The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

by Margaret Renkl

I’m not trying to hide from the truth but to balance it, to remind myself that there are other truths, too. I need to remember that the earth, fragile as it is, remains heartbreakingly beautiful. I need to give my attention to a realm that is indifferent to fretful human mutterings and naked human anger, a world unaware of the hatred and distrust taking over the news.

The microbes in freshly turned soil stimulate serotonin production, working on the human brain the same way antidepressants do.

Dogs will demand their supper at the usual hour, and their people will spend the next hour fruitlessly trying to convince them that it is not in fact suppertime.