The idea of a blog post about warblers was already fermenting in the gyri of my brain when I read Linda Leinen’s excellent post about the sculpture of an Eskimo Curlew she had seen on Galveston Island in Texas. Now a curlew is not a warbler and apart from both belonging to the class Aves, … Continue reading One More Warbler
Some of you will remember how gobsmacked I was by Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. When I learned that she had written an earlier book, I ordered Gathering Moss from one of our local independent bookstores, first read it in December, and just finished delving into it for the second time. Gathering Moss is as … Continue reading Gathering Moss
I love to come across books that make me stop me in my tracks, make my jaw drop, and make me realize they have something profound to say. Braiding Sweetgrass is such a book. Originally published in 2013, it was republished in 2020 in a beautiful hardcover version by Milkweed Editions, an independent publisher. I … Continue reading Braiding Sweetgrass
Rather than discuss a year I spent in Greece (how I wish) or my membership in a sorority (which sounds like a nightmare), I will tell you about the completion of an odyssey started a couple of years ago. Whatever else 2020 might have been, it also was the year in which I finally reached … Continue reading My Greek Year
One scientist, who would have taken issue with last week’s “ignorance is bliss” statement is Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717). This powerhouse of a woman, of whom I knew nothing until the recent fortuitous find of her 2018 biography The Girl Who Drew Butterflies by Joyce Sidman, not only sought knowledge at every turn, it was … Continue reading Maria Merian
tanja britton 