Poetry Sunday: Sailing to Byzantium by William Butler Yeats

The book that I was reading last week referenced this poem and so I had to go back to the source and read it once again. I had first read it long, long ago in another lifetime in my English literature class. It didn't have a lot of meaning for me then; it was just words. These days it is a lot more relevant to me.

Yeats wrote it when he was around 60 years of age and he was, perhaps, beginning to feel some of the aches and pains of "old age." He was writing metaphorically about the spiritual journey of one seeking eternal life and the work of the imagination that is required to continue as a vital individual even when the heart is "fastened to a dying animal" (the physical body). He says that aging is "no country for old men," or as a modern philosopher has stated it, "Aging is not for pussies the fainthearted!"   

Sailing to Byzantium

by William Butler Yeats

I 

That is no country for old men. The young 

In one another's arms, birds in the trees, 

—Those dying generations—at their song, 

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas, 

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long 

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. 

Caught in that sensual music all neglect 

Monuments of unageing intellect. 

II 

An aged man is but a paltry thing, 

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless 

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing 

For every tatter in its mortal dress, 

Nor is there singing school but studying 

Monuments of its own magnificence; 

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come 

To the holy city of Byzantium. 

III 

O sages standing in God's holy fire 

As in the gold mosaic of a wall, 

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre, 

And be the singing-masters of my soul. 

Consume my heart away; sick with desire 

And fastened to a dying animal 

It knows not what it is; and gather me 

Into the artifice of eternity. 

IV 

Once out of nature I shall never take 

My bodily form from any natural thing, 

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make 

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling 

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake; 

Or set upon a golden bough to sing 

To lords and ladies of Byzantium 

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

This week in birds - #289

 A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

We don't get Pine Siskins (seen with one lone American Goldfinch) here every winter. Last winter I didn't see a single one. But this week we have had some unusually cold weather with temperatures in the teens on a couple of nights, and all of a sudden there they were! Pine Siskins at my bird feeders along with all the other finches, sparrows and warblers. In fact, before this week, I had not had very many birds at my feeders this winter, but with the super cold weather, they were looking for an easy meal where they wouldn't have to expend energy to obtain it. And I was happy to provide it.

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On Thursday, NASA scientists ranked 2017 as the second-warmest year since reliable record-keeping began in 1880, trailing only 2016. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which uses a different analytical method, had ranked it third, behind 2016 and 2015. The numbers were somewhat unexpected because last year had no El Niño, a shift in tropical Pacific weather patterns that is usually linked to record-setting heat and that contributed to record highs the previous two years. In fact, last year should have benefited from a weak version of the opposite phenomenon, La Niña, which is generally associated with lower atmospheric temperatures. Instead, it ranked with the hottest years on record.

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In spite of the warming climate, in the northern hemisphere recently, the weather has been unusually cold. Even here in the South. In fact, temperatures were so cold Wednesday morning that the 64-degree Gulf of Mexico was literally steaming. Meteorologists call it “sea smoke” but it’s the exact same science as a boiling pot of water or your steamy breath on a cold day. Cold, dry air meets warm water; water evaporates into air until it can’t hold any more; water vapor condenses and steam forms.  

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The Christmas Bird Counts in Southern California this season will give clues as to how birds react after wildfires. The area covered by the Ventura count had at least half of its count section burned by wildfire, so it should be especially interesting.

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In May 2015, over a period of three weeks, two-thirds of the world's endangered saiga antelopes, some 200,000 animals, suddenly dropped dead. Since then, scientists have been trying to figure out why. It turns out that the culprit was a bacterium that is normally harmless, but in warm and humid conditions, it turns deadly, and the places where these animals died were unusually warm and humid in May 2015. One more warning from Nature as the planet heats up.

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More on the warming front: Alaska is rapidly heating up and some climate scientists suspect that the warmer temperatures there are contributing to the extremely cold temperatures experienced this winter in the lower 48 states. This is because the north/south temperature difference is one of the main drivers of the jet stream. The jet stream creates the high- and low-pressure systems that dictate our blue skies and storminess while also steering them. Bottom line: It is steering colder weather south. Of course, scientists being scientists, others disagree with this analysis. 

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In the area where the Glines Canyon Dam was removed from the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, birds are helping to restore the landscape by carrying and dropping seeds of native plants there.  

