A day in the woods

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Photos, with commentary.

Clematis seed heads (I’m thinking Clematis virginiana).

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Witch Hazel (Hamamaelis virginiana)

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Pistachier Noir

With a nod to NH Franco-American culture, tan seed capsules each carry one or two small shiny black seeds reputed to be edible with an oily pistachio flavor. *

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Near a landing – I’m thinking abandoned logger’s office/shelter.

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Beaver pond (handheld) panorama. Click on the image below to embiggen moderately; click here for the full boat.

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In the mid 1800’s, the majority of New England was deforested. You find evidence (stone walls, cellar holes) everywhere – even deep in what is now regrown forest. I found what looks to be the remains of a sawmill foundation and millrace yesterday, miles from the nearest 2 lane road (and a half mile from the nearest tote road).

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A short video of the site – as much for the sound effects as anything. Cameo by the lovely Dinah.

The Tiger follow-up

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My little narrative of how John Vaillant ended up at RiverRun centered on my experience – a less Ptolemaic version might have emphasized the key roles play by Steve Bodio and his review of the Tiger and by Michele at RiverRun. It’s easy to be the pivot when there are folks like these jamming on the lever arms. Noted in passing – Michele is on NH Magazine’s 2010 ‘It List’ in recognition of the central role she plays in making Portsmouth the hoppin’ place it is. And another shout-out to @westchesterdead and @apatheticalto – many fulcrums make for a smooth Rube Goldberg of connections.

Support your local independent bookstore. Really. Browse. Hang out. Buy. Tell the booksellers, “You have the best job – you can just sit around and read all day.” – they’ll love it. You don’t know what you got till it’s gone and unless you support your local, it may disappear. I’m making some changes to the way I link out to books from D0aMNH to be a touch more indie-friendly.

Support big cat conservation. Apex predators are critical – when they’re removed, the ecosystem changes, often radically and never for the better if one values diversity. The easiest way to pitch in is by contributing to organizations that are fighting poachers:

  • The Phoenix Project via Global Giving – along with Amur Tiger protection, the Phoenix Project is also trying to save the last 30 Amur Leopards left in the wild. This is where I chose to contribute.
  • The Phoenix Project via Wildlife Alliance (select the fund in the ‘you can support’ dropdown).
  • Panthera is involved with conservation effort for all big cats – Tigers, Snow Leopards, Jaguars, you name it. Quick quiz – what’s the 3rd largest big cat? They live in the Americas.
  • A more extensive list of worthy organizations (John Vaillant’s picks) can be found here.

There are so many things to work on in our own lives – reducing the amount of fossil fuels we use, figuring out what’s going on with the food we eat, staying involved with local community issues – but once a big predator is gone, that’s it. A thread of, for lack of a better phrase, predator knowledge is broken. Tiger cubs stay with their mother for a couple years, learning the ins and outs of the particular landscape they’re in.  That understanding goes back tens of thousands of years, passed from mother to cubs; there ain’t no magicing it back if it disappears. A few bucks now buys some time and a few bucks – a tank of gas, a new set of batteries, tires for the truck – make a big difference in anti-poaching efforts.

Via Adelle’s FB Gallery (thanks, G).

Atomic seaplane follow-up

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What brought the simmering Convair/seaplane/nuke-yu-ler thing to a boil?

One – discovering the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives on Flickr. There’s a huge set devoted to Convair.

Convair : F2Y-1 : Sea Dart

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Convair : F2Y-1 : Sea Dart

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Two – finding a link to the work of the great and hilarious Stan Mott (hadn’t thought about him in too long) that included this image of a seaplane aircraft carrier. I don’t know whether it relies on a reactor or the combined power output of the lashed-together Cyclopii that form the hull (I suspect the latter). Thank you, Agent Malki.

