Amazon, Peru. How to describe it? A big muddy river or the most beautiful spot on our planet. Where else can you see pink dolphins (the only place in the world), monkeys, 2 toed sloths, wild orchids, 4 foot iguanas and gorgeous sunsets while navigating a giant, muddy river? The statistics are staggering; 25% of all our oxygen is produced in the Amazon, one third of all species live there, the drainage basin covers 2.7 million square miles, and 25% of all drugs come from rain forest ingredients. Wow. Yet, we have destroyed 20% of the forest already; gone forever to make way for cattle grazing, mining, logging and agriculture. And the deforestation is continuing at a dizzying pace. What can be done before the whole ecosystem collapses? Well, you can visit (ecotourism supports the rainforest), think about your food choices (huge swathes of rainforest are being destroyed to plant soybeans in support of cattle), avoid companies exploiting the forest (selling exotic animals or timber) and learn all you can. But time to get off my soapbox and back to planning a return trip to Peru in search of birds and orchids! Now that is helpful and... read more
Tryon, NC. Finally getting settled. A newly renovated house in a new place, a new life. So what does the future hold? What have I learned to prepare me for this new adventure in life? Over the last 9 months, I have moved 2 households, broken my right arm, visited 5 new countries, completely gutted a house, started and sadly ended a relationship and spent a lot of time creating one crisis after another. Hard to admit, but I have quickly become the queen of crisis! Yet now, things that seemed so important just months ago have faded into the background as inconsequential in the scheme of life. But damn, they seemed so important while in the heat of the moment! And doesn’t a crisis show everyone how critical my stuff is compared to theirs? Well, enough. After all, a crisis is rarely a positive experience (especially one you manufacture) and they always seem to pass. So back to blogging about falling in love with life, one fascination at a time; back to living with a sense of gratitude, learning new things (dancing is #1) and just looking down my very cool driveway. No crisis ahead, just a new day with unlimited possibilities. And how nice to have relinquished my queen of crisis role. Hopefully... read more
North Carolina. My first hike in years. About 3 miles, considered easy to moderate. I was warned about poison ivy, getting dehydrated and even to be careful of my hiking partner since I had recently met him. Not to mention bears, muggers, mountain lions, snakes and whatever else my catastrophic mind could conjure up. Yikes, should I even go? It is amazing what fear can prevent me from doing (I tend to become immobilized). But it is even more amazing what occurs when I conquer my fears. I had an absolute blast hiking. I felt like I was 8 years and on top of the world. And what a magical world. I half expected a forest fairy to run out and dance around us. We found a huge green lunar moth, tiny wildflowers, moss covered tree trunks, cardinals, streams flowing under old wooden bridges, mushrooms, and millions of plants including jack in the pulpits which I haven’t seen since childhood. And we found this beautiful (remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder)centipede tucked into a rotting log. How very cool. It was so much fun discovering new things around every bend. It just reinforces that life is to be lived, every day. There is magic every where you look. And if I hadn’t faced my fears about the hike? I would have missed one of the best experiences in recent... read more
Sydney, Australia. Pretty cool birds. But what are they? Surely there is an internet app for identifying birds. Well, of course! Actually the one I found and like is the Merlin Bird app produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Covering 285 species, I identified my first birds using it this week, wild turkeys walking across the road in North Carolina. It is easy enough for a child to use (just my speed) and sends info to Cornell who uses it to track bird populations. So I am helping science while birding, my new favorite sport. And move over all you football fans. According to the US Fish and Wildlife services, birding is the #1 sport in the US (maybe a little biased). And it is free! Just look outside and no matter where you are, there are birds. Some 10,000 species worldwide. And the Merlin app is also free. Sweet! Well, the birds pictured are Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, only found in the wild in Australia and New Guinea. We saw them in a local park while visiting Sydney. Now I have 6 birds listed in my new Birder’s Journal. Only 8,393 to go to match Phoebe Snetsinger’s world record of birding, the most of anyone in the world at the time of her death. Well, I better go get... read more
Florida. What in the world do humans and red knot shore birds have in common? Horseshoe crabs. Really? I remember horseshoe crabs as a kid washing up on the Long Island shore. These cool looking crabs are one of the few living fossils surviving today, having been around for 450 million years (way, way before dinosaurs). They are close cousins of the spider and look like big scorpions with hard backed shells and a harmless, although scary looking, long tail. So how are we all connected? The red knot bird relies on the consumption of eggs laid by the horseshoe crab to refuel for their unbelievably long migration from South America to the Arctic (almost 20,000 miles round trip). Humans rely on the blood of the crabs to protect us from bad bacteria (to learn more check out this fascinating PBS documentary (video.pbs.org/video/1200406235). All intravenous drugs, including shots and vaccines, in the US are required by the FDA to be tested with horseshoe crab blood to detect any foreign bacteria. (Wow, that I didn’t know).The blood, containing copper (making it blue as opposed to the iron in our blood which is red), coagulates when exposed to bad bacteria. Birds, crabs and humans- all interconnected. What an amazing world! Photo from... read more
Adelaide, Australia. Within walking distance of our hotel, I discover a magical botanical garden. Free to the public, in the middle of downtown, this 125 acre oasis includes a rainforest under glass. The forest is housed in the largest single span greenhouse in the Southern Hemisphere (for those of us geography challenged, the Southern Hemisphere is all the land below the equator including Anartica, Australia, most of South America and a third of Africa.) Entering the glass 2 story structure, the air is misty and buzzing with activity, from birds, insects, plants growing and 1,000 misting nozzles. I have always heard how important the rainforest (defined as a dense forest receiving 90-180 inches of annual rainfall) is to our global ecosystem, but I had no idea 50% of the world’s plants and animals live in them. And many of our medicines (some anti cancer and leukemia drugs for starters) come from rainforest plants. Yet we are losing 1-2 (and some biologists estimate the number is closer to 100) animal and plant species a day to extinction primarily from deforestation. Wow! So what can we do? I plan on learning more about the issues and possible solutions by joining a conservation club, visiting rain forests whenever I can and taking steps to recycle and be nice to our Earth. Once a species is gone, we can never get it back. And that sounds so... read more
