The Nature of Things

( Note to readers: If you are unable to access the links I provide, I suggest you query the internet about the topic to find a link available to you .) A roundup of the week's news if birds and the environment :  It's a bird that can be found walking on mudflats, shorelines, and sandbars and it was the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week last week . It is the inconspicuous but subtly attractive American Pipit . *~*~*~* And the Bird of the Week for this week is the fearsome American Goshawk . *~*~*~* We rely on bottled mineral water being safe to drink but "forever chemicals" have been found in mineral water in several European countries. *~*~*~* It's long been known that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals. Scientists now think they have pinpointed when that happened .  *~*~*~* At least four million Common Murres have been killed by a marine heat wave in the Pacific Ocean that began ten years ago. H alf the population of the birds has been ...

The Nature of Things will be taking a break for the next few days as we have guests arriving to celebrate the holidays with us and I have to get ready for them. But, never fear, I shall return (as someone once said) with more book reviews, poetry, and roundups of news from Nature. Meanwhile, I hope you are enjoying a happy and peaceful holiday season.  

Any time that I learn that Louise Erdrich has published a new book, I jump on it just as quickly as I can so when I heard about The Mighty Red I made sure to get access to it as soon as possible. It did not disappoint and was, in fact, everything one could wish for in an Erdrich book. The novel is set in the town of Argus, North Dakota, alongside the Red River that flows north through Minnesota and into Canada following the border between Minnesota and North Dakota. It is an agricultural area and the main crop is sugar beets.  Sugar beets are the basis of the economy. Most of the families of this area are involved in some way with their production - growing them, harvesting them, transporting them, and processing them. They depend upon sugar beets and their fortunes rise or fall based on the outcome of the year's crop.  It is 2008/2009 but the author takes us back through the beginnings of sugar beet farming along the Red River. She shows us how the use of fertilizers and pes...

This week's featured poem was written by the poet as she watched returns from  November 5's election. I came across it this past week and it spoke to me. When I found it, it did not actually have a title and so I've given it a temporary one. The poet herself may wish to give it a different name. It seems to be the call to arms that we need for "now is not the time to be afraid of the dark." November 6 by Chelan Harkin It’s when the earth shakes And foundations crumble That our light is called To rise up. It’s when everything falls away And shakes us to the core And awakens all Of our hidden ghosts That we dig deeper to find Once inaccessible strength. It’s in times when division is fierce That we must reach for each other And hold each other much Much tighter. Do not fall away now. This is the time to rise. Your light is being summoned. Your integrity is being tested That it may stand more tall. When everything collapses We must find within us That which is indomi...

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : I first met the Greater Roadrunner at the Princess Movie Theater of my youth where the cartoon between the Saturday double feature regularly starred the roadrunner outwitting the dastardly but dimwitted coyote. Many years later I finally met the bird itself in a field in Texas. It did not disappoint. The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is currently extending its range from Mexico and the southwestern states into the states farther east.  *~*~*~* Is our planet finally doomed to be drowned in a sea of plastic? The world's countries seem unable to come to an agreement on curbing plastic pollution. The greatest stumbling block to reaching such an agreement is Saudi Arabia .   *~*~*~* Meanwhile, the extreme marine heat wave that hit California's coasts ten years ago may, in fact, have been a glimpse of the future.   *~*~*~* And in a world that is heating up, the permafrost may not be p...

One of my favorite writers of mysteries for many years has been Ian Rankin. By now, his main character, Inspector John Rebus, feels like an old friend. A rather disreputable but never dull old friend. This is the twenty-fifth Rebus mystery and I've read them all. I'm happy to say that the quality of the writing has not flagged. Midnight and Blue finds the now former Inspector Rebus in prison, HMP Saughton in Edinburgh. He is serving his sentence alongside gang leader Daryl Christie, who "runs" Trinity Hall where Rebus is housed. Christie has vowed to protect Rebus because he is grateful for his role in the death of Morris Gerald ("Big Ger") Cafferty who long-time readers of the series remember as Rebus' nemesis. When we meet Rebus this time, he has already spent three months mingling with the general prison population at Saughton and getting to know them. Then, one of his fellow prisoners, a minor thief named Jackie Simpson, is murdered in his cell and ...

Yes, I know I have featured this poem here before, but it is a particular favorite of mine, so you'll have to forgive me for featuring it again. It is, of course, one of Robert Frost's most famous and beloved poems. The message it imparts is familiar to anyone who has ever had to make a hard choice. In other words, everyone. Don't we all wonder what would have happened if we had chosen differently - if we had taken that other road? The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I d...

