For Love of Lakes by Darby Nelson - Sept. Book Club Online

[BarbStAubrey]

For Love of Lakes
Author ~ Darby Nelson: Aquatic Ecologist, Prof. Emeritus

"Deep feelings of joy, of belonging, envelop me. Boundaries melt, I seem as one with water, rock, and lily, all part of a magnificent whole. ~ Darby Nelson

The spectacular fish is a memory of its past and a vision for a
desired future, an icon to stir human action on behalf of valued
and relatively unspoiled Boreal lakes. ~ John J. Magnuson

We are the landscape of all we have seen. ~ Isamu Naguchi

Welcome ~ Pull up your chair and join us.
Started September 23, we are reading the last section entitled -
 Futurescapes.

If you would like to join us and do not have your book we found that most of the book available to read from the Amazon preview link: For Love of Lakes

Link to, For Love of Lakes and tell us:

• ...about 'your' nearby lake? How clear is the water? Are there wigglies in the water or floating bits? Has algae fouled the water?
• Do you have memories of other lakes - what was special, how large was the lake and did you swim from a beach or fish from a dock or boat?
• What did you know of Lake Agassiz and Louis Agassiz?
• We learned most of our northern lakes and beaches were covered by an ice cap during the ice age. Water from a ghost lake, the ancient Agassiz surged and topped moraine dams, the result of glacier deposits and torrents of waters cut through the till... "huge boulders too large to be moved" accumulated and stopped the downcutting, forming lakes, ponds and rivers while altering the landscape we live with today.
• Do you ever remember drinking directly from a river or lake?
• Is there a quiet spot on your lake where you can hear the wind and the lap of the water?

Darby Nelson is a beautiful writer who adeptly weaves his cast of characters; insects, minuscule lake life, and rocks into a story of interdependence with his cast of birds and plant characters.

One, without the other is not possible and then, he enlightens us to the lake culprits that are draining the oxygen from our lakes, killing our fish and contaminating plants and birds. He tells the story as if a ballet, weaving and floating word pictures that show the beauty of these connections. His book would make a breathtaking movie rather than simply a documentary of facts and problems.

Rather than a list of focus questions, we are reading and sharing the words and information that strike us as well as, photos that further our understanding and enjoyment of the book (as Jane says, of reasonable size - need help with that please ask)

Let's continue to share 'our' lake stories and links to sites that make easy the lessons Darby Nelson, ever the teacher, is uncovering in For Love of Lakes

     

Helpful Links:

Dictionary of Glaciation terms with photos: Landforms of Glaciation
A Glossary of terms: Glossary of Glacier Terminology - Text Version
PDF~The Lake as a Microcosm by Stephen A. Forbes (1887)
YouTube - Darby Nelson Tests Lake Water Quality

librivox-Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain
Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

Futurescapes is the final section started on the first day of Autumn

Discussion Leader: Barb

[BarbStAubrey]

Interesting JoanK because we do not hear anything about saving the wetlands here but then we do not hear that much about saving the lakes or the creeks either - here it is all about conserving water, keeping plastic out of the landfill and recycling. There is some interest in birds but only the select few who into bird counts and bird watching - the drought is the biggest issue - how to use rock instead of lawn and use native plants that take little water - its  all about water, the aquifer, the cost of water, storing water etc. etc. etc.

I'm wondering if we only hear about the issue that catches the attention of some whose interest to protect what can be seen by the most people so they have a better chance for support.

I guess the third section, Mindscapes, that talked about aquatic plants and how home owners with waterfront property want to eliminate the plants so they can have an unhampered view of the lake reminded me of how the wetlands along the Gulf coast were being destroyed not only be folks building on the wet lands for the view and as a result leaving no buffer when Hurricanes blow in and also, how Gulf oil rigs periodically spill and destroy the wet lands. Then, whole swaths of land around Houston are wetlands with a lot of bird hunting - as Houston grows there go the wet lands - With Darby Nelson showing us how one thing is connected to the other my thought was as we learn about lakes we are learning about the plants and algae that also make up wetlands.

Yes, you are so right - there are so many good causes and we can stretch ourselves just so far - sounds like you are keeping up to date on the wetlands nearby where the birds have a sanctuary - do you keep track of the many kinds of birds in the area and is the area in a migrating fly zone? With the ocean so near what a glorious spot that must be to see the birds in the wetlands and the turn around and in probably only 10 or 20 minute drive see ocean birds dipping into the foam and I am imagining porpoise jumping and sea lions nearby. 

