About

The thoughts and images posted here derive from my experiences over many years as a biologist, teacher and gardener. Some adventures concern studies on the natural history and hibernation of ladybugs. Other episodes are prompted and shaped by

• observations made in our backyard and garden near Caldwell, Idaho,
• my work as a teacher and care partner to a person with aphasia, and
• an experiential learning project set in the Idaho backcountry in winter.

My style of presentation blends several media –photographs, data, and essay-style writing– to provide insight into living organisms in a way that helps us understand ourselves. I also hope to convey the wonder and beauty of natural places and processes that a patient, inquisitive scientific approach to studying nature may reveal.

Blackman Peak July 4, 1999

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Addendum, winter 2023-4:

Many years have passed since AnOutdoorEducation was launched, and much has changed: COVID-19, moving from Idaho back to New England, and learning to play ukulele, for example. So I am adding new sections to this site that go well beyond the scope outlined in the original description above.

Meanwhile, I have also been posting videos and photos to Instagram. I have decided to link those here: https://www.instagram.com/uropha/ because both sites, my IG posts and AnOutdoorEducation, concern nature and music. I may try linking from IG back to AnOutdoorEducation. I know the link won’t be seamless, but I hope it won’t be too clunky.

My IG page was originally dedicated to “…all creatures being squeezed out”, an ominous thought though it may be. But that slogan has been replaced with simpler and more upbeat advice, “Be the person your dog thinks you are.”

But time marches on. Instagram has drifted away from its earlier format, and so has become less friendly to my purposes. For instance, editing an Instagram post is limited to adding links or editing text, but not the images or videos. Other shortcomings, plus commercialized junk in my IG “feed”, limit Instagram’s content to a wafer-thin veneer that vaporizes before the next viewing, if not before your very eyes.

So, as outlined above, my hope – my goal – is still to open a small portal to enrichment and appreciation of pleasant things in this world.