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Life on a Leash

May 12, 2009

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A Tribute to Estella Leopold

Last night I read the sad news of the passing of Estella Leopold at age 97 on February 25th. She was the last remaining child of Aldo Leopold, the great philosopher and conservationist. I'll never forget going to Deer Grove Forest Preserve at dusk to watch Green Fire, the documentary about Aldo and his family. I was mesmerized by the story of how Aldo, his wife, and their five children worked tirelessly to restore a worn out patch of land along the Wisconsin River. They literally loved the land back to life, planting thousand and thousands of trees, and having amazing adventures along the way. The family converted an old chicken shack into cozy living quarters for their weekend stays, and that shack was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2009. We're all so inundated with horror stories about the rampant destruction humans are inflicting on the natural world, but here was a story about a family working to heal the land, and becoming healed in the process. How utterly refr...

SkADaMo - Day 5

This is a twofer, also covering the Illustration Friday topic, "Secret." When I pondered on that subject a bit, I thought of a hilarious story I heard recently on The Moth Radio Hour (which, if you've never heard of it, is great to listen to). It's a story about boys coveting rare Lego pieces, and hiding them in their cubbies. Having spent many years in the land of Legos when my boys were young, I knew exactly the pieces described. You can listen to the story here .

Tribute to Tibor Gergely

The other day I stopped in a used book store called Top Shelf and picked up a book called "Wheel on the Chimney." I was intrigued by the title, and when I saw it was by uber author Margaret Wise Brown, I was even more curious, though the cover art was pretty dull and unpromising. Then I opened it up and saw this spread. (click on it for a larger view.) "I'll take it," I said. The book tells the story of bird migration through a family of storks, with bold, colorful illustrations. When I got home and googled the book, I discovered it was a Caldecott Honor book in 1955. Then I googled the illustrator, Tibor Gergely (pronounced gare gay.) (I know, I was wishing it was pronounced "gurgully" too.) Turns out that aside from six months studying art in Vienna, Gergely was a self-taught artist. Born in Hungary, he fled the Nazis during WWII and came to New York, where he found great success illustrating many classic Golden Books. You can see more o...

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Life on a Leash

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