Home again, at last. China and I now have clean undies, but there's a mountain of email, a ton of laundry, and bushels of dog hair and dust bunnies to be swept up. (Bill has many wonderful talents, but brooms seem to puzzle him.) I'll try to get back into blogging later this week. In the meanwhile, here's a photo we took yesterday on our walk around the woodland. The first person to identify this odd-looking thing wins a hardcover book (your choice of several).
Reading note, by Mary Oliver, from "Going to Walden":
Going to Walden is not so easy a thing
As a green visit. It is the slow and difficult
Trick of living, and finding it where you are.
Later: Congratulations to Adele, for correctly identifying this osage orange!