Book Club

The Nature Fix

As we gathered at the trailhead before setting out on our backpack adventure, I encouraged everyone to take time to look, feel and smell as we walk. I told them to pay attention to how the wind feels on your skin, listen to the birds. I told them that I love them all, but I am a true introvert and being social drains my energy. Being alone is what really fuels me. I know I’m not the only one. I told them to take time for themselves if they need it – and lets all respect each other’s needs.

We were embarking on a session of nature immersion for the weekend with an overnight backpack trip to Ingalls Creek. Our June book club pick, The Nature Fix, highlights research that shows the benefits of being in the woods. It’s amazing that you only need to be outside about 5 hours a month to reap the benefits: lower heart rate, lower stress levels, lower blood pressure, heightened cognitive ability, and even increased empathy for others. We were putting the research to the test. From the beginning of the hike, I could immediately tell this one was different. We all slowed down, we stopped to take more photos, we inspected and smelled flowers and trees.

The trail wanders along the creek and was teeming with a rainbow of wildflowers. We spied the usual orange of the tiger lily, red of the columbine and paintbrush, pink of the wild roses, along with some more unusual sightings: white Cat’s Ears, yellow paintbrush, blue penstemon, and the elusive Mountain Lady’s Slipper. It was my first sighting of the delicate orchid and we all squeezed together on the trail for a look.

As we progressed on the trail, we noticed that the flora was changing. The beginning of the trail traversed an old burn, still recovering with sun-loving plants dominating. Later we entered a more mature forest with huge ponderosa pine trees. We gave them hugs and smelled them. We discussed the best way to go about it and decided that it was to find a tree exposed to the sun and then get your nose into the deepest fissure in the bark you can find. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Ponderosa pines have the delightful scent of the most luxurious vanilla you’ve ever smelled. Brenda told me it reminds her of creme brulee. We immediately got hungry and proceeded to plot a way to bring and/or make backcountry creme brulee.

We found a large camping spot in the trees to fit our group and set up camp. Some of the group continued up the trail a ways for lunch. Others stayed and cooked up lunch and made some tea at the campsite. For Mala, who we lovingly call our trail mama, this backpacking trip was a first. She went out and bought all new backpacking gear (she willingly commits to anything the book club does) and when we showed her our camp stoves and cookware she cracked up at how tiny it all was. She is used to cooking in large batches, whether for her family or while taking over our book club camp meals, and said she felt like a kid playing with cooking toys. She giggled the whole way through each meal and it made all of us smile.

Laura and I lazed along the riverside for a while and caught up on life. While we chatted a butterfly came to visit me. It sat on the rock beside me for a long time, giving me a sense of ease and comfort. I studied its colors and patterns. The others made their way down to the riverside as well. There we sat for a long time. We talked, napped, read, with no agenda, no expectations. Brenda studied for an upcoming statistics exam, one she was worried about passing (later she told us that she aced her exam and chalked it up to our nature fix). As the sun tracked above our heads and grew warmer, we all dipped our toes into the chill of the snow-fed creek.

As dinner time was nearing, I went and gathered some things around the forest and had everyone sit in a circle. I told them to pick an item- moss, sticks, pine cones, etc. I had them describe what they noticed during our hike on the trail and what they noticed about their items as they studied them. I welcomed everyone to take off their shoes and put their feet in the dirt (it felt so good!) for grounding and we did a short meditation together. Closing our eyes, relaxing our bodies, being in the moment.

We cooked our dinners (with Mala chuckles) and had our book discussion. One of the things that struck most of the group was that its not just adults who need to get into nature more, but our kids. Its hard to argue that time outside helps kids to focus and keeps them active and healthy. I especially enjoyed the chapters toward the end that talk about how being outside increases our sense of community and purpose in the world. And how just listening to birdsong, whether outside or through your headphones, gives us a sense of calm and peace. Birds only sing when they are safe and when all is right in the world.

I felt compelled, though, to share that I don’t think that nature is a “fix” for everyone. No one should feel that being outside will magically solve all of life’s problems. I prefer to call it the nature “assist.” Being outside can help to reduce anxiety and depression, but I don’t believe that it should replace medication and most importantly, no one should feel bad about themselves if nature is not a “fix” for them.

