I was a highly impressed freshman meteorology student when I first met the dean of Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Charles Hosler. He regaled us with stories from when he was a professor of meteorology in the 1950s and 60s, conducting then-cutting-edge experiments in weather modification. He confessed that if it rained after an experiment, it was tremendously difficult to tell if was due to the experiment, or it would have rained anyway! So the experiments were abandoned, but not before he had aroused fierce opposition from local farmers who attributed everything they didn’t like about the weather to him and Penn State—even accusing the university of flying a black airplane at night to seed the clouds when no one would notice. Once he was even shot at.
Dean Hosler, as I knew him, died last November at the age of 99. Today, I attended the Celebration of Charles Hosler’s Penn State Life and Legacy on campus, in the building that used to house the weather tower on the eighth floor when I was a student (and which is connected to what is now named the Hosler Building).
In the college’s announcement of his passing, it noted that “Hosler was one of the early titans of weather forecasting. He created one of the first television weather shows when he started broadcasting weather forecasts from Penn State in 1957, with a goal of providing more accurate weather forecasts for Pennsylvanians.”
Dr. Hosler received many awards for his research and administrative excellence over his long career. After serving 20 years as dean of the Earth and Mineral Sciences College, he became Penn State’s senior vice president for research and the dean of the Graduate School, and acting executive vice president and provost before retiring in 1992. I was glad to have been inspired by his example and earn my degree under his leadership in the atmospheric sciences.
Last year, I participated in a provoking thought exercise with my counterparts from other states. We attempted to develop an alternate term for “recreation and parks.”
Schuylkill River Trail. credit: Visit Philadelphia
Because recreation and parks means something different to practically every person, and carries unwanted baggage of being regarded as trivial, even laughable, and less worthy than more “important” things, we wanted to explore what single term could encompass all its comprehensive benefits.
Eleanor Warmack, CEO of the Florida Recreation and Park Association, declares, “If our industry was a corporation, we would have rebranded ourselves 20 times by now. This profession has evolved—we cannot keep using terminology from 100 years ago to limit what the public thinks of our value, nor to allow our profession to be defined by three words.”
In the book The Blue Zones of Happiness, author Dan Buettner cites research from 141 countries to distill what contributes most to life satisfaction all over the world, and offers practical lessons to making happiness a personal lifestyle.
It’s fairly easy to be happy in any particular moment, of course. The challenge is to sustain an ongoing pursuit of what he calls the three P’s—purpose, pleasure, and pride—the universal keys to life fulfillment, regardless of culture or personality. And while personal discipline can go only so far, Buettner advocates “for strategies that make changes to our surroundings…that constantly nudge us into doing the right things so we don’t have to remember them on our own.”
Our governments, communities, and workplaces; our social networks, homes, and finances; and even our inner lives can be “happier by design,” he asserts. Each of his designing blueprints for happiness enumerates specific action steps for advancing our personal and collective purpose, pleasure, and pride.
In the book’s foreword, Ed Diener summarizes, “We now know that happiness is an essential part of functioning well, and that it gives a boost in well-being not only to individuals, but also to those around them, their communities, and their societies. Rather than being a luxury to be pursued only after we take care of the more important things in life, happiness is beneficial to everything else we desire: It aids our health and helps us live longer; it aids our social functioning and makes us better citizens; it helps us perform better at work; and it builds up our resilience, which enables us to bounce back after setbacks or when bad events occur in our lives. The happier we are, the better we are for our friends and family, our workplaces, our communities, and our society as a whole.”
Doesn’t this passage sound like what we strive for in providing recreation and park services?
Now back to the rebranding term for recreation and parks.
Our creative thought exercise was tough. We identified what we wanted the new phrase to embody. We noted that some park and recreation agencies are transitioning to alternate terms, like the Community Enrichment Department in St. Petersburg, Florida. We tried out new phrases. We even enlisted ChatGPT to invent a new word, which came up with such disastrous results as “recrarks,” “culturisure,” “leisureplex,” and “communivital.” Our discussion was quite stimulating, but so far, we’ve failed to invent anything that conveys so much so concisely.
But—doesn’t the above description of happiness come so very close? There might be a case for it. After all, its pursuit is singled out as an important tenet in one of our nation’s founding documents. And as everyone knows, it’s one of the inalienable rights of “We the People!”
What do you think? All comments and suggestions are welcome!
the history, lore, and how-to behind this sweet treat
If you’re a fan of maple syrup, you’ll love my little book about the history, lore, and how-to behind this unique North American treat. Learn the Natives’ stories, the methods of the colonists, and the modern innovations that make syruping a $1.4 billion global industry.
