What is a Good Life?

Deep Thoughts on Birds. Unrelated: Cookies.

Despite all of the spring things making every day sparkle and smell lovely, the world in general lately has been feeling, to put it mildly, shaky. So much uncertainty worldwide (and within the US specifically); locally, the fires made a mockery of Angelenos’ sense of safety, avalanching any and everything that felt untethered and catapulting it into the unknown. Existential conversations are a constant throughline, making daily decisions feel near impossible. How can I decide what to make for lunch when there might not be a Department of Education by the time I’m finished eating?! But I’m not here to talk politics. I’m here to talk about something rich, tenuous and seemingly on the verge of extinction. All that below. Plus a recipe for something sweet involving my favorite new condiment.

Read

My Life with Cranes by George Archibald, pub. 2016
Buy: Rowe Sanctuary or used

I stumbled upon My Life with Cranes via a very special newsletter – Bill Davison’s Easy by Nature. Bill is a former marine-turned-nature photographer, enthusiast, conservationist and writer. My inbox – a self-selected Substack-laden chaos of business, art, architecture, fashion, design, astrology, books and food – is singularly balanced by Bill’s Friday missives. I save them to read on Saturdays, in bed, ensuring I pay close attention. Bill doesn’t discuss Wall Street or restaurants; he doesn’t ask you to buy anything (this feels important!). Instead, each week, he gently leads you to a larger understanding of the world and its intricacies by way of birds. His newsletter softens my edges, allows me to open up my aperture beyond the tiny sliver in which I operate. It helps me to see what’s real. This is all to say that Bill loves birds and now, so do I. A few months back he mentioned the work of a man named George W. Archibald, a Canadian who co-founded the International Crane Foundation in 1973 when he was still in his twenties. George became an international hero when he successfully paired with an endangered human-imprinted Whooping Crane named Tex, playing the role of her mate and dancing with her (crane talk for foreplay), which led her to ovulate, after which she was artificially inseminated, and started laying eggs. Eventually, she birthed. a. motherfucking. chick. Obviously I had to learn more.

I ordered George’s book and spent early March poring over its pages. Self-published, it’s not going to win any awards for writing. My eyes did, in fact, roll back in my head attempting to keep track of this man’s web of ‘Craniacs’ (his term!!) around the world. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that this is a book about how to operate without ego. It’s about a degree of focus and dedication that feels nostalgic. It’s about the pleasure of nature and the importance of conserving it – a theme that feels more important than ever at this moment when our national parks and beyond are on the brink. Did this book change my life in ways I didn’t expect? Quite possibly.

Annie Dillard wrote one of my (/everyone’s) favorite quotes that I return to frequently: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” That ‘of course’ feels almost funny (in a dark way) today. How are we spending our days? Scrolling, trolling. Refreshing. Staring into the abyss rather than into each other’s eyes. Choosing to be out of our bodies rather than feel the discomfort and joy of embodiment. Lost in a sea of tech, tied to our phones, we forget the ‘of course.’ But the ‘of course’ is everything. Because once you realize that this simple statement is basically the secret to a fulfilled life, how you spend your days starts feeling… kinda major. From the time he was a child, George spent his days outside, in nature, communing with animals, connecting with the physicality of tiny heartbeats and developing a love for avian life. His book chronicles his incredible career (which, at age 78, is still going) attempting to (and succeeding at) reigniting stagnant-bordering-on-extinct crane species.

This took George from the Korean DMZ to Iran, from Afghanistan to China, India to Siberia…in the 80s! This man waded into crocodile-laden marshes, hid in hides for literal days awaiting the arrival of a single bird, lived in quarters so small there was only room for a sleeping bag, flew across the world multiple times with heated suitcases filled with crane eggs (many of which hatched en route. The first service animals?!). He visited North Korea every year for over a decade. For 50-plus years, every waking hour has been devoted to perpetuating this species and their survival. George’s commitment and ability to connect with people across language barriers led him to visit with dignitaries, spreading the gospel about the cranes he so loved. He convinced multiple countries to start nature conservancies. At the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, he and his team took a fledgling population and pioneered techniques in order to breed endangered crane species in captivity. Currently, ICF is the only place in the world that’s home to all 15 crane species. They’ve preserved millions of acres of wetlands and grasslands.

