Identifying Birdsong With the help of the Merlin app, I’ve been learning to identify birdsong. I now recognize the most common birds that nest near my house; red-winged blackbird, belted kingfisher, American robin, house wren, Northern cardinal, Oriole, broad-winged hawk, crow, chickadee, and phoebe. I know some others, like juncos, sparrows, and nuthatches by sight […]
The Carbon Cost of Cyberspace
I Stand Corrected I thought I was so environmentally virtuous by working from home and sending my words out into cyberspace. But a reader who responded to the post about the carbon footprint of road building burst that bubble. She called my attention “to the huge (and very much neglected) toll that the internet imposes […]
Just Read!
Just Read! Carry a magazine with you at all times. Keep a book in your car. Tuck a paperback into your messenger bag. Load a library onto your Kindle – and fire it up instead of checking your phone! Too much screen time! I’m trying this technique myself, because I find myself checking my phone […]
Born Yesterday
I wasn’t born yesterday – but I might as well have been. The technologies of contemporary life are all new to me. In the past month, I’ve upgraded to an iPhone, purchased a Kindle, and brought out an electronic edition of Into The Wilderness, a novel that appeared in print last year. In the process, […]