The Nature of Things

 

Here's a thought for the coming year - a reminder to us to be brave. Fear by Khalil Gibran It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear. She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages. And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever. But there is no other way. The river can not go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence. The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear, because that’s where the river will know it’s not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean.

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment :  This little cutie is the Winter Wren , a bird that nests across much of southern Canada and the northeastern United States. Some of them spend their winters with us here in southeast Texas. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . *~*~*~* Is it possible to unite the disparate factions of the climate movement to defend the Earth? A group in France is trying to do just that. *~*~*~* A related question might be is it possible that birding could change the world? This new book tells how that might be done . *~*~*~* Were our ancient ancestors more likely to be predator or prey ? Perhaps we have misunderstood much about how our species evolved. *~*~*~* Red wolves are an endangered species and it is important for us to help them avoid extinction. One way to do that is to help them safely cross roads . *~*~*~* Balm of Gilead was a fragrant, highly prized resin in the ancient Middle East. For fourteen years, s...

I have featured Desiderata by Max Ehrman in this space before but that was more than ten years ago. It seems to me that this may be a good time to put it out there once again. Maybe this is just the counsel that we need here at the end of this fractious year:     You are a child of the universe,     no less than the trees and the stars;     you have a right to be here.     And whether or not it is clear to you,     no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Desiderata by Max Ehrman Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and les...

( 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 ...