( Note to readers: If you are unable to access any of the links below, I encourage you search Google on the subject and find a link that is available to you .) A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment :  This is a Plain Chachalaca that I photographed on a visit to the Rio Grande Valley a few years ago. The Chachalaca is primarily a resident of Eastern Mexico and Central America but it does stray north into southernmost Texas where I saw it. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . *~*~*~* Bird flu is abroad in the land once again, with several cases having been reported in California. *~*~*~* If countries do not curb production of plastic, the world may not be able to handle the volume of plastic waste within ten years. *~*~*~* Scientists are studying the flight of hummingbirds in order to help them design robots for drone warfare. That just seems wrong.  *~*~*~* Ancient footprints discovered in Kenya indicate that two of our related specie...

To all my faithful readers, one of the things I am most thankful for is you! 

Langston Hughes was an American poet and social activist of the twentieth century. He was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and an innovator of a literary art form called "jazz poetry." Here is a very short poem of his that looks unflinchingly at the state of his world and, in its own way, is a succinct call to action to change things. Somehow it seems quite fitting for our time as well. (And, yes, I think I know those worms that are "eating at the rind.")  Tired by Langston Hughes I am so tired of waiting, Aren't you, For the world to become good And beautiful and kind? Let us take a knife And cut the world in two- And see what worms are eating At the rind.

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment :  The ever-present and ever-curious Carolina Wren , one of my favorite backyard birds. *~*~*~* President Biden visited the Brazilian rainforest on Sunday to emphasize the importance of taking action on climate change. *~*~*~* A "harbinger of doom"? A third oarfish has washed up on a beach in California. *~*~*~* Climate talks continue among the world's nations but the rich and poor are finding it hard to agree. Azerbaijan, the host of the talks, is getting a backlash over its support of fossil fuels.  *~*~*~* Sadly, the effort to save the endangered Northern Spotted Owl in the Pacific Northwest involves the killing of their more successful competitors , the Barred Owl . *~*~*~* Around Los Angeles, mountain lions are learning to coexist with their human neighbors - mostly by avoiding them. *~*~*~* Atmospheric river storms are getting bigger because of climate change and are wreaking havoc along the West C...

I looked out my office window on this bright cloudless autumn day and what did I see at my front yard bird feeder? Chipping Sparrows ! Several were on the feeder and on the ground under the feeder. Chipping Sparrows are among my favorite winter visitors and are a clear indication that winter is indeed coming. One of the first species of birds that I learned to identify was back to help usher in the change of seasons, having fled the cold and snow of the north that make survival tougher for small birds like sparrows.  Winter may not be very wintry here close to the Gulf Coast but as long as the Chippies keep coming back each year I'll know that such a season - the Chipping Sparrow season - does indeed exist!

...but they pretty much sum up my thinking.  ...and... Yeah, right!

I must confess up front that I had a very hard time with this book. I read it during and just after this month's election and I was distracted, finding it hard to think about anything other than the election and the enormous blunder that the voters in this country have just made. So, I can't say I really gave the book the attention that it deserved and now find it hard to comment on what I read. But I'll give a try. The setting of the book is the French Polynesian island of Makatea. It is a tiny atoll in the middle of the Pacific and at the time that the book's action takes place its people are considering a life-changing proposal for their island home. We experience the story through the eyes of four people on the island. First is Evie Beaulieu who, as a twelve-year-old, tested one of the world's first aqualungs under the eyes of her father in their backyard swimming pool. It was the start of her love affair with the ocean and she now spends her life submerging her...

November is, in fact, one of my favorite months of the year, possibly because it contains my favorite holiday of the year, Thanksgiving. But also there is something about the weather of November. Summer's heat is finally gone from the Gulf Coast and on most days it is quite pleasant to be outside. I enjoy the misty moisty days of November. It is pleasant to sit on my patio and watch as new birds show up in the backyard almost every day. The birds that were "gone away" from Frost's Northeast are now our winter visitors; my "November guests," are arriving. My November Guest by Robert Frost My sorrow, when she’s here with me,   Thinks these dark days of autumn rain Are beautiful as days can be; She loves the bare, the withered tree;      She walks the sodden pasture lane. Her pleasure will not let me stay.      She talks and I am fain to list: She’s glad the birds are gone away, She’s glad her simple worsted grey    ...

