Autumn has arrived. For the next several weeks the inexorable change in the colours of the forest that envelopes us here challenges description. A fitting word would be “awesome”. Unfortunately, despite at least a dozen synonyms, it’s a rote response to everything from the truly awe-inspiring to the most prosaic, which strands it in a verbal wasteland.… Read the rest
A twelve minute end-to-end digestive tract notwithstanding, Canada geese have evolved to one of Nature’s finest examples of working for the common good. By sharing the lead in their distinctive Vee formation, a migrating flock can travel up to 2,000 kilometers in sixteen hours. Humans, on the other hand, keep evolving new ways to flock together in greed that defies logic and decency.… Read the rest
Opening an Internet browser ought to come with a “viewer advisory” warning: “You are about to be carpet-bombed with scare-mongering advertising and the media’s obsession with doom and health stories”. That being unlikely, I suggest those us of old enough to remember it adopt the catchphrase of MAD Magazine’s Alfred E.… Read the rest
Pronouncements and speculation about why Queen Elizabeth II was beloved invariably include her dignity, demeanour and dedication to duty. While all those are valid, I think the simple answer is that even as she conducted herself in a manner to which most of us can only aspire, she was in a subliminal way, perceived as ‘just like us’.… Read the rest
The glories of Nature and a literary giant may seem an odd combination to help slow climate change, but in fact, they’re a perfect match. Nature provides the encouragement, the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy penned the wisdom: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”… Read the rest
With the stealth of a Covid variant, the meaning of many things that matter is being distorted by ever-more ubiquitous use of weasel words, which despite being two words, is defined as: “A word used in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position.”… Read the rest
Like many of my (male) contemporaries, I have no objection to — and truth be told am happy to revel in — being called “a certified old fart”. I do, however take serious umbrage at the suggestion that age is by definition a deficiency.… Read the rest
Over the course of two days this week I spent nine hours in my kayak, but not in my usual pursuit of soothing my soul by communing with the wildlife. I was part of an ongoing struggle against an invasive species, a seemingly Sisyphean task that serves as a metaphor for our troubled times.… Read the rest
Every so often on an early morning paddle, I come upon a great blue heron. Poised with silent, eerily-still elegance, it’s waiting for small fish or frogs to come within striking distance of the dagger-like beak at the end of its long, sinuous neck. The bird’s infinite patience and way of dealing with unwanted distractions are traits many of us who are perplexed or vexed by much of the world could use.… Read the rest
Most efforts to treat the world’s myriad ills have fallen short of intentions, never mind expectations. To give them a booster shot, I suggest looking to Shakespeare; specifically, Juliet’s famous lament ‘What’s in a name…”
Think “Monkey Pox”.… Read the rest