Email: Partner’s birthday. Loves travel, museums. (Greece)
Happy Birthday!
Author: Creatively Curious
Conversations are deep, have promises to keep! ✍️
Himalayan family treks…
Email: Son’s 15th birthday. Loves adventure, travel. (Finland)
Happy Birthday!
Kedarkantha – an even-paced summit trek. Delightful dense forest trails, charming campsites. A sense of achievement on climbing the summit at 12,500 ft. Fascinating landscapes.
Dayara Bugyal – an exciting trek at 12,000 ft. Marvellous mountain views, wonderful alpine meadows add to the enthusiasm, amazement.
The Challenger…
On Jan. 28th 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded in flight, engulfing it’s crew in a ball of flame. Challenger: The Final Flight uncovers facts through intimate interviews, investigations. Well-crafted, heart-breaking retelling of an avoidable national tragedy. Poignant. Heartrending.
Autumn leaves…
How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare
Beneath the trees without a care
Content to sleep, their work well done
Colours gleaming in the sun.
At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare
Exhausted, drop to earth below, to wait like children for the snow.
—Elsie N. Brady
Autumn fires…
In the other gardens
And all up in the vale
From the autumn bon-fires
See the smoke trail
Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers
The red fire blazes
The grey smoke towers
Sing a song of seasons
Something bright in all
Flowers in the summer
Fires in the fall…
—–Robert Louis Stevenson
Silver…
What it’s like to be a bird…
Can birds smell? Do robins hear worms? In What It’s Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers interesting questions about birds we see most often. Covers over 200 species of birds. It’s focus is on familiar backyard birds – blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees. Examines species that can be fairly easily observed like seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin.
What It’s Like To Be A Bird – Amazon
David Sibley’s exacting artwork, wide-ranging expertise bring observed behaviour’s vividly to life. Fascinating scientific research on the myriad ways birds have adapted to environmental changes. An entertaining, insightful read.
The social dilemma…
Watched a thought provoking documentary – The Social Dilemma. Explores the surprising counter-intuitive human impact of social networking with tech experts, psychologists & families. Infinite scrolling, push notifications keep users constantly engaged. Personalised AI recommendations use data not just to predict but also influence our actions, personalities, realities as created by algorithms. Turn users into easy targets for advertisers, sellers & propagandists.
How new technologies in our digital age are both educating & exploiting the brain’s evolutionary need for inter-personal connections. Remarkably effective in sounding an alarm about the incursion of unsecured data into social lives & beyond. Presents an informative, intriguing perspective. Finding the right balance, accountability is key to successful interactions between humans & technology.
The nature of nature…
An inspiring internationally renowned ecologist makes a clear case for why protecting nature is our best health insurance, why it makes economic sense. Enric Sala – once we appreciate how nature works, understand why conservation is economically wise & essential to our survival.
Sala, Director of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas tells the story of scientific awakening, transition from academia to activism. Book’s revelations are surprising, sometimes counter-intuitive. More sharks signal a healthier ocean, crop diversity not intensive monoculture farming is the key to feeding the planet? Can reverse conditions that led to the coronavirus pandemic, prevent global catastrophes? A thought provoking book to transform the way we think about our natural world, our future. Saving nature can save us all.
