Snapshot: Look at this violet!

It’s hard to pay attention. It’s hard to be in the moment. It’s very easy to walk around with your face buried in the internet. I’ve started making a game of it – when I’m standing at a busy street corner, how many of the other walkers are staring at their phones? When I’m coming […]

Things That Went Wrong in Nature This Week

It’s been a rough week for wildlife in my neighborhood. Here are some of the things that happened: Thanks for letting me gently weep. ——————- Sad pics by the author. I left out the diced worm because it looked like a backyard crime scene photo.

Hard Times in the Younger Dryas

This post ran in 2015, and it remains the coldest experience in my life. Put on something warm and enjoy. In the winter of 2014, most of North America was buried in an unusual cold period. The jet stream had hemorrhaged in early January and the Polar Vortex that usually sits atop the hemisphere like […]

Living in a Non-Ergodic World

These are just some of the many ways to fail at a long-term game even as you succeed in the short-term ones that make it up. It turns out this is a common mistake that arises because we live in a non-ergodic world. It’s a real problem in our decision making. You might not have […]

GRANDMOTHER? Really? and Subsequent Thoughts

Since I wrote this, October 11, 2017, I’ve had time to thoroughly understand that yes, I’m definitely grandmother age; and yes, I’m used to it; and what I’m used to is the idea that while I’m increasingly someone who needs to be protected, I’m also increasingly a protector. Not that I go around protecting things […]

Look up

On May 10, I leave my house in northern Washington state just after dawn. I drive alone along a braided river, over sagebrush plateaus, and through fields of golden flowers. Then one plane across the Cascades, and another across the Rockies, to finally land in my my childhood home in Colorado. I’ve come to stand […]

Fruit dispersal, the wrong way

The other day I drove to the grocery store, opened the trunk to get out my shopping bags, and this cherry fell out. At my boyfriend’s house, a couple of beautiful ornamental cherries overhang the parking area. And this little fruit availed itself of my 2012 Prius as a dispersal method. I don’t think this […]

It is now safe to move about the cabin

Here’s a time capsule. I wrote this in 2011, before flying – along with everything else – felt like it was getting more dangerous. One thing I definitely don’t think we will ever experience again is the joy of flying on a mostly empty plane. It’s not every day that a flight is delayed because […]