Thursday, November 16, 2006

A Dark Autumn Evening

Tonight is a dark night at 301 Girard. Combined with some bad news on Megan's side of the family, things just seem to be darker than usual. It was raining when I took Megan to school this morning, and it was raining when i arrived home after work. A few new things today. I noticed some sparrows foraging for seed in the road. The guys I saw today seemed different from the white throated sparrows I posted photos of earlier. I should bring my Sibley guide home from work so I could identify them. Overall, it just hasn't been as "birdy" around our house. But I haven't been looking as much either. Next topic: Nuts. My mom gave Megan and I a large, unopened can of Planters mixed nuts that went uneaten during our last reception. I am partial to Brazil nuts, and I've exhausted most of them from the can. I'm also a huge fan of Wikipedia, so I went there to research what I was eating. Brazil nuts come from a large rainforest tree that is not cultivated. Isn't that interesting? I'm eating a product that someone has gathered from the rainforest in Brazil or Bolivia, loaded up in a truck, and somehow transported to the Planters factory where they mix them with gads of peanuts, and dump them in a big old can. Also in the can: Peanuts. The peanut is a short lived plant, and the flowers, once fertilized, are pushed down into the earth where the peanut enveloping pod forms. Pretty cool, I thought to myself. A plant that actually sows its own seeds. Macadamia nuts are also in this can. They are grown in groves in Australia. Pecans: come from a type of hickory tree native to North America. Just really cool neat facts I thought. Most people don't realize that in one can of nuts there are so many stories, and that those nuts have been assembled from around the world!

I can't believe that it is almost 9:00 p.m. Where has the day gone?

Tom

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