The Nature of Things

This is mesmerizing and rather frightening. The animation shows how temperatures in various countries and continents have heated up since 1900. By the time we get to the present day, all of the lines are some shade of red.

I was doing some tidy-up pruning in the garden today before an afternoon shower drove me inside. But before the pruning, I documented with my camera some of the things I saw around the garden. There was a bit of activity at the bird feeders. These Blue Jays were checking out what was on offer at the table. They look a little disheveled because they are beginning their molt. They'll be losing all their old worn feathers and growing bright new ones. This juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker hasn't got his distinctive red head and belly feathers yet, but he's learned where he can find a tasty meal. In the goldfish pond, the water lilies are flourishing. This Giant Swallowtail butterfly was very busy on the blooms of the 'Pride of Barbados'.  These flowers are favorites of many butterflies. The Sulphurs seem to prefer the flame acanthus ( Anisacanthus wrightii ) blossoms. Sulphurs are numerous in my garden in late summer and fall. And the Gulf Fritillaries are numerous thr...

(Hat tip to TYWKIWDBI .)

Oh, V.I. Warshawski, how I've missed you! It seems an age since we had our last adventure, although, in truth, it has only been two years since we solved the mystery of Brush Back together. But what a pleasure it is to be once again in your company. I've been making these periodic visits to Warshawski-World since the 1980s when Sara Paretsky started this series. Paretsky, Warshawski, and I have aged together through the years. There are a few more gray hairs among the blonde on Warshawski's head these days and, if the truth be told, on mine as well.  But Warshawski is still the wiry, fit detective that we first met in Indemnity Only all those years ago. And she's still the same indomitable, uncompromising seeker after truth that we've come to know and admire in that and all the subsequent seventeen V.I. books. She only gets better with age and experience. In Fallout , V.I. leaves the comfort zone that she knows so well, Chicago, and heads out to Lawrence, Kansas, ...

Here's a short poem by Christina Rossetti. A dirge that references the end of summer "when lithe swallows muster for their far off flying from summer dying..." Summer won't be dying here for several more weeks, but some of the "lithe swallows" are already gathering. Purple Martins, for example. They are among the earliest of our summer birds to arrive, in late January or early February, and the earliest to leave, often in early July.  Last week, though, I still heard some late-goers flying about in my neighborhood, gathering for their long journey south, reluctant, perhaps, to say a final good-bye to summer's abundance.  A Dirge by Christina Rossetti Why were you born when the snow was falling?  You should have come to the cuckoo’s calling,  Or when grapes are green in the cluster,  Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster  For their far off flying  From summer dying.  Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?  You should have died at the...

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment : Image from the Internet because of course I didn't have my camera on me! While working in my garden yesterday, a bird call that sounded something like a Wood Peewee caused me to look up. It was a bird much larger than a peewee - a Mississippi Kite , circling slowly over my yard. Mississippi Kites and Swallow-tailed Kites are members of the hawk family that are sometimes seen here in summer, although if they are silent, they may well pass unnoticed. I was just fortunate that this one decided to announce itself. Kites generally feed on insects, including large ones like dragonflies. Plenty of those around here.  *~*~*~* Here's an update on that baby Red-tailed Hawk that I told you about a couple of weeks ago, the one that was captured as prey for Bald Eagle chicks but was unaccountably adopted by the Bald Eagle parents and became part of the family: He's still thriving! Wildlife biologists' fear that th...

I was seated in my meditation spot by my goldfish pond earlier this week when I sensed movement at the edge of the pond. I looked up to see a slimy gray-brownish monster climbing out onto the rocks. Image from the Internet, courtesy of MurrayState.edu .  A bullfrog! I had no idea there was such a creature in my backyard.  This one looked as big across as my hand - I don't think I'm exaggerating. It covered most of the large rock where it rested. According to my field guide, they can grow 3.5 to 6 inches long and the largest one recorded was 8 inches long. They can weigh more than a pound and they are, of course, used as food by some people, although I've never eaten one. (My husband says they taste like chicken!) I was shocked to see the bullfrog because I'm used to seeing the small leopard frogs or tree frogs around the pond; although, now that I think of it, I haven't seen any lately and the bullfrog may be the reason for bullfrogs eat other frogs. In fact, accord...