About the Ghost Turtles
150 years after Robert Duncanson painted this luminist scene on the Little Miami River, I stood in the same spot and saw a soft-shelled turtle sunning on a snag. It slipped silently into the water when it heard me. That’s when I knew past is present and destiny, too. That’s when my vision of the Ghost Turtles began. Read more
Ecology of the Senses
Returning to Lake Superior year after year like a migrating loon, I’ve learned the other side of a slow, uncertain process that could be called “going blind.” With the lake as my teacher, I know what lies on the other side. I call it letting go of sight. Read more.Prayer at Big Creek
![Sandhill cranes land on Platte River sandbar roosts west of Rowe Sanctuary’s Iain Nicolson Audubon Center southwest of Gibbon, Nebraska. [Photo by Lori Porter| Kearney Hub]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/sandhill_cranes_kearneyhub_032015-300x225.jpg)
At the threshold of consciousness, as I slipped back and forth between two worlds, I put my mind in the best place I could imagine, a marsh on Lake Erie called Big Creek. I knew I’d find cranes waiting for me. I cannot say whether I prayed for them, or to them, or with them. The cant of words doesn’t matter. I believe in the still, small voice. I believe what the poet Yehuda Amichai said. Gods come and go. Prayer is eternal. Read moreFreedom to Read
![An endangered Whooping crane takes flight. Yhe large bird has a 7-foot wingspan. It is all white except for black wing tips and face markings. In this photo its long neck stretches forward; its wings sweep upward; and its black legs trail straight behind it. [Source: International Crane Foundation]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Whooping-crane-eastern-ICF-080622-300x157.jpg)
Whenever I hear sanctimonious pronouncements about woke, parental rights, and banning books, I think of Whooping cranes. In my family, the gawky, audacious, elusive and endangered birds are synonymous with our values about the First Amendment and the freedom to read. Read more.Sister, Teacher, Pathfinder
A guidance counselor in high school told my sister Diana, “With your eye problems you will never make it in college. Just forget about it. Get married. Raise a family.” That advice only deepened her determination. She did it all in due time, in her own way –college, marriage, family. She became a guidance counselor herself. She certainly was the most important guide and pathfinder in my life. Read more.Flaneur & Bouquiniste
![Mark Willis peruses a 1745 volume by Voltaire at a bouquiniste book stall on the banks of the Seine in Paris. He wears a brown leather jacket and checkered flat cap. He holds the open book in his hands. Rows of old books are seen on shelves behind him. [2005 photo by Ms. Modigliani]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mw_bouquiniste_05-300x225.jpg)
I remember the book I held in my hands that day. I remember the feel of its time-warped, water-stained pages. I remember its murky, moldy river smell, call it the book’s bouquet, suggesting years of storage on the banks of the Seine. Had I bought it then, I could feel and smell it now and know it from a hundred other books in my library. Read more.R & K: A Rant
Marjorie Taylor Green auditioned for R&K’s Authoritarian It Girl at the 2023 State of the Union address. She and her Republican colleagues yelled like Tarzan swinging through the trees as they jeered and booed the President’s speech. Read Rants & Kisses.R & K: A Kiss
Songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Singers like Dione Warwick and Dusty Springfield. What Do You Get When You Fall in Love? The Look of Love. I Say a Little Prayer. I sit in the car’s back seat and listen. I’m glad it’s dark. I’d be embarrassed if anyone could see the dreamy look on my face. Read Rants & Kisses.
Author Archives: Mark Willis
Internet Naturalist – September 7, 2014
Jaegers | Whitefish Point Bird Observatory 090614 The last couple days have had a number of interesting birds. Even though Adam Byrne has been counting the last couple days, I’ve spent a good amount of time out there (and much … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – September 1, 2014
Internet Archive Search: mediatype:(texts) -contributor:gutenberg AND (subject:"Reid, Mayne, 1818-1883" OR creator:"Reid, Mayne, 1818-1883" OR creator:"Mayne Reid" OR title:"Mayne Reid" OR description:"Mayne Reid") Thomas Mayne Reid – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thomas Mayne Reid (April 4, 1818 – October 22, 1883), … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – August 17, 2014
Mushroom Compost Mushroom compost (also referred to as “spent mushroom substrate” or “mushroom soil”) has become a popular organic soil amendment for the establishment and maintenance of lawns and sports fields, gardens, agricultural and horticultural crops and with land reclamation … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – August 4, 2014
"pays" (French): The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography – Graham Robb – Google Books "pays" (French): “At certain times of day, even if the boundaries are invisible, the approximate limits of a pays can be detected by a walker … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – July 27, 2014
Thousands Of Migrating Birds Take Their Layover In A Texas Parking Lot : NPR 072214 For one month every summer, hundreds of thousands of purple martins stop by an abandoned shopping mall parking lot in Austin, Texas, on their way … Continue reading
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Internet Naturalist – July 7, 2014
TOWARF Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Unit Town of Oakville Water Air Rescue Force
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Internet Naturalist – June 9, 2014
Fall of the wild: The trapped wolves of Isle Royale | Al Jazeera America 060414 Mary Catherine O’Connor : “Isle Royale’s once-robust wolf pack appears to be trotting toward extinction. From 2011 through 2012, the island’s wolf population declined 56 … Continue reading
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