Orientation

Bullocks Cove, from the causeway, December 2006

Is it that growing up on a peninsula gives you a permanent orientation which others lack, or is it the End of Nature, ala Bill McKibben? When I assign boys tasks in our daily job period, and one's is to "vacuum south side and bring in newspaper," he always asks "Where's the 'south side'?" And I react snappishly, where is the sun in the afternoon? which way is warm?, and they just gape. I think, they should know which way is south. But of course they don't, and shouldn't because they are adolescents roused too early from their sleep. It's a wonder that they can comply as well as they do. In the ideal world, they would sleep till they woke AND they would always know which way was north, south, east, west because they would have the time and leisure to observe the natural world which still envelops and hosts our artificial one.

On the Road

I-80 West

New Jersey and Pennsylvania are cold in December, so the bait machine is empty. But the fisherman's satisfaction and the sunlight radiate delight and feelings of spring to come.

The radio station from Philadelphia plays "Second Week of Deercamp" and "Donnie the Reindeer" on the road west toward the Delaware River and PA. Look them up.

Back Home, Cats are Happy

Human Observers See Snowflakes Machines Can't Detect

From today's N.Y. Times Weather Report:

"FOCUS: FIRST SNOW SIGHTING Snowflakes were observed for the first time this winter at the official observation site in New York City's Central Park. This is the latest occurrence on record there for the season's first snow.... While an automated system is now responsible for most of the weather data at Central Park, human observers can augment the observations. Yesterday's snow was apparently too light to be detected by the automated system, but the human observers saw it."

The picture above is not of Central Park but rather my front yard on Tuesday, where even a robot would have been able to sense the snowfall.

I mourn the passing of Cosmo Dogood's Urban Almanac, a day by day calendar and almanac filled with observations of nature at all seasons in the city and decorated with apt quotations and pictures. The Almanac, modeled on the Old Farmer's Almanac, showed how nature is everywhere, that all you have to do is to look up and out and around you and notice what's going on in the natural world in which even a busy crowded city exists.

What Will the Robin Do Then?

The north wind doth blow

And we shall have snow,

And what will the robin do then,

Poor thing?

He'll sit in the barn

And keep himself warm

And hide his head under his wing,

Poor thing.

Mother Goose

Asheville had its first snow of the winter yesterday, a wet snow that stuck to every twig and needle, except for the tops of the bamboo that were in the wind. By morning the snow had blown off most of the trees but still lay in a thin layer on the ground. Here are a couple of glimpses for people in Oregon and Kansas. Now, at noon, there's only snow in the shady places.

January 2, 2007

From the NSPSS:

The shrewd sentinel visited a Turkish bazaar. There he purchased several trinkets from an infidel. Chief among these was an enamelled brooch bearing a design of laurel leaves. He also bought some porcelain

pitchers for his library mantel. His spaniel watched for stray morsels.