PENNY writes:
I wanted to thank you for publishing Alan’s “The Night Sky in a World of Hype” and Alan for sharing it. His mentioning of Leslie Peltier piqued my interest so much that I ordered his autobiography Starlight Nights through my library’s borrowing system. I have been enjoying it immensely. He’s truly writing about a different time and way of living. There are bits of it that remind me of when I was little (almost 50 years ago): how people sat outdoors after dinner and enjoyed the breeze and the scent of the lilac bushes or talked about how the garden was growing. That doesn’t seem to happen so much any more. When my neighbors are outside, they’re in the pool on their smartphones, not just sitting and looking. I suppose that goes with the modern ethos – you can’t just sit; you have to be doing something to justify it.
Though I’m not an outdoor person much anymore, I’ve spent the summer immersed in nature essays and books. I’ve gone camping and trout fishing with John S. Burroughs and read about strawberries he remembered. I especially enjoy his writing on birds and have no doubt bored several people I’ve repeated his stories to. I’ve traveled with Thoreau in Maine and read about Thornton W. Burgess. (Have you read his Old Mother West Wind books? Lightfoot the Deer is one of my favorites.) There was William O. Steel’s The Far Frontier, too. I don’t suppose anyone reads that one anymore, but it’s a wonderful children’s book about a Tennessee boy in 1791 who learns the value of education, studying nature, and keeping your word, all from a “foolish” naturalist. Chapters 37-41 of Job have become especial favorites this summer, too.
I’m not sure why I’ve needed these essays and books this year, but they’ve set the world back on its axis for me several times. There is something both soothing and inspiring about them. I suppose I just needed the reminder that “The year ’s at the spring,/And day ’s at the morn;/Morning ’s at seven;/The hill-side ’s dew-pearl’d;/The lark ’s on the wing;/The snail ’s on the thorn;/God ’s in His heaven—/All ’s right with the world!”
Anyway, thank you again for your blog and please thank Alan for me for sharing his thoughts.
Laura writes:
Thank you for writing and for sharing your reading.
I have never read Burgess’s books, but appreciate the recommendation. You might also like the books of Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), including Autumn Across America, The Insect World of J. Henri Fabre, The Changing Seasons and The Lost Woods.
It’s nice to find nature writers who don’t have a political agenda. The Book of Job answers those who do:
Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who gives the ibis wisdom
or gives the rooster understanding?
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?
— Job, 38:34-38
I’m glad you’ve discovered so much uplift from true lovers of the outdoors.