I wonder the difference between a wetland and the 20 to 30 feet of thick aquatic plants along the edge of a stationary lake. Lady Bird is kept at a constant level - There are many places along the banks that are thick with aquatic plants - The shoreline is on a level with the lake and except for one condo project built back in the 1960s there is no building within 50 to 100 yards of the lake. A hike and bike trail completely encircles the lake - I think the trail is over 20 miles allowing a more natural shoreline

That kind of shoreline is not typical of Lake Austin or Lake Travis where the lakes wildly fluctuate based on the drought and the lakes are lower when the dams are opened to send water downstream to the rice farmers. Also, they are wider and deeper with rock cliffs as banks. There may be some coves though on Lake Travis with shoreline aquatic plants - something to drive around and search out. 

nlhome so glad you saw the Youtube film with Geri's dad ice fishing - I bet it brought back memories - What kind of fish did you and your Dad typically catch? Seems to me you said early in this discussion but I forgot.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh my - talk about how out of ignorance we changed the landscape and lake Michigan - read the latest post in the Erik Larson where the reference to an earlier discussion, Devil in the White City was made - oh oh - well the White City made Chicago but the heading for the book says, "wasteland of Chicago’s swampy Jackson Park into the ephemeral White City" - I am thinking the swampy land was probably wetlands that was labeled as a wasteland.

I guess any land that could not turn a profit was labeled as wasteland - looks like an ingrained attitude associated with the profitable nature of land and waterways will need to be awakened to their real purpose.

[Ella Gibbons]

WELCOME, GERI, TO OUR BOOK DISCUSSIONS!  I hope you stay around for other books we have to offer.

I don't have a copy of this book, but have been reading a few of the posts and  saw the picture of your father - wonderful that he was able to catch a big one and wonderful that he was still able to fish at 101 years of age.  My husband and I fished for years on Lake Erie, great sport, wonderful memories, friendships.

My memory is faulty, but I believe, BARBARA, that some of the original land of Washington, D.C. was swampy and considered a wasteland.       

[JoanK]

Yes, ELLA, you're right. When the founding fathers were arguing about where to put the capital, and every state wanted it, they decided to put it outside of all the states. So Maryland and Virginia donated this "useless" swamp that lay between them, and created this new entity "District of Columbia", governed directly by Congress (Only in my lifetime has DC gotten "Home Rule" and the right to vote.)

The swamp is gone, but we native Washingtonians know it was there from the muggy weather.

Back in those days there was still plenty of habitat for marsh dwellers: not so now. I guess I'm more aware of the problem because I'm one of those bird watchers.

Meanwhile, here in California, the draught has done to our local tiny swamp what the developers couldn't. It's been dry as a bone for a long time. The dozens of kinds of dragonflies and frogs are gone, as are the migrating and nesting birds (hopefully, some of the birds at least had a chance to find another place). And all the other things I didn't know enough to look for.

I don't know what will happen when  the rains come back (as they're supposed to do this year, with an "El Nino"). Hopefully somehow the plants and animals will find their way back too. 

[nlhome]

What did we catch when ice fishing? That depended on the lake, the part of the lake, the depth, whether using little jig poles or the tip-ups....but usually bluegill, crappie, northern pike, maybe perch. We ate a lot of fresh fish back then. Yes, that little video did bring back memories, especially bringing the fish up through the hole (and losing one now and then). Also made my fingers tingle from memories of the cold.

When it comes to protecting lakes, that also involves protecting streams and wetlands.

[BarbStAubrey]

My goodness nlhome had no idea that the lake, the depth and the kind of fishing equipment all determined the kind of fish that is caught. Unbelievable or at least to me - I did my fair share of fishing till my late teens but it was the same dock and the same few fish that I assumed were the only fish to catch in that area - but the idea of catching different fish in different parts of the lake or gulf or ocean should have been obvious and the need for different tackle and poles but, that would be continuing fishing as an adult or at least knowing some adult fishermen.

I have a new appreciation for sports fishing now to look up all the fish you named and see what they look like and how they are best cooked -   

I wonder how many of these types of fish can be purchased at the fish market in town? Wouldn't that be something to have a meal with a different fish and taste the difference.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh after reading about Darby Nelson's experience with a Texas cockroach or as we call them Waterbugs I was laughing tonight - either he would love it or hate it - I am thinking the later - anyhow the grass was so dry not having watered in over 2 weeks, the magnolia on the side of the driveway was loosing not only leaves but a couple of limbs will have to be cut down where they dried out - so enough - turned on the hose with a spray like sprinkler - very soon the water was seeping onto the driveway that is on a small hill toward the garage, forming a foot wide river about 5 feet from the garage doorway - going through my mind was the old song the Battle of New Orleans

Yeah they ran through the briers and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico

About 20 of them, some small, others large, fat ones, some brownish, others jet black running from the trees and bushes and grass and a few from my garage and some dropping off the roof - it looked like miniature wildebeest coming in for their evening drink on a lake on the Serengeti as they scrambled for the water - they are so fast I knew I could not step on all of them plus I did not want all those dead bodies in my driveway so I took the garage broom and started sweeping them up the driveway and out onto the street - Those that did not land on their back waving their legs in the air, I am sure found their way back onto the lawn but I shut off the water after 30 minutes and hope I spread the seeping water thin enough they would not be slurping up their 'lake' then slipping into the garage finding some crack where the rubber meets the ground.  At least we are past flying season.

[PatH]

I get confused about where we're supposed to be.  We're on the last section already?

I really enjoyed reading the story of the tullibee, sad though it is.  It's fun to watch the logical progression of problem solving.  It's sad to think of those poor fish, seesawing back and forth between too hot and not able to breathe.  How did some of them survive?  Were there pockets somewhere in the lake where the two needs intersected?

[JoanK]

I'm really sad that this discussion is ending soon. I feel I have learned so much, and everything I've learned makes me want to learn more.

On Thursday we move from lakes to the ocean, and the sinking of the Lusitania:

"SHIP AHOY!

The Lusitania is sailing again on Thursday! Come and board early, even if you haven't gotten your book yet. Meet the irascible captain who couldn't save her (should he have?), the men and women who took their life problems (and priceless manuscripts) aboard, the happiest submarine captain and crew (was he too ruthless? too kind?), the love struck President, and the British naval officer who lured the submarine to its position, and didn't tell the Lusitania (was it on purpose?)

And share your experiences with ships (sunken and floating), submarines, naval warfare, and the decade before the roaring twenties.

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=4811.0

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes JoanK I have to agree I do not remember reading in recent years a book on Senior Learn where I learned so much new information I had no idea about...

My hunt has been to learn more about Mercury - still have not nailed how it got in the lakes to begin with .
Did find this bit...

Like many environmental contami-nants, mercury undergoes bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation is the process by which organisms (including humans) can take up contaminants more rapidly than their bodies can eliminate them, thus the amount of mercury in their body accumulates over time. If for a period of time an organism does not ingest mercury, its body burden of mercury will decline. If, however, an organism continually ingests mercury, its body burden can reach toxic levels. The rate of increase or decline in body burden is specific to each organism. For humans, about half the body burden of mercury can be eliminated in 70 days if no mercury is ingested during that time. Biomagnification is the incremental increase in concentration of a contaminant at each level of a food chain

Did not know, although it has probably been common knowledge it is just not something I paid any attention too - that Mercury affects the brain of humans.

Humans generally uptake mercury in two ways: (1) as methylmercury (CH3Hg+) from fish consumption, or (2) by breathing vaporous mercury (Hg0) emitted from various sources such as metallic mercury, dental amalgams, and ambient air. Our bodies are much more adapted for reducing the potential toxicity effects from vaporous mercury, so health effects from this source are relatively rare. Methylmercury, on the other hand, affects the central nervous system, and in severe cases irreversibly damages areas of the brain

Ah so - there is not yet even known the answer to my question

The exact mechanism(s) by which mercury enters the food chain remain largely unknown, and probably vary among ecosystems. We do know, however, that certain bacteria play an important early role. Studies have shown that bacteria that process sulfate (SO4=) in the environment take up mercury in its inorganic form, and through metabolic processes convert it to methylmercury. The conversion of inorganic mercury to methylmercury is important for two reasons: (1) methylmercury is much more toxic than inorganic mercury, and (2) organisms require considerably longer to eliminate methylmercury. At this point, the methylmercury-containing bacteria may be consumed by the next higher level in the food chain, or the bacteria may release the methylmercury to the water where it can quickly adsorb to plankton, which are also consumed by the next level in the food chain.

Somehow according to the book there is a connection between increased levels of Mercury and Global Warming.

