Beholding the earth in November and early December has become a chilly task here on the Maine coast.

Especially for my son Will. He stuck his fingers deep into the soil of the garden and successfully dug out this spectacular parsnip for the Thanksgiving table.

Passed my local dragonfly consultant Bob Grobe on November 23rd in the market parking lot. He reported a sighting -on the previous day- of a male Autumn Meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum) dragonfly basking in the sun along the Megunticook River, despite the 48 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. It may be a record for the last living dragon in these parts!

November is a restless month. I often recall that this is the month that inspired Melville’s Ishmael to leave the farm in the late 1800’s and head to sea.

Barb M. is a friend of my mothers and sent me the comic below, posted here with acknowledgement and thanks to the Walker artists. Also underscores the ongoing work of Richard Louv and the Children and Nature Network. Thanks, Barb.

We did not get all the way to our goal before the weather went cold, the leaves started turning color, and the adult dragonflies (Aeshna…Darners) reached the end of their lives when their food supply dwindled. I’m ready for winter, but excited about next spring. I’ve heard that males travel repeatable paths within a very small territory, and do so much more in the spring than at season’s end. We’ll see. In this photo, Ella S. studies the local talent.

Often, in a consideration of America’s future relationship with nature, environmentalists are prone to evoke today’s children, and even the children yet-to-be-born. I’ve heard comments like “What will the future earth look like?” or “Think of the children.” The follow-up question of “what to think” about those children, of “what to think” about those yet-to-be-born is not often explored nor expressed. Theo Colborn does it. And in the clip below, Carl Safina takes this question of “what to think of the unborn” head on.

I learned a lot by trying to contain the dragonfly. Yes, it might fly within a low volume and extremely quiet wind tunnel, with the right lure at one end. But finding the right lure is a challenge. Many failures. What motivates a dragonfly to act? One person found success with a lure that took ten years to culture in his lab.

I do believe that at some point, engineering and ecology can go together. I do believe that environmentalists would do better in the long run if they embraced engineers and the future, rather than let past failures completely cloud their judgement. Yes, it takes effort to succeed. And observational patience. Failing equipment. More to come. Yet, cameraman David W and I are on to something now that’s yielding some success. Containment is part of the solution. Understanding boundaries. And timing. And yesterday, a girl named Ella and her mom Jenny. Thanks, all. Today, perhaps another try…