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More than three-quarters of the members of a federally chartered board advising the National Park Service have quit out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting in the past year. The resignation of 10 out of 12 National Park System Advisory Boardmembers leaves the federal government without a functioning body to designate national historic or natural landmarks. It also underscores the extent to which federal advisory bodies have become marginalized under the present administration. Sadly, this Interior Secretary may be doing irreparable damage to our system of public lands. At best, it will take years to repair the damage already done. 

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Nate Swick asks, "Are Snow Buntings North America's hardiest songbird?" A long-term study has shown that they are perfectly adapted to survive extreme cold. A question for the future may be, how fast can they adapt to warming temperatures?

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Post-wildfire logging can be inimical to the needs of the endangered Northern Spotted Owl because it reduces the number of snags which they prefer. 

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In spite of their devastated landscape, continuing power outages, and destroyed buildings, birders in Puerto Rico banded together to do Christmas Bird Counts as usual. The final results of the counts may provide a clearer picture of the status of the birds there.

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A new NASA study confirms that the spike of methane in the atmosphere correlates closely with increased fracking to extract petroleum products from the ground.

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Other new studies are underway to track how climate change is affecting freshwater lakes and rivers. 

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"The Prairie Ecologist" wonders why bison historically behaved the way they did, wandering over the prairie. There's a fairly well-accepted theory. The PE offers an alternative.

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Invasive non-native predators have been a bane for New Zealand and for many islands. A determined effort to eradicate them has borne fruit. Since a park in Wellington got rid of those predators and fenced out rats, stoats, and other such critters, rare indigenous birds have returned to the city.

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Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Count the meadow vole as one creature who appreciates a blanket of snow to insulate him from the cold.

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Ever wonder why geese and other large birds often fly in a V-shaped formation in migration? Wonder no more! 

The Rat Catchers' Olympics by Colin Cotterill: A review

Dr. Siri Paiboun and his posse are on the loose again, headed for another adventure. This time in Moscow at the 1980 Olympics.

Dr. Siri and his wife Madame Daeng, nurse Dtui, and Siri's best friend Civilai are all drafted to accompany Laos' Olympic athletes as managers, medical personnel, or chaperones and to travel with them to the great event. Laos had never competed in the Olympics before, but, in 1980 when the games were held in Moscow, many countries, including the United States, boycotted them because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan; consequently, the Soviet Union had invited many smaller countries to participate and fill out the bill. Laos enthusiastically agreed.

Not that the little nation had many Olympic-caliber athletes or even the smallest hope of taking home a medal. They were just delighted to be asked.

In the end, they were able to put together a rifle team from their military, boxers, and a track and field - well, mostly track - team. Their enthusiastic supporters loudly cheered their every move and became something of a phenomenon among the Olympic audience.

It's all great fun until Siri begins to sniff a distinct odor of rat. He suspects that one of the Olympians is not who he says he is and he fears a conspiracy and a potential assassination. Liasing with his policeman friend, Phosy, back in Vientiane, he tries to get to the bottom of things, but the picture gets murkier and murkier.

Then, one of Laos' boxers is arrested for murder. A woman in whose company he had been seen is found brutally killed and an "Asian" was seen leaving her apartment, and as Madame Daeng says, "Asians is Asians," meaning that to Russians they all look alike.

Siri and his gang are sure that the boxer is innocent, but how to prove it to the Soviets?

Through all of this, the games continue and the Laotian contingent continues to compete and their cheering section continues to whoop it up on their behalf.

Meantime, the news from Vientiane is not good and Siri is more sure than ever that something big is being planned and not a good thing.

It is always a pleasure to be in the company of Siri and his friends. They are a quirky bunch of cynical misfits but they are true to their culture and, in their own way, faithful to the ideals of the revolution that they fought for.

Dr. Siri is in his 80s now but doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. Let's hope there are many more adventures to come and I hope to be there to read them all!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January 2018

Zero. That's the number of blooms in my garden this month. In my zone 9a garden in Southeast Texas, it is definitely Garden Bloggers' No Blooms Day. 

Much of the garden looks very much like this clump of lemongrass. It isn't dead; it's only sleeping. But it is sleeping very soundly at the moment.

