With a nod to nature-writer extraordinaire Carolyn Foote Edelmann — and a hat tip to a Baltimore-born friend, here is her father’s wonderfully evocative op-ed piece about winter. Zoologist Gairdner Bostwick Moment and his wife, Ann, were among my parents’ best friends and my favorites among their friends. He graduated from Princeton University in 1928.

My friend generally writes with piercing truth about health and nursing issues, but this — reprinted from the Baltimore Sun long ago — is pure pleasure.

BALTIMORE’S BIRDS OF DECEMBER

by Gairdner B. Moment

The first snows of winter dust the roofs and hiss softly as they sift through the fir tree branches or ting as tiny bits of ice hit against the window panes. The time has come to sit around the fire of an evening with a mug of hot chocolate or perhaps of hot buttered rum and discuss weighty issues like vacations past or future.

On one such night the talk turned to birds….To continue click here

The illustration of a kestrel, a sparrow hawk that Gairdner Moment writes about, comes from the website of a University of California at Santa Cruz research project, the Kestrel Parallel Processor.

Mercer County plans to close its youth detention center in Ewing and incarcerate offenders at a larger facility in Middlesex. As quoted in the Times of Trenton, officials say that attendance in the juvenile slammer is low, so closing it makes sense. Supposedly this will save $4.6 million and help solve two problems: “inappropriate detention of youth in detention facilities” and “over-representation of minority youth in detention.”

Is this good or bad for Mercer youth? Who knows? But the experts probably have an opinion, and they will meet at Princeton University next month, Cornel West and Michelle Alexander as keynoters.

Imprisonment of a Race, a one-day conference at Princeton University, will be Friday, March 25, starting at 10:30 a.m. in McCosh Hall, Room 10. Registration is required, but it’s free.

If you have an opinion on moving the juvenile jail, please comment. Supposedly the county will provide transportation, twice a week, so families can see teens who are so violent they aren’t allowed to stay home. Everybody else gets home detention.

Just thinking about it is depressing.

Jonathan Elliott’s review of “The Little Prince” in U.S. 1 sent us down to the Bristol Riverside Theatre last night. We were frankly thrilled to see such a tour-de-force of puppetry and acting. The famous classic, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and adapted for life-size puppets, was directed by Scott Hitz and had a superb cast.

We stopped off at the Kelch House beforehand. Because we were short on time we just had appetizers, and because it was still happy hour (until 7) the appetizers were all half price so we made out like Flynn. Get there by 6 if you want a regular meal. We didn’t even miss dessert, ’cause gourmet gelato was served at intermission at the theater. A perfect evening.

Which was the best puppet? The snake was wonderful, but we liked the fox best. Of course.

The “Little Prince” continues through Sunday, February 13. Don’t be dismayed if you can get seats only on the side; the sightlines are fine. And it won’t spoil it to read the review beforehand. I also want to add that, given such a strong recommendation I’d better say that we paid for the tickets. I’ll say so if we don’t.

Finally, I finished my 5,500 word account of our “journey to the center of the earth,” our adventures with installing a geothermal system, published in this week’s paper. After using a tripod and self-timer to try to take the cover photo, we enlisted the help of neighbor Kate Newell after the last snow storm to take just one more shot, the best. Thanks Kate! We were supposed to be posing for an “American Gothic” headline but we were smiling too much.

Brooke Shields was Princeton’s media darling in the ’80s, glimpsed around campus and in Triangle productions (photo by Y.S. Kim, ’87).

They hone their speaking skills, pick up speaking tips, do some networking, and chow down on yummy food. This describes the monthly “Speaking That Connects: workshops held by Eileen Sinett of Comprehensive Communication Services at her Plainsboro Road studio for a dozen or so entrepreneurs.

