A Year with Nature

A Year with Nature: An Almanac by herpetologist, naturalist writer and professor of biology Marty Crump is a celebration of all that nature has to offer. Each entry is devoted to a particular animal, an important day or discovery in the life of a scientist or conservationist, a plant, poetry, laws, the founding of the National Parks, U.S. celebrations, international celebrations such as Australia's Wombat Day, and celebrations that cross borders such as World Wildlife Conservation Day.

These were some of my favorites:

January 22nd features an excerpt from Lord Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"
 "Pleasure in the Pathless Woods
There is pleasure in the pathless woods,/
There is a rapture on the lonely shore/
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and music in its roar:/
I love not man the less, but Nature more,/
From these our interviews, in which is steal/
From all I may be, or have been before,/
To mingle with the Universe, and feel/
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."

Lord Byron was born on January 22nd, 1788 and was a Romantic poet and nature lover.

May 6th is about Fairies Cups or lies of the valley which is one of my favorite flowers. Lillies of the valley are said to be cups from which fairies drink fairy wine, or they are bells that ring each time a fairy sings. Alternatively, they are also called "Mary's tears", from a legend that says when Mary cried at the Crucifixion, her tears turned into lilies of the valley. A different legend says the white flowers represent Eve's tears that fell upon her expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In the language of flowers popular during the Victorian Era, lilies of the valley convey the message, "You have made my life complete" (133).

August 24th is devoted to the Mother of Nature Education Anna Botsford Comstock. Comstock graduated with a degree in natural history from Cornell University in 1885 and became the first female professor at Cornell in 1897. She is the founder of the Nature Study Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The goal of her approach to studying nature was, "to cultivate the child's imagination, love the of beautiful, and sense of companionship with life-out-of-doors"  (249)

October 6th is Mad Hatter Day. This day was created in 1986 by computer technicians in Boulder, Colorado, who thought people would do less harm by being silly for a day instead of working. The day is named after the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; the illustration of the character depicts a hat with the words "in this style 10/6" (292). On this day, spend time with the quirkier animals, plants, and insects in nature.

A Year in Provence

After years of visiting Provence as tourists, Englishman Peter Mayle, his wife Jennie, and their two dogs took the plunge and purchased a house in the Lubéron valley in Provence. The mas, or farmhouse, was located on the country road that runs between the medieval villages of Ménerbes and Bonnieux. The farmhouse was two hundred years old and made of local stone. A Year in Provence is a witty, insightful, and delightful record of the Mayle's first year as French residents. Each chapter is devoted to a month and readers are taken through a year divided up by weather, crops, the vendage, markets, boules, and feast days. Life in Provence as a rhythm all its own. The terroir and weather (especially the formidable mistral) are standout characters on par with the disappearing construction crew and colorful neighbors.
I loved the description of the cornucopia of goods found at one of the local markets. "We set off for the main square, running the gauntlet between groups of sallow gypsy girls in tight, shiny black skirts selling lemons and long plaits of garlic, hissing at one another in competition. The stalls were crammed haphazardly along the street--silver jewelry next to flat wedges of salt cod, wooden barrels of gleaming olives, hand-woven baskets, cinnamon and saffron and vanilla, cloudy bunches of gypsophila, a cardboard box full of mongrel puppies, lurid Johnny Hallyday T-shirts, salmon-pink corsets and brassieres of heroic proportions, rough country bread and dark terrines" (May page 92). Every French village has a market; some of the larger ones are truly remarkable for the range of produce and miscellany one can find.
Mayle's book makes one appreciate the land, food, climate, and people on a local level. One evening, their neighbor Faustin brought them a large bunch of fresh asparagus which they cooked and ate with "bread that had been baked that afternoon in the old boulangerie at Lumières. We drank the light red wine from the vineyards in the valley. We supported local industry with every mouthful" (May page 86). One can almost taste and smell the local delicacies. 

For further reading I recommend Mayle's Toujours Provence, a continuation of his life in Provence and his novel Hotel Pastis. There is also Alphonse Daudet's Lettres de mon moulin which is a collection of short stories and provencal lore written in the 19th century. 

The Sapphire Widow

The Sapphire Widow by Dinah Jeffries

1935 Ceylon. Louisa Reeve is the daughter of a sapphire trader and her husband Elliot works in the gem trade as well. The couple have been happily married for years despite struggling with miscarriages and a stillbirth. Louisa and Elliot cope in their own ways, Louisa by keeping busy with various projects and Elliot by thrill-seeking. Elliot is increasingly absent from home, spending time at a cinnamon plantation he has invested in.
The night of their anniversary party, Elliot is absent and the police arrive to say he died in a car accident. Wrought with grief, Louisa delves into Elliot's affairs and discovers a pile of debts, investments that never were, and a death that may not have been accidental. Most crushing is that Elliot had a mistress and a child. As she comes to terms with her late-husband's past, Louisa finds herself drawn to the owner of the cinnamon plantation, a man with a colorful past and a link to her future.

Howard's End is on the Landing

Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill

Author Susan Hill is searching for a book in her house and the book turns up not where she thought it would be, but nestled in among other books some place else. Hill's book is an inventory of her bookshelves and other book storage areas in her house. Hill reflects on favorite books, well-travelled books, and "Never got around to it, Don't like the look of it, Couldn't get beyond page Ten, and Other poor excuses". As Hill inventories her collection, she reflects on the books and authors that have shaped a lifetime of reading.

I finished this book in early May and never got around to blogging about it, until now. I received a notice that it is due at the library. About the time I read Howard's End is on the Landing, I rearranged my office and took a brief inventory of my own shelves. I have my favorites that have been in my collection for years and probably will always be there: my Agatha Christies, Calvin and Hobbes, and a few others. Then there are the shelves of French literature. My French literature collection is not what it was in Grad School; I have culled it since I am not teaching and my interests have changed. It is hard for me to part with my French novels because I did enjoy reading them and they were purchased during an important time in my life. On several other shelves are my travel, history, and coffee table books. The rest of my books are mysteries and general fiction.

Like Susan Hill, I could probably read books from my shelves for a year and never need to visit the library.