Exploring Nature: Best Wishes for 2023

Graphic from Metro Creative

Oh my, this is a most happy time of the year. I hope today finds you full of good cheer and looking forward to a wonderful New Year.

I don’t usually make resolutions for what I hope to accomplish, but if I did, I think a couple of things would be on my list for 2023.

First, I’d like to visit Memphis, Tenn., and stay at the Peabody Hotel. I’m told every day at 11 in the morning, the elevator opens and five trained ducks file out in a line to the tune of “King Cotton March.” They waddle over to splash in the elaborate fountain that sits in the middle of the lobby.

That must be quite a show and I’d like to see it.

Secondly, I’d like to visit Papua New Guinea and see a male blue bird of paradise displaying to attract a mate. The magnificent plumage of this avian suitor is truly outstanding. He hangs upside down from a branch and his gauzy, sky-blue flank feathers spill out in a triangular fan.

These feathers quiver in time with a weird humming sound he makes to impress a nearby female. She usually inspects him and then often flies off to look for a better suitor. That’s life.

And speaking of life, it occurs to me that it will eventually end. Not to be morbid, but no one lives forever.

I am reminded of the noted author William Saroyan. His last words were: “Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what?”

Indeed, now what? I hope for you the future is bright and I hope you enjoy this blessed season and that 2023 is your best year ever.