Am I still in Oklahoma? This thought had to have been in the front of my mind the first time I ever made it down to the rugged forested land in the
southeastern corner of Oklahoma, the corner that is close to Texas and to Louisiana as well as Arkansas.
There, in the midst of the Ouachita National Forest and the Kiamichi Mountains, near the McCurtain County Wilderness Area, lies a magical place on Lake Broken Bow known as Beavers
…
Okay. We mostly don’t like them. They have six legs, and overall, they are annoying. But this week, let’s look past all that. Just for a moment,
remember that many insects are beneficial. They pollinate our fruit trees and vegetables. Without them, our food choices would be much less colorful, not to mention that we would have no nuts
or berries. And the other good thing, they mostly eat EACH OTHER! Just one more reason to keep …
This week I selected the topic of ‘Community’ for the meditation. This is a crucial theme in nature but hard for many of us to grasp.How is it
possible that every type of creature is truly needed on this planet, and then we all depend on each other?
There’s a song in The Lion King called “The Circle of Life.” Community is what that song is about. It has to do with connections, it has to do with relationships. …
The flowing water of Sand Creek runs in trickles and torrents, flowing over the bed of limestone rocks in ever descending levels, stopping to swirl
and eddy in the shallows before hurrying along to join in with the next rush of water. Here, in northeastern Osage County Oklahoma, is a place where time stands still, Osage Hills State
Park.
Native trees like post oak, black willow, hackberry, sassafrass, walnut and pecan line the …
Say the word Bat – what do you think of?
Most likely Dracula – or vampires. It’s too bat that these furry little mammals have been associated for so long with such nasty monsters. They are one of our mammal cousin, which means that they
are warm-blooded, give live-birth, and provide their young with milk just like we do. Their bird-like ‘wings’ are actually long finger bones, adapted so that these mammals can truly fly. These
are fascinating animals!
This …
Surprise meditation this week – and no quote to pull you in except that the title is TRUE.
I’m struggling with allergies, and so are most of my family and friends. Why is it that this time of year, when everything is so beautiful, fresh and green, is the time of year that we all have
stopped up heads and runny noses?
The answer, as you know, is that all of the trees and grasses are putting …
Around him the sea of grass rose and fell, rose and fell, shimmering with sunlight like ocean waves catching the sun. The brightness of it – the
GREENESS of it hurt his eyes. But there was no place to go for refuge. All he could do was lie down in the grass and let the tall stems and leaves tower over him providing a shifting sun
shelter.
He lay on his side, as …
There is so much to learn about the natural world! It seems that the more I discover about nature, the less I realize I
know. A great source of facts is The Natural Year: A Quiz Deck on Ecological Phenomena by Chris Hardman, published by Pomegranate Communications, Inc., Petaluma, CA.
Check out the following questions to increase your knowledge of the natural world!
True or False?
1. Raindrops …
“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering the job,
excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” – Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea
I watch that sense of wonder in my little granddaughter’s eyes. Everything is new, everything is exciting, and she (at 18 months) can’t wait to experience it. Whether Daddy is gardening,
Mommy is planting flowers, …
“The day is grand,” or so we were told so many times during the first week or so of our Irish adventure a few weeks ago. We were lucky, we
had flown across the Atlantic and brought the fine weather with us. Instead of an average temperature range of 45 to 55 (F) we were experiencing 45 to 65, with a bright sun, blue skies and no
clouds in sight.
It was a phenomena …
Mary Coley Writes 