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow that is a lot of paddling and hiking carrying the conoe - uphill mind you  - sheesh 7 and 1/2 miles of paddling and a mile-long portage, uphill then, that is not enough there is a 20 minute hike. And they are still not finished on the way to Nellie Lake. This is not an exploration for the couch potato.

Here is a link to the whirligigs with a photo   http://beneficialbugs.org/bugs/Whirligig_Beetle/Whirligig.htm

And another link of many red sundew plants   http://tinyurl.com/nad8pus

So far cannot find a photo or even a description of Jackstraw white or otherwise - the best I could find was in a forestry glossary and it said -- jack straw - trees that have been felled in a chaotic fashion as a result of natural events.

As the heading of this photo says
The ridiculous blue waters of Nellie Lake

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh so the trout will come back if a lake is made healthy again... interesting.

[PatH]

In the first two chapters of this section we learnabout the lake trout--their danger from warming, smallmouth bass and overfishing--and acid rain--how it can turn a lake lifeless, and how some lakes can recover and some probably can't.

There's a tug of war in what people want in a lake.  For swimming they want the clarity of a lifeless lake.  But they want to catch fish, and enjoy the birds, so they want life.  But they don't like the loss of clarity and the tangle of plants.  And throughout, they are all too ready to ignore their own role in changing things for the worse.

[PatH]

Barb, remember the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland?  The expression "mad as a hatter" came from the fact that the mercury compounds used in the felting process caused neurological damage.

[BarbStAubrey]

hmm thanks - I do not know a felting process that includes mercury or any compound - the only way I know about felting is to take a knitted or woven woolen piece and agitate in a tumbler much as the ancients agitated the woven wool in a local stream - need to look into this 'process' - but I can see the connection to the mad hatter being affected by too much mercury in his hats that ended up affecting his brain.

[BarbStAubrey]

I am so enjoying the chapter on Waldon's Pond - the writing brings out the reverence those who have read Thoreau feel for this tiny spot - October - mid color for the Northeast - its been 60 years since I have seen that part of the country dressed in its fall colors - all the words are bringing up pictures of a lake surrounded by color and the warmth of the sun promising a comfortable warm mid-day. It always surprises me how quiet are the woods in Autumn - few birds chattering and even fewer animals about.

The swimming elders remind me there is a small group of elders who swim Barton Creek Pool - an area of the creek damed to slow the water but not stop the water so it spread out around some natural springs and everyday there are a few who come early for their swim before the ticket booth opens - there are a couple of hours before and after the ticket booth closes that folks can come and swim. I should join them and every year I seem to find something else more important - need to get down there next week - big garage sale in our neighborhood this Saturday that I am participating in and has me pulling all sorts of things from my closets.

Never heard the song Lake of Mercy - need to see if I can find it on Youtube.

Another new word - Eutrophication: noun excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.

a web site all about the Nitella   http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/alphabetical-index/nitella/

and so we learn that Nitella is a good kind of growth that is keeping Thoreau's lake in good condition but an anti-pee in the lake campaign with accompanying porta-potties lining areas of our lakes - not exactly the scene I would wish for but then maybe there is a more attractive porta-potty - planting bushes around in this day and age only invites perverts - what a dilemma...

I can only imagine the lump in a throat walking away from Waldon's Pond and on a day blazing in color - must be like an Autumn sunset as the blazing red hot anvil called the sun descends and the gulf breeze, typical of the fall cools the evening. 

[BarbStAubrey]

oh just beautiful - oh my... http://www.brethesla.com/downloads/lake-of-mercy/

[BarbStAubrey]

We learn in these last two chapters that Geri is a scientist - a loving wife but also a scientific partner - this is an amazing book that I hate to see it end - there are not many books I read a second time but this one I will - not only because I would like a smooth read after having learned the definition of words, geology, plants, fish etc. but to further enjoy the writing rhythm and the sublet way of making a point.

I am seeing a metaphor to most aspects of life explained by the observation while ice fishing - "Our inner voice sympathies. Let him be, it says, Let him be. The hunter's instinct says food, take food. 

From what I have read and understood the Native Americans knew how to balance those two instincts. Maybe it is balance we need -

I see this play out in our neighborhood - some homeowners have a romantic Bambi view wanting the deer to populate freely - the deer have few natural predictors - these very neighbors do not like losing their cats and small dogs to the coyotes and yet, the coyotes that have returned after they were eliminated, do help balance the deer population.

