January 6, 2023

Happy New Year Flockers. We're at the dawn of a new year of life and learning. I'm excited about moving into our second year of sharing. But first we're taking the opportunity to have our own mental cleanse and do some tweaking to The Flock. Our first resolution is to loosen up our schedule a bit and start publishing The Flock on a biweekly basis. As I try to fill in the spaces, I'd like to spend more conscious time with the content. I would also like to encourage you, our readers, to share your own ideas: experiences, pictures, places, stories, recipes, or suggestions that you would like me to cover.

So many flockers have asked me if its ok to share this newsletter with a friend and of course it is. All you need is an email address to join the Flock! Rest assured that we never share our mailing list with any outside group.

Birds flock together, they fly together, and they communicate with each other in a variety of ways. They don't speak the same language as us, but they still share and transmit information to each other through sound and visual cues. We want you to feel this is a space where you can share and communicate too.

From: PetKeen, By: Oliver Jones, July 27, 2022

Birds are some of the most exciting animals on the planet. They have quirky chants and behaviors, which they learn from their parents. To communicate, birds may use sound, visual cues, or a combination of the two to communicate how they feel on any given day.

These behaviors are often specific to species and help them survive in different habitats all over the world. They have a complex language that humans do not understand easily, but we can get a good idea of what they’re trying to say.

photo: Erik Karits on Unsplash

I love stories, storytelling, and sharing with others here. When I was in New York, I used to listen to a radio program called The Moth Presents. The stories were true and told by people who had had experienced them. The stories could be anything from wonderful experiences to unimaginable circumstances that were both beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful. I hope the Flock Newsletter is doing some of that. I want to again encourage you to share your stories here and let's see what happens.

From: The Moth

Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of stories told live and without notes. Moth shows are renowned for the great range of human experience they showcase. Each show starts with a theme, and the storytellers explore it, often in unexpected ways. Since each story is true and every voice authentic, the shows dance between documentary and theater, creating a unique, intimate, and often enlightening experience for the audience.

On another note, there is another creature, an insect, that has captured my curiosity since I was a small child. I used to help tend beehives on my grandmother's family farm in New Hampshire. Grammy would tell me how the bees worked very hard and were industrious. The queen would send her workers out to collect pollen from plants. In a way bees living in the hive seemed like my pets. They didn't try to sting me; they just flew around. Grammy always said, "unless you try to hurt them, they will not hurt you." In my mind honeybees are one of the great communicators of all time. So, here's a book suggestion, Bees Make the Best Pets. If you’re interested, you can pick it up on Amazon.

Be ready to mark your calendars! So often these events catch me off guard, and when the Wolf Moon, the first full moon of 2023, tickler passed by my radar I thought to myself, what about the other celestial happenings this year? If you didn't get to the Flock soon enough, you'll still be able to enjoy a near full waning moon over the weekend.

From: Inverse, By: Doris Elin Urruitia, December 31, 2022

The Wolf Moon will dazzle the night sky just days after the start of the new year. But the first Full Moon of 2023 will appear smaller than usual. The glow of moonlight is a reflection of sunlight. When the far side of the Moon is lit up, its near side is all dark: that’s New Moon. But when it comes time in the month for the near side to get the star’s illumination, it’s quite a sight. The Full Moon is one of the most spectacular lunar phases, and in January, it will appear about a week into the new year.

photo: Usukhbayar Gankhuyag on Unsplash

I've always been intrigued by night sky: stars, planets, constellations, the Milky Way. I've wondered about what you see if you live to the north, south, east, or west, and see a different night sky. Ancient peoples new the sky more intimately than we do. They could tell what time of year it was, or where they were by looking up at the night sky.

From: The Sky

This astronomy calendar of celestial events contains dates for notable celestial events including moon phases, meteor showers, eclipses, oppositions, conjunctions, and other interesting events. Most of the astronomical events on this calendar can be seen with unaided eye, although some may require a good pair of binoculars for best viewing. Many of the events and dates that appear here were obtained from the U.S. Naval Observatory, The Old Farmer's Almanac., and the American Meteor Society.

The Whirlpool spiral galaxy (M51) collides with a smaller galaxy some 30 million light years away.

Don't miss this month's Tucson Lifestyle magazine. I was in the grocery and this Camera on the Cosmos issue caught my eye. There two article in particular that I want to share: Picturing The Heavens, previewed below, and one on Sandhill Cranes, which we'll bring up again in the future.

Life on Earth is filled with beautiful things. In Tucson, for example, we enjoy everything from resplendent hummingbirds to majestic mountains. Nature is much more accessible here compared to many places in the world. However, here is but the tiniest fraction of the Universe.

From: youaligned, By: Kaitlin Vogel, January 2021

A ritual is a ceremony that makes something (a holiday, an act, or a shared experience) sacred. A cleansing ritual comes in many forms, but all can be used as a way of resetting, letting go, and moving on. At the end of the year, it’s natural to self-reflect – we think about what we did well, what we didn’t, and how we can improve in the new year. Part of the process is letting go of what’s not working to create space for something better.

photo: Cita Scott, visit Cita's website

Enjoy the Journey.

Some of you have asked for more pictures from my collection. Earlier this week I was flying over home over the Rockies, and I took this picture of Cathedral Peak, a peak I have summited several times. Just last summer I walked on up through winds, rain, and hail. I stayed the course as the storm headed towards town and when I summited I was rewarded with beautiful views and sunshine. Wherever you are, we hope your enjoying your winter fun, whether it's surfing in the sun, snowboarding or skiing in the winter peaks of the rocky mountains.

As you know, last month we did a deep dive into Indian culture and many of the religions of India. We haven't tapped into Christianity and Islam in India yet. They represent a smaller percentage of the population than Hinduism, but a larger population than Buddhism, Jainism, or Sikhism and we do not want to leave them out. We plan to revisit them in the new year and also plan to revisit Indian fashion as well with our dear friends Dr. Gulshan and Neelam Sethi. She's promised to let us take a deep dive into her treasure chest of vintage saris and as for Gulshan, I'm not sure if his neru jackets are vintage, but he looks awfully good in them and hopefully he'll sport a few and we'll get to show you them in a mid-January issue of the Flock.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

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