HIROAKI (Shotei) ‘Shrine in snow at sunset’ I don’t know that winter is so very different in other parts of the world that have a similar climate to Paradelle.  I’m sur…

  Bald eagles throughout New Jersey are preparing for the 2026 nesting season. In NJ, eagle pairs lay eggs anywhere from January through Ma...

You thought the December holidays were over, but the end of the Norse holiday season is tomorrow, January 12th. That day is Jólablót , or Yule Sacrifice. The period between the Winter Solstice and Jólablót is referred to as Yule or Jól, which is a festive three weeks that partially began as a way to pass the nights during the darkest and possibly somewhat more boring part of the year.

HIROAKI (Shotei) 'Shrine in snow at sunset' I don't know that winter is so very different in other parts of the world that have a similar climate to Paradelle. I'm sure that winter in Hawaii and winter in Maine are different, but I am thinking more about the mental idea of winter. I encountered a few things this past week that made me think about Japan.

This used to be one of my times of the year to be unplugged. When I was at a university, we were between semesters, and I took some time off. Some years, I was away from home for a few days too. It always seemed like a good time to unplug from news and from online social media and maybe even take a break from email.

I read a post back in 2016 by Parker J. Palmer called "Notes from a Week in the Winter Woods," and I was a bit jealous of his week away. This past week has been tough, and despite me not being a fan of winter, escaping to a cabin in the woods on a silent, solitary retreat sounds very good. …

I've been trying to empty my boat, but the river is so very crowded and more people want to climb in. I don't feel I can leave them out there in that broken, icy water. And people are watching me from shore. And other boats are drifting towards me downstream as I try to row upstream. Not knowing if anyone is in them.

A step-by-step guide to transforming your yard into a thriving habitat for bees and butterflies

Humanity's furthest traveler is the tiny but mighty Voyager 1 probe. This year, it will hit a milestone that is somewhat incomprehensible to most of us. If all goes according to plan, Voyager 1 will reach the incredible distance of one light-day from Earth on November 15, 2026. Voyager 1 Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech Now, what exactly is a light-day? Well, when you’re measuring the vastness of the cosmos, you have to throw out your normal miles and kilometers.

In 2026, there will be 13 Full Moons during the year. Huh? There are only 12 months, so how is that possible? Well, today, January 3, 2026, at 5:03 AM ET was the January Full Moon here in Paradelle. It will mostly be referred to as a "super" Wolf Moon in the media. Look how early in the months our Full Moons will occur: February 1, March 3, and April 1.

I love this very literal word origin story that I originally posted on my origins blog. The terms uppercase and lowercase that we associate with the letters of the alphabet evolved directly from the physical storage system used by typesetters in the era of the movable-type printing press. We go back to the days of Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century.

The origins of interesting names of places, people, products, bands - and the etymologies of words and phrases.

Beautiful things don’t ask for attention." - James Thurber, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" Beautiful things don’t always ask for attention.Sunset on the ocean horizon doesn’t ask, but the woman sunbathing nude there amongst clothed people is asking for attention. Perhaps “beautiful things” literally means only things, not people or living creatures at all - the flower, the grain of the wood, …

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