After dinner Laura got out her gorgeous Tarot cards and did readings for us. Laura and I shared our fascination with Tarot a while back and decided we should do readings while backpacking. I thought we might scare off our book club members, but everyone was pretty into it. After that we filtered off to bed. Rebecca and I lingered for a bit. She wasn’t tired and she didn’t have a book to read, her phone was dead, and we didn’t have any paper for her to write or draw. I smirked a little and gave her a challenge to just relax and enjoy being in the woods.

The next morning as we made breakfast and tea, Rebecca showed us the mountain that she whittled out of wood. My jaw dropped. She showed us all of the little things she made out of wood while we slept. They were beautiful and we passed them around and took photos. I turned to her, “you’re not the kind of person who can easily relax are you?” She replied, “no, definitely not.” We laughed. I guess some of us need a longer nature fix than others.

photo courtesy of Mala Giri
The Nature Fix by Florence Williams

Book Ends

Book Club Archive

Outdoor Life

Return to Twin Falls

There was the time before my dad got sick and the time after he got sick. My dad was in the hospital two thousand miles away while I drove Evie and myself down I-5 through downtown Seattle. The sky was clear and blue, but something felt wrong. I panicked a little. I searched the skyline for something that was missing. Did the city always look so small and brown? It seemed that everything was dull and diminished, like someone turned the saturation down and zoomed out on my world.

A few days earlier I got word that my dad was in the ICU on a breathing machine. It wasn’t the first time. Three months earlier he had collapsed from a heart attack and lack of oxygen on Christmas Eve. He was sent home with a portable oxygen tank and some medications and seemed to be doing better in the new year. My sisters and I planned a big family trip to Cape May in March. Dad said it would be too cold to go to the beach, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to wait any longer to see him. I felt terribly guilty for not being there on Christmas and the miles between us were palpable. It felt like there was a rubber band between us, stretched as far as it could go.

So I drove on to an old favorite trail in the foothills outside of Seattle, the one I took Evie on for her first hike ever. With all that was going on with my dad, I needed to be on the trails. I was also hoping that maybe Evie could walk it herself this time. We started at the icy trailhead and Evie immediately wanted me to carry her. So much for my plans. With a two year old I am getting very accustomed to a change in plans. I shrugged it off and happily carried her up to the falls.

Once we were at the upper falls, she was ready to walk. She put on her backpack and marched right up the icy stairs. Brave girl. When I managed to get her to stop and turn around, she hesitated, perhaps realizing just how far up she was on the slick ice. I recognized this reaction. The ‘oh crap’ feeling when you realize how steep the terrain is after turning around and looking down. I scooped her up and brought her back down, steady on the ice with my yaktrax.

After that taste of danger, she wanted more. She insisted on walking down the trail, forcing me to do a half hunch while holding both of her hands as she walked, and slid, down the trail. My back wouldn’t be the same for a week. We detoured down to the lower falls viewpoint and she got down all the stairs on her own while holding onto the lower wooden railing proclaiming, “it’s my size!” As she climbed back up we counted the stairs – 104! I was a proud mama.

On the way back down the trail we stopped for a closer look at the South Fork Snoqualmie. We played Evie’s favorite game of picking up rocks and throwing them into the water. I picked up the biggest rock I could handle and underhanded it with two hands between my legs as high as I could. We giggled and I taught her the word “kerplunk!”

On the drive home I called my dad and reported the impressive number of stairs that Evie climbed on her own. I called him everyday while he was in the hospital, usually during my commute home from work. He was always upbeat while we talked and after a few days he sounded much improved. But then suddenly he started getting worse. It was beginning to look like I would have another change in plans. Instead of a family vacation at the beach, we would all be heading back home to the hospital.

Book Club

The Messy Business of Reclamation

This month we hiked along a river reclaimed. Just a few decades ago, the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River was a dumping ground for all things expensive to dispose of: old campers, cars, trucks, construction materials, appliances, tires, etc. That changed when a community-wide effort launched to clean up the area and restore it to its natural state in the late 1990’s. A coalition of volunteers spent years cleaning up the valley and looking out into the crystal clear water today, you would have no idea of its storied past.

