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Wednesday   February 28   2007

I am looking forward to The Saturday Club's trip to the estuary of Padilla Bay. Our days get so filled with busy events, it is refreshing to think of a quiet walk, looking out over the water, noting the wild life we see. The big birds fly past, and settle quietly on remnants of old piers. We can give ourselves some time for what Dag Hammarskjold calls "the real world." "A sunny day in March. Within the birch tree's slender shadow on the crust of the snow, the freezing stillness of the air is crystallized. Then - all of a sudden- the first blackbird's piercing note of call, a reality outside yourself, the real world." by Dag Hammarskjold in his book "Markings" There are times when we need to give ourselves permission to leave the day to day noise and business and immerse ourselves in this "real world."  08:12 AM - link -

Sunday   February 18   2007

This morning I made a lentil/nettle soup with the first nettles of the year. This is really the time to pick them, when they are small and tender. Adding garlic, cayenne, onion and tomato sauce made it a pretty good soup -- high in vitamins, too! I've been reading The Sand County Almanac of Aldo Leopold, writing on The Community Concept. He says that all ethics are based on a single principle, "that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts." And, further, that "The land ethic simply enlarges the boundary of community to include soils, water, plants, animals, or collectively:. the land." I always get kind of a kick when I can pick and eat something that is growing wild. I am a long way from really Living Off the Land, but even a simple thing like wandering out to the yard with scissors and gloves and snipping some nettles for the soup pot gives me a feel of a being part of a community which includes the land.  06:36 PM - link -

Wednesday   February 14   2007

WisteriaforBlog  03:30 PM - link -

Yesterday a friend came over and together we fought back the wisteria. This is a serious battle, and not to be undertaken lightly. After 2 pick up truckloads of branches were carried away, I can now see the trellis. Here is a cartoon I wrote a while back.  03:28 PM - link -

Monday   February 12   2007

It being President's Weekend, this is the time we, on Whidbey, should begin planting grass seed. For me,this means trying to find seed for bare spots which the fir needles, dropping from above, have created in my yard. For the birds, this means Feast Time! I hear their excited peeps and squeaks as I begin raking and preparing the soil. By the time I am actually spreading seed, there is an entire audience of what appear to be little juncos just waiting -- all chirpping expectantly! When I finally finish seeding, carefully covering with fine soil which I tamp down, vainly hoping to hide the seed, then return to the house, wash up, get tea, and look over the deck rail to admire my work, I see a crowd of birds happily devouring all the grass seed I've spent my time sowing. I can't help wondering how other people deal with this enthusiastic crew of seed eaters!  08:52 PM - link -

Wednesday   February 7   2007

I sometimes think nature writers are some of our best philosophers...right up there with gardeners! I have recently discovered a delightful book by Paul Krafel: "Seeing Nature, Deliberate encounters with the visible world." Here is a quote: "One evening I saw the Earth turning. Before that night, I had always seen the Sun setting toward a stationary horizon. But when I saw the sun, instead, as stationary, then I saw my horizon rising toward the Sun. In the first view, the Sun moves. In the second view, my world moves. My eyes see the same thing -- the gap between Sun and horizon closing. Yet what is moving? My mind must make an assumption. Shifting that assumption changes the world I see." Paul Krafel Which is the wonderful thing about making time in our life to view nature -- we can change the world we see.  05:18 PM - link -

Friday   February 2   2007

Current News of Whidbey Island always includes a tidbit for us Nature Lovers. Last night we saw frost below the full moon. Here is a remembrance of last year at this time from a good friend and talented nature writer. Wind Night before last I was walking home on Humphrey about 8:30. It was dark. There was a light rain, almost like a refreshing spritz on a hot day of Michigan summer. But the wind! Oh, it blew and whipped my hair and caressed my face, and tugged at my coat, and buffeted my body, and moaned and whistled through the power lines and bent the trees and churned the shrubs and cleansed my soul. Ground Hog Day 2006 by Jan Elyse Hughes The humming birds around Whidbey Walks have not yet returned. I hear from one friend that hers never left to head south this year. I do see the purple finches already around the feeder. Please feel free to share you late-winter-early-spring news with us.  01:07 PM - link -