In highschool, I was lucky enough to try out a macro lens. This is basically a camera lens that lets you get UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL to stuff and capture the small world. I fell in love with it immediately, but being a lowly teenaged chipmunk without a penny to my name, I wasn’t able to buy one.

Fast forward now. It’s my birthday in a couple days and my dear Dude surprises me — a macro lens of my very own! Now, despite being a grown up chipmunk, I feel like that little 6 year old with the whole world in front of her, exploring the details with my rusty magnifying glass. It was the perfect gift and I just had to share some of the pics as I’m getting used to the lens!

This is what your jeans look like!

The dandelion! Check out the tube-like petals:

Dandelion seeds!

Ant on a peony!

Young peony petals!

Blue Iris:

Lemon!

And finally, that blueberry monster I was talking about:

Pretty cool, right?

Happy exploring!

The Lembeh Strait near Indonesia is home to some of the wackiest creatures around.  I *desperately* need to write a fishy book — ALIENS ARE AMONG US!

P.S Baby cuttlefish ROCK.

“Kids are so very good at still being shape-shifters, and shifting into feathers and fur. They still understand that we are connected to everything in this world, and that we are part of an incredibly intricate woven web of life and creatures.” – Cornelia Funke

With the warmer weather (sort of) hitting my neck of the woods, I’ve been lucky enough to spend some more time writing in the forest. Typically, I take my notebook and a pen, some snacks, and my trusty hiking boots and let myself have an afternoon of just simply wandering through the forest trails. Thoreau called this sort of walking sauntering, and as I’ve gotten older – nostalgia alert – I’ve really noticed just how important this aimless wilderness time really is to me. I can’t seem to stay creative without it! Staying indoors can be comforting, especially during the joys of the Great Canadian Winter, but it’s only once spring loosens up the world again that I notice just how much I’ve missed the freedom of fresh air, mud, and butterflies. Sometimes I’m even lucky enough to meet bald eagles, who are nice enough to pose regally for a picture!

I think children especially need this time, and it’s no surprise that animals and nature feature so heavily in children’s literature. Check out this video to hear author-illustrator Cornelia Funke speak about the need for wilderness in children’s lives. Clearly, Cornelia is amazing and I wish I could join her in the woods to pick her brain like the author-fangirl I am.

Extras!

• For more inspiration, check out this cool op-ed piece, A Child’s Wild Kingdom by Jon Mooallem

• Terri Windling’s blog has been a constant source of inspiration for me – including today’s post featuring the video I’ve borrowed.

• The book WHY THE WILD THINGS ARE: ANIMALS IN THE LIVES OF CHILDREN is a fascinating read if this sort of thing floats your boat!

• Richard Louv’s book LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS is another great read, focusing on the importance of nature in child development.

Happy Trails to you!

It was only a matter of time before I cracked. Because, you see *whispers* animals aren’t the only creepily, jawdroppingly amazing things out there.

Today we’re going to talk about PLANTS.

You might think, BUT JESS, PLANTS ARE BORING. They just grow! They can’t actually DO anything remotely similar to what WE FANCYPANTS ANIMALS CAN DO. They just sit in their dirt and lounge around like leafy versions of the Kardashians!

And you’d be wrong. (Not about the Kardashians, though).

But plants can do pretty much the same things we can. They do just it in their special plant way. The next time you’re watering your innocent little houseplant, keep these gems in mind:

1. Hedgerow flowers can estimate time with incredible precision. They end their days facing west, ready to collect the sun’s rays at dawn. Day in and day out, they shift, every night. This doesn’t sound that impressive, until I tell you that they CONTINUE these movements even when kept under uniform lighting for DAYS. You can’t trick these plants. Feeling unsettled yet?

2. The Venus flytrap can do math. It might not be able to do the quadratic equation, but hear me out. There are trigger hairs all over its ‘mouth’. When a fly lands on it and triggers one hair, the plant stays open. When TWO trigger hairs are touched – BAM – goodnight, fly. It can COUNT.

3. Acacia trees are a favorite food to many African animals, especially giraffes and elephants. When one acacia tree is grazed upon, it TELLS NEARBY ACACIAS to start producing POISON, so they don’t get eaten. These trees can COMMUNICATE to their family.

4. Flowers depend on insects to pollinate them, right? So they do their best to look all alluring to bugs. But the Cyprus bee orchid takes this one step further. What’s a surefire way to get a dude bee’s attention? Dress up like a FEMALE BEE. This way, the male bee flies over thinking he’s getting some female face time, when really, he’s just tricked into pollinating an orchid like a chump. The plant is left pollinated, and the bee is probably rather confused at the encounter.

Observe the orchid in question.

As if the deception isn’t enough, it also secretes a chemical that smells IDENTICAL to lady bees. Male bees don’t have a chance.

5. Plants can integrate information. This is something we previously thought only animals could do. They don’t have brains, yet they can compute the same reward-risk dilemma that animals have. This means that plants can determine competitors and risks, as well as the potential positive outcomes of a certain move. Think of when a lion has to decide ‘hmm, is it really worth chasing down this zebra? Will I probably get kicked in the face?’ — plants make these types of decisions, too, and act accordingly. They just do it without a cognitive process like ours.

