I decided to change the title for my Friday posts. Formerly, it was What’s Making Me Happy, but I had borrowed this from the excellent podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, and I thought maybe it would be best to have something different. There is a fine line between admiration and plagiarism, and I didn’t want to cross it.

So now the title will be Friday Favorites, but the content will be the same as I list things that made me happy or caught my attention during the week. Often I list three things, but today there will only be one as it needs to stand by itself.

Long overdue to be featured on this blog is the very beautiful book, Between Heather and Grass: Poems and Photographs Filled with Love, Hope and Whippets. It was published by my blogging friend Xenia Tran, who has the lovely blogs Whippet Wisdom and Tranature. Both blogs feature fine poetry as well as gorgeous photography of Scotland. Whippet Wisdom, as its name suggests, also features two graceful whippets, Eivor and Pearl.

Between the Heather and Grass also features fine poetry, gorgeous photographs of Scotland, and those two elegant whippets. In addition, there are short paragraphs of prose that expand on the poetry and photos.

About Between Heather and Grass, Xenia writes, “We are donating thirty per cent of any net profit from the sale of this book to a children’s cancer charity in memory of our nephew Jamie Baker and another thirty per cent of net profit to the UK’s largest dog welfare charity in memory of Flynn, Fergal, Seamus and Ruby. ”

Readers, I have a confession to make. I was moved to tears by the poignancy of the photos and words in this book combined with the dedication to Xenia’s nephew, who alas, did not survive his bout with cancer. I, too, have a nephew who had cancer, but fortunately he survived.

Anyway, this is a book to cherish, to have have in your own library and to give to others who love photography, poetry, and dogs.

Addendum: Oops! I had meant to delete this music video and include it in next week’s Friday Favorites. But it was pushed so far down that I didn’t notice it was on this post until a reader commented on it. Well, two things are featured this Friday.  Enjoy Jon Batiste’s fantastic music.

Addendum 2: Hoo-boy! Really missing the beat this week. On my Friday posts, I always like to include Thistle and Kiwis small pleasures for the week. Because let’s face it, especially during these times, you can’t have too many small pleasures.

Last week was truly a gift. The weather was August perfect, a reminder of why people come to Maine in the summer. The days were hot, but not too hot, and the nights were cool enough to need blankets for sleeping.  Much of my time was spent on the patio, where I read, napped, took pictures, and ate. It was absolutely wonderful not to hurry through the day.

One night we had shrimp and Farmer Kev’s corn on the cob. Delicious!

Every evening we had drinks.

As we sipped our drinks and chatted, hummingbirds visited the last of the blooming bee balm. Soon those little lovelies will be gone, winging their way south to warmer weather.

Cardinals also came. But instead of bee balm nectar, they wanted to eat seeds at the brown feeder.

Truthfully, I could use another week off, but there is much work to do over the next few months. However, I am going to ease back slowly, first with blogging and then with other writing—my podcast and the final editing of my book Out of Time.

But all is not labor and toil at our home in the woods. This week we are having a Tri-State Virtual Film Festival where one night the whole family watches a movie and the next evening we get together—via Zoom—to discuss it.

We’ve already seen two movies, and I’ll be writing more about this on Friday as our Tri-State Virtual Film Festival is definitely making me happy.