Saint Croix Notes: River Mornings, Radio Nights

In these short, graceful essays written for Minnesota Public Radio's Good Evening , Adams chronicles a year in the Saint Croix River Valley of Minnesota and Wisconsin. He muses about the passage of the seasons, books he has read and day-to-day events in the small-town Midwest. His found pleasures derive from nature, the weather and such activities as canoe trips, a stroll through a cemetery, a climb to the top of a water tower and visits to a dog pound, a zoo, a high school basketball game, a garage sale. The tone is gentle--like Adams's voice, familiar to those who have heard him as host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered --and the experiences ordinary, yet he reveals with delight and wonder the often unnoticed magic of the commonplace. (Nov.)