” i love places where there are crowds of trees.”
-nitin namdeo
—
scio woods county preserve, ann arbor, mi, usa
heading out on a rainy day
to explore, discover things, and learn
in the much larger classroom of the universe.
—
“the universe is a great university.”
-sai baba
back at the lake for the first time this spring
—
“this is a wonderful day, i have never seen this one before.”
-maya angelou
—
irish hills, michigan, usa – spring 2022
kinder in their natural habitat capturing the ever-elusive giant stick
—
“live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink,
taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the Earth.”
-henry david thoreau
a kind tribute
to my little himilayan irish kitty
yeti kennedy
from my compassionate vet’s office
in a perfect circle
he
appeared from the wild
returned to the wild.
—
“trees are as close to immortality as the rest of us ever come.”
― karen joy fowler
now is this isn’t a sure sign of spring, i don’t know what is…
—
“spring makes its own statement,
so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of his instruments,
not the composer.”
-geoffrey charlesworth
—
Art credit: Margaret Tarrant – The Fairy Troupe / Spring’s Flowery Cloak. Circa 1920s painting. A female sprite with a blue cloak shepherds tiny fairies and elves, each carrying a spring flower, through the undergrowth. Published by the Medici Society.
it took a while and a team of busy gatherers
but the kinder were happy to announce
they had collected and lined up
79 rocks
and that equals 1 museum.
—
“as with other phases of nature, I have probably loved the rocks more than I have studied them.’
-john burroughs
While most of us know that all sorts of prehistoric creatures once inhabited Earth, you might not realize which ones used to wander around your particular city. Thanks to this interactive map, you can easily find out. Type in your city name, and you’ll see it plotted on the globe, along with a list of species whose fossils have been discovered nearby. If you click on the name of a species, a new webpage will open with details, images, and a map that shows where else that species lived.In addition to searching by city, you can also see what Earth looked like during a specific time period by choosing an option from the dropdown menu at the top. Choices range from 750 million years ago—the Cryogenian period, when glaciers abounded—to 0 million years ago, which is Earth as we know it today. Using a different dropdown menu on the right, you can view Earth during its many notable “firsts,” including “first land plants,” “first dinosaurs,” “first primates,” and more.
As CNN reports, the map was created by California-based paleontologist Ian Webster, who added to an existing model that mapped plate tectonics and used additional data from GPlates, another piece of plate tectonics software.
“It is meant to spark fascination and hopefully respect for the scientists that work every day to better understand our world and its past,” Webster told CNN. “It also contains fun surprises. For example: how the U.S. used to be split by a shallow sea, the Appalachians used to be very tall mountains comparable to the Himalayas, and that Florida used to be submerged.”
You can find other fun surprises by exploring the map yourself here. For the best experience, you’ll want to access the site from a desktop computer or tablet versus a smartphone.
—
“observation: i can’t see a thing. conclusion: dinosaurs.”
-carl sagan
—
credits: cnn, mental floss, ellen gutosky, orla, getty images
the kinder wondered what happened to the big, old tree they used to play under
it was a good tree
we sat under it when it was hot in the sun and its shade kept us cool
we collected pretty leaves that floated down from it in the fall
it was on a hill and we ran by it in the winter when we were playing in the snow
pieces of it had been falling off for a very long time
we guess that maybe it was very old and very sick and it was getting too tired
the kinder began to put its little pieces back on to decorate it
we hope that in the spring
a new sapling will come up near where the old tree used to stand so tall.
—
“a tree’s wood is also its memoir.”
-hope jahren
I didn't have my glasses on.... 