A few years ago, in September, my neighbor here in Maine looked out of her kitchen window and observed one of the feral cats that live in the woods here deposit something on her stairs. When she checked outside, she found a tiny kitten. It barely had its eyes open and looked like it might not live. They took it in, fed it by dipping a finger in milk and let the kitten lick it off.
Against all odds, the little one survived. They named him Moses. Moses always looks like the runt of the litter - he is so small even grown up. He is not feral anymore; he is a house cat, well loved.
The surprising thing was that the feral mother cat had brought her kitten to people, obviously well knowing that it would not survive fall and winter; it was born too late in the year. Feral cats avoid people like any other wildlife would do. We get a glimpse of them some nights in our headlights, but that is all.
As an aside: If mankind would die out and dogs and cats would be returned to the wild, experts think that cats would survive and thrive, and dogs would die out; dogs are too dependent on people.
Back to the mother cat: What is even more surprising: Months later, the neighbors found out that a second kitten had been left with people about a mile away as the crow flies. Obviously, the two were siblings: The sister has the same solid slate gray fur Moses has.
Now, here is a mother cat, with a brain of roughly 30 grams (less than two ounces) who can figure out what is best for her babies. She walked miles with her babies to bring them where they might be safest. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Summer Reading 2011
August 26, 2011
You are asking what I am reading this year in Maine.
As we are staying here much shorter than usual, I did not bring too many books. I wanted to read some French classics which mostly eluded me so far: Balzac and Flaubert.
But I had been "working" a German novel on and off for a year, in turn fascinated and repelled at the same time, and had difficulties making up my mind what to think about it. The novel wasn't translated into English until recently. Its English title is "Indian Summer", which is not totally getting the meaning of the German "Nachsommer", which means a summer after the summer. It was first published in 1857.
The author Adalbert Stifter hardly recommends himself - he slit his throat later, and seemed to have been a petty Austrian school superintendent, exactly the kind of guy young people would abhor, who thought that everything old is better than everything new, and that young people should learn from the older generation, without asking and without arguing - not exactly my ideal of education.
But then again, so much could be said for the fields he educates his young hero Heinrich in: gardening, rocks and minerals, art, music, sculpture and painting, and so on.
This is heavy fare, but worthwhile if you have time and want to think deeply about what matters. Friedrich Nietzsche counted it among the only four books he let stand of the nineteenth century.
I began reading "Cousin Bette" by Honoré de Balzac. For two nights it gave me nightmares - so I avoid now reading it at night. The people are so incredibly mean to each other! I haven't finished, and this is only a tiny puzzle piece of Balzac's huge oeuvre "Comédie Humaine" - I should defer judgement. But I was close to throwing it away. I expect books to show me the good in people, and like to think that the good will prevail in life - as idealistic that is. - Balzac and Flaubert are not called "realists" for no reason.
From that summer I was reading all Dickens, I still have left over "Hard Times". Not sure if I will not elope with Dickens soon ...
The two books by Gustave Flaubert I brought with me are "Madame Bovary" and "A Sentimental Education". - You will hear about them from me - probably later in the fall because there is no way that I finish reading them here.
And, I forgot: In the bathroom we always have lying open Henry David Thoreau's "The Maine Woods".
Tell me what you are reading! Read More
Water And Energy
July 5, 2011
Driving up to the cabin for the first time this year, in one of the Maine highway restrooms I encountered something new: plain cold water for washing my hands. Finally! I had always wondered why we waste so much hot water and energy for washing our hands. Of course, recently a study had come out that showed that hot water does not remove more bacteria than cold water – the whole effect depends on the detergent and the rubbing action plus the water flow.
So, somebody acted on this new insight. Just think if all the thousands of highway restrooms and all the restaurants would change to plain cold water! We would all be the better for it.
And since I am at it: If you are not elderly and not frail and not sick, please, shut off the air conditioner this year! The Japanese reactor accident has shown us that energy comes with a price – and I guess, not many of us would want to pay with our lives for limitless atomic energy.
When we moved into our house some long time ago, we found, it had a central air conditioner. We tried it one night – and couldn’t stand it.
In the worst of hot, hot summer nights we have a simple fan running in the bedroom. Otherwise: Summer is upon us, and we savor every minute of it by slowing down, relaxing, playing it easy. And sweating. Sweating is the natural, seasonal way to detoxify. I am no fanatic, so I think air conditioners at the workplace are fine. Not that I like them – but they help to concentrate on the work instead of idly looking out of the window. And we are not discussing here possible health disadvantages of air conditioners – I want you to give REDUCING a chance before we are talking COLD TURKEY NONE.
These are the two thoughts for today:
1. Wash you hands with cold water.
2. Do you really need the air conditioner?
And a last thought:
Drink enough water during the heat! Read More
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