Hairy and dangerous

Hairy petals

There are so many hairy plants! Using my loupe, I have discovered that parts of plants that I never thought had hairs are covered in them. Petals and stamens, for example. And the roughness of grass leaves are due to tiny hairs. And I thought only mammals were hairy!

I mean, of course the hairs are different, but they look very much the same - like hair. Some plants look woolly, and some have silky hair, and some have hairs that hurt you or give the plant a rough feel. The plant kingdom is so very diverse, with lots of interesting ways to survive and thrive.

Hairy moss (putehårstjerne, Syntrichia ruralis)

I am learning about the Norwegian flora and fauna (the plants and animals of Norway), and the main part of my course is to classify organisms. This can be tedious work, but as mentioned before, it can be really fun to know what things are called and what sets them apart from the "crowd". This makes nature even more beautiful and interesting to me, and even short walks can take a very long time.

Beware! This lovely plant is really poisonous!
 (tysbast, Daphne mezereum)

I thought  the Norwegian flora was quite boring, but it turns out that there are some relatively aggressive plants. We have flesh-eating plants (soldogg/sundew, Drosera spp.), really poisonous plants (tysbast/mezereon, Daphne mezereum), and stinging plants (brennesle/nesle, Urtica spp.). In addition, almost everything looks better or more interesting through a loupe or a microscope, so there is often something good to discover.

Summer reading

And I'm back! After a long break from both reading novels and writing blogposts, also known as exam time, I have come back to talk about what I'm going to read this summer. This summer will be different than usual, field courses and trips to go on, and an exam at the end of the "holiday". Nonetheless, I will be getting back to reading books, catching up with the 50 books challenge (according to goodreads, I'm one book behind), and finishing Les Misérables.

That is actually a major goal with my reading this summer - finishing Les Misérables. I have been reading it since Christmas, and as you can see from the picture, I am almost halfway (the green bookmark marks the page). I actually like it quite a lot, but reading it requires a good portion of concentration and time. I mean, I'm almost halfway, but I still have over eight hundred pages to go! And I will finish it!

In addition I will finish The Wind in the Willows, which I started during the exam period, but didn't finish. It's a pleasant children's book, perfect for getting back into reading. Next on my list is to read Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. This is for a youtube book club that sablecaught is arranging, and I am looking forward to reading and talking about a book with others. Next up after that, is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which lots of people have recommended. The cover and design of the book are lovely, and I can't wait to know what's inside that beautiful cover.

During the summer, I will also read three Pern books by Anne McCaffrey. I discovered that my local library actually have many Pern books, so I borrowed three of them for summer reading. I love the world of Pern, and I can't wait to visit it again.

And then I have the "just in case"-books. If I finish the previous books, I will read one of the ones in the picture.  Name of the Wind and the two last books of His Dark Materials have been sitting on my shelf for far too long, so they will be priorities. Everyone I talk to who have read Name of the Wind have loved it, and they all assure me that it is a gem, and something to look forward to. I just hope it lives up to the hype. I haven't read The Help yet, or seen the movie (I pledged, remember?). So that will be done soon, if not during the summer. I have also heard good things about Between Shades of Gray, so I'm looking forward to reading that one too.

This is shaping up to be a summer full of the reading of good books and learning to name nature. I'm almost becoming a child again, running around in the woods or along the beach being amazed by nature, shouting out when I find something cool. Many organisms have earned this label lately, spiders among others. I am a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of animals and plants we have to know, but i think it's fun. It's almost like going treasure hunting, and who doesn't love that?