Here is a picture of a bird's nest that I recently found on my morning walk. It interested me for two reasons: the nest was made almost completely of twigs from the same type of tree. The mother bird found her building material and she never looked back. The other reason is the 'workmanship'. The twigs are woven together with a precision that would be challenging for me and my ten fingers. The 'workman' presumably was restricted to a beak and a small number of digits. Can birds coordinate the labor of their beak and their feet? I wonder.
Getting the nest was easy. The mother was away and there were only two little eggs in the nest. After tossing them aside, the nest was mine!
JUST KIDDING! The nest was empty and had fallen to the ground. Otherwise I never would have touched it.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Attempt to embed something--
There are two things to note about this post. First is the nuts themselves. Chestnuts are wonderful, I`m sure everyone agrees. They are especially wonderful to me because I discovered them at such an advanced age. Of course I had seen them and eaten them during my life, but I had never seen a mature chestnut tree or a nut in its natural state until I came to Japan. We don`t have them in America! Why you ask? Because we have a blight, that is a disease, which kills the trees before they are old enough to produce nuts. I was surprised to see the nuts in the hull, and amazed at how well protected they are. They should be called cactus nuts I think. Or how about sea urchin nuts?! But once you get the armor off they are beautiful to look at and good to eat prepared just about any way with just about anything.
The second point to note about this post is the technological breakthrough. I was able to embed a picture with audio attached to it. I uploaded this picture and the audio on a site called voicethread.com We will be using this site during the term, and you are welcome to check it out on your own and use it for your blogs.
There are two things to note about this post. First is the nuts themselves. Chestnuts are wonderful, I`m sure everyone agrees. They are especially wonderful to me because I discovered them at such an advanced age. Of course I had seen them and eaten them during my life, but I had never seen a mature chestnut tree or a nut in its natural state until I came to Japan. We don`t have them in America! Why you ask? Because we have a blight, that is a disease, which kills the trees before they are old enough to produce nuts. I was surprised to see the nuts in the hull, and amazed at how well protected they are. They should be called cactus nuts I think. Or how about sea urchin nuts?! But once you get the armor off they are beautiful to look at and good to eat prepared just about any way with just about anything.
The second point to note about this post is the technological breakthrough. I was able to embed a picture with audio attached to it. I uploaded this picture and the audio on a site called voicethread.com We will be using this site during the term, and you are welcome to check it out on your own and use it for your blogs.
Monday, October 12, 2009
scattered and gathered
In the beginning...
I want to introduce my blog. I love walking, usually in the mountains. I go walking as often as I can, almost every day. I almost always find something interesting on my walks, and if it`s small I sometimes put it in my pocket and take it home. My desk is covered with the many items I have collected on my walks. In this blog I will share some of this with you.
I want to introduce my blog. I love walking, usually in the mountains. I go walking as often as I can, almost every day. I almost always find something interesting on my walks, and if it`s small I sometimes put it in my pocket and take it home. My desk is covered with the many items I have collected on my walks. In this blog I will share some of this with you.
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