I have consistently loved books that I've read when I've been sick in bed.

That's how fossil hunting is: It takes over, like a hunger, and nothing else matters but what you find. And even when you find it, you still start looking again the next minute, because there might be something even better waiting.

I didn't move. I've learned from years of experience that dogs and falcons and ladies come back to you if you stay where you are.

Say something worth the words.

You're so calm and quiet, you never say. But there are things inside you. I see them sometimes, hiding in your eyes.

My father was often impatient during March, waiting for winter to end, the cold to ease, the sun to reappear. March was an unpredictable month, when it was never clear what might happen. Warm days raised hopes until ice and grey skies shut over the town again.

You know I don’t listen to market gossip,” she began, “but it is hard not to hear it when my daughter’s name is mentioned.