Five Years Ago Today: 2012 highlights of Moristotle & Co.

When the United States had a President we could honor

By Moristotle

[Originally published on December 31, 2012, but with a different subtitle. It’s still my daughter’s birthday, but she’s more likely at home than on a boat.]

Yesterday I went through the blog's 2012 archive [accessible through the bottom section of the sidebar]. The blog began the year as "Moristotle: A sometimes ironic celebration of life on Earth" – or was it still "An ironic celebration of life, love, laughter, and learning" or "...of evolving life and learning on Earth"? However exactly it started out the year, you can see by the masthead how we think of it now.
    Most months it was difficult to select only one post that touched me in some special way, the special ways were many:

January. "Humanitarian inclusion" – Early-morning gunshots lead to thoughts of Rilke, reflections on sentience, and questions about the rights of other animals.

February. "Finches and a Wren ahopping" – My heart danced many times during the year at the sight of frolicking, feeding birds.

March. "Frozen by Frozen Planet?" – The TV series Frozen Planet reminded me that "nature programs" are among the most violent TV shows or movies we can watch.

April. "The Help" – The film (and the book) The Help came to symbolize the reason for my rancorous retirement at the end of April.

May. "Dog-tired" – Siegfried delighted me and my wife literally every day of the year. He's family.

June. "Two's company, three's a crowd?" – Digiscoping seldom gets better than this, a series of photos of distant crows courting and making jealous(?).

July. "Herding rabbits"– A growing population of rabbits in our back yard led to some ambivalence of feeling and moral value.

August. "Life as we live it" – I joined a book club during the summer and discovered both congenial neighbors and a very fine new writer.

September. "Welcome contributing editors" – Moristotle’s editorial staff expanded from a one-man operation to a company of mostly congenial colleagues.

October. "Thor's Day: Straight from the pit of hell" – After recording in previous years my own escape from religion, Moristotle now offers steady encouragement to both timid non-believers and wavering believers to set themselves similarly free.

November. "Triptina for end of year's persimmon season" – Persimmons in both flesh and verse provided many occasions for visual, gustatory, tactile, kinetic, photographic, and poetic enjoyment.

December. "First Saturday Green 101: What is winging your way on the winter wind?" – motomynd's contributions began in 2011 and continue a staple of Moristotle & Co. I'm thankful to him for the idea of expanding the staff to include contributing editors.

Happy birthday to my daughter!

She's probably out there on the water in the swirl
Of wind she loves so much she's seen to leap and twirl –
    It makes me happy
    To be her pappy –
Happy today and many future birthdays, Pineapple Girl!

Copyright © 2017 by Moristotle