This week trees dripped with tiny icicles from an unusual episode of freezing rain. Some of the icicles stayed for more than a day, softening the evergreens and spring-colored bushes into pastel versions of themselves. Water hurried through the ditches but when the cold overpowered the current, it crystalized into glassy sheets and patterns. There […]
nature study
Clouds
We have some amazing clouds at times. With air masses often colliding over our region, our skyscapes are can be much more intriguing than those of the prairies where I grew up. But sometimes even non-dramatic clouds lead to questions. A few days ago we had these silky, almost polished clouds on one side of […]
Review: The Invention of Clouds by Richard Hamblyn
Naming things is a powerful activity—it was man’s first task in Genesis—and this power is explored in Richard Hamblyn’s brilliant book The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies. I do not think I have ever read such a satisfying, lyrical, information-packed science history book before, although I have […]
A Chameleon, to the Glory of God
Sometimes looking at nature can make me think of all sorts of deep things. Other times I have only one response, “Wow! My God made that!” Recently we spent some time watching this chameleon. It looked us over with its ever-rotating cone-shaped eye. The other eye, on its other side, was looking at something else. […]