---

I’ve begun reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I’m not sure what took me so long to turn to Dickens, but here I am. A few things drew me specifically to David Copperfield, one being Dickens’ own claim that this was his favorite among his novels. I was also inspired by the 2019 film The Personal History of David Copperfield and the publication last year of Barbara Kingsolver‘s novel Demon Copperhead, which is also on my list of books to read. David Copperfield, as one might imagine, is the life history of the title character, whose experience is inspired by Dickens’ own life. I’ve read about half the book and it’s a rousing good tale. I’m reading a fairly generic 2010 edition, but it does include a few of the illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne (working under the pen name Phiz) from David Copperfield‘s original publication in serial form in 1849-1850.

We planted a beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) shrub in our back yard about 3 years ago; it looked a little straggly for a while but has proven very resilient to Florida’s harsh summers and increasingly erratic rain patterns. The berries are said to be attractive to a wide variety of birds, though we haven’t seen many on ours. There are a lot of berries this season – each berry is tiny, less than a quarter of an inch across – so we’re hopeful about seeing more birds this year. There are recipes for using the berries in jam and other foods, but we haven’t been that adventurous.

My wife and I both enjoy walking, especially in the morning. We haven’t been thrilled with our available routes as we basically live in a vast car-centric suburb and Florida is one of the most dangerous states in the country for pedestrians. However, we changed our route recently and we’re now enjoying morning walks that are both more peaceful and better exercise, because we’re motivated to go farther. We get to enjoy a little greenspace and we’re seeing a variety of birds that we might not see otherwise. It’s amazing how much a small change like this can make in one’s overall quality of life.