7.22.10
roger tory peterson and a young osprey photo by alfred eisenstaedt
I had my first guest-post on a kindred spirit’s blog this week. The visionary Peter Buchanan-Smith honored me with a feature on his fascinating blog, Best Made Projects. We share an interest in the natural world, so when he asked me to review a field guide, I chose one by the naturalist and early environmentalist Roger Tory Peterson (seen above holding a movie camera mounted on a gun stock). Peter has kindly allowed me to re-post my review in its entirety here.
FIELDING QUESTIONS: A Review of Roger Tory Peterson Field Guides – Eastern Forests
Returning home to Sullivan County from the stinky summer streets of New York City brings a surge of relief and gratitude: the cool night air filled with the rustle of leaves and the throbbing drone of cicadas is a tonic. The woods I now call home are not the same as those I grew up with in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. Fog-shrouded sequoias and wild surf are here replaced with blazing summers and snowy winters among the hawthorn, hickory, maple and pine. The Steller’s jay of my youth is now the equally brazen blue jay of my mid-life. The fence around our small property does little to keep out all the critters that also live here, and long rambles on our kind neighbor’s thousand acres have led to countless discoveries, animal, mineral and botanical.
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4.17.10
all photos by george billard
Last weekend we took our houseguests exploring in the woods behind our house. The air was fresh and clean, the sun was shining, the woodpeckers were tapping out a beat and there were plenty of newts and tadpoles to ogle. It’s amazing to think that just a couple hours out of the city you can be an entire world away. (Or at the designer outlets at Woodbury Commons, for that matter.) The last photo, of the snake, was actually taken in our front yard. The first garden snake of the season… Read the rest of this entry »
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4.7.10
all photos by george billard
Now that spring is here, most mornings G and I will head into the woods behind our property where all manner of goings-on have us totally intrigued. Are you as fascinated as I am by the wonders of nature? Ever since I was a small child I have been content to rummage around on the forest floor or at the water’s edge, searching for bugs or plants or animal life of any sort. (We have a little cabinet of curios in our cottage where we deposit our most precious finds: a discarded locust’s shell; a papery wasp’s nest; a boldly-patterned turkey feather; a chunk of a turtle’s shell. I’ll get G to document these for you sometime.) Anyway, I think I’ve mentioned the vernal pools before, right? They are small shallow ponds or enormous puddles that form because of the melting snow and heavy rains of early spring, creating marshy areas as seen above. The wonderful thing is that these are breeding grounds for frogs, newts and salamanders!
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3.24.10
all photos by george billard
We’re eagerly awaiting spring up here in the boonies. Of late we’ve been snowed in, buffeted by gale-force winds, and now deluged with driving rains that have brought waterfalls literally gushing out of the woods. The vernal pools are forming and bits of green glow like sea glass on the forest floor—hardy moss and ferns that have somehow weathered through.
In our own yard, the blush of new life can be seen on the ripening buds of the lilac bush and in the emerging colors of the succulent garden. We have been in the city for the past couple of days where the magnolias are threatening to burst into bloom at any moment. I’m about to have lunch at the newly lauded Colicchio & Sons (3 stars in the Times) and will soon head back to my own kitchen. For now, I’m turning my face to the sun with high hopes for the new season.
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