It’s hard to argue that these extraordinary efforts were not worthwhile. But, as we learned in our March book selection, Reclaimers, reclamation is not always so black and white as good or bad, beneficial or detrimental. Even the definition of the word is not entirely clear and seemingly contradictory.

Reclaim:

1. to recall from wrong or improper conduct

2. to rescue from an undesirable state; also: to restore to a previous natural state <reclaim mining sites> b: to make available for human use by changing natural conditions <reclaim swampland>

How can reclamation mean both restoring to a natural state and to make available for human use at the same time? And what does improper conduct and undesirable state really mean? Ana Maria Spagna went looking for these answers by traveling back and forth, up and down the west coast from Seattle to northern California in her aging Buick. She met some incredible people (mostly women) who were fighting long, hard battles to reclaim just a little bit of land that nourished their people for thousands of years. These were the Timbisha Shoshone whose ancestral land was in the middle of Death Valley National Park, and the Mountain Maidu who reclaimed the sacred Humbug Valley near Mt Shasta from a large energy company.

Where is the moral high ground? And who decides? Judgments cycle. Fire is bad, fire is good. Predators are bad, predators are good. And with the judgments, so go our actions: Put out fires, start prescribed fires. Eliminate predators, reintroduce predators. Like Sisyphus on a hamster wheel.

Much of the book is also focused on rivers and dams. Recently, there has been much effort taken to remove dams that are not useful or are harmful to fish, such as on the White Salmon river and the Elwha River. But is it always best to remove the dams? My gut reaction is to say yes, but as I learned from this book, the best solution is far from clear. Ana describes this dilemma as hammering a nail into a tree and then pulling it out. The hole is still there. With dam removal comes careful monitoring to get the right amount of sediment and the proper reintroduction of fish. There is so much focus and energy spent on how to perfect the conditions to return to some original state. Is it possible to think we could just make the dams better for fish?

…the lesson I kept relearning about reclaiming is that it’s not about what we’ve lost, how to retrieve or re-create it, but how best to move forward.

It’s not about what we’ve lost, but how best to move forward. This quote is what will stick with me most from the book. We must get away from the ideals of “returning” land to untouched, pristine wilderness. These romantic notions are naive and it devalues the contributions and knowledge of the Native American people. Rather, we should learn from them and take note of their traditional land management practices that sustained people for thousands of years without depleting or destroying natural resources. And then, with much debate and thought, maybe we can work together to find better solutions.

I would love to hear your thoughts about the book and the idea of reclamation. Have you, like me, struggled to find a balanced opinion regarding these issues? Do you agree with Ana’s conclusions in the book?

 

Reclaimers by Ana Maria Spagna

 

Book Ends

Outdoor Life

A Rainy River Family Hike

This weekend we finally got out for our first family hike. The weather looked somewhat promising so we jumped at the chance to get out on the trails. We headed to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River for a low key meander through some beautiful forest.

The trail begins by crossing the raging river on one of the coolest wilderness bridges I’ve ever seen. The suspension bridge was built in the 1990’s and before then it was a dangerous ford across the river any time of year. After lingering on the bridge we headed left along the turquoise river.

 

The trail soon climbs away from the river to higher ground with views of Garfield Mountain in the distance. Fresh snow dusted the top and clouds gathered around the cliffs giving it a majestic appearance.

Moss carpeted the ground as we continued through second growth forest and past the shear wall of Stegosaurus Butte looming hundreds of feet above.  Later the trail widens as it crosses many creek outlets on an old railroad bed. The route was once used to transport logs and you can even see some old rusted track along the trail.

Until this point it had been a mix of sun and clouds, but as we got about 3 miles in, it started to rain on us. We pulled out the little rain fly on the baby’s ergo carrier and found a place to sit and eat lunch. Evie got her first wilderness diaper change and nursing. I felt a bit like a wild animal while I nursed her on a rock covered in moss while the rain fell around us.