SOMEHOW.

–

If you’re not weirded out by your leafy housemates yet, I suggest you read The Private Life of Plants, by David Attenborough, where many of these phenomena are discussed in lilting, British prose.

It really is a story about how little humans used to know about science, particularly the mating habits of large cats. See, when first encountering a leopard, people believed it was a hybrid between a LION and a PANTHER. Hence, the words ‘leo’ and ‘pardos’ (a male panther) were shoved together to create leopard. Leopards are their own unique snowflake of a species, of course, but the name stuck.

Onto FERRETS.

Does this little guy look guilty to you? (Okay, he does a little bit actually.) He’s named after the latin word ‘furritus’, which means ‘little thief’. Ferrets are notorious for being a little tricksy, so the name makes a bit of sense. You may recall the book INKHEART, with a lovely chap named Dustfinger. His pet was a marten in the books, but played by a ferret in the film. They are adorable.

Token picture of Dustfinger and Gwin. So much angst.

Lastly, we get to the cardinal. It’s pretty well documented that the word ‘cardinal’ came first to mean this guy:

So the bird we know and love for its flashy red feathers is likely named for the dude above.

The Roman Catholic Church doesn’t get to put its name on many animals, so this one is probably something of a lark in the bird name community. (HEYO.)

Happy new year, cheeky monkeys!

T’was a week before Christmas and all through the house,

Jess was writing about reindeer instead of the mouse.

(Annnd that’s as far as my poetry skills go.)

So with Santa on his way, I thought it was high time to tell you a little bit about reindeer. You know, in case you run out of conversation at your holiday parties, now you can throw out these little tidbits and people will think you are astoundingly intelligent and alluring.

Nothing says alluring like a bunch of ungulate facts. Buckle up!

1. Reindeer and caribou are the same thing. Two words. One beast. Reindeer means ‘horned animal’, and caribou means ‘snow shoveler’, but both words describe the exact same animal. Why we don’t think Santa’s sleigh is pulled by caribou is beyond me.

2. Reindeer are fast. Really, really fast. 50mph fast. Not quite flying fast, but not shabby either.

3. Reindeer can lower the temperature of their legs, to just above freezing. This helps them retain body heat when they’re knee deep in snow. It also makes them BOSS.

4. Reindeer can see ultraviolet light. This is extra cool because, in the Arctic, glare from the snow and dark days with no sun can make it extremely difficult to see food and predators. Things important to reindeer life actually absorb UV light, making them appear black to reindeer. This includes lichen (food), urine (important for knowing who’s around you), and fur (oh hello wolfy). So while other animals often can’t see in those conditions, reindeer are laughing.

5. Rudolph (and all the other reindeer of Santa’s team) are possibly female. It all comes down to the antlers. Take a look.

As you can see in this very scientific depiction, every reindeer on Santa’s team has a full rack of headgear. But – plot twist – mature male reindeer actually LOSE their antlers in winter. So Santa’s sleigh is either pulled by a bunch of young males that he keeps replacing as they get older (fickle), OR it is the ladies (with their intact winter antlers) that are doing all the work.

I think we all know the answer to that one. *fist bump to girly reindeer power*

Happy Holidays, all!

Hello my cheeky little reading monkeys!

Just a quick post to let you know that the Young Adult Book Central CHOICE AWARD nominations are up!

Two reasons for this.

One: you should go vote so your favorites can win!

And two: if you’re in a bit of a reading slump (it happens), and are looking for the best books ever to finish the year off with, this is a good place to start. There is so much awesome on a single page, it’s worth going over the nominees just to make sure you don’t miss out on any of them.

The categories are young adult, middle grade (my personal favorite), as well as picture books and audio books. So a little bit of something for everyone.

So hop to it!

Did they miss any? What are YOUR favorites from ol’ 2012?

I don’t review books on here, but every so often a book comes along that is so in line with your heart that you have to shout it out to everybody you meet.

This is one of those books. Consider it shouted!

Here is the publisher’s blurb, to start:

If you want to be freaked out, there is no better place than deep water.

First you’ve got your obvious stuff like sharks (the ones with all the teeth), and octopi (the ones with all the arms), and seasnakes (the ones with all the venom), but the deeper you go… the weirder it gets. Soon, you come across creatures that look like chestbuster from Alien. Life doesn’t play by the same rules down there, and these creatures really get their freak on.

So check it: SCARY CREATURES WITH BIG TEETH!

If that wasn’t enough for you, here’s a longer vid with some of the creepier specimens. Enjoy!

My cheeky monkeys!

I don’t often do guest posts, but there was no way I was turning down the chance to fire off a post for the wonderful Janice Hardy. She’s just too awesome.

SO. If you are a writer (or want to be!), her blog is an amazing resource covering everything from drafting and plot tips to hardcore crafting advice that can make your scenes shine. She’s also written some books you may love, so check her out here!

Go forth and read about how I put my overactive imagination to use!

ALSO – National Novel Writing Month – or NaNoWriMo – as it is so lovingly called in the writer world,  is just around the corner. If this is your thing, give it a shot here!

Happy writing!