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Such an interesting post, Chris - thank you for these resources and recommendations!

You've asked 'What are some of your favourite daily escapes?' Like you I love to watch nature - I'm envious of your cardinals, chipmunks and wild turkeys because over on this side of the pond they seem so different - I love the blackbirds, goldfinches and squirrels. Writing is a fabulous escape, too. But if I really want to zone out I hit my favourite room in the house - the kitchen - and find stuff to chop, to dice, to whisk or to stir. Cooking is perhaps my favourite thing to do to steady my busy head.

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I have never seen a red squirrel until I saw one of your recent posts. Do you have gray squirrels?

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Yes, in most of England and Wales - apart from a couple of islands where reds still flourish - we have grey squirrels in overwhelming abundance. They seem to greatly enjoy trashing our bird feeders....! 🤣 Scotland has a population of red squirrels in mainland locations, but they're under threat from the greys, which is a shame.

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grey squirrels are ruthless creatures. Cute, but ruthless.

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Yup! Ours are currently being really rather horrid to nesting birds... *sighs*

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Thanks so much for this, Christopher. I'm writing a piece on what I call malignant optimism and appreciate the article on "goal fusion", which sort of sounds like something on a soccer field, no? LOL. (I'll link to you/this post when my piece is up...in July.) xo

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Yes, please share! And I agree, goal fusion sounded like a good thing but I soon realized it wasn't.

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