On its face, the book is about one man following his passion and turning it into something much bigger than him. But reading it I kept getting stuck on the idea that a life like his doesn’t – can’t – exist in this day and age. Yes, there are dedicated people in the world doing incredible things; I’m not dismissing this. I’m more interested in the idea of Annie Dillard’s quote, the ways in which George embodies it entirely, and the fearful thought that it’s hard to find a modern day example of someone living this way. Reading about how George spends his days made me think about how I want to spend mine. And, if you read the book, I think it’ll make you ponder how you spend yours, too.

When I opened Bill’s Friday newsletter (on Saturday March 22, the day I’m writing this), I gasped. At a county lake, on a visit to observe the American Woodcock’s mating rituals, Bill was ogling a possum when a fellow birder yelled out his window, ‘Bill, there are Whooping Cranes on the lake!’ (I haven’t communicated news via an open car window in roughly 20 years. This alone feels like a goal I need to set my sights on.) He and his wife went down to look. A pair of cranes waded through a formerly-8-foot, currently-6-inch-deep lake thanks to drought. They foraged, preened and nested. After witnessing the cranes, the birders converged to chat and swap photos. I’ll let Bill take it from here: “The photographs revealed the same cranes had graced our region in autumn. We were not merely observers but participants in an ongoing story of migration. We are a small part of the cranes' biannual narrative, our landscape inscribed in their navigational memory.” If you open your eyes to the bigger picture (aka life), it makes the smaller things (aka days) resonate. Of course.

Eat

At an extremely special birthday celebration in Ojai last month, I tasted an ethereal dessert that’s been haunting me ever since: dates stuffed with black sesame butter, dunked in dark chocolate, drizzled with rose petals, and frozen. The next morning I made a beeline to Rainbow Bridge (IYKYK) and grabbed a jar of Eden Organic Black Sesame Butter. Barely a month later and it’s already gone. I’ve drizzled it on dates and then rolled it all in salty granola; eaten it plain off a spoon. After finally baking with it, I’m convinced this is a must for all pantries – dare I say, all people! Creamy, sweet and deep, it has none of the bitterness of tahini, making it the perfect addition to cookies. I made these on a whim and honestly can’t believe how good they are. (Aaron called them ‘almost savory,’ which I take as a compliment, as too-sweet sweets are not my thing.) Healthy and super easy, too – just one bowl. Enjoy!

Black Sesame Dark Chocolate Date Cookies
Makes 9

½ cup black sesame butter (whatever brand you can find, but Eden Organic is so good)
¼ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla (I’ve been using vanilla powder lately)
⅛ teaspoon Pink Himalayan sea salt (I use CAP’s)
1 cup oats (rolled, not quick; you can buy GF, too)
⅓ cup cocoa powder (I think in order for these to really work you need to use Valrhona; there is truly nothing darker or more delicious)
Heaping ½ cup chocolate, chopped (I used 100%)
½ cup dates, pitted and chopped (Medjool or Mazafati are my faves)
Maldon

Preheat your oven to 350F and line a quarter-sheet tray with parchment. In a bowl, mix the black sesame butter, maple syrup, vanilla and salt until smooth. Fold in the oats, cocoa powder, chocolate and dates until everything is mixed in evenly. Using a 3-tablespoon-size cookie/ice cream scoop (or just a tablespoon), scoop 9 rounded portions onto the sheet tray, then press down gently with your palm to flatten a bit. Sprinkle with Maldon and bake for 16 minutes. Let cool and devour. [Side note: I saved one wad of cookie dough, rolled it into a ball and refrigerated it for an energy ball moment. Highly recommend if you don’t feel like turning on the oven!]