The reason for all this brownness is that we've actually had winter this winter. In our last winter, we had two days of below freezing temperatures. The winter before that we had NO days of freezing temperatures. So far in the winter of 2017-18, we've had THREE TIMES as many days of freezing weather as we had had in the last two years combined. And we are expecting more temperatures in the 20s Fahrenheit this week. All of that and we actually had snow on one day in early December. This qualifies as a harsh winter for us. (Don't laugh, all you Northerners!)

This is all I can show you in the way of "blooms" this month.

The white yarrow by the pond still has buds and looks like it might actually provide a bloom soon. 




Likewise the Carolina jessamine - only buds so far.

In the wildflower bed, the sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), whose identity I was confused about last Bloom Day, is still sending out its sweet little blooms.

Fortunately, there are other things for me to look at in the garden. Birds, for instance.

House Finch.

Pine Warbler.

Red-bellied Woodpecker.

And, of course, American Goldfinches.

My garden is resting and so have I been, but that's about to change. It's cleanup time, beginning with some pruning this week. Got to get ready for all that new growth. Spring comes early here and it quickly morphs into summer.

But meanwhile, for a little time, I can sit on my favorite bench and meditate with my favorite little buddy.

He's not bothered about winter!

Happy Bloom Day! I hope you have blooms where you are and thank you for visiting my bare, brown garden this month.

Don't forget to visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens as well and see all of those gardens that do have January blooms to show you.

Poetry Sunday: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

It just seems the perfect poem for the middle of January when much of the continent is covered in snow.

We are well past the "darkest evening of the year" now, or at least the darkest evening of the season. Every day the light lasts just a bit longer, but still we have "miles to go" before spring arrives.

And let us not be distracted by the lovely woods - we have "promises to keep." Let us resolve to keep them.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost (published 1923)

Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

This week in birds - #288

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

A couple of Snow Geese foraging for food at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

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2017 was the third warmest year for the contiguous United States since record keeping began in 1895, behind 2012 and 2016, and the 21st consecutive warmer-than-average year for the U.S. (1997 through 2017). The five warmest years on record for the contiguous U.S. have all occurred since 2006.

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Moreover, with three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters: $306 billion. The U.S. had 16 disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. That ties 2011 for the number of billion-dollar disasters, but the total cost blew past the previous record of $215 billion in 2005.

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Noise pollution from oil and gas drilling in western deserts is being blamed for disrupting the reproduction of birds and causing Western Bluebirds to hatch fewer chicks than they historically did.

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Outbreaks of botulism among waterfowl have become more frequent and widespread in recent years, causing scientists to study the cause. The botulism has been linked to warming waters and the growth of algae, yet another effect of global warming.

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The first year in office of the current administration has been a boon for the coal industry, with the  rolling back of regulations on coal-fired power plants and withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate change agreement. It seems that the administration has been following a blueprint from the coal industry, specifically a wish list of environmental rollbacks that Robert E. Murray of Murray Energy gave the president just weeks after his inauguration. This, after he had donated $300,000 to the inauguration.

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The use of rat poison to control pests at marijuana farms in California is having a detrimental effect on the endangered Northern Spotted Owl as well as other predators in the area. When they capture and eat rats or mice that have been poisoned, they ingest the poison in the carcass, which can result in their death. 

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"The Prairie Ecologist" celebrates the diversity, beauty, and secret lives of grasshoppers.

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North America's fresh waterways are becoming saltier and that could create big problems. Cities dump ice-melting salt on their roadways in winter and when the ice melts and runs off into streams, it carries that load of salt with it, eventually making rivers and streams saltier and more alkaline with harmful effects on the greater ecosystem. 

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Too many Florida panthers are being killed by encounters with traffic. The animals are unable to reproduce fast enough and in sufficient numbers to offset these unnatural deaths, all of which makes the endangered species even more endangered. 

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A federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld a plan by wildlife officials to kill invading Barred Owls in order to study the effect on the endangered Spotted Owl. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday that the experiment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn't violate a federal law protecting migratory birds. The court says that law doesn't prevent killing one species to advance the scientific understanding of another. In recent years, the more aggressive Barred Owls have expanded their range and moved into the territory of the more timid Spotted Owls. The USFWS arrived at the plan to kill some of the Barred Owls as a means of protecting the endangered species. 

