The Nature of Things

As I sat outside in the warmth of a winter sun I thought there must be a poem that expresses this feeling that it gives me, and if there is such a poem, it was probably written by Mary Oliver. So, I went looking for it and sure enough, here it is.  The Sun by Mary Oliver Have you ever seen anything in your life more wonderful than the way the sun, every evening, relaxed and easy, floats toward the horizon and into the clouds or the hills, or the rumpled sea, and is gone-- and how it slides again out of the blackness, every morning, on the other side of the world, like a red flower streaming upward on its heavenly oils, say, on a morning in early summer, at its perfect imperial distance-- and have you ever felt for anything such wild love-- do you think there is anywhere, in any language, a word billowing enough for the pleasure that fills you, as the sun reaches out, as it warms you as you stand there, empty-handed-- or have you too turned from this world-- or have you too gone cr...

  A roundup if the week's news of birds and the environment : This magnificent creature is the Violet-tailed Sylph , a member of the hummingbird clan that is a resident along the western slope of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador. It favors misty, mossy cloud forest habitats at around 3,200 feet. Its population is fairly stable at the moment but it faces threats from habitat loss and degradation. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week . *~*~*~* It is reported that President Biden plans to establish two new national monuments in California in coming days, honoring the wishes of several Native American tribes there. *~*~*~* Residents of Papua New Guinea are being displaced by rising sea waters and thousands are moving to the mountaintops to escape. *~*~*~* Yellowstone National Park exists atop a magma field that is part of one of the world's largest active volcanic systems; however, scientists say a full-scale eruption is unlikely . *~*~*~* Changing tides ha...

It turns out that 2024 was a pretty slow reading year for me. I had set my goal at 40 books which was less than half the number of books I had read in past years, but I didn't even manage to hit that target. I ended the year having only read thirty-four books. Nevertheless, I was generally quite happy with the ones that I did read. I rate my books from one to five stars, but it is very rare indeed for me to rate a book at five stars and I almost never have a one-star read. I didn't have any five-stars or one-stars in 2024; however, I did have fourteen that I gave a four-star rating and eighteen that were three-star reads for me. Two were a bit disappointing and I only gave them two stars.  For 2025, I'm setting my goal at 40 books once again which I do realize is quite paltry compared to most of my blogging friends. But this year I'm going to try a little harder to actually reach it. Wish me luck!