 

The rain wasn’t letting up so we headed back. We spotted what we thought was a dark colored deer and later when looking at the trailhead board, saw that elk lived in this area. We thought maybe it was a juvenile or female elk. This was a treat as we seem to rarely see wildlife on the trails.

As we packed Evie back up into the car, we decided that she is a true Northwest baby. She didn’t so much as fuss the entire time and the rain didn’t seem to bother her a bit. She babbled away in the car seat as we headed back home which is a new (and very fun) phase. I talked back and listed all the things we saw today: trees, river, rocks, bridge, ferns, moss, lichen, doggies, babies. How many trees do you think we saw? How many rocks? How many ferns… and on and on all the way home.

Hikes Featured in this Post:
Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

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Outdoor Life

Evie’s First Hike

Since the day I found out I was pregnant, I’ve been thinking about baby’s first hike. Of all the firsts that she will have in this life, I was most excited for this one. I wanted it to be special, but as three months passed with never ending rain and as the realities of parenthood setting in, I realized we would just have to go out and do it.

Drink in the beauty and wonder at the meaning of what you see.

So we did it. I packed her up and off we went on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to Twin Falls. This easy, often crowded, short hike was one of the first hikes my husband and I did in Seattle and I’ve been there many times since. Usually the crowds would keep me away on a sunny weekend but it didn’t bother me now. Evie and I were in our own little bliss bubble and I was actually quite happy to see a great diversity of hikers and lots and lots of families on the trail. 

We headed down the trail and I took it all in with new eyes. Not only was it Evie’s first hike, but it was also my first hike in a long time. I took a deep breath and soaked it up. Evie was awake and alert and doing what she loves to do in her ergo carrier- push her head back as far as she can so she can look at everything. She is the most curious baby and loves looking at new things.

I think about what it must look like to her, it is all just a blur of sky and shapes? Does she know that what she hears is a river rushing by? Will she recognize the smell of mud and skunk cabbage next time? There is something magical in knowing that this is the first time she has really looked at an old growth cedar and a sword fern and a waterfall. 

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

I want to point out everything to her and tell her the names of the plants and trees. But as Rachel Carson writes in The Sense of Wonder, we should give up the impulse to teach and explain and let our children explore with feelings and emotions. This will be a challenge for me, I want to teach her everything I know as soon as possible! But I must remember to allow her to discover things on her own.

 

It is not half so important to know as to feel.

So instead I make up a song to sing on the way down the trail as I see her eyes getting drowsy. ‘What goes up, must come down. Down, down, down. Down, down, down. What goes up, must come down, down to the river.’

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.


 

The Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson

The legendary environmentalist Rachel Carson wrote this essay in 1956 about spending time on the coast of Maine with her nephew. Her lessons hold up decades later as she gives advice on how to introduce children to nature and spark a sense of wonder. She says that we should rediscover our own sense of wonder and help them discover the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in. The edition we have that was gifted to us is a beautiful hardback full of lovely photographs to accompany Carson’s lyrical words.

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Reading List

Reading List: River

northofhopeNorth of Hope by Shannon Huffman Polson
Shannon Polson bravely shares her story of grief and healing in the wilderness of Alaska. After her parents are killed by a grizzly bear on a river in the far reaches of Alaska, Polson searches for ways to heal. She turns to the music and the wilderness and eventually goes to raft the river where he parents died to find peace. This is a raw and beautifully written memoir of searching for meaning after loss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Paddlenorth by Jennifer Kingsley
Kingsley and five companions were looking for adventure when they decided to paddle the Back River in the northern reaches of arctic Canada. It was a 54 day journey and they battled high winds, stubborn ice, and for some, their haunting pasts. The history of the river’s exploration is weaved throughout the book and a more current story is uncovered when they find an abandoned camp, canoe and backpacks. Meanwhile the team is constantly on the lookout for migrating caribou and grizzlies as they navigate the river and the relationships of the team. This compelling adventure memoir is raw, satisfying, and impossible to put down.

