Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

Beautiful all times of year, but especially in spring, with the flowers blooming and the oaks leafing out. Photos in order: the elegant Pacific trillium (T. ovatum); the very spiny fuchsiaflower gooseberry (Ribes speciosum); the fetching red vetchling (Lathyrus cicera). And lastly, dog-vomit slime mold (Fuligo septica): Visually speaking it is aptly named, but olfactorily speaking it is actually neutral to pleasant in odor; it is known as caca de luna (moon poop!) in parts of Mexico, where some folks eat it. I have not tried it... yet...

William E. Connolly, RIP

Bill Connolly's political theory course at UMass was my very favorite class of all time. I was reminded of him with the recent news of Jürgen Habermas's death, and was saddened to learn of Connolly's own passing less than a month ago. Connolly was deeply influenced by Habermas, but he was his own thinker. Over the years my own intellectual trajectory moved away from abstract political philosophy into empirical economics, with all its reductionism and reification. Connolly would not have approved, but I am certain he left a mark on my politics and thought. 

He was an old-school professor, ad-lib lecturing with his take on the intricate arguments of Rousseau, Hegel, Althusser. Perhaps I was actually as lost as many of my fellow students said they were, but it felt like I was being let in on something profound, that ideas matter, and that with enough attention and concentration, I could participate in the discourse. Connolly lived long enough to witness the triumph of cruelty, selfishness, and irrationality over the pluralism and humanism that defined his worldview. If we overcome those trends, it is sad to think that he will not be here to witness. 

Another short appreciation can be found here.

The world's deadliest animals, part 2

Well, deadly if you are a checkerspot butterfly, anyway. There are birds and various other critters that will be eager to gobble you up, including crab spiders. Something about this webby dried up weed must have attracted the attention of the checkerspot... its last mistake, alas.

The world's deadliest animals...

... according to Our World in Data. Mosquitoes come in first, and humans second. Snakes are a distant third, followed by dogs. All of that is plausible to me. These guys do good work, and I trust their research, but I was surprised that neither fleas nor the rodents that carry them made the list. Surely the plague, tamed though it may be, still carries off more humans than the sharks that account for only six fatalities per year. And ticks? Nada? 

(Image: Wikipedia)

Willie Colón, RIP

Siembra may be my favorite album, period. ¡El Mejor!

Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve

Today I walked the longer loop around the preserve on the Dusky-Footed Woodrat Trail; with a moderate drizzle coming down I had this splendid park almost entirely to myself. In the plant department, it is overshadowed by its neighbor immediately to the south, Edgewood County Park, which is renowned for its springtime wildflower display and unusual native species, thanks to its serpentine soils. But Pulgas is not without its attractions, including some beautiful chaparral, populated with ceanothus and manzanitas, and classic oak woodlands. In one gully shaded by live oaks and buckeyes you will find the uncommon and attractive fetid adder's tongue, or slinkpod (Scoliopus bigelovii). I have never found it particularly fetid, myself, even when I bend down and stick my nose into that striking little flower. This time of year one is also rewarded by the glowing emerald green of our native meadow rue.

Reading shorts

Pnin
Vladimir Nabokov

On one level, this is an academic satire, and a very good one indeed. Pnin, a rather ridiculous absent-minded professor, comes in for mostly gentle mocking. The set pieces and depictions of academia are at times laugh-out-loud funny. But soon enough we discern an undercurrent of deep melancholy and even tragedy, and various indications that the omniscient narrator may not be completely reliable. Who is this narrator? And who is this Pnin? Fool, or modest hero? And the prose: Many sentences and passages will make you catch your breath. As close to perfect as a little novel can be.

The Surgeon's Mate
Patrick O'Brian

This one finds intrepid Aubrey and Maturin on a clever and successful mission in the Baltic Sea, later shipwrecked in Brittany and imprisoned in Paris, with an escape and wedding to close out the yarn. Maybe too much plot?... but never too much Aubrey, Maturin, or seafaring adventure.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 109

We were listening to this one in the Subaru this weekend, on a CD (!) of Joni M's favorite tunes. Of course she has great taste. It's possible that I have listened to this recording of this song more times than any other. My mind anticipates every note, but my heart feels a little thrill every time. Rodgers's tune is undeniably great, and Hart's so-sad poetry is lurking, even in the absence of a singer. Miles's extreme blue notes – including the closing note on the what is it... quarter-tone sharp dominant? – are the "hook" here, but Red Garland's piano solo is the core of this masterpiece, meandering in melancholy before taking a wistful stroll through an English country garden, only to return to the somber close. Play it again!