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A rare Ivory Gull from the Arctic was discovered and documented at Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, Illinois last week. These birds are not often seen south of their Arctic home.  

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"The Afternoon Birder" has a project going to warm the heart of any birder/reader. She's planning a "Big Year" of reading about birds. She will read at least twelve books, one per month, about birds and birding.

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Last week, the administration announced plans to open up virtually all of America's coasts to oil drilling leases.  After complaints from Florida's Republican governor Rick Scott, Interior Secretary Zinke announced that Florida would be exempted from this dramatic expansion of drilling. Now, other governors and attorneys general concerned about drilling and its potential effect on the environment, beaches and tourism industry, which is worth billions of dollars, are asking why Florida is so special and vowing to wage a fight against new drilling, in court if necessary.

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North America and much of the northern hemisphere has experienced extremely cold weather in recent weeks, but, in fact, these cold snaps are much less common than they used to be and they are warmer on average. Scientists say that a cold spell like this one is 15 times rarer than it was just a century ago.

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Under new rules that went into effect this month, Ohio has taken the drastic step of outlawing the sale and distribution of 38 species of destructive, invasive plant species. The list will limit plant selection available to nurseries and landscape artists, but it’s a small price to pay compared to the cost of having to instruct professional landscapers and the public that some species do more harm than good.

Blood Trail by C.J. Box: A review

What a ride! What a read! I think C.J. Box has got the hang of this Western thriller thing. This is the eighth entry in his Joe Pickett series and they've gotten better and better. This is easily the best one yet, in my opinion.

The events in this book take place a bit less than a year since the last book, Free Fire, which was set in Yellowstone National Park. We find that Joe, who was fired from his position as game warden in Saddlestring, Wyoming, is still on board as a special agent for the governor, which means that he's at the governor's beck and call to handle whatever assignments he decides to hand out and be the governor's eyes and ears on the ground.

For the first time in their lives, Joe and his wife Marybeth have bought a house. They are no longer living in government housing and are enjoying(?) the status of homeowner with all its responsibilities and the headaches of living up to their neighbors' expectations of yard and home care. Their older daughter, Sheridan, is now a teenager and experiencing the upheavals of that fraught chapter of life.

Meanwhile, Joe's friend, Nate Romanowski, who was betrayed and arrested by the Feds at the end of the last book, is languishing in prison, awaiting trial for allegedly murdering a sheriff.

All of these changes to his life are making Joe Pickett a very unhappy camper.

Then, suddenly, Joe is shocked out of his personal ennui by a series of murders. Hunters are being hunted and killed and their bodies mutilated. The first two killings in different parts of the state were ambiguous and might have been hunting accidents, but then the body of a man is found at a hunting camp in the Saddlestring district, strung up from a tree, gutted and flayed and the head removed as hunters would do for an elk. This was no accident.  

Hunting is important to the economy of Wyoming and the governor is concerned that he's going to have to shut it down in the interests of public health and safety. He assigns his man, Joe, to help with the investigation. He hires a famous man tracker to come and try to track down the perpetrator. 

The tracking does not go well and soon there are more dead bodies on the ground, including the tracker himself.

The investigation regroups and Joe advocates for bringing Nate in because he knows the area and is himself an expert tracker. The governor agrees and, over FBI objections, Nate is released into Joe's custody. Now that the two are reunited readers of this series will feel confident that the mystery will be solved and justice - at least a rough justice - will be served.

I thought Box did a great job with the plotting and pacing of this thriller. The writing was tight, spare, and clean. He gives us a narrative by the hunter of the hunters, as well as the third person report of Joe's and Nate's perspectives. Speculation about the identity of the killer ranges from an anti-hunting activist to a lone psychopath or to someone with a personal vendetta. But what could that personal vendetta possibly be? There seems to be no connection between the victims, other than the fact that they were hunters.

Box plays fair with his clues and I am proud to say that I began to get a glimmer of the solution to the mystery perhaps halfway to two-thirds through the book. By the time of the conclusion, I was pretty confident in my reasoning. I will just say that reading this book at this time of heightened sensitivity to the issue of sexual harassment and violence probably gave me added insight to the possible motive behind the killings.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars