Bookshops

Lewis Buzbee, the author of The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, worked in bookstores, and for publishers. This little book is a personal memoir and history of bookselling. A really fun read.

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

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Songbirds

Great book about the migrations of songbirds. The tiny creatures fly thousands of miles in the fall to South and Central America for the winter, then return to Northern US and Canada in the spring to bred. Miyoko Chu, the author, describes the migration routes, behavior, and where to go to see them as they are migrating. Literally millions of birds fly overhead at night on their migrations, mostly unseen by us mere mortals. They are using radar to track them now, and get an idea of routes, numbers etc. Chu writes well, and for any bird lover, this is a great read.

Songbird Journeys

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Alexandria, ancient center of learning

An interesting note on the discovery of a hidden settlement below the site of ancient and modern day Alexandria. One of the great tragedies of history is the destruction of the library at Alexandria, and the resulting loss of knowledge.

Hidden City Found Beneath Alexandria

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Lady Bird Johnson

Lady Bird Johnson died today, July 11, 2007. Probably most people didn’t know she was alive, if they even thought about it, which they probably didn’t. She was a proud lady who loved her home state, and stood by her philandering, probably criminal husband. She was a founder of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Tx. A truly beautiful place. http://www.wildflower.org/

I was driving in Austin today with my daughter and grandson, and noticed flags flying at half mast. Wondered why? Now we know.

Couple of links for Lady Bird’s bio.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/cj36.html

http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/biographys.hom/ladybird_bio.asp

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geni.com

An interesting, free genealogy site. Build your tree online and let others see it. Others will see the names you post by searching, and if your tree is public, will be able to view your tree. Claims to be a way for trees to link up. Check it out.

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