“I stepped into the field, and they all halted. They stopped short, drew up, and looked at me, every one. I stopped too, suddenly as self-conscious as if I were before a firing squad. What are you going to do? I looked over the field, at all those cocked heads and black eyes. I’m staying here. You all go on. I’m staying here” (Dillard, 255).

This passage seems relevant to a commonly discussed theme of how man intrudes in nature. In this scene, the narrator asserts dominance and claims this place, much like how man has entered natural areas and overtaken them for the best interest of mankind.

“They [monarchs] fly over Lake Superior without resting; in fact, observers there have discovered a curious thing. Instead of flying directly south, the monarchs crossing high over the water take an inexplicable turn toward the east. Then when they reach an invisible point, they all veer south again. Each successive swarm repeats this mysterious dogleg movement, year after year. Entomologists actually think that the butterflies might be ‘remembering’ the position of a long-gone, looming glacier” (Dillard, 258).

This passage about monarch strength and movement was especially captivating. These little creatures are so powerful and mighty as they fly through the skies and travel great distances as part of their necessary lifestyle. Their memory ability is also interesting in the idea that they might fly a certain path because of this ingrained notion that a glacier still blocks their path. Butterflies are simply fascinating little creatures.

“We saw the planet Venus bright as radium floating close to the shoulder of the new moon. We watched the stars, and meteor showers, and the snaky ripple of cloud-to-cloud lightning coursing across the sky at night” (Abbey, 51).

This passage shows how the narrator consciously looked beyond what was right in front of him, to the sky and the solar system. This acknowledges the metaphysics of the world and the natural wonders of the planet on such a grand scale. The narrator sees the world in its small place in the grander scheme of things, and how so many pieces interact in this great system.

The falcon hangs in space for second after second, motionless, as if suspended on a thread, its wings, body, and spirit in perfect equilibrium with the streaming torrents of the air. Give your heart to the hawks, urged Robinson Jeffers. Okay, I thought, I’ll do that. For this one splendid moment. Until the falcon sheers on the wind and vanishes in storm and light” (Abbey 54-55). 

I really enjoy the imagery of this scene as it relates to my own experiences with birds in nature. The calmness and simplicity of a darting bird across the landscape is something that I hope to see when I go out into nature. I do not believe I have ever seen a peregrine falcon, but I have had similar experiences with water birds like cranes and pelicans where they swoop down snatch their intended prey and fly off never to been seen again by my eyes.

“The birds were excited, stammering new songs all day long. Titmice, which had hidden in the leafy shade of mountains all summer, perched on the gutter; chickadees staged a conventicle in the locusts, and a sparrow, acting very strange, hovered like a hummingbird inches above a roadside goldenrod” (Dillard 247-248). 

This passage in particular makes me proud of myself in terms of labeling things in nature. Every bird and plant named in this, I would be able to identify and point out if need be. This wealth of labeling expertise also in terms of reading I thinks adds some depth and significance to the overall understanding of awe Dillard is trying to get across when bird watching.

“One attraction in coming to the woods to live was that I should have leisure and opportunity to see the Spring come in” (Thoreau 333).

I understand the feeling Thoreau is trying to get across when he says this, but I can not agree with him about the leisure standpoint. The changing from winter to spring to me is not leisure, it more closely related to restlessness and anticipation because you want it to come so badly.

Thus it seemed that this one hillside illustrated the principle of all the operations of Nature.The Maker of this earth but patented a leaf. What Champollion will decipher this hieroglyphic for us, that we may turn over a new leaf at last? This phenomenon is more exhilarating to me than the luxuriance and fertility of vineyards (Thoreau 336). 

I do not know what I really get out of this passage, yet the imagery and metaphor in it is something I can use to better understand my own feelings about the changing of seasons.

“Gathered on their favorite dead tree, heads nodding together, the vultures resembled from our vantage point a convocation of bald, politic funeral directors discussing business prospects always good. Dependable. (Abbey 52)”

Until this point Abbey had always portrayed the vultures as very elegant creatures. It is interesting that he still talks about them in an admiring way when discussing their searching for dead animals to eat, a topic that others may find unappealing and may not want to think about.

Tulips had cast their leaves on my path, flat and bright as doubloons. I passed under a sugar maple that stunned me by its elegant unself-consciousness: it was as if a man on fire were to continue calmly sipping tea. (Dillard 249). 

Dillard’s imagery here is capturing, I can imagine myself walking through the woods.

Columbus Day
by Jimmie Durham

In school I was taught the names
Columbus, Cortez, and Pizarro and
A dozen other filthy murderers.
A bloodline all the way to General Miles,
Daniel Boone and General Eisenhower.

