The latest issue of our quarterly member newsletter Connections is out. Highlights include:
- A collection of beloved places on our wildlife sanctuaries as described by our Sanctuary Directors.
- Carnivorous plants and how to spot them.
- A volunteer who reads a children’s book to an owl—and why she does so.
- Our calendar of seasonal outdoor phenomena.
…and much more. Members received a copy in their mailboxes, and you can read a PDF version online.
Reader Maury Eldridge was happy to see the photo of an ebony jewelwing damselfly on page 10, because it helped him identify a creature he’d seen on a walk, He sent us a photo of the insect and a poem that it inspired. We hope you’ll be similarly inspired by this issue of Connections.
Ebony Jewelwing © Maury Eldridge
Summer Grace
By Maury Eldridge
Honeysuckle on my tongue,
Beneath the pure sky
And building clouds of a summer afternoon,
Lilies open their saffron hearts
To a still green lake.
The birdsong, less fervent with their mating done,
Is ever so sweet.
Butterflies waver between nectars,
Mountain laurel blossoms beneath quiet pines,
A long walk
Puts any wakening gloom back to sleep,
And even in the shade, an ebony jewelwing
Emits a turquoise iridescence.
Hot sun and sixty-five years
Slow my stride.
Distant objects never quite come
Fully into focus, but just possibly
I see even more
In my gratitude simply
To be here.
