tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31856033097271394342026-02-07T11:21:48.316-06:00At the NEXUS of NATURE and SPIRITUALITY and READINGUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger200125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-13404606610167953672023-02-03T00:05:00.006-06:002023-07-08T10:39:57.810-05:00

This Wisdom in Leaves website contains over 200 articles inspired by a love of Nature and a love of reading, coupled with a sensitivity to spirituality.  Among the people appearing in the articles are poets, novelists, scientists, and humorists.  The animals making appearances range from the immense to the microscopic.  Plants also appear.  As also do the sky, the sun, the

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"Thanksgiving."  It's a single word designating in the U.S. a single-day holiday in November.  But that word "Thanksgiving" can be broken apart into two words that point forward to another U.S. holiday roughly a month later:  "Thanks" is the theme of Thanksgiving Day, and "Giving" is the theme of the gift-giving day of Christmas.Those two words might lead us to meditate upon

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 On a recent news story on the radio, a man declard that "smelling pumpkin spice is like smelling fall."  While that may be true in the U.S. today, a more traditional indication of fall's arrival has been the first small burst of cooler weather.  And an even more reliable indication that we are into autumn has been the changing color of leaves.It was leaves that became the namesake

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-81073906384863534602022-09-02T00:05:00.084-05:002022-09-02T14:17:21.129-05:00

It was one of those literary works dubbed "classics" that high-school students in my day were required to read and study, even though we ourselves would never have chosen it for our reading entertainment.  It was the exotic, multi-page poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834).  Even today, literary critics recognize Coleridge as having been one of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-54466884363111572772022-08-05T00:05:00.034-05:002022-08-05T13:52:17.979-05:00

"Too hot!"  That has long been a common complaint by many people on the hottest days of summer.  However, when the extreme becomes even more extreme (aggravated in part by climate change), it can be very hard to dreamily sing "Summertime, and the livin' is easy."  Perhaps the following article, first published five years ago, can help make us more appreciative of summer as part of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-33334990286929347102022-07-01T00:05:00.071-05:002022-07-01T00:05:00.161-05:00

Even though I love many aspects of Nature, I confess that I am not a very good gardener.  That is why the plants in my yard that have endured over the years are those than can survive with little care (except perhaps for a brief soaker-hose during extreme drought).  One plant that has just managed to endure through tough times is a plant with an unusual common name -- the "

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-12650507310734329522022-06-03T00:05:00.042-05:002022-06-03T00:05:00.192-05:00

As summer approached, there was increasing discussion on the radio about the condition of my state's electric power supply.  Would it be able to withstand the high demands that would be placed upon it during summer's heat, when more air-conditioners would be run more often?  Had enough steps been taken to strengthen the state's electric grid to prevent the type of massive, extended

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-41603285638213978052022-05-06T00:05:00.050-05:002022-05-06T00:05:00.165-05:00

Spring brings not only the colors of new leaves and flowers; it also brings the sounds of birdsong.  Behind those reassuring notes lies the new life of nests and eggs.  That annual occurrence makes the following Wisdom in Leaves article just as relevant as it was seven years ago:It is a tale of tender, parental care -- among both humans and birds.  It is also a tale of love, even

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-42120963981212776232022-04-01T11:19:00.096-05:002022-04-01T11:19:00.172-05:00

I know it dates me, but I remember well when physical card catalogs were the means of locating a book in a library. The 3 in. x 5 in. cards were kept in small, deep drawers that had a rod running though the cards near their bottom edge so they could not be spilled, disrupting their alphabetical order. In middle school, when my fellow students' class and I were taken to the library, we were taught

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-69012993306759238792022-03-04T00:05:00.094-06:002022-03-05T10:48:28.485-06:00

painting by Carl SpitzwegWhat do you think the perfect library would be like -- the library of your dreams?  For most book-lovers, I might guess, such a library would have books in great quantity.  But how should such a large number of books be stored?  That desire for numerous volumes has made many a book-lover yearn to have floor-to-ceiling wood shelves.  However, such

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-3508255037155865672022-02-04T00:05:00.030-06:002022-02-07T11:00:44.161-06:00

My favorite elementary-school teacher was my fifth-grade teacher, who had a wonderful way of teaching her pupils the meaning of new words.  Each student kept in the storage compartment beneath their seat a dictionary (provided by the school, or the student could bring their own).  During reading-time, as one pupil read aloud from a book and others read along, the teacher would interrupt

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-23205232705864491932022-01-07T00:05:00.015-06:002022-01-08T10:27:04.838-06:00

 The Covid pandemic of 2020 and 2021 has forced everyone in the world to live with a shadow cast over their lives.  Sometimes that shadow has become greater with the loss of a family member or friend.  Even for those who have not experienced that kind of loss and grief directly, life has become more circumscribed with social-distancing and other restriction for safety.  We all

