Hercules. The Scarlet Pimpernel. Paul Bunyan and Babe, his Blue Ox. Pecos Bill. Robin Hood and his Merry Men. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Santa Claus and his reindeer. The Easter Bunny. Bigfoot (Yeti). The Kraken. Albino alligators in the New York City sewers. UFO’s. We mostly believe or at least, […]
“When one is considering the universe,” Ella Frances Sanders observed in her lovely illustrated celebration of wonder, “it is important, sensible even, to try and find some balance between laughter and uncontrollable weeping.” “Our life has become so mechanized and electronified,” said the Hungarian journalist and László Feleki “that one needs some kind of an […]
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” ― Mahatma Gandhi I often read comments from various political conservatives about the need to mandate prayer in schools. Conservatives are also concerned that having Muslim immigrants in […]
Gardening is about optimism. I look through the catalogs in winter and read articles about plants and vegetables, dreaming of what this year’s garden will be like. I am excited to order seeds and get excited all over again when they arrive. I dream of fresh veggie dishes as I ponder the cold and snow […]
“I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt As the story is told by comedian Stephen Fry, the early Persian Shah wanted someone to give him a game that relied on intellect, not chance. That […]
“In casting up this dread balance sheet and contemplating our dangers with a disillusioned eye, I see great reason for intense vigilance and exertion, but none whatsoever for despair.” ~Winston Churchill, June 1940 Every day I am bombarded with bad news about politics, society and the environment. Crazy people in charge want to go to […]
You fill up my senses Like a night in a forest Like the mountains in springtime Like a walk in the rain Like a storm in the desert Like a sleepy blue ocean You fill up my senses Come fill me again ~John Denver, Annie’s Song Many of my generation, raised on the imminent nuclear […]
“I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt Babe’s tail went up like a flag in the brush ahead. “Point,” my dad commanded, then, “Hold steady … hold.” The warning was more to my brother and […]
What do St. Nicolaus and St. Patrick have in common? They’re both Catholic saints and have Holy Days named in their honor. However, their Holy Days are also holidays that are not observed solely as religious, but assume huge cultural significance, as well. St. Nick is a fat, white-haired, jolly old man in a red […]
In 1735, when Carl Linnaeus organized all the species in the world into one vast taxonomy, he included a section on “Animalia Paradoxa”: creatures, common in folklore and myth or attested to by far-flung explorers, that he felt compelled to itemize yet deemed unlikely to exist. ~ Kathryn Schulz “I hate that noise,” she said, […]
Writes of Nature 