 

 

 

 

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The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko
This is a true, fast-paced wild ride of a story through the Grand Canyon. In 1983, a massive flood on the Colorado River presented challenges unimaginable. While the engineers were dealing with how to manage the Glen Canyon Dam, a man in a rescued small wooden dory named “The Emerald Mile” went out to run the entire river in record time and almost lost his life in the seemingly impossible feat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

51B5fFO0HKL._SX362_BO1,204,203,200_Riverwalking by Kathleen Dean Moore
I’ve just recently discovered Kathleen Dean Moore’s work and she is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. In this collection of essays, she ruminates on spending time on a river with stories of getting lost in a boat and finding her way in the dark, a harrowing river crossing, rafting rapids and simply walking the shoreline. Moore is a philosopher and nature lover and her provocative writing always leaves me feeling satisfied and thinking about life’s big questions.

 

 

 

 

pilgrim-imagePilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard is a queen of nature writing. She was in her 20’s when she published Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and it gained wide praise and won her a Pulitzer Prize. The book is comprised of her wanderings and thoughts throughout the year along Tinker Creek near where she lived in Virginia’s Blue Mountains. She includes her observations, thoughts on religion, solitude and nature in beautiful and thought-provoking metaphors. This is a classic that every nature-lover should read. Already read this one and want more? Dillard’s newest collection of essays, The Abundance, is now out in hardcover.

 

 

 

 

9780141321134Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
This is the charming children’s story we all read as kids. It begins with Mole giving up on his spring cleaning and going out for a walk. He discovers the nearby river and meets Rat, who lives and plays there. Rat teaches Mole how to row a boat and ultimately sows the seeds of a friendship. They go to visit Badger in the Wild Wood and are always trying to keep their reckless friend Toad out of trouble. This warmhearted tale of friendship, nature and adventure was published in 1908 and drew from Grahames own experiences growing up on the River Thames in England.

 

 

 

 

Road Trip

Lake Quinault

The Lake Quinault Lodge on the Olympic Peninsula makes a great spring getaway destination. My husband and I headed there last year about this time. This is the kind of place to go when you wish for a misty rainy day, but last year was dry and we ended up having beautiful sunny weather. We didn’t complain too much.

The historic lodge is v-shaped with open arms to the shores of Lake Quinault. At it’s heart is a giant welcoming fireplace and a large lounge space with big comfy sofas, perfect for curling up and reading a book. Outside the massive yard begs to be walked on with bare feet. Famously, a towering totem pole shaped rain gauge climbs the chimney to measure the rainfall in feet.

Like much of the western Olympic Peninsula, the Quinault is a temperate rain forest. This southwest portion of the peninsula is the wettest, racking up an average of 140 inches a year. That’s almost 12 feet! The area around the lodge is criss-crossed in ten miles worth of trails through the forest.

This is the land of the giants. You may just find yourself under the largest Alaska Cedar, Coast Douglas Fir or Sitka Spruce in all of Washington. You don’t have to go far to feel the majesty and breathe in the energy of the impressive trees.

We wandered a bit further into the valley on the North Fork Quinault River trail. The trail follows the river for what feels like forever into the heart of the Olympics. This trail is just as green and impressive as it’s famous neighbor, the Hoh River trail, but much less crowded. In fact, we only ran into a few people on the 10 miles of trail.

With some trails under our belts, my husband wanted to try some fly fishing on the river. Last year the rivers were extremely low in this area, but he still wanted to see if he could get some nibbles. I’m not much of a fisherwoman (is that a word?). In fact, I’m pretty good at getting the hook anywhere except for in the water.

But I could sit on the banks of a river for hours. Just watching and listening calms me and I love lounging around on the shores and reading a book. But this trip I decided to try something new. I brought my paints and sketchbook and practiced a bit while the sun set.

My sketches were not good but I enjoyed picking out the intricate details of a river smoothed rock or every jagged edge of a tree limb. To sketch a place means to observe it in all it’s being. Like a meditation, it occupies the mind even if just for a little bit. The whole weekend in Quinault was rejuvenating. There is just something energizing about all those trees…

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510XxP1DgHL._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_A Pacific Northwest Nature Sketchbook by Jude Siegel
From choosing a palette and mixing colors to exercises for perfecting your sketches, Jude takes you through the sketching and watercolor painting process from beginning to finish. She focuses on natural subjects like rocks, trees, water and mountains and sprinkles in many of her own paintings of her favorite places around the northwest. Jude lives in Oregon and teaches workshops. You can find more about her and the book on her website.