But if you’d like to try a little do-it-yourself sugaring in your backyard, this is also the source to help identify your maples, properly tap them, and boil off the sap to make your own home-grown sweetness. Recipes included!
And even if not, you’ll still want to get out and enjoy a maple festival near you, conducted by your friendly neighborhood naturalist.
Storey Publishing outdid itself in the highly attractive design of this perennial favorite, and I remain grateful to their fantastic editorial and production staff!
I recently discovered this twig-themed décor in a local furniture store—and was instantly transported back to Miss Bitz’s second grade classroom, where I sat in the very back of the right-most row of desks.
Our arithmetic workbook was chock-full of drawn bundles of 10 sticks and loose sticks. Everywhere you looked: bundles of 10 sticks! I realize now that it was an attempt to help me visualize the concept of tens and ones in addition. Two bundles of 10 sticks plus 3 individual sticks = a total of 23 sticks. But it sure confused me! Why are we looking at sticks? (Just tell me what numbers you want added!) I did much better when a number line was introduced.
But two other memories of sticks also surfaced: the first from my dad, who told me that as a little kid, his grandfather asked him to pick up all the sticks in the yard with two or more ends. It didn’t take the little obedient lad long: “But Pappy!”
And, when our daughter appeared in a college play, we drove out to her campus to attend the production. But we didn’t have the cash to buy a pricey bouquet of fresh-cut flowers for the ingenue. We did, however, have an abundance of free-range sticks in the backyard—and the wherewithal to present her with a beautifully arranged bundle of crisply pruned maple and willow twigs.
But now! Such trendy bundles command a ridiculous sum for the fashion-conscious homeowner! And I still can’t understand that kind of cents!
Late winter is maple sugaring season—and time for a connective tale to the sugarbush, its wondrous resource, and its industry.
Last July I was privileged to gather with my professional counterparts from other states for a 3-day meeting in Burlington, VT on the beautiful shore of Lake Champlain. After our business, I realized we were about an hour’s drive north to the headquarters of Leader Evaporator, the world’s leading manufacturer of sap boilers, evaporators and other maple syrup equipment and supplies. So I just had to go!
When I introduced myself as the author of Maple Sugar, a book they stock and sell through their catalog, my wife Carol and I were given a personal, hour-long tour of the manufacturing and welding bays. Our guide Fred also walked us down the road to show us a separate building where they manufacture the plastic tubing from tiny pellets on very long machines, and coil them up in huge spools.
We crossed over the top finger of Lake Champlain near the Quebec border, and headed back south with the lake on both sides of Rt. 2 to Grand Isle, where we took the ferry across to Plattsburg, NY. We overnighted in Lake Placid, toured the 1980 Winter Olympics arena, ski jump, and other facilities.
We then swung by Cornell University’s Uihlein Forest Maple Research Center and sugar shack. It wasn’t open, but we took a short trail walk near dusk in the extremely quiet sugarbush, where miles of tubing connects some 7000 sugar maple trees to annually produce about 100,000 gallons of syrup.
One rainy day I glimpsed a rainbow in my rearview mirror. And while I don’t recommend taking your eyes off your destination for long, a quick review of where you’ve been in such circumstances can be an encouraging reminder of three fabulous truths.
A rainbow in your rearview means:
• the storm and its difficulties are behind you. You have survived it. Be grateful, and leave those troubles in the past.
• you are facing the sun and its clearing skies. You are entering a change in your state of affairs. Be grateful, and embrace the future.
• there are still beautiful wonders in this beleaguered, woeful world. Be grateful, and enjoy the present.
The most impactful book to me in 2023 was one I wrote with my wife Carol and our youngest son. Stepping Stones: our pathfinding adventures with Asperger’s is our growth journey from accepting “that’s just Philip,” to obtaining a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, to learning how to cope and still succeed. From the distinct advantage of countless wayfinding steps more than 20 years in the making, we offer pragmatic guidance, self-help encouragement, and real reason for hope to all parents and caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder. tinyurl.com/4c6bxw4s
I try to read widely, for both intellectual development and entertainment. Not all my choices pertain directly to my work, or even my personal interests. Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, recommended to me by my physicist son, wasn’t one I’d have chosen on my own, but it did augment what I learned from the Oppenheimer film this year. Even fiction, when it represents a divergent point of view, can add to my useful stores of knowledge. Ilana’s Love, a book by my friend (which, despite the inference from its title is not a romance novel—a genre I usually do ignore!), furnished a thought-provoking perspective on relationships.
