The Earthly Book of Hours

Week 37: Northern Red Oak (Susan Fenimore Cooper, George Francis Heath, James George Frazer)

Fig. 1. Piet Mondrian. Field with Oak Trees at Dusk (1907-1908). “Owned” by some rich person. Waxing Gibbous Moon - 6 Days to Full; 2 Days to Fall Equinox Headnote Welcome to the woodlands. There is,...

Week 36: Watermelon, Sylvia Plath, Pliny the Elder

Fig. 1. “[Man Cutting Watermelon]” (c. 1898-1903). Johnson Photography Studio. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New Moon; 12 Days to Fall Equinox This week's post is dedicated to my dad, who always...

Sharing My Archive

Cover Image. From Francis Macbride. Autumn Flowers and Fruits (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1924). 103. A Look Back I hate to miss a beat in the weekly species studies, but sometimes...

Week 35: Cucumis, Robert Hass, Marcus Aurelius (and William Cowper, too)

Fig. 1. Fede Galizia. Still Life with Apples, Pears, Cucumbers, Figs, Plums, and a Melon (c. 1625-1630). Waning Gibbous Moon — 11 Days to New; 23 Days to Fall Equinox Headnote Which is messier, the...

Week 34: Cucurbits, Marge Piercy, Padgraig Regan

Fig. 1. “Courd, Courge, Der Kürbiss.” Eugène Grasset and M. P. Verneuil. La plante et ses applications ornementales. Paris, France: Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, 1896. Plate 14. Waxing Gibbous...

Week 33: Perseids Meteor Shower, Han Dynasty Scribes, Henry David Thoreau

Fig. 1. W.F. Denning. “Positions of the Perseid Radiant Point, July 15, to August 20.” From “The Observed Motion and Duration of the Radiant Point of the Perseids.” Monthly Notices of the Royal...

Week 32: Dog Days, Horace, Heraclitus

Cover Image. Illustration of the Constellation Sirius, with text. From The Harley Aratus (c. 820-840). Rheims, France. From the British Library, Harley Collection. Waning Crescent Moon; 46 Days to...

Week 31: Butterfly Weed, Paul Muldoon, Nathaniel Lord Britton

Cover Image. William Clark, “Asclepias tuberosa. Tuberous Swallow-wort.” From Richard Morris, Flora Conspicua: A Selection of the Most Ornamental Flowering, Hardy, Exotic and Indigenous Trees,...

Week 30: Blueberries, Joseph J. White, Inc., Alix Beeston on Ellena Savage

Cover Image. “Vaccinium corymbosum: Stanley.” J. Marion Shull, USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection. Waxing Gibbous Moon; 6 Days to August Cross-Quarter Day. Headnote Rounding out my quartet of...

Week 29: Corn, Haudenosaunee Storytellers, Emily Pauline Johnson

Cover Figure. Nasca artist(s), Corn Stalk-Shaped Vessel (c. 1-600 CE). Waxing Crescent Moon; 13 Days to August Cross-Quarter Headnote In my personal opinion, much resisted by the chatbots I...