Susan Orleans’ book On Animals has been in my To Read pile for months, so when a friend mentioned it during our weekly call, I took note and brought it down to the basement to read during my biking workout.

A friend of ours midwifed ten baby goats into the world two weeks ago. This weekend filled up with another visit to baby goat land—waves of them leaping and cavorting on rocks while some of the visitors brushed Maybelle, the resident dairy cow.