Have you heard of space archaeology? I had not, until I came across Dr. Space Junk vs the Universe: Archaeology and the Future, by Alice Gorman. Raised on a large ranch in Australia, the author's father taught her how to look for evidence of Aboriginal settlements by looking down. He also taught her to look up, into the night sky and find various constellations and planets. She started out as the more traditional archaeologist, but kept her love of the stars and space until she had the light bulb moment that she could combine the two! There's lots of evidence of our exploration into space ... in orbit, on the moon, on and around other planets, heading far out into the universe ... There's evidence here on earth, too ... bits of satellites that have dropped out of orbit to rocket themed playgrounds. All in all a fascinating read!

Another loan from Tall Reader was Patriarchy Blues, poems by Rena Priest. She is the new Washington State Poet Laureate, and the first Native American to be so honored. I wasn't sure I was going to use her book as I found that, like my music, I like my poetry to be more .... traditional, as in it rhymes and has a definite structure. When I mentioned that to Canadian Reader, however, the suggestion was made that it was more like the poems from early, medieval times, when it would have been read out loud to a gathering of people. So, I read several of the poems to my only audience, my dog, but even so, they did sound better! At any rate, this is a nice collection of work, so give it a try. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog