No matter how much you cut this baby back, it springs to life in the summer. It really does attract butterflies, as do the other butterfly-friendly flowers I have growing. I look forward to seeing these lovely, fluttery visitors each summer, and it reminds me to do a little reading on them.

Butterflies and Moths
by Nic Bishop
Amazing photography, interesting facts, and fantastic design make the Nic Bishop books standouts among standouts. In this title, we get magnified photos of moth eggs and caterpillar legs. Or was it the other way around? Either way, stunning camera work. At the end of the book, Bishop shares stories about how he captured some of the best shots, including a story of a last-minute flight to Costa Rica to see a particularly rare caterpillar before it turned to a pupa. The only complaint I have about this series is that the author takes so much time with each book that only a few other titles — Spiders, Frogs, Marsupials and Lizards — are currently available.