Ferns have been around for 400 million years

 

Worth recalling Kant as The Philosopher of the Enlightenment. If he had a militaristic subtitle it might have been Dare to Think. In his essay on The Enlightenment he used the phrase Dare to Know. He thought in terms of thinking for oneself as an expression of an individual's maturity. 

Impenetrable Nature of Kant's Critiques

 

He was four inches shorter than Napoleon. His Categorical Imperative was an expensive way of saying Instinct. Polite to think of it as a conclusion arrived at through reason. A curve toward Justice. More like, once Justice is defined instead of dreamed of, it's revealed as lot of hard work and a long way from instinctive, but whether it's a curve or a straight line, the idea that it might be natural instead of struggle cheers a mind up.

A Death in Spring

 

The Vulture survived. The Water Lilies are well up. I have heard the Green Frogs. There's a Washington Hawthorn that grants shade and prickles to the old hot tub. She could have lived 700 years, but she didn't survive the winter. She was planted in hope for future happy Mays and winter berries for Finches. A brave Lady, she was home to many a Chickadee and even a Gnatcatcher or two. She had twenty years before a pox and a hard freeze became too much.

Nesting in the Ornamentals redux

An error. It wasn't a Carolina Wren, it was a Chipping Sparrow. The female of a Chipping Sparrow pair builds nests. The Male assists with advice and the odd opinion.