Author Archives: Roger Gosden
Rabid Groundhog Attack
If you started to read this post because the title promised the sort of droll tale you expect from John Cleese or Stephen Fry I’m sorry to disappoint you! It’s a story about a gentle dog walk that turned into … Continue reading
Hellbender
Sounds like a rock group, but hellbenders are mute, cryptic, and uglier than any band! I imagine some American pioneer naming them after turning over a rock in a mountain stream and recoiling in horror at the sight of something … Continue reading
Posted in Animalia, Nature
Tagged blastema, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, Elk River, Greenbrier River, Hellbender, regenerative medicine, salamander
1 Comment
Autumn Leaves have Fallen
I remember leaves falling precipitously in Quebec during September when the sugar maples create a blazing mosaic of gold and ruby on forest floors. But the first snow blots over the colors as it quietly descends layer on layer with … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, garden, Seasons in Virginia
Tagged fall leaves, leaf mold, Quebec, William Blake
2 Comments
Look like a Wild Turkey
I want to look like a turkey. Don’t misread me. I want to look like one, not look like a turkey. The eyesight of wild turkeys is superior to every other inhabitant of eastern forests with the exception of raptors … Continue reading
Posted in Animalia, Environment, Nature
Tagged artists and painters, Boy Scouts, cross eyes, First Avenue, Look Wide, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, naturalist, optical brighteners, Rembrandt, strabismus, Wild turkey
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Lady Marion Fraser
A light went out in Scotland on Christmas Day. Marion Fraser passed away. In a cynical age we have low expectations of “virtue” in our public figures whose ranks often seem unattainable except to those with the privileges that come … Continue reading
Roger musing about Peace with Nature 