House guest
Last night I went out to dinner with an old friend, and came home rather tired. On the way to my bedroom to get into some more comfortable clothes, I was startled when I encountered the following sight on the … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Nature
It’s time…
…for another rara avis. [NOTE: Yes, I know there’s sometimes a way to make these things smaller to fit on the blog properly. But for this particular video, the method didn’t work (sigh).]
Continue reading →Another rara avis
Bird of the day:
Continue reading →Mt. Auburn cemetery on Memorial Day weekend
Yesterday I found myself in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the extraordinarily beautiful Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Mt. Auburn is one of the first “garden” cemeteries in the United States. It was begun in 1831 and designed mostly by Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, … Continue reading →
The city is too much with us
This article mentions that the world has passed an important milestone: more than half its population lives in cities. That means that city life is having a greater and greater effect on our culture, bodies, and psyches. So there’s reason … Continue reading →
Harry Harlow and his monkeys: being cruel in order to be kind?
While researching my recent series on questioning authority, I got the idea to write a post about the seminal Milgram experiments on obedience to authority. When I was a psych major back in college, part of our learning experience involved—as … Continue reading →
A walk in the park, sans pigeons
I was in Chicago last weekend, staying in the Hyde Park area, along Lake Shore Drive. Lake Michigan is extraordinary, looking for all the world like the ocean, complete with whitecaps on a windy day and what appear to be … Continue reading →
Fall ritual: closing the windows
Today is the first day of fall. I never quite get that date right, because it drifts around in confusing fashion (here’s a guidepost for those of you who care about such things). This year it also happens to be … Continue reading →
The sky of 9/11
On this past Monday, the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I noticed the sky was clear and blue. But the blue was an ordinary blue, nothing like the intense clarity of the sky five years ago. It’s one of the things … Continue reading →
Snakes on a plane, spiders in the house?
Nope, I haven’t seen the movie “Snakes on a Plane.” I just wanted to get your attention, and the subject matter is actually tangentially related to the topic of this post. The ads for the movie are quite enough for … Continue reading →
Sunday in Seattle
I think I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping up with this blog, considering I’m on vacation. But of course my concentration hasn’t been focused on it like a laser. I’ve got a few more days here–returning in midweek … Continue reading →
Nor’easter
Today has been one of those days when the weather intervenes and dictates things: snow and more snow, all up and down New England. It’s one of the largest accumulations of this year, a season in which snowfall has been … Continue reading →