Tomorrow is my grandson, Kenne Jaxon’s 8th birthday. It’s been about two years since we have seen our grandsons, Jaxon and Nick, so we had planned on visiting them in New Hampshire in May. Because of the pandemic, our plans have been put on hold. So I began to look for a gift to send Jaxon and in doing so became aware of a poetry book for children, The Lost Words, by Robert Macfarlane. It’s a collection of acrostic spell-poems, beautifully illustrated by Jackie Morris, each one devoted to a word removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary.
Robert Macfarlane is a British writer and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He is best known for his books on landscape, nature, place, people, and language.
“Books, like landscapes, leave their marks in us. (…) Certain books, though, like certain landscapes, stay with us even when we left them, changing not just our weathers but our climates.”
Asterocampa celtis, the hackberry emperor, is a North American butterfly that belongs to the brushfooted butterfly family, Nymphalidae. It gets its name from the hackberry tree (Celtis occidentalis and others in the genus Celtis) upon which it lays its eggs. The hackberry tree is the only host plant for A. celtis and is the food source for larvae.
The hackberry emperor is known for being a quick, mercurial butterfly. It often is found along water sources and lowlands, although it lives in a broad range of habitats. Another notable characteristic is that it rarely is spotted visiting a flower, which is considered unusual for a butterfly. — Wikipedia
Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist (SCVN), Ed Rawl, died April 18, 2020. Ed loved everything about being out in nature and teaching his love of nature to children. He completed the SCVN training program in 2010, one year before I did. During my, training Ed was one of the naturalists I spent time observing. He was a factor in my choosing to teach on Thursdays in the elementary program.
Ed Rawl; Thursday Elementary School Program (3/3/16)
Ed taught on Thursdays from January 2010 to January 2019. He loved being with the kids and remained active in the program until a series of health issues began to take a toll on him.
Ed Rawl (January 10, 2019)
Ed was the Thursday Day Coordinator in December 2014 when Alexa Von Bieberstein, who had been an SCVN member since 2007, was returning to Germany.
When I was Vice President of Public Interpretation, I called on Ed several times to help guide groups of hikers.
Dan Granger and Ed Rawl with Members of the American Senior Housing Association (11/07/14)
Ed Rawl Guiding Some of the Appalachian Mountains Club Members to Hutch’s Pool (04/08/14)
SCVN Friday Hikes with Ann Nierenberg, Ed Rawl, Dan Granger and Tim Ralph (6/22/12)
Ed loved hiking in the Santa Catalina Mountains and was an active guide in the SCVN Friday Hikes.
Ed Rawl and Naturalist Jan Labiner Hiking to Seven Falls (10/17/2013)
When not doing the regular SCVN Friday hikes, he would hike with friends, or often alone.
Hiking to Thimble Peak — Naturalists Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Phil Bentley, and Alexa Von Bieberstein at the Gorden Hirabayashi Campground (11/07/13)
One of the most memorable experiences came in November of 2013 when Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Alexa Von Bieberstein, Phil Bentley, and myself hiked to Thimble Peak. On a windy and chilly morning, we began our hike out of the Gorden Hirabayashi Campground.
Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Alexa Von Bieberstein, and Phil Bentley (11/07/13)
A wonderful bird is a pelican His bill will hold more than his belican. He can take in his beak Food enough for a week, But I’m damned if I see how the helican.
Just like as in a nest of boxes round,
Degrees of sizes in each box are found:
So, in this world, may many others be
Thinner and less, and less still by degree:
Although they are not subject to our sense,
A world may be no bigger than two-pence.
Nature is curious, and such works may shape,
Which our dull senses easily escape:
For creatures, small as atoms, may there be,
If every one a creature’s figure bear.
If atoms four, a world can make, then see
What several worlds might in an ear-ring be:
For, millions of those atoms may be in
The head of one small, little, single pin.
And if thus small, then ladies may well wear
A world of worlds, as pendents in each ear.
My previous post was a reblogged from April 28, 2013, “Lily of the Desert.” Because of
the pandemic, I haven’t been on the trails in Sabino Canyon and the nearby
mountains. The Forest Service has closed access to parking areas and campgrounds,
but not the trails. One such trail is the Arizona Trail, which winds through the Santa
Catalina Mountains. One place to access the Arizona Trail is in Molino Basin. So,
this morning I headed up the Catalina Highway to the 4000-foot level to photograph
the wildflowers, which are beginning to blooming at this elevation level. Among the
flowers blooming were the mariposa lilies.
Picacho Peak State Park In The Spring — Image by kenne
A Sort Of A Song
Let the snake wait under his weed and the writing be of words, slow and quick, sharp to strike, quiet to wait, sleepless. —through metaphor to reconcile the people and the stones. Compose. (No ideas but in things) Invent! Saxifrage is my flower that splits the rocks.
“Goldfinches”– Photo-Artistry by kenne
Hackberry Emperor Butterfly — Image by kenne
“Another Cactus Blossom Morning” — Image by kenne
Boat On Mountain Lake — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Arizona Morning Cactus Wren On A Saguaro Cactus — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Ed Rawl; Thursday Elementary School Program (3/3/16)
Ed Rawl (January 10, 2019)
Dan Granger and Ed Rawl with Members of the American Senior Housing Association (11/07/14)
Ed Rawl Guiding Some of the Appalachian Mountains Club Members to Hutch’s Pool (04/08/14)
SCVN Friday Hikes with Ann Nierenberg, Ed Rawl, Dan Granger and Tim Ralph (6/22/12)
Ed Rawl and Naturalist Jan Labiner Hiking to Seven Falls (10/17/2013) 
Hiking to Thimble Peak — Naturalists Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Phil Bentley, and Alexa Von Bieberstein at the Gorden Hirabayashi Campground (11/07/13)
Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Alexa Von Bieberstein, and Phil Bentley (11/07/13)
Pelican On Oceanside Pier — Image by kenne
Catalina Foothills Sunset — Image by kenne
Mariposa Lilies in Molino Basin — Images by kenne
Mariposa Lily
Mariposa Lily
Mourning Dove In The Olive Tree — Image by kenne
Picacho Peak State Park In The Spring — Image by kenne
