Aug 09 2022
Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,And here on earth come emulating flies,That though they never equal stars in size,(And they were never really stars at heart)Achieve at times a very star-like start.Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part. -Robert Frost, Fireflies in the Garden When the heat of the summer puts …
Aug 03 2022
The National Parks offer some of the greatest opportunities in the United States to experience the extremes in raw terrain, flora, and fauna, that the country has to offer. There are 60 national parks spanning 28 states, from the volcanoes of Hawaii to the seaside mountains of Maine and the glaciers of Alaska. Take the …
Jul 27 2022
Sowing annuals in borders is an easy and cheap way of filling space during the summer months. These plants can either be sown as seeds earlier in the season or bought and planted as young plants. Either way they will keep on flowering right until the end of the season. The same thing can be …
Jul 16 2022
No matter how careful you are, accidents and incidents and other events requiring some level of medical attention happen. There are aisles and aisles in the drug store hawking products to treat, cure, soothe, and anesthetize everyday injuries and illnesses such as cuts, insect bites, sunburn, sore throat, and acne. Some of these products are …
Jul 12 2022
Happy birthday to one of the most widely read poets of the Americas, Chilean poet-diplomat Pablo Neruda, born on this day July 12, 1904 in the city of Parral in Chile’s Maule Region. Gabriel García Márquez once called Neruda “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” Neruda achieved recognition as a writer at the …
Jul 04 2022
From dogs using speech buttons to fish playing soccer, we are now seeing more and more animals surprise us with their intelligence and communication skills. But the biggest modern breakthrough in animal intelligence may have been when Koko the gorilla learned to speak sign language. Koko had a vocabulary consisting of over 1,000 signs, and …
Jun 29 2022
Our planet’s lush tropics cover 40% of the land, and account for approximately 80% of Earth’s biodiversity, yet it is under constant threat from human activity and climate change. Today is International Day of the Tropics, which was created as a reminder to appreciate and respect our rich, tropical lands. Here is a poem by …
Jun 22 2022
This World Rainforest Day I am celebrating novelist, poet, environmentalist, diplomat, and mother of five, Astrid Cabral, who sings the songs of her Amazon home in her exemplary poetry. Some of Cabral’s most well-known books include Through Water (2003), Anteroom (2007), and Cage (2008). In Cage, Cabral explores the real and symbolic animals of the Amazon. She …
Jun 08 2022
June 8th is World Oceans Day, a day to appreciate and respect our life-giving oceans. We are at a crucial point with our oceans and action must be taken now to reverse the devastating effects of overfishing, pollution, and climate change, with half of the coral reefs now destroyed and 90% of big fish populations …
Jun 05 2022
June 5th marks World Environment Day. Are you sick of hearing about the environment? Do you roll your eyes every time someone declares that we humans are fouling the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat? Do you rate Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” an alarmist film to appease …