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My kids say I'm a living example of a "Renaissance woman" -- a term that I've come to suspect is a polite way of saying "know-it-all". From 7:30 am to 4:30 pm I crouch behind a computer, answering phone support questions on Windows 95 software, creating web pages for my employer, and doing the occasional bit of computer hardware diagnositcs. In the evenings, I write (poetry, fiction, and nonfiction) and draw (illustration, cartoons, and the occasional comic book piece) if I'm not doing something else -- such as working on wildscaping my yard or recording and identifying the plants in my city's parks. I'm also a "defrocked Biologist". Over a quarter century ago, when I got my Bachelors' in Biology, I could think of nothing finer than to work in plant research. To my dismay, the field offices that wanted me wanted me only for my typing skills. Typing (in those days) was for girls. Research was for men. So I caved in to econcomic necessity and forgot about being a biologist. I married, raised kids, became an expert in personal computers, and began drawing and writing. And then, one magical day, a news report on CNN announced the results of the "Christmas Bird Count" and I trotted over to see what endangered species there were in my area -- and if there was anything I could plant or put out in a feeder that might help them as they flew through. The things that I found on that site led me into wildscaping -- and I was hooked! Wildscaping's given me back the magic of seeing the world through a biologist's eyes --a view where a patch of clover or a new butterfly or a change in how many robins and how many mockingbirds are in the area are meaningful things. It's enchanting to play an active part in the dance of life within your area, and to see how much you can benefit it even by a fairly modest wildscaping effort. |
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