Those at the January meeting shared these opportunities:

The “Queen of Laughter” ” (Sherri Waryasz, in the caricature) offers “Laugh Yourself Healthy” workshops on first Wednesdays (March 2), at 7 p.m. at Robert Wood Johnson’s Fitness & Wellness Center, 3100 Quakerbridge Road. Register at 609-584-5900, $5 payable at the door. She promises that to show how to use laughter as a powerful tool to ease and enhance your personal and professional life. sherri@queenoflaughter.com

Kathy Kyriakou of GiftCatalogs4u issues an invitation to an open networking event sponsored by BNI Mercer County on Friday, Feb. 11, 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Wyndham Hotel and Conference Center on Scudders Mill Road. Those who pre-register at http://www.bnimercer.com pay $20 at the door, other pay $24.

Organize Yourself for Inner Peace with Ellen Tozzi’s interactive workshop on Saturday, February 19, 10 to 1 p.m. Cost $20. “Learn the tools and mindset you need to get organized in this interactive workshop. Explore the causes of clutter and get tips on how to eliminate items, organize what remains and develop systems to stay organized,” says Ellen Tozzi. Call 609-683-1101. Cost: $20. Tozzi also teaches at the Princeton Adult School, starting Thursday, February 24. Ellen@NaturalOrderDesign.com

Karen Hodges Miller of Open Door Publications will stage a day-long “Writing, Publishing, and Selling Your Book” on Saturday, April 16.

Robert Gough of Green Energy Economics (www.Viridian.com/Green4Less) and also president of the Jamesburg-Monroe Regional Chamber of Commerce invites new chamber members at a cost of $100 annually.

For these fourth Friday breakfast meetings, the baked goods – muffins, breads, and egg/cheese dishes – are provided by Shirley Reynolds of Private Party Chefs. (In the photo, she is on the right, shown with Sinett). Reynolds is a culinary arts and business graduate who has been a food service director in business, industry, school district, and R&D; environments and who has now opened her own catering business (workingchefs@aol.com).

Sinett offers the next breakfast meeting on Friday, February 25, 8:30 to 10 a.m., at 610 Plainsboro Road. Cost: $10. Register at 609-799-1400 or http://www.speakingthatconnects.com

In today’s NYT Book Review, Neil Genzlinger makes a compelling case for not writing the memoir.

With a “hot needle and a burning thread” I’m posting the calendar of Shakespeare films at the Seminary (that’s Princeton Theological Seminary. I discovered them by chance, and they start Tuesday, February 1, at 7 p.m. in Stuart Hall Room 6. Surely these films are ideal for introducing students to the Bard. Best, they are free.

A DIALOG FOR ALUMNI ON HOW TO:

FIND NEW USES FOR YOUR WISDOM, EXPERIENCE AND PASSION

Featuring

President Shirley M. Tilghman, Princeton University

Keynote Speaker: Marc Freedman, Founder and CEO of Civic Ventures

Author of “Prime Time: How Baby Boomers will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America” and

“Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life”

Morning Plenary: A Meaningful Midlife: The Purpose Prize Panel

Featuring three individuals who found inspiring encore careers:

• Chet Safian ’55, Princeton AlumniCorps, Princeton Project 55 fellowships View Chet’s Bio
• Barbara Chandler Allen, Fresh Artists View Barbara’s Bio
• Richard Cherry, Community Environmental Center View Richard’s Bio

Afternoon Plenary: Serve Society Professionally: Careers in the Public Interest

Featuring:

• Kerry Hannon, author of What’s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job
• Stephanie Scott Harbour, President of Mom Corps

AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS:

• Model Behavior: Mentoring opportunities in your city and/or through Princeton
• The Alumni Network: Starting an alumni-driven projectat another college or university
• A Class Act: Learn the Basics of Princeton Class Service Projects
• Little Time, Big Hearts: Short-term service projects offered through Princeton and other public interest organizations

• Make Your Next Chapter Meaningful: Substantive opportunities to lend your for-profit skills to the nonprofit sector

February 25, 2011 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Princeton University info@alumnicorps.org

Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m.

If you’ve skated at Princeton University, you skated at the Hobey Baker rink. I didn’t realize what an icon Hobey Baker was until today’s New York Times article about the New Hampshire prep school where Baker first made history.