Foxgloves and Hedgehog Days

Like Keats, "too long in city pent," Daniel Blajan moved from his city condominium to a cottage in a rural village. Reminiscent of A Year in Provence, his completely delightful memoir introduces us to the flora, fauna, and neighbors in his new life. Foxgloves and Hedgehog Days is full of amusing anecdotes about Blajan's adjustments to country living - like the time he convinced the local bureaucracy that the rush matting he erected to hide an eyesore had grown roots and was therefore a hedge, not subject to fence height laws. Or the day all the rooftops in the village sprouted bright yellow flowers. Or the ceremony surrounding the death of the community's four-hundred-year-old linden tree and the final miracle it displayed. Or the frogs who showed him why he shouldn't "improve" his pond - and much, much more.