The island of Malta lies smack in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Anyone moving east-west or north-south must sooner or later come against its shores.
Nature
A hunter in Malta • Photo by Frank Vincentz (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Canada mayflower • Photo by Dr. Thomas G. Barnes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Public Domain)
The greenery’s just for the eyes
There comes a moment in New England woodlands in the spring when up through last season’s decaying leaves and pine needles comes the first green. Like a carpet rolled out overnight, suddenly the greedy leaves of the Canada mayflower are everywhere.
Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton on Unsplash
Lessons learned from the lichen
“There is a low mist in the woods. It is a good day to study lichens,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in his journal on the last day of 1851. To tell the truth, any day is a good day to study lichens, as Thoreau would have acknowledged.
Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash
Human lessons from birds’ vee
Honk time. One of those late fall mornings when the sky turns a Maxfield Parrish blue just before sunrise. One, two, three ragged files of Canada geese skim the treetops above my head, preceded and followed by their honking chorus, a noise of ram’s horns and shouts that would have toppled the walls of Jericho.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
Best cool things are often free
Hey, I think of myself as an outdoorsy kind of guy. I walk the woods and meadows every day. I bike. I climb mountains. I do my bit for the environment. So, when Outside magazine promises to tell me “The Best 120 Cool Things” for the outdoorsy life, I’m ready to listen.
Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash
Bringing flora, fauna with us
It has been my privilege for 38 years to walk to work each day through land that belongs to the Natural Resources Trust of Easton. Woods, fields, water meadows, a stream: This gentle countryside has been a source of solace, inspiration and education.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
A child’s world is better off wild
My walk back and forth to work each day takes me through land in the care of the Natural Resources Trust of Easton, a delightful landscape of woods, meadows, and streams.
Photo by Simon Kadula on Unsplash
A bee’s life tells us about ourselves
Even as kids, 50 years ago, we heard about Karl von Frisch and the dancing bees.
Photo by Chuck Givens on Unsplash
On the contrary, Mr. Thoreau
“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in one of his more self-indulgent moments, and environmentalists never tire of quoting him. Into the woods, they urge. Into the woods. That’s where we’ll find our salvation.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Snow falling on the senses
One fat flake. Then two. Then dozens dancing in the air. One lands on the sleeve of my jacket — a perfect hexagon, an icon of some great ordering principle in nature.