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Maria Mudd Ruth

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The 5-Minute Cloud

June 18, 2013 Maria

    Every day I watch a cloud for five minutes. This is harder than you might think, especially if you are a person like me who is prone to distraction. Two years ago, when I first began this daily cloud-watching discipline, I set my cell phone alarm and turned my sights skyward. When the alarm when off, I was in the garden on my hands and knees weeding.

   It's taken a while to focus on one thing--one moving and constantly changing thing-- for five minutes, but it is so rewarding once you get the hang of it. Once you tell your body to stay still. Once you convince your mind to stop wandering.

   On a gentle southeast breeze, here is five minutes in the life of a little cumulus cloud yesterday:

← Marbled Murrelet Needs Your Help by July 1DNR Seeks Input on Murrelet Conservation Strategy →

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Flying from Mountaineers Books this Spring—the story of the Pigeon Guillemot—the world’s most charismatic alcid. This non-fiction natural history will be on bookshelves and available from online retailers on April 7, 2026. Click a link below to pre-order a copy now from these purveyors:

Mountaineers Books (non-profit, indie publisher based in Seattle)

Browsers Books (Olympia’s indie bookstore)

Bookshop.org (support your local bookstore)

Barnes & Noble (in the book biz since 1971)

Amazon

Other Natural History Titles by Maria Mudd Ruth…

A Sideways Look at Clouds

 

“Compelling…engaging.” The Library Journal

“Rare insights into the trials and joys of scientific discovery.” Publishers Weekly

Read more reviews and details here: Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet

Enjoy this song by Peter Horne, "Little Bird, Little Boat, Big Ocean.” Written about the Marbled Murrelet, but the lyrics work well for the Pigeon Guillemot, too.


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