 

 

 

 

 

Hikes Featured in this Post:
North Fork Quinault River
Quinault Lodge Loop

Book Club

An Impressive Walk

As I drove to the Old Sauk trailhead, I was sure it would start raining any minute. The dark clouds hovered above the trees and mountains: Pilchuck, Three Fingers, then Whitehorse and the Twin Sisters, blazes of white against the gray. Along the Mountain Loop Highway the towering saturated green trees hugged me and welcomed me back. It’s been a while, old friends, I thought to myself, thankful for the return of spring and the promise of many more visits to come.

I met up with our growing group at the trailhead. I was thrilled to have some new faces in the group as well as others that have become familiar. Our little group of bloggers that met up as strangers not even a year ago were reunited and I’m so happy they have since become my good friends. We gave quick introductions and headed down the trail.

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It’s immediately evident that this trail is a special one. The trees are speckled with moss and sage green lichen giving them an ethereal quality. If they glowed in the dark you could find as many constellations as there are in the night sky. The longer I look I get lost in them and wonder if I am gazing into the past, into the time before there were eyes like mine to see them. When there was only the river, the ferns, the moss, the lichen, the rocks.

My senses were overwhelmed as we stop each other to point out each sign of spring we saw. I heard a squeal of joy as Lainey discovered a trillium and another from Laura who spotted the teeny tiny pink bells of flowers on a huckleberry bush. We imagined ourselves as woodland fairies taking Sunday naps on the soft tufts of moss that covered every branch and surrounding forest floor, shaded by the tiniest white mushrooms caps you’ve ever seen.

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As lunchtime approached we found a comfy place to sit and share our thoughts about the book, Grandma Gatewood’s Walk. Emma Gatewood’s walk through the woods of the Appalachian Trail could not have been more different than ours. She was escaping some fierce demons in her life and she was alone without the modern comforts of proper hiking boots, backcountry stoves, freeze dried food or even a tent. She carried a meager 20 pounds of gear with only a shower curtain to protect her from the rain and depended on the kindness of strangers for a meal and a place to sleep. When there were none, she foraged what food she could find in the woods and slept on a bed of leaves.

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During the 1950’s when Emma embarked on the Appalachian Trail, a huge cultural shift was taking place. The national highway system was becoming established and everyone used their cars to get around. In many places a lack of sidewalks made it impossible to walk from place to place. I didn’t realize just how much people used to walk until Montgomery points out in the book that people used to regularly walk 20 miles a day! Charles Dickens once said, “walk and be happy; walk and be healthy.”

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Emma Gatewood’s story is an inspiring one. She learned about the Appalachian Trail in an issue of National Geographic magazine and just decided to do it one day. She didn’t let the fact that she was 67 years old, had 11 grown children and a horrible abusive husband hold her back. She never felt sorry for herself or tried to justify what she was doing. When asked why she was doing it she simply said, “because I wanted to.”

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As we were walking back on this trail filled with life and incredibly scenery, I felt grateful. Grateful for the comfort of the forest, grateful that it never rained on us, grateful that I have a caring and loving husband, grateful that we have these trails to walk in the age of the car, and grateful for these wonderful people who came out to share a book and a hike with me.

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Be a trail angel and make these for your next group hike to share. 🙂

Whole Grain Blueberry Muffin Recipe:
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 c old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 c flax seed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c plain yogurt (I use Nancy’s Organic Plain Non-fat Yogurt)
1/2 c light brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp grated orange zest
1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c fresh or frozen blueberries

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Ground the oats and flax seed into a meal (I use a coffee grinder).
  2. Combine flour, oat meal, flax seed meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, brown sugar, butter, orange zest & juice, egg, and vanilla.
  4. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated, fold in blueberries.
  5. Divide into greased muffin pan. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery

 

Book Ends

 

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