I re-read all 4,100 pages of the 7-volume Harry Potter series, (the first published 26 years ago!) enjoying many details and nuances not found in the films. J.K. Rowling is a master of originality, dialog, character development, and plot complexities.
Is it just me, or are subtitles are getting longer all the time? But then there’s John Grisham, whose obviously successful title formula is: “The __.” Nonetheless, the subtitles do help me better remember the content afterward.
The complete list of those I’ve read last year follows, but here are my personal citations for those I’ve found most captivating, memorable, or practical in the following categories:
Work-related:Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need Biography:Leonardo da Vinci History: The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush Science:An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us Nonfiction: Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home Business:Ice Cream Social: The Struggle for the Soul of Ben & Jerry’s Spiritual:Experiencing God Day by Day Fiction: What Rose Forgot, and The Man Who Died Twice
Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News?, Philip Yancy
Storytizing: What’s Next After Advertising? Bob Pearson
The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush, Pierre Berton
The Freedom of Self-Forgiveness: The Path to True Christian Joy, Timothy Keller
A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks, Brad Edmundson
Black Ice, Brad Thor
The Case For Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection, Lee Strobel
The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Seeing Red, Sandra Brown
Jerks at Work: How to Deal with People Problems and Problem People, Ken Lloyd
Born a Yankee, Grace Carstens
Missing Witness, Gordon Campbell
Ilana’s Love, Laurel West
Relic, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, Piers Paul Read
Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, Nando Parrado with Vince Rause
The Book of Lies, Brad Meltzner
The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World, Ken Alder
Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel
Reliquary, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
What Rose Forgot, Nevada Barr
Ice Cream Social: The Struggle for the Soul of Ben & Jerry’s, Brad Edmundson
The Book of Fate, Brad Meltzner
Once Upon a Wardrobe, Patti Callahan
Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan
What’s Wrong With Me? A Journal of Emotional Healing in a Broken World, Royce Alan Alford
Leonardo da Vinci, Wallter Isaacson
Stepping Stones: Our pathfinding adventure with Asperger’s, Tim and Carol Herd with Philip Herd
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong
The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, Henry Beston
13½, Nevada Barr
Love Me, Garrison Keillor
Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, Alex Wellerstein
Address Unknown, Katherine Kressman Taylor
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer
The Judge’s List, John Grisham
The Troop, Nick Cutter
The Whistler, John Grisham
The Reckoning, John Grisham
What Was Rescued, Jane Bailey
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
Molly’s Pilgrim, Barba Cohen
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
The Bullet That Missed, Richard Osman
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
Getting Through the Tough Stuff: It’s Always Something, Charles Swindoll
Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need, Todd Henry
The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman
Experiencing God Day by Day, Henry Blackaby and Richard Blackaby
the far-reaching scope of his influence and leadership
I was very pleased to attend an informal gathering with a few former coworkers yesterday to honor our former boss Bob Shay, who was recently awarded a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education. What follows is an excerpt from my letter of support for his award nomination.
My fond and personal affiliation with Bob reaches back 44 years. Then-Senior Naturalist Bob was instrumental in hiring me as a very green (inexperienced!) environmental educator at the Somerset County Park Commission’s Environmental Education Center, and mentoring me in such a way that has deeply influenced the arc and success of my career ever since.
In 1986, Bob was promoted to Director of Natural Resources with the responsibility of coordinating activities of three Departments until 1995: Park Rangers, Horticulture, and Natural Environmental Sciences. He then headed Land Acquisition until his retirement in 1998. He’s authored three poetry books, and is working on a fourth, with many poems based on his observations and thoughts related to the natural world.
I started my career in environmental education without the traditional educational background. I believe Bob saw more potential in me than in my preparation, and chose to invest himself in my professional development. The foundation I built under Bob’s instruction and supervision not only skilled me in behavioral objectives, environmental education techniques, and the application of scientific principles; but also in such invaluable life skills as professional ethics, interpersonal communication, advocacy and public education, and organizational and community leadership.
The top tier of leadership in any profession is achieved when a leader develops other leaders, who in turn multiply the influence to an increasingly diverse audience. In our case: to nurture environmental awareness, grow understanding of the underlying issues, and raise motivation toward actions to solve the environmental and human problems facing our modern society. This very well describes Bob’s lifetime achievement. I submit myself as just one example of his professional reproduction.
From Bob’s competent mentoring, and his professional and personal friendship, his guidance set me on a career trajectory that extended the principles I learned and practiced under Bob to hundreds of thousands of people. I brought his knowledge to my later positions and in producing the master development plans for other environmental education centers.
