Spruce Wind's Song is a collection of poems by Ivan Norton Hunter, who grew up in Richwood, West Virginia. Each poem is accompanied by a photograph, taken by award-winning photographer Melvin Hartley, expressive of the poem's meaning and imagery. The poems focus on places in an around his hometown in eastern West Virginia. Each represents a unique combination of language, imagery, rhythm and emotion around such themes as lost loves, childhood experiences and the mystical connection between past and present.
Sprouting in an old abandoned field around 1895, Old Gent, a Norway Spruce, grew into a majestic towering specimen of his species, protective of the old home he saw built on his lands as a stout sapling. Human activity amused, startled, frightened and sometimes hurt him, thus he never found trust in the beaverlike species, until the fifth owner in nine decades moved into the old house he sheltered. The woman and her spouse proved reverent, changing his attitudes towards humans. The old tree experienced a new emotions, and gained the name of Old Gent. When terror from the skies threatened the lands, he stood strong, determined to shield the home and owners he now loved, and paid a price. As decades weakened his ancient body with internal decay from injuries, he fought to regrow lost limbs, racing to once again tower into the skies. He spiraled a few seeds against the foundation of the old house, where his offspring sprouted. On his fateful felling day, one stood poised to continue his sire's legacy
Featuring Montanan cattle-brand inspector and occasional sleuth Gabriel Du Pré, Peter Bowen's spare and lyrical mysteries have always received the critics' highest praise. Now, the first two mysteries in the series, Coyote Wind and Specimen Song, are brought together in one volume.
SWING ON THE APPLE TREE I love grandma. Grandma loves me. Were gonna swing On the apple tree. (By VMP 2002) (Sung to the tune of I Love Coffee; I Love Tea) Specially woven to constantly remind her grandchildren how much they are loved, Grandma Ginny's Songs, Rhymes, and Stories hopes to inspire and amuse children everywhere, soothe them when they are tired, comfort them when they are upset, and provide them the opportunity to share special times with the loving adults in their lives. The songs are easy to memorize, the rhymes are filled with fun and excitement, and the stories are equally delightful as the songs and rhymes. You will surely find happiness and inspiration in this simple but meaningful book. Have fun and learn something special through this beautiful collection! Links to related web-sites: www.HollyHillHaven.com www.YESYourExecutiveSecretary.com www.braintreerotaryclub.org www.seniorservicenetwork.org
The sounds of nature are being drowned out by the clamor of human activity, and that's not good for people, animals or the environment. Every living thing emits sound—birds sing, whales whistle, streams burble and trees pop and fizzle. In Listen Up, young readers are introduced to all the sounds of the natural world, from the first Big Bang to the complex soundscapes of the rainforests. Readers will also discover how the invasion of human sounds, from airplanes, traffic and machines, is threatening the survival of species that have adapted to their habitats over thousands of years. Conserving the sounds of nature is an important part of addressing the biggest challenges facing humanity today—protecting the planet's biodiversity and the future of our natural world.
Lines on the Land Writers, Art, and the National Parks Scott Herring The nineteenth-century photographer William Henry Jackson once complained of the skepticism with which early descriptions of Yellowstone were met: the place was too wondrous to be believed. The public demanded proof, and a host of artists and writers obliged. These early explorers possessed a vigorous devotion to the young nation's wilderness--the naturalist John Muir famously toured the land from Wisconsin to Florida on foot--and through their work established aesthetic categories that exist to this day. In Lines on the Land, Scott Herring contends that these writers and artists were canon makers, recognizing the national parks as naturally occurring works of art and conferring upon them a cultural prestige: the parks were the splendid focal points of the American landscape. These early, canonizing works are homages to a vast, untouched wilderness. This praise would gradually give way, however, to a distinctly American anger--what Herring calls "outraged idealism." Later generations were faced with a changing culture that had imperfectly absorbed, and even misrepresented, the national-park aesthetic. The postwar park was overrun by cars and tourists who could not possibly match the pioneering naturalists' profound commitment to and appreciation for their surroundings. The collective tone of the parks' chroniclers, as a result, evolved from celebration of awesome beauty to indignation over the perceived corruption of the parks, both as an ideal and as actual physical settings. Herring traces this shift through the work of a wide spectrum of creative minds, from early figures such as Muir and Thomas Moran to later observers of the parks such as Ansel Adams, Sylvia Plath, Edward Abbey, and Rick Bass. The text is punctuated by autobiographical "interchapters," in which Herring relates the book's chief themes to his own experiences in Yellowstone National Park. Under the Sign of Nature: Explorations in Ecocriticism
