My four things this week – admiring the patterns in the world, one of the greatest stories of adventure and survival ever, a quote from the 1500s that inspires me even my safe, suburban life, and a gift we’re giving to our future selves…
what I’m reading
A few weeks ago, I ordered the book Affinities after it had been on a wishlist for a while. It’s a book of images from the Public Domain Review, which I thought would be an interesting read. The images range from beautiful to the quirky and odd.
What I have found most inspiring and interesting about this book, though, is the way it’s arranged. Images aren’t grouped on pages by subject or date, but by how they relate to one another. It’s sort of a study of a repeat of patterns more than a study of public domain images. I found it fascinating and an interesting jumping off point for ideas.
It also follows somewhat of a history of how humans have endeavored to capture the natural world, to study it, and learn all of its complexities. In addition, you can see how, from the earliest art, people have used paints and pigments to tell the story of the world, of their place, of themselves.
A drawing of the vascular system looks almost identical to the root system of alfalfa when placed side-by-side. The movements of the planets look like drawings made on a Spyrophraph. The movements of wasps in relation to their nests look like blind contours. Not only do I find it intriguing, but it’s an emphasis that our world has an amazing Designer.
I was looking at this book shortly before going to the beach and, as we were walking along the tideline, watching the waters slowly recede, I saw so many correlating things in the patterns left behind in the sand…
Alfalfa roots and the vascular system came to mind since I had recently seen those images, but I also saw branches, deltas, and canyons.
what I’m watching
The story of Ernest Shackleton’s trans-antarctic expedition (1914-1917) is one of my favorite. I have looked at so many of Frank Hurley’s photos, have read some of the crew’s journals, and have watched the Shackleton miniseries with Kenneth Branagh as well as The Endurance documentary many times. So, when I saw a newly-released documentary about the search for the Endurance wreckage, I added it to my list right away and we watched it as soon as we had a free evening. The documentary is Endurance on National Geographic…
Here is the official trailer…
It is so excellent. Both Jeff and I wished we could unwatch it so we could experience watching it again. If you’re not familiar with it, the documentary does tell the story of the Shackleton expedition using colorized original footage and AI to hear journals and letters read in the crew’s own voices. (Which is cool and also a little creepy that can be done.) Anyway, it’s wonderful! If you like expedition/adventure stories, you will love this one.
As with many things I watch and read, it led me to a book. I realized I didn’t have a book with Hurley’s photography of the expedition, so I bought South with Endurance used on Amazon for less than $10. I can’t wait to get it and I’m sure it will show up one week under the What I’m Reading category.
what I’m loving
“Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery, where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.”
Francis Drake, 1540-1596
This was from the book The Sea Journal that I’m still reading through here and there.
what I’m working on
With six 50+ year-old maples in our yard, we have a lot of leaves to deal with this time of year. We are planning to get a riding mower next year, but until then, we’re having to blow, rake, bag, and, thankfully, use the Chipper Vac given to us by my father-in-law. It’s a free-standing piece of gear that looks sort of like a snowblower, but you rake leaves into it and it chips them up. It’s made the job more manageable but it’s still a massive task. But, we’ve made a pact that we will get up all of the leaves as a part of putting the garden and yard to bed for the winter this year. In previous years, we started pretty strong, fizzled out, and left piles against the curb, in the garden beds, and stuck in bushes. We were tired of dealing with it and got busy with other things, but then we regretted it in the spring. I spent at least two days shoveling wet, decomposed leaves along the curb and in the grass, leaving dead patches behind. I spent more time raking out the garden beds before I could get to the fun stuff.
This year, we want to give our Spring of 2025 selves a gift and get all of the leaves up before we put the rakes and Chipper Vac away. It’s not glamourous, but it’s necessary and we’ll be glad we did the job right. Most of the leaves have fallen, but there is a still a good amount left!
16 Responses
Your photo of the patterns in the sand reminds me of photos that Art Wolfe has shared. He is a wildlife photographer from Washington state who travels all over the world. He primarily photographs wildlife, and also peoples of different cultures. He is also intrigued by nature’s patterns and has taken some beauties.
My brother had massive maples. He hired a crew for 200 bucks and the whole thing was done and carted away in one afternoon. Highly recommend. They had giant equipment and blowers and a team. If you want your free time for other fall things he said it was hands down 100% worth it.
i actually offered that to Jeff, but it’s the kind of thing we can do ourselves and put that money towards other things. It’ll be 10x easier when we have a riding mower with a mulcher on the back!
Your observations about repeating patterns in the world are interesting. I am a people observer and have often had the thought that God created humanity with a finite number facial features that are arrayed into an infinite number of combinations. I consistently see similarities among people who are not related.
Wow.
That quote: “Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery, where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.”
Thank you for sharing it.
After you chip the leaves, spread them in your garden beds. They are free mulch that suppress weeds and feed your soil – the best mulch available!
Yes indeed!
I was going to say the same thing. They’re gold as far as soil is concerned. They will naturally break down and all those nutrients go into the soil. They also make a home for beneficial insects during the winter.
We are going to do that with some of them, but we have a massive amount of leaves! We have a few places we’re going to put the rest that we mulch.
We spread all our ground up leaves along the bottom of our chain link fence, for weed control. It works great!
Those sand patterns are beautiful.
When it comes to raking up the leaves and tidying up the garden beds in the fall, it is a HUGE gift you give yourself for the spring! Come spring, everything will be more enjoyable, because you will have far less work to do.
Those leaves are also a SUPER valuable soil builder and mulch, especially if shredded up, but only if they are pesticide free as well. I seem to recall that you were having your yard sprayed, which the trees would absorb, so maybe you want to pass on using those leaves for your gardens for now.
Yes, all the local landscapers have talked about getting all the leaves off your lawn, mulching them to add to your flower and vegetable beds for the winter.
I see the comment above about putting the mulched leaves in your flower beds, and future vegetable garden. Decomposed they make wonderful compost for the beds and thus your flowers and veggies to live in.
Offer to others the ones you don’t want. They becomes black gold.
…you would love the book, The Lost Men….they were the crew waiting on the other side with supplies for Shackelton. We are a mariner family…the Schooner Bowdoin sits 5 minutes from my home (Castine, ME)… If you are ever in New Bedford Mass….you must check out the whaling museum…my favorite ever. There’s an entire room filled with journals of mariners–and there are more drawings and watercolor paintings than words in these gentlemen’s journals. I think you would appreciate it. :))
If you love patterns, the book Earth by Chris Packham and The Complete Earth, a satellite portrait of our Earth by Douglas Palmer is fascinating. I gave them to my youngest and he was absorbed by them for months. Leaves, I am lucky I have a massive tropical Gunnera that needs to be covered for the winter. All the minced leaves are put over the root system and stems. To be covered by its meter radius leaves when frost is suspected. It’s a place for the hedgehogs to hibernate, they sleep underneath all. I cover the Dahlias too, I am lazy, I know. If they survive they can stay ;>D
That is so funny you said that. I have been reminding myself of my Spring of 2025 self a lot in the last week or so as I put the yard to bed for the winter. It’s my least favorite part of gardening, however one I will thank myself again and again as I get out there next April or so!