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The word "wall" has frequently appeared in political news over the past several years. Less quoted have been the poet Robert Frost's lines: "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was like to give offense."  Even beyond those lines, there are subtler and more complex thoughts in his poem "Mending Wall" -- making the following article on

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-8127279986044069862021-11-05T00:05:00.073-05:002021-11-05T00:05:00.164-05:00

It seemed at first like such a little thing.  But as I listened further to the brief segment on radio (and later read the transcript), the seemingly small bit of news grew in significance and importance. The news story's title announced that "New York City's Public Libraries Abolish Fines on Overdue Materials."The news moderator, inquiring about the mechanics of the new plan, asked the

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Rachel Carson wrote that "There is something infinitely healing in these repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter."  So it is that we can be revived by the first signs of the return of fall -- whether it be the turning of color  in some leaves or the first drop in temperature.  The  recurring character of fall makes

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-65223815034435027112021-09-03T00:05:00.053-05:002021-09-03T00:05:00.166-05:00

John Ruskin. He is usually identified as being an "art critic," such as in this typical entry from a dictionary:  "Ruskin, John. 1819-1900. British writer and art critic who considered a great painting to be one that conveys great ideas to the viewer.  His works include Modern Painters (1843-1860)."John Ruskin,self-portrait, 1861But Ruskin thought about much more than art.  He even

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The Covid pandemic that began in 2020 put a kink in many people's usual plans for summer vacations, even in 2021, when vaccines were available for most adults in the U.S.  Life had changed, turning many in-person gatherings into virtual gatherings.  Adults had to depend more upon their memories of firsthand experiences they once had. And children needed to rely more on second-hand

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A child's learning involves being able to identify things. (Spoon. Ball.)  And it involves being able to recognize recurring patterns.  (That ball and spoon both go down when pushed off the edge of the table.)  However, that wonderful human ability to identify things and discern recurring patterns has a drawback: It easily results in our simplified classifying and stereotyping of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-49186190323534587292021-06-04T00:05:00.042-05:002021-06-10T10:01:22.794-05:00

 How do you bring a successful TV series to an end before it is canceled or, perhaps even worse, before it loses its glow?  That was the challenge the PBS producers of the Inspector Morse mystery series had to deal with.  The grumpy, somewhat elderly detective Morse had warmed his way into so many viewer's hearts that the writers had to figure out an acceptable way of having him

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-3074696758527123632021-05-07T00:05:00.068-05:002021-05-07T00:05:00.169-05:00

In a modern city in the U.S., the most quiet time is probably around 4:00 a.m.  At that hour, even most of the night-lifers have gone home (bars having in many cities closed around 2:00); and the alarm clocks of most workers have not yet rung.  Virtually the only sound is the faint background hum coming from an interstate or other highway.But soon, -- even before the first hint of light

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The COVID pandemic beginning in 2020 brought so many types of losses. Losses of such things as:  Family members, friends, and acquaintances.  The ability to move about among people in public with ease and safety.  Gathering in indoor worship spaces to be inspired by beautiful music and words.  The relaxing conviviality of dining in restaurants while chatting with friends.We

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-3812844931814966032021-02-05T00:05:00.055-06:002021-02-05T09:42:33.445-06:00

The poem by Amanda Gorman that she read during the presidential inauguration in January of 2021 evoked my memories of other inauguration poets.  The following thoughts -- which I wrote five-and-a-half years ago -- still seem relevant. Perhaps poets' reflections are of more lasting value than much of  today's tweets.~ ~ ~The reading of a poem by a designated poet has now become a regular

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-46537506250145947122021-01-01T15:30:00.055-06:002021-01-01T15:36:38.551-06:00

When each New Year arrives, many of us hang up a new wall-calendar or insert a new set of pages in our day-timers.  And we sometimes make a resolution to behave differently, perhaps employing a book-related metaphor to describe the hoped-for change:  We say we are going to "turn over a new leaf" (the pages of books sometimes being called its "leaves").  Or we say we are going to "

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-50051306327360770302020-12-04T00:05:00.010-06:002020-12-04T00:05:01.228-06:00

 It seems like such a little act:  lighting a candle.  But I have discovered in that act much to meditate upon.As the year heads into its last few months, more tiny flames are lit around the world as particular religious festivals arrive:  Diwali, Hanukah, Christmas, even the newcomer Kwanza.  All these celebrations light candles in some form as part of their ceremonies.&

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3185603309727139434.post-4673909314888697562020-11-06T00:05:00.005-06:002020-11-07T09:50:43.467-06:00

"We pursue the true, the good, and the beautiful, even though the false, the nasty, and the messy  might have been just as useful to our genes." What was it that attracted me to this statement by the contemporary philosopher Roger Scruton?  In part, it was my knowing that Truth, Goodness, and Beauty have been held by Christianity to be the three classic avenues through which we come

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