Next Meeting's Highlights

Selections for our 2012-13 meetings:

October 2012: Roger Tory Peterson and Bill Thompson III, All Things Reconsidered (This is a collection of columns by Peterson published in Bird Watcher's Digest and selected by the publisher, Bill Thompson III.)
November 2012: Amy Minato, Siesta Lane
December 2012/January 2013: Henry Beston, Outermost House
February 2013: Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
March 2013: Gretel Erlich, The Solace of Open Spaces
April 2013: David Carroll, Swampwalker's Journal
May 2013: Tom Brown, Nature Observation and Tracking

We meet on January 27, 2013 to discuss The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod by Henry Beston.  Beston is one of the deities in the pantheon of classic nature writers. His chronicle of a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach was written in longhand on the kitchen table in a little room with windows overlooking the North Atlantic and the dunes. Capturing the vividness of each event as it is seen and felt, the author describes the wonder and mystery of nature--the migrations of shore and sea birds, the ceaseless rhythms of wind and sand and ocean, the pageant of stars in the changing seasons. Permeating these pages is his perception of the relation of man to the cosmic picture.  In a 1964 ceremony on the dunes, the house itself was officially proclaimed a National Literary Landmark.

Our Summer 2012 Read was John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra. Muir needs no introduction here. As famous as he is, and as pervasive as quotes from his writing are, many people have never read those writings. My First Summer in the Sierra is one of his best. The text is available online at the magnificent tribute site compiled by the Sierra Club, which also includes photos, illustrations by Muir, biography and other resources. (www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/) We will meet to discuss Muir and his summer journal on September 23 at a member's home.  For details and directions, email pvnaturewriters@gmail.com or visit their blog page.