No one mentioned the names
Of even a few of the victims.
But don’t you remember Chaske, whose spine
Was crushed so quickly by Mr. Pizarro’s boot?
What words did he cry into the dust?
What was the familiar name
Of that young girl who danced so gracefully
That everyone in the village sang with her–
Before Cortez’ sword hacked off her arms
As she protested the burning of her sweetheart?
That young man’s name was Many Deeds,
And he had been a leader of a band of fighters
Called the Redstick Hummingbirds, who slowed
The march of Cortez’ army with only a few
Spears and stones which now lay still
In the mountains and remember.
Greenrock Woman was the name
Of that old lady who walked right up
And spat in Columbus’ face. We
Must remember that, and remember
Laughing Otter the Taino who tried to stop
Columbus and was taken away as a slave.
We never saw him again.
In school I learned of heroic discoveries
Made by liars and crooks. The courage
Of millions of sweet and true people
Was not commemorated.
Let us then declare a holiday
For ourselves, and make a parade that begins
With Columbus’ victims and continues
Even to our grandchildren who will be named
In their honor.
Because isn’t it true that even the summer
Grass here in this land whispers those names,
And every creek has accepted the responsibility
Of singing those names? And nothing can stop
The wind from howling those names around
The corners of the school.
Why else would the birds sing
So much sweeter here than in other lands?
–Copyright 1993 by Jimmie Durham. Published in “Columbus Day,” West End Press, 1993. Used by permission. (West End Press, P.O. Box 27334, Albuquerque, NM 87125)

“A kind of northing is what I wish to accomplish, a single-minded trek towards that place where any shutter left open to the zenith at night will record the wheeling of the sky’s stars as a pattern of perfect, concentric circles. I seek a reduction, a shedding, a sloughing off” (Dillard 255).

I always thought Dillard was awesome and now an entire chapter based on a reference to surveying.

This passage sort of the reminded me back to “Living like Weasels” and Dillard urges the reader to simplify and live more deliberately. She remarks the difficulty in achieving this but encourages us to strive for it.

The passage uses this idea of the sky as a heaven and a place to look toward as we slough off.

“I don’t think names tell us much of character, essence, meaning. Einstein thought that the most mysterious aspect of the universe is what he called its “comprehensibility.” (50 Watching the Birds)

I like this quote because I have always wondered why we are forced to have to recognize different species, everyones name in a room. It also made me think about The Fantastic Mr. Fox where they are naming the different species in latin.

“The most mysterious thing about the universe is not its comprehensibility but the fact that it exists” (51 Watching the Birds)

I think this is an interesting analogy and it offers a different way to look at the world. It reminds us to think about the magic that is hidden in nature and simply why things happen the way they do”

“In the spring the wish to wander is partly composed of an unnamable irritation, born of long inactivity; in the fall the impulse is more pure, more inexplicable, and more urgent. I could use some danger, I suddenly thought, so I abruptly abandoned the creek to its banks and climbed the cliff. I wanted some height, and I wanted to see the woods” (249 Dillard)

I like the comparison of spring to fall because of the cyclical nature of the seasons. I also got this feeling about hiking in the fall. In the spring I feel like everyone is just going out after waking up after their long winters nap when they are hiking and exploring through the woods. In the fall you go exploring because it’s more of a fun thing to do and less of a necessary activity.

I have a little dinky tree that is growing in front of my off campus house. Some drunk hooligan decided to post a beer can on the stake that supports the tree. This made me think about our relationship with nature and alcohol.  When we were floating down the Delaware River we passed a bunch of men who were all on floats and drinking. Why do people feel the need to drink while interacting with nature?

“We watched the storms of late afternoon. Sun descending in a welter of brawling purple clouds. Spokes of the gold wheel across the sky, jags and jets of lightening flicker from cloud to cloud to earth. Mighty kettledrums thunder in the distance. My wind gauge reads thirty five knots. The trees sway, the wind booms through the forest” (Abbey, 54).

Abbey talks about the role of the watcher. The watcher’s job is to sit and watch nature around them in the context of the wind, fires, weather, birds etc. He talks about Einstein and how he saw the world as comprehensible and because you could understand it because it’s properties could be described in a formula. He also brings us Francis Bacon’s perspective, “knowledge is power.” I like this quote (the quote from page 54) because it represents one of the main points of the paper that you don’t always have to have a technical explanation for everything, or an equation to understand things, sometimes the simple things and enjoying them are just as powerful.

“I could go. I could simply angle off the path, take one step after another, and be on my way. I could walk to Point Borrow, Mount Mckinley, Hudson’s Bay. My summer jacket is put away; my winter jacket is warm” (Dillard, 252).

I like this quote because up until this point Dillard has emphasized the idea of migrating south. She has been talking about the birds, their restlessness and their excitement to migrate south, she has been depicting the weather getting cooler. This is a turning point, the point when she talks about the idea of grabbing her winter coat, setting off and going north.