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Five Things on Friday (Florida Edition)

I thought about doing Four Hundred Things on Friday and sharing a lot more photos, but that would just be cruel. So I edited myself. Below are a great white heron, a pair of alligators, an insanely huge grasshopper (if I had thought to put my pinky finger in for scale, the grasshopper would have been longer and twice as fat!), a lizard/anole type creature that was also quite big, and a wild honey bee hive.


© Loree Griffin Burns


© Gerry Burns


© Loree Griffin Burns


© Samuel Griffin Burns


© Loree Griffin Burns

It was nice to take this trip while my mind was between projects. I have a new book brewing, but the major research for that particular project won’t begin until February. And so I had the luxury of time to think and read and watch and wonder about anything at all while traveling. I wondered about all the creatures pictured above, each native to the Florida Everglades, but I found myself especially drawn to stories of non-native species: Burmese pythons and Brazilian pepper plants and the like. Now, back home, I find myself pulling books and articles that I’ve collected over the years and realizing that this is a topic that has interested me for quite a while … and not for the reasons one might think. And so I am reading and wrapping and researching and decorating all in equal measure. I love this part of my work, thinking and exploring without obligation, without deadlines, purely because a topic interests me.

Happy Friday!

 

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Holiday Craziness


© Gerry Burns

The holidays make me a little crazy. So when my husband first suggested the family join him on a business trip to Florida in December, I told him he was a kook. Who would get the tree? Who would cross items off the shopping list? Who would write the holiday letter and select a photo for the card and print the cards and buy the stamps and address the envelopes? Who would order the lamb, prepare the sweet potato biscuits, and bake the cookies? Who would wrap the gifts and layer them around the tree? Who? Who? Who?

The answer, of course, was that no one would do these things if we went away. And it would be okay.

Now we are back from our surprise winter trip, and my husband was right. None of those things are done yet … and it will be okay.

What’s more, I came home with intense feelings of gladness, thanks to a few days in the Everglades. I’d now like to give everyone I know—and everyone I don’t know, too—the gift of a day kayaking through the swamps of the Big Cypress National Preserve. Our journey through red mangrove tunnels (pictured above) was one of the most peaceful and joyful experiences of my life. Oh, how I wish I could wrap that up and put it under the tree.

(Not my tree, of course, because I don’t have one yet. But I would put it under your holiday tree if I could!)

 

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Snow Days Are Also For Little Green Men

Who knew?

Today, in between shoveling and birdwatching, I read. A lot. And much to my surprise, there was an unusually high frequency of little green men. You know the ones I mean, don’t you? The plastic army guys? Little Green Men.

First, I finished the delightful OPERATION YES, by my friend, the equally delightful Sara Lewis Holmes. I was so moved by what Sara did with this book, and especially by its closing challenge to readers: Step Up. Step In. Say Yes.

In the afternoon, I picked up Jon Sceiszka‘s KNUCKLEHEAD, which has been sitting on my bedside table since my son placed it there months and months ago and said, “Mom, you have to.” I finally did. Darn near killed myself laughing, too. (That’s a KNUCKLEHEAD joke.)

Little Green Men were featured prominently in both books. In Sara’s, they were art and inspiration. In Jon’s they were melted in the toaster. It was enough to get me thinking about another Little Green Man I know:


© Betty Jenewin

I found him on a beach in Grayland, Washington while I was researching TRACKING TRASH. The photo never made it into the book, and I haven’t seen it in a long while. Oh, the places a single snow day–and a couple great books–will take you.

 

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Snow Days Are For the Birds


© Loree Griffin Burns

Spotted in our yard today:

white-throated sparrow (pictured above)
dark-eyed junco
cardinal
blue jay
red-bellied woodpecker
downy woodpecker
grackle
mourning dove
goldfinch
tufted titmouse
black-capped chickadee
white-breasted nuthatch
mystery brown bird with curvy bill (A Carolina wren? a creeper? I’m not sure. And it is being shy.)

Here’s to enough seed in the feeders to get us all through the storm!

 

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What A Girl Wants: Redwood Books

Colleen Mondor has asked all of the panelists for her ‘What A Girl Wants’ series to recommend a gift book or two for teenaged girls. I went with non-fiction (of course) and a theme (redwood trees) and, I suppose, on the assumption that the girl in question has an interest in science and nature. You can read this week’s list of holiday picks (including the five books pictured above) here, and you can read last week’s list here.

