New to Nature Journaling

I recently learned about nature journaling as a tool to connect kids with the natural world. It wasn’t long before I decided that it would probably benefit me, too. I often feel overwhelmed with all that I want to learn, and nature journaling seemed like a fun, creative approach to focus my attention and learn […]

Beaver Believer with Beaver Fever

I am newly obsessed with beavers. Aquatic rodents, ecosystem engineers. They are fascinating animals. I keep coming back to the same thought, “Apes don’t do this stuff! I am a primate person and a rodent is blowing my mind!” They are social, monogamous, cooperative. Busy and eager, sure. They are efficient builders, eating, constructing with, […]

International Macaque Day: Preschool Edition

It was International Macaque Day 2018 in the Brown Bears (three-year-old) classroom. I showed my students pictures of different kinds of macaque monkeys and told them about how I lived across the world and took pictures of animals who ate fruit that people grew in their gardens. I showed them an article in a kids’ […]

When Encouraging Kids to Love Nature Backfires…or Does It?

One day I heard from a teacher (I’ll call her Ms. Kasey) at the preschool where I used to work. She told me that one of my former students (I’ll call him Cody) was stung by a wasp while trying to pet it on the playground. I immediately felt guilty. I am the one who […]

How Do I Leave Only Poetry?

I was on a bike ride with my mom over the holidays, during my visit to Florida. I screeched to a stop on the sidewalk at the sight of some black-bellied whistling ducks. I was so excited. Whistling ducks are the cutest kind of ducks! “Do you have your phone? Take a picture!” “Leave only […]

Merry Christmas, fellow primates!

I like listening to Christmas music. It puts me in a good mood and brings back good memories. I have a handful of favorites, that I listen to on repeat every December, that includes: “Christmas for Cowboys” by John Denver The Smoky Mountain Christmas version of “I Saw Three Ships” James Taylor’s version of “Go […]

Winter Solstice Haiku

Winter showers, even the monkey searches for a raincoat -Basho

NaNoWriMo Break

Once upon a time I was absent on my blog because I spent the month of November participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I wrote more than 50,000 words, most of the first draft of a young adult novel, in 28 days. It was an exercise in time management, determination, shutting up the inner […]

Thanksgiving Scaremonkeys

American scarecrows are adorable. These days they seem to be used for decorative purposes in the fall, but I assume they once functioned to scare actual crows (and other critters). Do they still? If so, acting as stand-ins when farmers are absent, scarecrows are literally and metaphorically the middlemen when it comes to human-crow interactions. This […]

The Leaves Must Blow

It’s been autumn for weeks now. I’m watching the leaves finally blow from the branches and fall to the ground, and I feel a sense of panic. The reds, yellows, oranges, and golds comfort me. The sudden suggestion of bare winter branches makes me feel cold, uneasy, and exposed. To what? I suppose the changing […]