My kitchen table today

What it's like to be a bird, a book I ordered some time ago, arrived today. It's beautiful. When I've finished, I will donate it to the little Peninsula Library and Historical Society.  From flying to nesting, eating to singing, what birds are doing and why. My kind of book.

But first I actually will finish Maphead. It has become fascinating. The first chapter seemed to cover everything about geography that puts me to sleep. And it wasn't even "What is the capital of Argentina?", but those dreadful "Is New York east or west of Sydney?" sort of "knowledge".

Once Jennings dispensed with the origin of those exercises, he looks into the dimensional aspects of geography. How did Pittsburgh come to be? I'll pass this book along to my sister, who really does see the world spatially.

I've moved the orchid to the table. This plant has bloomed for ten or more years, but no little orchids last year or this. Perhaps it was missing a window, so I've obliged.

Also in the window, a cutting from a Christmas Cactus. It's been years since I started anything from a cutting. This is in a little jelly jar, and the best part so far is little white roots snaking along the jelly jar. I picked a jar that will yield easy removal when it's time for a real pot. And, I neglected to mention, several small leaves have begun.

Finally, there are five peaches in my fruit bowl. I put them in the window, too, to get a tad more ripe. But I won't be able to stand it past tomorrow, so that's the day for crostata. I'll give the real recipe, but since I saw the peaches at Kreiger's today, all I can think of is peach praline. That will fit in a crostata, too.