I incorporated Bob’s environmental education principles when I founded The Roving Nature Center, America’s first fully mobile environmental education facility—bringing the resources, equipment and staff to any indoor or outdoor site throughout the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. Bob deserves derivative credit when The RNC was nationally recognized by the Take Pride in America Campaign for “commitment and exceptional contribution to the stewardship of America’s natural and cultural resources.”
And I do not exaggerate to affirm that Bob’s influence stuck with me even to my current statewide responsibilities as CEO of the principal professional member association for those who work in parks and recreation. I serve on a number of national-level Boards and committees, and even there, I carry forward the personal and professional skills I learned from Bob’s example.
I do not describe my accomplishments here to boast, (which were certainly achieved with the cooperative assistance of many other skillful, talented, and united colleagues), but to draw the detectable lines demonstrating the far-reaching and long-lasting scope of Bob Shay’s influence and leadership in the environmental education profession. And I know there are many others like me who have extended his impactful example far and wide.
I am a product of Bob’s professionalism and a proud conveyor of his legacy. I enthusiastically recommend his nomination for consideration for the Patricia Kane Lifetime Achievement Award.
I recently learned quite a bit about the self-taught polymath and world-renown genius Leonardo da Vinci, in an excellent biography by Walter Isaacson.
In it I discovered that Leonardo was the illegitimate firstborn son of Piero, in a long line of Florentine notaries. He lived with his birth mother and was apprenticed to the artist Verrocchio in Florence. He was a dandy dresser, favoring rose-colored robes. He was a disdaining contemporary of Michaelangelo (“He paints like a sculptor”), a friend of Nicolo Macchiavelli, and spent the better part of his life seeking patronage from provincial rulers to do the things he wanted to do. He earned a reputation for not finishing works, preferring instead to follow his interests, rather than his commissions.
As an artist, da Vinci is famous for his ability to convey lifelike motion with emotion in his subjects, and as the painter of The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa masterpieces. But his insatiable curiosity and keen observations led to many innovative concepts in art, entertainment, nature, science, geometry, architecture, urban design, engineering, hydraulics, and anatomy, to name just several.
How many other artists do you know who dissect cadavers to learn first-hand what muscles control movements in their subjects? He studied the actual mechanisms that transmit emotions into facial expressions. On one sheet of the ever-present notebooks he clipped to his robes is an anatomical sketch of a pair of lips that seem to suggest a just a hint of a mysterious smile, which resurfaced in his most famous portrait.
But what fascinates me about his anatomical studies is his intuitive leap to connect what he observed in natural stream flow with the internal biological workings of the human heart. Informed by his love of hydraulic engineering, fluid dynamics, and his fascination with swirls and eddies, he made a discovery about the aortic valve that was not fully appreciated for centuries. In 1510, he correctly concluded in that eddies in the blood in the widened section of the aorta were responsible for closing the valve it just passed through.
The common view, which was held by most heart specialists for another 450 years, was that the valve was pushed shut from above once enough blood had rushed into the aorta and began to back up. Most other valves work that way, closing when the flow begins to reverse. But in the 1960s, a team of medical researchers at Oxford used dyes and radiography methods to observe blood flows. The experiments showed that the valve required “a fluid dynamic control mechanism which positions the cusps away from the wall of the aorta, so the slightest reversed flow will close the valve.” That mechanism, they realized, was the vortex of swirling blood that Leonardo had discovered in the aorta root.
In 1991, the Carolina Heart Institute showed how closely the Oxford experiments resembled the ones Leonardo had described in his notebooks. And in 2014, another Oxford team was able to study blood flow in a living human, using magnetic resonance techniques, to prove conclusively that Leonardo was right.
Despite his ground-breaking discoveries and insightful futuristic fancies, Leonardo seemed motivated to accumulate knowledge for its own sake, rather than to be recognized as a scholar or to influence history. He largely left his trove of treatises unpublished. Over the years, and even centuries, his discoveries had to be rediscovered by others. Isaacson concludes, “The fact that he didn’t publish served to diminish his impact on the history of science. But it didn’t diminish his genius.”
I highly recommend the book: you’ll be amazed at the scope of da Vinci’s work, and perhaps, like me, inspired to be more curious and observant.
Under today’s blue and white sky, the ruby-throated hummingbirds have had a fierce and fearless time of feeding, flitting and fighting all day! They are so territorial that they body-slam each other in mid-air as they make good on their get-outta-town threats. Smaller and more slender than my thumb, and faster than my shutter finger, their distinctive hum in the air is produced by 53 wingbeats per second! I was glad to capture a just a few images from all the drama and spectacle!