Enjoy!

Edited to Add: And here is the final What A Girl Wants list of recommended titles, published just today at Chasing Ray. Enjoy again!

 

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good morning, good morning, good morning


© Loree Griffin Burns

I woke early this morning, hoping for some quiet time at my desk before the busyness of our Sunday began. But a few, dusty inches of first snow fell last night, and with a tiny bit of prodding from my boys (who also wake early), I opted for the quiet outside instead. Is there anything as lovely as first snow before sunrise? The feeling brought to mind the poem Why I Wake Early, by Mary Oliver. Do you know it?

Happy Sunday!

 

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Monarchs In Space


Photo courtesy Monarchs In Space

So, back in early November I got an email about a neat opportunity for citizen scientists to participate in a project sponsored by MonarchWatch, the folks who run the monarch tagging programs I’ve written about here and in my upcoming citizen science book. The new project was called Monarchs In Space. Of course, in early November I was trying to meet a book deadline and my only response to the email was:

I CANNOT POSSIBLY MAKE TIME FOR MONARCHS IN SPACE THIS MONTH!

A few weeks later, the book is written and I’m sitting at my desk watching actual monarch butterflies emerge in actual outer space, and I have to take a moment to say to myself:

DUDE, ARE YOU CRAZY? YOU SHOULD ALWAYS MAKE TIME FOR MONARCHS IN SPACE!

Anyway, here’s the abridged version of what has been going on with the Monarchs in Space program:

*Scientists have sent three monarch caterpillars to the International Space Station, where they were allowed to grow and develop in a zero gravity environment. The rearing cages were monitored by video and the pictures coming back are stunning.

*All three caterpillars have molted, pupated, and as of last night, two of the three have emerged as adult butterflies. In space! Where there is no gravity!

*All along the way, the monarchs dealt with interesting issues resulting from the lack of gravity. For example, you can’t hang in a J form when there is no gravity. In fact, you can’t really ‘hang’ at all. The space caterpillars adopted a C form, heretofore undescribed, and somehow managed to undergo metamorphosis anyway. Also? Two of the pupae didn’t stay attached to the silk pad the caterpillar spun as an anchor … and so they floated around the rearing cage for the entire 10 days of the metamorphosis!

You can learn absolutely everything you might want to know about this project at the Monarchs in Space website. Pictures are added daily, and videos more randomly. Because the folks at MonarchWatch are some of the coolest scientists on (or off!) the planet, a huge emphasis has been placed on giving kids and their adults a front row seat to these experiments. Hundreds of schools across the country have been rearing control caterpillars on the same timeline as the space caterpillars … you can read what the kids are finding at the website, too.

 

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Bugs, Birds, Frogs, and You

That right there is a picture of my citizen science book in manuscript form. This first draft (it’s actually my third draft, but the first that feels good enough to meet its editor) logged in at 69 pages, 14,392 words, and 101 images. This was definitely the most challenging of the three books I have written. It took me a long time to figure out the best way to tell this story, and I feel as if I dove much deeper (from a craft point of view) than I have before. It was an excellent and SCARY dive, I must say, and although I am pleased with the results, I am glad to have a few weeks to sit back and catch my breath.

How will I catch my breath? Well, I’ve got a book launch to plan, a picture book to noodle with, and a whole lot of lost blogging time to make up for. And a research trip to think about. Oh, yes, and holidays to celebrate.

Happy December!

ps. The post title is what I am calling the citizen science book these days: BUGS, BIRDS, FROGS, AND YOU: A YEAR OF CITIZEN SCIENCE. Any thoughts on this? I’d love to hear them.

 

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Non-fiction Tidbits

Wonderful news! Phillip Hoose has won the National Book Award in the Young People’s Literature category. I am a fan of his THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD-GOD BIRD and am anxious to get my hands on this latest masterpiece, CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE. Congratulations, Mr. Hoose!

Another writer of nonfiction whose work I admire, Sy Montgomery, was interviewed by Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray this week. Sy shares her thoughts on working with Nic Bishop, launching the Scientists in the Field series, and the emotional side of science. The interview is broken into two parts, and you can read them here and here.

Enjoy!