Enrichment in My Enclosure

21 October 2025 / 8:27 p.m. / 54 degrees/ Mostly Cloudy

From the NYPL Public Domain Collection; Woman reading in a bunk, World's Fair 1935

1. Weather: Apparently, my computer still thinks I’m in 72116, because I was surprised to see that it’s 75 degrees and sunny where I am (it isn’t). I start all of my handwritten journal entries with the current time and weather, inspired by Thoreau’s journals. [He meticulously observed the first flowering dates for over 500 species of wildflowers in Concord, Massachusetts, between 1851 and 1858, and those records have since been used to track the impact of climate change.] I don’t really know the names of any of the plants here in the Netherlands yet, so I’m keeping my observations simple. No one is going to use them for research in the next century, lol.

2. Websites (a): I published my new website, finally. My Squarespace site was expiring, and I hated it, so I kinda rushed to get my new one up. I was more focused on someone else's website…

3. Websites (b): I’ve been working this week on Rachel’s dad’s website. He is selling photographs in conjunction with a gallery show titled Nature’s Sanctuary. His work is beautiful, and consists of nature photography from all over the United States. I’ve enjoyed going through his photos and descriptions and learning more about why he's drawn to certain scenes. But it has made me really homesick. Being away from the U.S. has made me appreciate how beautiful and unique the landscape is.

4. Women in Sci-fi: Speaking of big feelings that we have to shut down and address, have you read the Murderbot series? I finally started and I and I am tearing through them as quickly as the library will lend them to me. More sci-fi written by women, please.