And then, we have those 'hunters' in the neighborhood who would like to hire a crew from South Texas and eliminate all the deer - after all they say, we are a populated community and the deer dart out like 2 year olds crashing into moving vehicles causing accidents, injuries and higher insurance raters. They are the same hunters that see any land not used to its fullest economic potential as a cause to persuade the City Council to loosen the building standards so they can 'take food' regardless, what it does in time to the watershed and nearby creeks that flow into the lakes.

Puts it into perspective - no one is right or wrong - there is a little right and wrong with each of these opposite viewpoints - conflict it is... because I was uncomfortable with the sterilized care of Flint Lake - it was as if having a lovely tree in the front yard and a couple of young grandboys and telling them the could not climb the tree - hmm - that is not integrating but rather, separating man from nature and further, categorizing which aspects of nature can mingle with waterways - certainly not domestic animals or tree leaves - an exaggeration but, it felt like the third eye of God would bore holes in all humanity near a lake if man, animal or fish had the audacity to die in the lake.

Maybe it is purpose as well as, balance - to what purpose to mis-use so that a view will fit our perception of what entails a view but then, can we really wipe out all the landscape artwork that includes the artists vision of a lake clear of vegetation.

I still think a movie needs to be made from the book exactly as it is written, with canoe trips that will show the paddlers introducing the 'characters' in the story.

[JoanK]

" It always surprises me how quiet are the woods in Autumn."

 love that quiet of the woods -- it's like no other. So quiet that if an acorn falls, it's a momentous event, worthy of our consideration. It must be the same in the middle of a still lake in a canoe.

 remember too the man who was honored for rescuing people stranded after Hurricane Katrina. he rode along the streets in his canoe. Because he was in a canoe, he could hear cries for help too faint to be heard by the engine powered rescue boats.

Silence can be a blessing: one we too seldom get.

[ANNIE]

Sorry not to be here for the last week as we were up in Ithaca, NY, attending the wedding of our granddaughter.  It was held in Ithaca New Park which sits up from Lake Cayuga, the largest of the Finger Lakes.  Beautiful grounds.  Sarah came down the forest aisle with her two boys, ages 9 & 6 and Jesse met her with a huge smile on his face.  He gained a wife and two sons all in one ceremony.  The boys presented the couple with the ceremonial rings.  I have photos which I will later try to put up here.  Can't remember how at this time.  We were chauffeured to and from Ithaca by our 20 yr old grandson, going, and by his mom, coming back.  Just hate to be waited on like that.  We were the oldest folks there.  After the dinner, the new couple danced to tango music which is how they met.  Later in the evening, the tango club from Ithaca arrived and did some nice dancing.  'Twas a gorgeous night and one could feel nothing but love surrounding it all.  Best wedding we have attended in years.

I finished the book before we left and have really enjoyed discussing it and seeing all the links that have been shared.
I believe that I mentioned that we visited Alpena, MI last year for the International Underwater Robotics competition and were so impressed with Lake Huron which looks so clean and clear.  Here is what goes on at Thunder Bay, on the lake, in Alpena:

http://thunderbay.noaa.gov/education/rov/welcome.html

I am going to the pre discussion of "Dead Wake" which I hope you will all join.  Another book about the water, this time the Atlanta ocean.

Thanks for your wonderful leadership, Barb.  You are one of our best!

[BarbStAubrey]

Anne sounds like a wonderful experience not just the wedding among friends and family but the setting as well - Thanks for joining the discussion and sharing what is a highlight in your memory bank -

Well I wish I thought to look for these earlier - cannot believe here it is the last day and only now finding them but a wonderful professional looking photo of Geri Nelson

The photo accompanies this Bio...

For over a decade Geri Nelson put her years of experience in science education to work for LWV Minnesota, developing curriculum and training voter service chairs and debate moderators as the LWV Minnesota Voter Service Co-Chair.  She also served as the LWV Minnesota First Vice President (2009-2013), and is now co-chair of the BE: Part of the Conversation Campaign.

 Geri taught for 25 years in the Anoka-Hennepin School District.  In the 1990s she served on the Minnesota Science Best Practice Team and worked as a teacher on special assignment with SciMathMN and the Minnesota Department of Education to help write the Minnesota Science Framework.  She was a member of the Minnesota Academy of Science Board as a Director of the Junior Academy of Science (1993-96), and in 1996 she received the Gordon M. A. Mork Award from the University of Minnesota College of Education and the Alumni Society for significant contributions in the field of education.

