Archimedes Notebook

 Still finding things to do from my beginning-of-the-month list... though I don't always accomplish them. For example: I've had no l...

One of the things on my list of Things To Do in Fall (posted last week) is to watch the maple trees turn red. Or gold...  So that's what...

 Fall is here! How do I know? Things are falling all around: acorns, locust pods, chestnuts, maple leaves...   Here are just a few things to...

Summer is the perfect time to play outside! To string up a hammock and read books! To build sandcastles and ...    watch fireflies explore m...

 I find dandelion puffballs fascinating. The seed heads look like a constellation of stars. Then, as they are blown by the wind, it begins t...

   This year spring seems to be slow in coming. Sure, we've had rain and the occasional sunny day. But it's been such a cold winter,...

 Spring comes in its own time, sometimes in a flurry of flowering and sometimes a slow opening of a bud. While visiting Boston, I walked aro...

 It's been a rainy spring here in the northeast - and some mornings are still on the cold side. (Snow, anyone?) But spring flowers are s...

 Spring officially started this past weekend, and I've been waiting for sunshine and warmer weather for so long! So of course, it rained...

  While walking around a park in Salt Lake City a couple weeks ago, I noticed all the scrubby oaks had empty acorn caps attached at the ends...

 Last week I was hiking in Wasatch Hollow, a small nature preserve tucked behind a neighborhood in Salt Lake City. It felt like spring was n...

  I've read that rosehips make great winter snacks for rabbits and squirrels. Bears, too, though I don't expect we'll see any do...

 This week take your camera or a sketch pad outdoors with you and spend a few moments looking at trees. It should be a bit warmer, so you ca...

  Walking through the woods on a snowy afternoon I noticed the differences in how snow stuck to things. Tree trunks, for example.    Some tr...

 Lichens are small and easy to overlook, but they are amazing. These tiny symbiotic communities of fungi and algae and cyanobacteria can wea...

  Sometimes when you get up close to a tree, you decide that maybe you don't want to shake it's hands! What sort of prickly trees do...

 The other day I got to wondering: what does a fallen leaf think? So I got down to the level of an oak leaf and looked at the world from its...

 My garden is a great habitat for spiders. I pile dried grass and straw on the beds to help keep them from drying out - and spiders love to ...

Last week I was scuffling through the fallen leaves (on a country road in Vermont) - listening to the rustle and crunch - and I noticed that...

 One day I noticed that someone had been chewing on the carrots. The green tops, that is - and they had nibbled them down to the stems! At f...