Sano Almanac

By Nash Black Some years back there was a game people played by the hours called Trivia Pursuit. One player in our group could not endure losing and began refusing to play for one reason or another if I was playing. I explained to him I was a librarian, what I did for part of…

By Nash Black Weather permitting summer is over. It is still hot but the changes are all around us. Days are shorter while nights are longer. Labor Day marks the end of freedom days. The high winds of last week stripped the leaves from my cherry trees and there are more leaves drifting across the…

By Nash Black Do you remember the special dishes your grandmother kept in the cabinet for family celebrations or Sunday dinners? Maybe she had only one piece – a large platter that held a holiday ham or a turkey. Was the pattern an oriental design with a temple, a willow tree leaning over a stream,…

By Nash Black For over 100 years farmers and gardeners have been plagued by a the summer invasion of Japanese Beetles. The iridescent copper and green bugs were first noticed in 1916, in this country, at a nursery near Riverton, NJ. Experts believe it may have been imported in the grub stage in a shipment…

By Nash Black Do you remember the special dishes your grandmother kept in the cabinet for family celebrations or Sunday dinners? Maybe she had only one piece – a large platter that held a holiday ham or a turkey. Was the pattern an oriental design with a temple, a willow tree leaning over a stream,…

By Nash Black “This land is our land,” is a phrase from a favorite song, but in truth it isn’t our land. We only hold it in trust for a brief moment in time. When I was hunting for a topic to write about this week, a friend suggested I talk about the wildlife that…

By Nash Black The other morning as I was paying for my breakfast, the clerk called me, “honey.” I had to stifle a laugh though I was a bit surprised it was a guy. He wasn’t being disrespectful, he was unconsciously using a term he’d heard all his life. The geographers put Kentucky in the…

By Nash Black May 6, 2023 all eyes will be focused on Kentucky. The four legged superstars, the sponsors, the sportscasters, the owners, the trainers, the jockeys, the celebrities, the fans and anyone else who can beg, borrow or steal a ticket for the Run for the Roses.  This is the beginning of three-weeks of…

By Nash Black Here one minute and gone the next — a flash of brilliant green, a splash of red and we know one of our most fascinating summer visitors has returned. The American continents are blessed as the home of about 366 species of hummingbirds, mostly in the rainforests of South America. We who…