"When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty." Is it any wonder that all of Muir's books are still in print? New biographies about him are still being written and published, and people from his birthplace home in Scotland have formed <http://www.cs.strath.ac.uk/Contrib/JMC/DJMA/> Dunbar's John Muir Association. His ranch-home in Martinez, California, is the home of the John Muir Memorial Association, and his name is still invoked by those who believe that nature's treasures deserve protecting. Muir's heroic life is recognized in the geography of many places, including the Muir Glacier in Alaska, Muir Memorial Park in Wisconsin, and in California by such places as Muir Woods National Monument, the John Muir Trail, the John Muir Wilderness, and the John Muir National Historic Site. In his birthplace of Dunbar, Scotland, there is a Muir Country Park, and his birthplace home is now a museum. Scotland also boasts a John Muir Trust which works to preserve nature in the United Kingdom much as the Sierra Club does in the United States, Canada, and through global partners all around the world. Further, our appreciation for Muir is not confined to geography, for in California and elsewhere his birthday, April 21, is recognized as "John Muir Day," a day to recognize the modern ecological insight that man is a part of Nature, and that our well being - indeed our very survival - depends upon an ecologically sound natural environment. Students and teachers can learn more about celebrating John Muir Day through the <http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/john_muir_day_study_guide> John Muir Day Study Guide. Finally, the John Muir Trust in Scotland and the Sierra Club in the U.S.A. are now launching a new John Muir Youth Award to encourage young people to get involved in discovering and protecting wild places as Muir did. John Muir is a hero who can best be honored by each of us doing what we can to live his message and protect the environment. ~~~~~~~~~~~ This is just a "wee toty bit" (small part) snipped from the MANY biographical sketches of John Muir, born in Dunbar, Scotland, April 21.1838, died in Los Angeles, California 1914, which means he was "just" three years older than I when he died. Apart from nature allowing me to bring three children into this world, and by extension nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild, there is nowhere that my life will be noted as anything exceptional when I depart this vail. I would urge listers to read about the life of John Muir, this native son of Scotland, whose name is synonymous with "environment." He is not a prophet without honour in his own land as the town of Dunbar has appropriately turned his home into a museum and otherwise noted and honoured his name Now, California Governor (Ahhhmold!) Arnold Schwarzenegger, as an immigrant himself (Austria), has chosen the winning design by a Los Angeles graphic designer of "The people's quarter." Each of the 50 states is in the process of choosing a winning design for a commemorative quarter. To quote, "When the coin hits the streets, it will be the 31st commemorative quarter --- part of a ten-year program meant to honor all 50 states in the order they joined the union." For a country of only 5 million souls, Scotland, out of all proportion to its numbers, has produced men and women of remarkable accomplishments. It must be something in the water! ...though Glesga watter is a lot sweeter and easier on the body and hair than that from the east coast where John Muir came from in East Lothian ...ahem! (Note: The Scottish spelling "muir," as a common noun, means the same as moor - a wide tract of untilled ground, often covered with heath, and having a poor, peaty soil. The personal name Muir is quite common in Scotland.) The Good Book admonishes us that: "He who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted." Well, as Scotland's bard* wrote "...facts are chiels." (*As many are aware, that's Robert Burns, fowks!).. so I think we Scots have every right to do a wee bitty boasting from time to time. Maisie