129 ~ An elder redux, and this vibrant time

In a recent post I wrote about a 101 year-old friend, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, who still lives at Taliesin. In a short video story just out from "Wisconsin Life", you can see and hear more about this wonderful soul, here.

            A few weeks ago I visited another remarkable elder, 92 year-old wildlife biologist George Schaller, generally considered the greatest wildlife biologist of the 20th Century (Schaller was the subject of Peter Mathiessen's iconic 1978 book The Snow Leopard). What a one-of-a-kind life this man has led...  If interested, I just shared some reflections on my visit and talk with him here (a Jane Goodall alert for fans of her):  Sitting Down with Serengeti George.  

            And now to the topic of new life. What a magical, explosive time of year late July is. My (and everyone’s) gardens abound with stretching-toward-the-sun food, especially given this summer's consistent alteration of rain and heat. And now at every turn there's something vibrantly alive: Fireflies, half-grown rabbits, fawns, wild turkey chicks, tadpoles, beautiful solitary wasps, wildflowers, weeds and more weeds!, swallows on the wing, and days marked by the food-begging calls of fledgling red-tailed hawks.

What a planet, and what a time of year. At this green and fecund moment in Wisconsin, we are in the midst of more living things than at any other time of the year here. Precious life surrounds us everywhere. Enjoy the show (despite the likewise abundance of another life form, mosquitoes).

            Also close at hand here are some of the most beautiful living things, such as brook trout (photo above). Last Sunday evening I ate very well, with fresh brook trout caught from a cold stream in the morning, accompanied by a salad of cucumbers, bell pepper, tomatoes and basil from the garden (tossed with my nephew's Italian olive oil), sweet corn courtesy of a roadside vendor, and new red potatoes dug just before dinner, tossed with garden chives and more of Keegan’s olive oil.

            The cook Thomas Kimball of "Milk Street Radio" has noted that the nutritional content of vegetables we eat (and probably also trout) is primarily determined not by the method of cooking (boiling, steaming, poaching, what have you), but by the amount of time that lapses between harvest and table. I feel confident this was a nutritionally dense meal. Welcome to mid-summer, no dreams required.

           Be well, and stay in wonder at summer’s joyful riot of life.

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