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Time

Can it really be true that this year is almost over? Surely the calendar must be wrong! It can't be December 29 already.  But, yes, one must admit, sadly, that it is. Another year almost gone and what have I accomplished? Very little, it would seem. To be honest, 2025 has been full of challenges for me. The challenges have been primarily related to my health, beginning with a fall in January that resulted in injuries that put me in the hospital for a few days and is still requiring regular follow-ups by a home health nurse, something which I hope to dispense with very soon.    So, all things considered, 2025 has not exactly been a stellar year for me and I am hoping for better things out of the coming year. I remember my mother remarking on the fact that the years get shorter as you get older. That didn't make any sense to me at the time, but now I understand all too well what she meant.   All of which brings to mind the lyrics of the old Jim Croce song from lon...
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I'm still here!

Thank you to all my readers who have noticed and questioned my absence on these pages recently. As some of you know, I suffered a fall that required a few days in the hospital and then rehabilitation and, for a while, it limited my ability to post here. Happily, I am at home now and recovering and I hope to be back to my normal activities soon.  Thank you again for your concern and please keep checking on "The Nature of Things." Hopefully, you will be seeing me here again on a regular basis quite soon. 
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Poetry Sunday: When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple by Jenny Joseph

I've featured this one here before, but it is a particular favorite of mine. It is what I aspire to as I grow old, and so here it is again. When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple by Jenny Joseph When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick flowers in other people's gardens And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street An...
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Vacay

 "This Week in Birds" is taking a vacation this week. It will return next weekend.
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Poetry Sunday: Pity the Nation by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

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 This seems somehow particularly appropriate at the moment.
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This week in birds - #660

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A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Since I didn't post a TWIB last weekend, we actually have two "Birds of the Week."                               Canada Jay The Canada Jay was the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week for last week. The Canada Jay is, of course, a cousin of the very familiar Blue Jay and is of approximately the same size. Like all jays they are clever and opportunistic and are generally very tame and bold around humans. They are residents of boreal and subalpine forests from Alaska all across Canada and in mountain forests of the western United States from Washington and Utah to New Mexico and California.                                          Lewis's Woodpecker Lewis's Woodpecker is the Bird of the Week for this week. It is a bird of the western United S...
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Our current situation

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Political cartoonists are very adept at making their point with a few strokes of a pen, and of course they have a rich trove to draw from (literally) in our current situation. Here are a couple that I thought hit their mark pretty squarely in the last week.
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