“These letters reveal how I remembered I had wings, and that I could fly – not because I had them, but because I had the courage to use them.” The ageing Arabella Gallina is struggling to pack up her family’s centuries-old coffee plantation house in Costa Rica. Receiving a visit from her son James, she discovers that his daughter, Isabella, is facing challenges in far-away England. Reluctantly at first, Arabella begins a correspondence with her granddaughter that eventually allows them both to make sense of the inevitable pain that life delivers to us all. Pen Pal Feathers is the multigenerational story of a remarkable family, a magic realism narrative that winds through Europe and the Americas and encompasses the full sweep of the 20th century. It reveals the powerful bonds between generations and how those bonds shape our lives – how enduring familial love can supply the wings that enable us to fly.
Fishing Flies for Africa is a comprehensive, detailed reference guide to the fishing flies for use in Africa. The author has poured over two decades of research and a lifetime of experience into this book, sharing a wealth of experience and unparalleled enthusiasm on the subject. Included in this title are over 800 flies of European, American, Australasian and local origin. The origin and developmental history of each fly is discussed, as well as its dressing, any variations, and the appropriate method for fishing with it. Additional design and tying notes are included, where applicable. Appropriate substitutes for rare or environmentally sensitive materials are listed, and the book has a serious focus on ecologically friendly fly-fishing, with an entire chapter dedicated to natural materials and their substitutions. The growing hobby of collecting flies also receives its own chapter, with useful advice on storage, framing and lighting options.
Established in 1911, The Rotarian is the official magazine of Rotary International and is circulated worldwide. Each issue contains feature articles, columns, and departments about, or of interest to, Rotarians. Seventeen Nobel Prize winners and 19 Pulitzer Prize winners – from Mahatma Ghandi to Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – have written for the magazine.
The perfect reference book for everyday use, it provides definitions written in clear, jargon-free language readily accessible to every level of reader.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Anne Bishop returns to her world of the Others, as humans struggle to survive in the shadow of shapeshifters and vampires far more powerful than themselves... After a human uprising was brutally put down by the Elders—a primitive and lethal form of the Others—the few cities left under human control are far-flung. And the people within them now know to fear the no-man’s-land beyond their borders—and the darkness... As some communities struggle to rebuild, Lakeside Courtyard has emerged relatively unscathed, though Simon Wolfgard, its wolf shifter leader, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn must work with the human pack to maintain the fragile peace. But all their efforts are threatened when Lieutenant Montgomery’s shady brother arrives, looking for a free ride and easy pickings. With the humans on guard against one of their own, tensions rise, drawing the attention of the Elders, who are curious about the effect such an insignificant predator can have on a pack. But Meg knows the dangers, for she has seen in the cards how it will all end—with her standing beside a grave...
Turkey vultures, the most widely distributed and abundant scavenging birds of prey on the planet, are found from central Canada to the southern tip of Argentina, and nearly everywhere in between. In the United States we sometimes call them buzzards; in parts of Mexico the name is aura cabecirroja, in Uruguay jote cabeza colorada, and in Ecuador gallinazo aura. A huge bird, the turkey vulture is a familiar sight from culture to culture, in both hemispheres. But despite being ubiquitous and recognizable, the turkey vulture has never had a book of literary nonfiction devoted to it - until Vulture. Floating on six-foot wings, turkey vultures use their keen senses of smell and sight to locate carrion. Unlike their cousin the black vulture, turkey vultures do not kill weak or dying animals; instead, they cleanse, purify, and renew the environment by clearing it of decaying carcasses, thus slowing the spread of such dangerous pathogens as anthrax, rabies, and botulism. The beauty, grace, and important role of these birds in the ecosystem notwithstanding, turkey vultures are maligned and underappreciated; they have been accused of spreading disease and killing livestock, neither of which has ever been substantiated. Although turkey vultures are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes harming them a federal offense, the birds still face persecution. They've been killed because of their looks, their odor, and their presence in proximity to humans. Even the federal government occasionally sanctions "roost dispersals," which involve the harassment and sometimes the murder of communally roosting vultures during the cold winter months. Vulture follows a year in the life of a typical North American turkey vulture. By incorporating information from scientific papers and articles, as well as interviews with world-renowned raptor and vulture experts, author Katie Fallon examines all aspects of the bird's natural history: breeding, incubating eggs, raising chicks, migrating, and roosting. After reading this book you will never look at a vulture in the same way again.
Established in 1911, The Rotarian is the official magazine of Rotary International and is circulated worldwide. Each issue contains feature articles, columns, and departments about, or of interest to, Rotarians. Seventeen Nobel Prize winners and 19 Pulitzer Prize winners – from Mahatma Ghandi to Kurt Vonnegut Jr. – have written for the magazine.