Profligate Nature

 

I was at a gathering tonight where mention was made of Annie Dilliard's "An American Childhood." Her book "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" has influenced this blog. Here is a quote from it that I find amusing:
Nature is. above all, profligate. Don’t believe them when they tell you how economical and thrifty nature is, whose leaves return to the soil. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to leave them on the tree in the first place? This deciduous business alone is a radical scheme, the brainchild of a deranged manic-depressive with limitless capital. Extravagance!...This is a spendthrift economy; though nothing is lost, all is spent. (p.65)