Here's a poem that I love. In fact, i've been hearing it from my father every birthday - not my birthdays - but on his birthdays. And I smile as i write this: my dad is still six, clever as clever. I'd like to adopt the poem as one that i'll start reciting on my birthdays to come...

So in "light" of my 1/4 century birthday:

Now We Are Six

Author: A.A. Milne

When I was one,
I had just begun.
When I was two,
I was nearly new.
When I was three,
I was hardly me.
When I was four,
I was not much more.
When I was five,
I was just alive.
But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six
now and forever.

I appreciate those who can beautifully put to words, a 'more than words' expression.

"They sought salvation not in fact, but in feeling, in experience. Man is matter. That is fact. He is a collection of minerals. That is fact. Reduced to his elements though, the life went out of him. His calcium did not cry; his zinc did not love; his iron did not appreciate a good joke. Apart, something was missing, that spark of life, the electricity of the actual world, foreboding, non-sensical, haunting. Before and after the body, only ripeness, what some call spirit, the great mystery, remains alive in the grass, moving with the wind, swimming in all moving water."

I heard the other day that our human cells, the cells that comprise "us" (eyes, heart, hands, etc) are all replaced every 7 years. I also heard someone follow up with, "then, what makes us who we really are?"

it's quite beautiful when you think about it.

NPR: Volcano story

Science Communication and NPR

NPR: Science Friday is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to - I mean who wouldn't want to learn about the science behind a falling leaf***(see below)? I find my passion/ excitement for science communication continues to grow towards a tangible task. I love science - yes i love rocks too - but being able to wonder, awaken wonder about our natural world is exciting....I love asking questions and understanding the amazing systems that make up our bodies - our habitat - our earth!

Miscommunication is a hurdle..and there is a disconnect and loads of assumptions made between scientific research circles and the rest of the world. The relationship between between science and society (the church, politics, industry etc) historically and today could be helped with some improved communication (this is a whole multi-dimensional conversation that I might try and write about at some point ). So that will be my job, or is my job - to communicate science, wonder, systems and understanding - which in turn creates a connection to this place we call home.

Anyway, an interesting podcast to listen to that touches on this conversation and gap - rift between thought processes....

"Fifty years ago this week, British scientist and novelist C. P. Snow. gave a lecture at Cambridge University describing what has come to be known as the 'Two Cultures,' a growing divide, lack of understanding, and lack of communication between the sciences and the humanities. In this segment, we'll look back on the 'Two Cultures' lecture, and what followed afterward. Is there still a fundamental divide between the sciences and the humanities?"

NPR: Science Friday "Clash of Two Cultures" CLICK HERE

**a tree wants to attain the most efficient metabolic state: in the winter that means shutting down it's food producing operations, ie: leaves uses sun, water and CO2 and turn them into food. So literally, the tree pinches off it's leaves, and says goodbye, to essentially "hibernate". Again - it's all about the metabolic state when it comes to winter survival for a tree or an animal. (did you know while a bear is 'hibernating' for the winter, their heart only needs to beat a minimum of 8 times a minute to achieve the lowest metabolic state?)

Everything flows....

Τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει.

Ta panta rhei kai ouden menei.

"Everything flows, nothing stands still." -Heraclitus

Well...so i came across this quote in my science literature reading the other day... referring to 'Rheology'. Rheology is the study of how things flow - ie: rocks to magma, which directly governs what type of volcanic activity: effusive flow, or explosive bomb!

Anyway, as cheesy as this is, Heraclitus reminds me that literally everything flows. From rock to life to relationships to ourselves...we are in constant change, constant growth, constant becoming. (i won't labor the details of determining variables of flow both in lava and in life...)

Cheesy, yes. True, maybe? Cool, absolutely.

Landscape - what was on your backyard before you?

Here's a TED talk about NYC and the landscape that was there before the current city. I'm not saying we shouldn't be here or build a city etc... I DO think we should remember the long history of the physical place, the land you live upon now. (yes the geological time scale is absolutely humbling) - but the acute history....

