Butterfly Neighbors

Despite the quarantine, or perhaps because of it, I've been spending my summer making new friends. I'm embarrassed to say, that despite living among them for my entire life, I'm just now making their acquaintance. Please allow me to introduce them - I'm sure some of them, or perhaps their cousins, live near you as … Continue reading Butterfly Neighbors

Becoming a Feud

This doe is out of control. Once again she has terrorized my poor pup. vulnerable puppy, before being terrorized by doe I was sitting in my back yard when Beatle started barking. Sure enough the doe was back. You can see one of our previous encounters (we've had several) here. In the photo below you … Continue reading Becoming a Feud

Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter of the 1800’s

In the early 1800โ€™s Charles Dickens was born, Jane Austin was in the middle of her career, and a young girl named Mary Anning was about to unearth a fossil. Mary Anning was born in 1799, to a poor family living in the coastal town of Lyme Regis in Dorset, England. Her father, Richard, was … Continue reading Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter of the 1800’s

What is Race?

The idea of race was formally introduced to Europe by an adventurer and traveler named Francois Bernier (1625-1688.) In 1684, after traveling around the world, he published a work called A New Division of the Earth. In it he proposed that humanity could be divided into โ€œfour or five species or races of men in … Continue reading What is Race?

A Poem for Today

Mother Careyโ€™s Hen There are days I donโ€™t think about the sea; weeks wash by, in fact,then a shearwater - or some such- flutters byon the salt flats fanning out in my mindโ€™s eye,reflected there, a shimmering reverie, recalling the pact I once made (and renew today) to hold to a higher altitude.But note the … Continue reading A Poem for Today