Posted in books, family, miscellany, nature on October 1, 2007 | No Comments »
I want a hero: an uncommon want,
When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true one…
- Byron, Don Juan, ll. 1-4
Someday we must absolutely make a literary pilgrimage to England. I was there on business awhile back but only had [...]
Posted in nature on September 7, 2007 | No Comments »
The sudden late-summer appearance of Argiope spiders and the concomitant blogging of same reminded me of a bit of video I saw a month or two back and completely forgot to post here. Or at least I think I forgot to post it. I just perused last month and didn’t see it. Anyway, without further [...]
Posted in books, family, homeschool, nature on September 2, 2007 | No Comments »
Edmund Spenser, month by month.
Spenser’s Two Cantos of Mutabilitie come at the end of The Faerie Queen, and feature a parade of, among others, figures from classical mythology and the personified seasons and months. September makes his appearance, wielding the symbols of harvest and bounty. The scales also serve as an allusion to Libra, September’s [...]
Posted in nature, photography on September 2, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Pennsylvania Leatherwing (Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus)
Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia), with an unlucky Skipper. This particular spider had also snared 2 full-sized Monarch butterflies and an adult dragonfly, which ought to give you some idea regarding its size. It was big. Real big.
Katydid, unknown species
Another Argiope. This one was near my in-law’s house. Not as [...]
Posted in homeschool, nature, nerd on August 22, 2007 | 1 Comment »
I’ve rediscovered a favorite bit of astronomy software: Stellarium. There are quite a few night-sky simulators out there, but this one is by far my favorite. Easy to use and gorgeous to look at. It ought to go without saying, but the price is also right: free. Perfect for the money-conscious homeschooling family. Screenshots!
Posted in books, family, nature on August 21, 2007 | No Comments »
Our last Netflix shipment included Season 1 of The Office, which we’re finally getting around to watching. Since we’re weird that way, we ordered the original BBC series. Part of this is because we think that Ricky Gervais is hilarious, having seen some of his clips on youtube.
Such is the verisimilitude of this show: Ezmerelda [...]
Posted in nature, photography on August 19, 2007 | No Comments »
A few more shots from in and around the basil plant.
I had thought this was a lacewing or some kind of beetle, but it’s an Ailanthus Webworm Moth. Go figure!
A much more cooperative Gray Hairstreak. I had mis-identified this as a Banded Hairstreak yesterday, but it stayed put long enough today for a positive ID.
Here [...]
Posted in nature, photography on August 18, 2007 | 3 Comments »
I have a minor predilection for photographing insects - they are often convenient targets of opportunity and most of them do not seriously creep me out. I was walking past our little herb patch and noticed that the enormous basil plant was teeming with flying insects. I counted no less than a dozen different species, [...]
Posted in family, miscellany, nature, nerd on August 17, 2007 | No Comments »
Nothing pithy today, sorry. In lieu of something original, here are a collection of links and activities that may keep you (or yours) busy this weekend:
Selfsufficientish, the urban guide to “almost self sufficiency”
An introduction to square-foot gardening. Yes, it’s probably too late for this year. Plan for next year!
Make granola bars
Figure out which bugs are [...]
Posted in food, homeschool, nature on August 13, 2007 | No Comments »
The meteor shower turned out to be sort of a bust for us - we only saw 1 or 2 before calling it a night and hauling the kids (some of them asleep) off the deck and into their beds. The rest of the weekend had us pretty much holed up and avoiding the heat. [...]
Today's Saint Readings Universalis
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