  A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Dark-eyed Junco photographed at the Chihuahua Nature Center in Alpine, Texas a few years ago. I haven't seen one here yet this autumn but they should be arriving soon. *~*~*~* ( Note to readers : If you are unable to access any of the links I've provided, I suggest you do a search on the subject and connect to a link to which you do have access .)  *~*~*~* The Leonid meteor shower will be at its peak this weekend. The light of a near-full Supermoon , the Beaver Moon, may interfere with viewers on Earth being able to see it.  *~*~*~* Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are on track to set a new record this year. *~*~*~* A group of leading climate policy experts says that future climate summits should only be held in countries that show support for climate action. *~*~*~* But do those summits actually have any effect? A new report indicates that a major climate goal is farther out of reach than...

This is the third and apparently final entry in Attica Locke's "Highway 59" series. The action takes place in East Texas (Lufkin) and Houston, areas that I'm somewhat familiar with, having lived here for many years. Locke obviously knows the area well also and her descriptions of places and people are right on. The main character in the novels is Texas Ranger Darren Mathews. In this instance, Darren is facing early retirement and a potential indictment for actions he has taken. On the plus side, he has finally met a woman that he loves and is planning on remaking his life with her in his beloved farmhouse. But then his peace is shattered by a visit from his estranged mother. His mother is a cleaner at a sorority house at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. She tells Darren that one of the members of the sorority - the only Black member - is missing. Darren is not sure he can trust his mother's story but he feels compelled to investigate. However, wh...

I came across this Mary Oliver poem last week and it reminded me that the goldfinches should be arriving soon. We usually get them around the first of December, sometimes a little earlier. I look forward to their arrival and I will always find time in my "busy and important days" to watch them just as Mary Oliver would have, for " it is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in a broken world..." And it is always a serious thing while alive to be appreciative of all the beauty that Nature provides to soothe our weary and dispirited souls. Invitation by Mary Oliver Oh do you have time to linger for just a little while out of your busy and very important day for the goldfinches that have gathered in a field of thistles for a musical battle, to see who can sing the highest note, or the lowest, or the most expressive of mirth, or the most tender? Their strong, blunt beaks drink the air as they strive melodiously not for your sake and not for mine and not...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment :  This magnificent bird is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . It is the Zone-tailed Hawk , a resident of the American Southwest, Central America, right down into South America. The bird's status is threatened by habitat loss. *~*~*~* Drought conditions now cover as much as 87 percent of the United States. Moreover, severe drought has put at risk nearly half a million children in the Amazon region. The drought is also a threat to the Panama Canal as well as to the entire country of Panama.  *~*~*~* With all of that as a background, this year's U.N. climate summit has been taking place . Meanwhile, the U.N. Secretary-General warns that we are still underestimating the threat of catastrophic climate breakdown and ecosystem collapse.  *~*~*~* A new agreement would shift some of the profits from the use of genetic information to help pay for global conservation efforts. *~*~*~* It will not come a...

What she said:  The Future of the Planet Hangs on This Vote I've voted already. I've done all I can do. Now I can only wait... 

I just read in The Washington Post that there is a new television series based on Laura Esquivel's debut novel, Like Water for Chocolate , which I read and reviewed in February 2018. I remembered that I had liked the book but wanted to see what exactly I had to say about it back then. Here is that review: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel: A review February 27, 2018 This (mostly) delightful little book had languished in my reading queue for quite a while. Time to move it on up and tick that box. This was the writer's debut novel, first published in 1989, and it has enjoyed continuing popularity over the years. The story takes place at the turn of the 20th century in Mexico. Rebellion and revolution are abroad in the land. Pancho Villa and his army of followers have captured the imagination of many, while the government's army pushes back against them. The Garza family with its three daughters, Rosaura, Gertrudis, and Tita, live quietly on their ancestral lands ou...

When I first learned to love poetry as a high school student, I was especially enamored of the sonnets of Shakespeare and the poems of Christopher Marlowe. This was one of my favorites then and it remains so.  The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe Come live with me and be my love,  And we will all the pleasures prove,  That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,  Woods, or steepy mountain yields. And we will sit upon the Rocks,  Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow Rivers to whose falls  Melodious birds sing Madrigals. And I will make thee beds of Roses  And a thousand fragrant posies,  A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle; A gown made of the finest wool  Which from our pretty Lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for the cold,  With buckles of the purest gold; A belt of straw and Ivy buds,  With Coral clasps and Amber studs: And if these pleasures may thee move,  Com...