In 2002, Geri was honored with the Zilla Way Award for outstanding leadership to LWV Anoka/Blaine/Coon Rapids Area where she has been a member for 40 years, serving in many capacities including President and Voter Service chair.

Geri travels frequently with her husband, Darby, as he gives talks on his book, For Love of Lakes, and can be found paddling the Minnesota River in aid of research on his next book (on the Minnesota River).  They have two children and five grandchildren.  Through her church, Geri is active in partnering with schools to help homeless youth.  She is president of the Philolectian Society, a women’s club in Anoka, and is a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, a society of women educators.

And then these two photos of both Geri and Darby

This site is about their living legacy to the Nature Conservancy
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/minnesota/explore/minnesota-darby-and-geri-nelson-donor-profile.xml

And now that we have finished reading the book we can share the reviews written and published by others - this is a nice review with a photo of Darby Nelson, who is likened by the author to a modern day Thoreau.

https://www.minnpost.com/environment/2012/02/darby-nelson-modern-day-thoreau

In the sense that both wrote a book with a story that captured the attention of the reader providing us with quotable sentences however, I think Darby Nelson's writes more poetically as well as offering the reader a more scientific understanding of waterways than Thoreau's offering. I think part of the fascination reading Waldon's Pond is reading about a life experience that today is no longer possible in most areas and certainly no longer possible on the Pond/Lake in Concord Mass. 

[mabel1015j]

Lake of Mercy was beautiful, thanks for sharing it.

Jean

[BarbStAubrey]

It was beautiful wasn't it Jean - I've never heard it had you?

Look what just arrived in my email - hurrah
   

2015 Lunchtime Lecture theme – The Geography of Rivers: The Nature and Culture of Flowing Water

·         October  Lunchtime Lecture: Waters the Land: Texas Rivers

·         “We crossed the wild Pecos, We forded the Nueces, We swum the Guadalupe, And we followed the Brazos, Red River runs rusty, The Wichita clear, But down by the Brazos I courted my dear…” So begins the “Texas Rivers Song” with its refrain that “many a river waters the land” which accurately describes the geography of Texas.  Many rivers cut their way across the Texas landscape searching for the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1950, Roy Bedichek pointed out that, “Texas has a river unity hardly to be found in any other state in the Union and in few foreign countries” with a general northwest to southeast drainage across the state. But he also pointed out that our river planning artificially dissects river systems into “upper, central, and lower” authorities ignoring the organic unity of river basins.

As Andy Sansom has more recently pointed out, current interbasin water transfers ignore the very boundaries of Texas river systems and threaten environmental flows for our rivers. Join me for an overview of the geography of Texas rivers and a history of human impacts on the many rivers that water the land.

[JoanK]

BARB: "I think part of the fascination reading Waldon's Pond is reading about a life experience that today is no longer possible in most areas and certainly no longer possible on the Pond/Lake in Concord Mass."

I couldn't disagree more. Don't misunderstand the nature of Thoreau's experience: he lived a short walk from town, and dropped in on his friends for dinner whenever he wanted. You don't have to go live in a hut you built in the middle of nowhere to experience the beauty and tranquility that he did: it is available to any of us anywhere if we seek it and open our eyes.

Who would have thought of Texas as a land of rivers? Find your "Walden pond" (it might even be in your back yard).

[JoanK]

I can't believe this is the last day  for this discussion. I don't want to let it go!! Thank you, thank you Barb for suggesting the book and leading it. And thank you Gerri for joining us. Do come back when your busy schedule allows.

[PatH]

In the final chapters I've seen even more clearly how interdependant all the factors of an ecosystem are, watched the Nelsons buy land to follow the development of a lake, seen how our perceptions interfere with realizing what we are doing to lakes, walked with Thoreau, and appreciated the irony that the way to save his lake may be to line it with port-a-potties.

Each lake has its own personality, showing its strengths and weaknesses, and I'm glad to have met them all.

Thank you, Barb, for choosing this book and leading the discussion, and thanks to Darby Nelson for writing the book, and to Geri for talking to us about it.  It's been a great experience.

[BarbStAubrey]

Well it has been an eye opener reading For Love of Lakes and it was great having everyone share their input plus the treat of Geri Nelson coming to the site and sharing.

Not sure how many of us will get out in a canoe this fall but maybe a walk around our close by lake using our 'new eyes' to observe an ecosystem we had no idea existed. Happy trails as the song goes...

In October we continue on the water this time the Atlantic Ocean with the story of the sinking of the Lusitania. Hope to see you there.  http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=4811.80