I mean, have you ever looked at a landscape through the eyes of a Native? With little scientific understanding of tides, or exploding guysers at Yellowstone, or volcanic eruptions, or moon phases, or seasons, or the ebb and flood of the skookumchuck narrows? I LOVE the oral tradition and stories that were exchanged and passed down to explain the landscape and these natural processes. Even... it wasn't that long ago when we thought that the Earth was the center of the universe, or that the world was flat, or that Noah's flood formed all geologic formations. (oh wait, some still believe that). BUT - think how much we still don't know.

Oops, that was a tangent, but let's remember the ground beneath us was foundation to others before-humans and natural ecosystems-

CLICK HERE to go to the TED Site and watch it (kind of long and maybe boring if you aren't interested, but I think it is pretty neat!)

(The NW)

“To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least-recognized need of the human soul.” - Simone Weil

HOME. Sense of place, Your Place, LANDSCAPE – all are the background, the setting for our lives. Shouldn’t we know more about the natural place around us - about the regional history (human, biological and geological) and the present natural systems we are intrinsically woven into?

As my love for learning about our natural systems and passions for science education/communication increase…I can’t help but continue to be convinced: if we were more connected to the landscape, if we could look beyond the concrete layer that disconnects us to the soil that grows our food, if we could understand why the moon waxes and wanes, if we could stop and just pay attention to the detail of a leaf changing colors – maybe we’d wonder more (and in turn awake wonder in others). Maybe we’d care about even thinking about taking care of the Earth.

So… here’s a start. A challenge if you will – to become acquainted with your unique, regional landscape. (by the way, Colorado folks, I miss those yellow aspens at this time of year…) If nothing else, read through them and find out one new fact a month -- don’t we all want to learn more? Thanks to Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson who wrote a few questions to think about.

Where on Earth are You?

(20 Questions about Your Place) by Loren and Mary Ruth Wilkinson

Adapted from Bill Duvall and George Sessions, Deep Ecology

1. Trace the water you drink from precipitation to tap.
2. How many days until the moon is full?
3. Describe the soil around your home.
4. What were the primary subsistence techniques of the culture(s) that lived in your area before you?
5. Name five native edible plants in your area and their seasons (s) of availability.
6. From what direction do winter storms generally come in your region?
7. Where does your garbage and recycling go?
8. How long is the growing season where you live?
9. Name five trees in your area. Are any of them native? If you can’t name names, describe them.
10. Name five resident and any migratory birds in your area during the past century?
11. What is the land use history by humans in your area during the past century?
12. What primary geological event or process influenced the landform where you live? (I can help you with this one)
13. From where you are reading this…point north.
14. What spring wildflower is consistently among the first to bloom where you live?
15. What kinds of rocks and minerals are found in your area? (and this one too)
16. How many people live next door to you? What are their names?
17. How much gasoline do you use a week, on the average?
18. What developed and potential energy resources are in your area?
19. What plans are there for large development in your area?
20. What is the largest wild region in your area?

“Some unwonted, taught pride diverts us from our original intent, which is to explore the neighborhood, view the landscape, to discover at least where it is that we have been so startlingly set down, if we can’t learn why.” –Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

"We stayed at home to write, 

to consolidate our outstretched selves"- Sylvia Plath 

   I do. I feel outstretched. My heart in many places, my mind focused on numerous tasks, my dreams reaching out to immense and exciting endeavors.... yes, it's exciting. yes, I am more than grateful to understand my capacity and opportunities. And tonight, I sit...write...think...feel...to try and consolidate me and my outstretched self. Thank you for the words miss Sylvia Plath. 

Here is my home in Minturn, CO.

I love snow.

Well - here's to blogging? I'll give it a whirrlll... I've entitled it "oh look a bird" because,

well why not? Apparently I am a distracted person....

Anyway, here is a quote that continually keeps popping up in my life, and lately...as transitions

surround us, excited us, consume us, frighten us....I am reminded of this:

"Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'who am I to be so brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous' Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God: Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" -Nelson Mandela

So please, let's not play little. This world benefits little when we compromise WHO WE ARE. We are all unique, beautiful creatures.

"be yourself, because everyone else is taken"-Oscar Wyld.

ps- i have no idea why the writing is underlined now - let's say, technically challenged?