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Nature's Year: The seasons of Cape Cod
From Amazon.com: Illustrated with marvelous woodcuts, the author writes with a sense of wonder and a reverence for nature. Set among the dunes, marshes, and low lands of Cape Cod this book unfolds the beauty of the changing seasons. A first rate nature book.
- GenresNature
199 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1961
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About the author
John Hay
15 books4 followersJohn Hay (August 31, 1915, Ipswich, Massachusetts – February 26, 2011, Bremen, Maine was an American author, naturalist, and conservation activist. Hay co-founded the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, Massachusetts and served as its president from 1955 to 1980. He composed 18 books from his "writing shack" on Dry Hill at his home in Brewster, Massachusetts, including two autobiographies, A beginner's faith in things unseen (1995) and Mind the Gap: The Education of a Nature Writer. (2004).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ha...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ha...
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September 25, 2024
Hays begins this book in July by describing a horrific accident he witnessed on his drive. Thus Hays has set the pessimistic tone for much of this book.
One of the more interesting chapters is called “colors of the season” in October. Hay describes the many varieties of colorful mushrooms that appear. “Some of the reddest mushrooms, in point of fact, are the best to eat. But the deadly Amanita is almost tempting in appearance. It is white and succulent-looking, and to eat it enough of it means death.”
Of November he says, “ We are now in a genuine country state of which the urban power talks with both scorn and ignorant nostalgia….To a city lover, it is silent and deadly dull.”
He talks about the birds in the winter and their struggle to survive. “ I think of the hundreds of water birds that I have seen this winter dying, starving, poisoned, or freezing to death as a result of having their plumage soaked by waste oil from ships…Almost any day that I visit the shore I find a victim.”
The spring brings some reprieve with the resurgence of nature but alas there is a shipwreck. “ I read in the papers that spring is beginning to show its vast capacity in the nation behind us, with tornadoes in the west and floods to the south. The way is being cleared with a violence.“
Unlike Henry Beston and Wyman Richardson who find delight in every aspect of the Cape, Hay is too much of a Debbie Downer. I will read The Great Beach at some point but do not have high hopes for it.
One of the more interesting chapters is called “colors of the season” in October. Hay describes the many varieties of colorful mushrooms that appear. “Some of the reddest mushrooms, in point of fact, are the best to eat. But the deadly Amanita is almost tempting in appearance. It is white and succulent-looking, and to eat it enough of it means death.”
Of November he says, “ We are now in a genuine country state of which the urban power talks with both scorn and ignorant nostalgia….To a city lover, it is silent and deadly dull.”
He talks about the birds in the winter and their struggle to survive. “ I think of the hundreds of water birds that I have seen this winter dying, starving, poisoned, or freezing to death as a result of having their plumage soaked by waste oil from ships…Almost any day that I visit the shore I find a victim.”
The spring brings some reprieve with the resurgence of nature but alas there is a shipwreck. “ I read in the papers that spring is beginning to show its vast capacity in the nation behind us, with tornadoes in the west and floods to the south. The way is being cleared with a violence.“
Unlike Henry Beston and Wyman Richardson who find delight in every aspect of the Cape, Hay is too much of a Debbie Downer. I will read The Great Beach at some point but do not have high hopes for it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review