Lyrical Color
Imagine that you and I are naturalists from different regions in the early 1800s, communicating about our findings, and that I come across a new butterfly. Maybe I would include a sketch in… Continue reading
Category Archive: books
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Beach Reading
On your next sojourn at the shore, skip the scandal sheets and salacious best sellers, and instead, scan this source about the specimens surrounding you — Spirals in Time: The Secret Life and… Continue reading
Weird Science
I love to read old books written by naturalists. When I am reading about, for example, a woman riding out on horseback to spend a long lazy afternoon watching the nesting habits of… Continue reading
The Beauty of Little Brown Birds
This winter I have been very inspired by the work of nature writer Florence A. Merriam. She was the first to write about observing birds alive in the field, rather than relying on… Continue reading
A Comforting Poem
I have been reading a little book I bought for a dollar from the used book shed of the Marfa Public Library, out in West Texas. The title is Earth Prayers, and it… Continue reading
Armchair Homesteading – Grace McCance Snyder
Grace McCance Snyder moved with her family to homestead in Nebraska in 1885, when she was three years old. She lived there all her life, (except for four years in Oregon) and wrote… Continue reading
So You Think You Know Your Bird Names
I love complicated and ridiculous bird names — Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, and Flammulated Owl are a few of my favorites. But when I am reading very old bird books, I sometimes come… Continue reading
Favorite Nature Writers – Florence A. Merriam
I love the tone of old nature guide books. Reading one is like sitting by the campfire, chatting with a nature expert, after taking a long hike in their company. One of my… Continue reading
Sparrow Cheat Sheet
A tiny bird caught my attention the other day. From one set of weeds it would dive into another, always just a few feet from me but never clearly visible. Finally it landed… Continue reading
The Moral Sense of Dogs
This time of year when it’s hot outside, I love to stay inside and look at old books. We have access to an interesting collection from the late 1800s, because my husband’s grandparents… Continue reading