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Impossibly wealthy Oil Sheik:  Signor Martini, I am blue.
Martini:  Hah, I have idea for you!  (See how quick he is?)
Sheik:  What?
Martini: Something expensive.
Sheik:  To buy?  Where?
Martini:  The personal aircraft carrier!  Fantastico!
Sheik:  But cars…
Martini:  Exactemente!  I make aircraft carrier out of cars,  Cyclops Us.  They float.  So by lashing hundreds of thousands of them together they form magnifico aircraft carrier.  Just what you need.  No one else has.
Sheik:  But I get seasick.
Martini:  Ah hah … that is why it is land-based carrier.  It rolls on ground, desert, your desert.
Sheik:  But how could it be a real aircraft carrier with no water?
Martini:  We bring our own water.
Sheik:  Where?
Martini:  On deck.
Sheik:  But how can the planes land on water?
Martini:  Sea planes.
Sheik:  Well, I don’t…
Martini:  Don’t worry.  Will be absolutely safe from Russian scoobie divers.  I put sharks in water.
Sheik:  You are a shrewd man, Signor Martini.
Martini:  Ah, my friend, for you … anything!
Sheik:  What will my aircraft carrier look like?
Martini:  It is up above this text.
Sheik:  Ohhh, praise Allah!  How much?
Martini:  I thought you would never ask. *

The Tiger

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Author John Vaillant was in town last night on a book tour in support of his latest: The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival. It was a good evening out (understatement). John, Sy Montgomery, Liz Thomas and I met before the event and had some dinner – much tiger conservation strategizing (in the ‘what can writers do’ sense) was done, contacts were exchanged, etc. Fascinating stuff – I was mostly a fly on the wall, but not completely.

John, Sy, yr humble corr., Liz

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Then it was off to RiverRun for the main event. I’d already read The Tiger – regardless, I found John’s reading to be riveting and, in the case of the first passage, where Markov meets the tiger for the last time, hair raising. I wasn’t alone – you could have heard a pin drop whenever John had the floor.

The book itself… Before I quote some reviews, my short version -> read it. Soonest.

Steve Bodio:

It is better than good– my favorite book of the year so far, and a likely classic in my rare favorite genre, that which documents (to use a book title) “the edge of the wild”, that interface where humans and “nature” are not artificially separated but in conflict or cooperation, acting on each other. *

Liberty Hardy:

…no other non-fiction book has gotten me so wound up in the last five years as John Vaillant’s The Tiger. It is a phenomenal book! I read it back in March and then had to wait *five* whole months before I could start selling it. But that didn’t stop me from talking about it to everyone in a ten-mile radius. I talked about it so much that it was driving my coworkers crazy. *

Sy Montgomery:

…those who truly know the tiger realize that it also possesses an invisible but equally lethal weapon: a brilliant and calculating mind. One hunter tells the author: “The tiger is strong, powerful and fair. You have to respect him. You think he doesn’t understand the language, but he understands everything. He can read a person’s mind.”

Of course, there are those who say a tiger doesn’t have a mind, much less one that can read ours. But Vaillant’s book teaches a lesson that humankind desperately needs to remember: When you murder a tiger, you not only kill a strong and beautiful beast, you extinguish a passionate soul. *
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After the signing (and chop marking – v. cool) finished up and a phone call from New Mexico was taken (see below) John and I headed out for more conversation, food and drink. Steller’s Sea Eagles were mentioned, the scale of the landscape in British Columbia was discussed and a good time was had (by all? I sure had fun).

A note on how all this came to be:

  • Many months ago @missliberty tweeted about how much she enjoyed The Tiger. It registered, but not as a ‘do something now’ item – it would be quite a while before I’d be able to get my hands on a copy.
  • Steve Bodio emailed me in early August raving about the book; I turned around and tweeted his recommendation.
  • The next thing I know, twitter friends in West Chester, Pennsylvania twote back “We know John – we’re excited about the book too!”
  • Someone must have given John a heads-up – I received a nice email from him thanking me for passing on Steve’s recommendation.
  • RiverRun loves The Tiger; I’m emailing with the author – what to do? I connect John and RiverRun’s events coordinator. I also let Sy know that a reading might be happening – I think she made a phone call or two.
  • Presto – RiverRun gets included on John’s east coast swing. WIN.

RiverRun often livestreams author events – last night was no exception. I asked Tom (the owner) for a favor yesterday – he emailed the stream’s address to Steve. When the event started, John thanked the folks that had made the night happen, including Steve, and as he did he gestured at the webcam. I had no idea whether Steve had gotten the email or if he’d tuned in but I thought, “If he’s watching, that had to have been a bit of a mind-blower.” When the signing was almost over, the shop’s phone rang – call for John Vaillant. Yep – it was Steve, checking in after watching from a ways away. I spoke with Steve as well. Tigers, tragopans and Pheasant Jungles!

I should no longer be surprised by the power of the internet to connect folks, but I continue to be gobsmacked on a regular basis.