Julia Older's epic poem is a tale of duality that ranges from exuberance to rage, with a rousing story, vivid images, and exciting rhythms. It is also very funny, even giving us a parody of a poetry review as well as wry and witty observations and laugh-out-loud punch lines:

Hermione: The lilac grants the inch worm/asylum in its leaves./The thorny rose invites the peaceful/pollinating bees./Were we wiser than we are/we would live as these.

1st Attendant: Don't listen! She's just another blathering poet.

Julia Older is a writer of many talents. In addition to her poetry, I much enjoyed her novel based on the life of poet Celia Thaxter, THE ISLAND QUEEN.

I purchased this book for one recipe- the Lentil Lemon Soup. It was so good, I tried the Spaghetti Squash Soup, Rose-colored Cauliflower Soup, Asparagus Cheddar Cheese Soup, Chicken Gumbo...! All the recipes I tried are wonderful and can be whipped up in time for supper or lunch- no all day simmering!

The woodland trail descriptions contained in "Nature Walks" are excellent and very well detailed. My only major complaint with the book is that the directions given to arrive at the base locations are NOT accurate. I have used this guide on two trails and both times I found street names to be wrong, and measurements to be off greatly. The book does not differ between dirt and paved roads, so bring the book, but also bring a map. On a more positive note, I felt my hiking experience was greatly enhanced by the information in the book.

As a Trail guide I think it definately needs more description of the trail and put trail names on the maps. It's nice to go by a map once you are on a trail, but these maps leave out a lot of important trail markers and was very hard to follow. Usually on any given trail there are a lot of loops you can take, nothing was specified on these maps. The description on what is on the trail is pretty nice, but using the maps turned out effortless. You need to concentrate more on the trail so people don't get lost.