Relationships – Jadi Campbell

Save the Animal Kingdom! #9

Yes. It’s time for the next post on animals that may go extinct thanks to the Trump administration’s removal of environmental protections. Installment #9 from my blog thread describing what to call groups of animals … See how many you can guess. Answers listed at the bottom of the page.

The gulp gulped down fish.
A puddle needs more water than just a puddle.
Late season is packed with packs.
A blessing blesses all my dreams.
The kennel was so happy to be out of the kennel!
The hover hovered just under the surface.

Answers:

Gulp of cormorants [1]
Puddle of platypussi [2]
Late season of grouse (in late season) [3]
Blessing of unicorns
Kennel of dogs
Hover of trout [4]

I’m beyond dismayed – I am furious. The Trump administration is gutting environmental protections. Take action. Speak up! Write letters, make phone calls, donate to organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund and Greenpeace. Volunteer.

NOTES: [1] At last, I can list some good news for a species: cormorants, once seriously threatened by DDT, rebounded after the chemical was outlawed and are now being culled. [2] While they once thrived across much of eastern Australia, the platypus faces localised extinction, particularly in the western part of their range. WWF [3] The greater sage grouse is perhaps Canada’s most endangered species. Alberta wilderness [4] Nearly all native trout — 92 percent — face some level of risk. Trout Unlimited© Jadi Campbell 2025. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. Fun animal names from www.writers-free-reference.com, Mother Nature Network and www.reference.com.

I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. Recent awards include Finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award for The Taste of Your Name and Finalist for Greece’s Eyelands 11th International Short Story Contest.

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Kids at Cranberry

This post is a blast from the past. My family spent many of the happiest weeks of our lives, individually and as a family unit, on the back trails of the Adirondacks. I’m posting this to remind myself I’m still on that trail, always.

Happy New Year Everyone!

NOTES: © Jadi Campbell 2025. To see Uwe’s pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.

I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. My recent awards are Finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award and Finalist for Greece’s Eyelands 11th International Short Story Contest.

Follow these links for Amazon.com or Amazon.de.

Save the Animal Kingdom! #8

Here is installment #8 from my blog thread describing what to call groups of animals … most of them now endangered or vulnerable. See how many you can guess. Answers listed at the bottom of the page.

The roll rolled up tight.
The flight took flight.
You don’t want this wake at a wake.
We spotted three stands standing on the beach.
The parliament looked parliamentary and regal indeed.
The risk risks being turned into dinner.

Answers:

Roll of armadillos [1]
Flight of butterflies [2]
Wake of buzzards
Stand of plovers (on land) [3]
Parliament of owls [4]
Risk of lobster [5]

Flight, back trails Cranberry Lake, Adirondacks USA

I’m beyond dismayed – I am furious. The Trump administration is gutting environmental protections. Take action. Volunteer. Speak up! Write letters, make phone calls, donate to organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund and Greenpeace.

NOTES: [1] Giant armadillos are listed as endangered and may go extinct. Zoo Conservation Outreach [2] “Bumblebees, beetles and butterflies are at greater risk of extinction than lions and tigers, according to a global study by the Zoological Society of London.” www.telegraph.co.uk [3] While Piping Plovers have increased in number in recent years, the species is still listed under the Endangered Species Act. It is considered Endangered in the Great Lakes region and Threatened in the remainder of its U.S. breeding range. The species is also listed as Endangered in Canada. [4] There are 227 species of typical owls, 24 of which are Vulnerable, 13 Endangered, and three Critically Endangered birdlife [5] On September 28, 2016, Food&Wine Magazine wrote that Maine lobster are in trouble thanks to global warming. © Jadi Campbell 2025. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. Fun animal names from www.writers-free-reference.com, Mother Nature Network and www.reference.com.

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New Zealand’s Pancake Rocks

While we were in New Zealand in February we stopped at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, South Island. It was a gorgeously sunny day and a pod of Hector’s dolphins were cavorting off shore!

The Pancake Rocks are eroded limestone rock formations, flat and compressed. The Tasman Sea has eroded them into blowholes and caves. It’s a great spot. We visited it for the first time 20 years ago… when the weather was cold and wet and rainy. We did manage to get a photo between showers.

I wanted to use this photograph for our annual Christmas card that year. Sadly, for some reason, Uwe nixed the idea. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! xo

NOTES: © Jadi Campbell 2025. To see Uwe’s pics from our trips go to viewpics.de.

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #7

I present to you installment #7 from my blog thread describing what to call groups of animals … See how many you can guess. Answers listed at the bottom of the page. (I’m especially proud of No. 5 on this week’s list!)

Their knot knotted in the mud.
He heard the murmuration’s murmurs.
Unblinking, the stare stared back.
The dole didn’t look doleful.
The earth’s earth was in the earth. ***
Stuffy noses don’t suit a sute.

Dole, Wong Tai Sin Medicine Temple, New Territories, China

Answers:

Knot of toads [1]
Murmuration of starlings
Stare of owls [2]
Dole of turtles [3]
Earth of foxes; place the vixen (female fox) searches out to raise her kits; ground she finds the earth in. ***3 uses of the word! [4]
Sute of bloodhounds

Knot member, back trails Cranberry Lake, Adirondacks USA

NOTES: [1] In the last 30 years the toad population in England alone has plummeted 70%. www.telegraph.co.uk [2] Around one-third of owl species in the world are endangered or at risk. Owls reference page [3] “Of the 207 species of turtle and tortoise alive today, 129 of them are listed by IUCN as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.” Tree Hugger [4] In 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Sierra Nevada red fox under the Endangered Species Act. Trump wants to remove the Endangered Species Act. ©Jadi Campbell 2025. All photos ©Uwe Hartmann or Jadi Campbell. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. Fun animal names from www.writers-free-reference.com, Mother Nature Network and www.reference.com.

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The Ghastly Ghost Writer

MAYDAY is an online cultural magazine produced by New American Press and I am very proud that they accepted my piece for their Culture column!

The Ghastly Ghost Writer is my takedown of Philip Roth, who tried his hardest to erase Anne Frank…. When I happened to stumble over his book I was appalled and disgusted. A year later I was still disgusted, enough so that I wrote about it.

MAYDAY agreed with me. I hope you will, too. Follow this link to read my essay in MAYDAY Magazine: MAYDAY Magazine: Culture

NOTES: © Jadi Campbell 2025. I’m a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. Recent awards include Finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award for The Taste of Your Name and Finalist for Greece’s Eyelands 11th International Short Story Contest.

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #6

Yet another addition to my blog thread describing what to call groups of animals! … See how many you can guess. Answers listed at the bottom of the page.

A rookery will hardly rook you.
The cast cast out sand.
The quivering quiver swayed and waited….
Culture doesn’t care about culture.
This lounge member lunged!
The swarm swarmed my sandwich and I couldn’t eat it.

Answers:

Quiver, Snake Farm (Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute), Bangkok Thailand

Rookery of gooney birds [1]
Cast of crabs
Quiver of cobras
Culture of bacteria
Lounge of lizards [2]
Swarm of flies [3]

Lounge member, Khao Lak National Park, Thailand

I’m beyond dismayed – I am furious. The Trump administration is gutting environmental protections. Take action. Speak up! Volunteer. Write letters, make phone calls, donate to organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund and Greenpeace.

NOTES: [1] Ah, the gooney bird… now better known as the albatross. This magnificent bird’s wingspan can reach 11 feet! Status: 19 species of albatross are threatened with extinction. Environmental Watch. Two-thirds of the world’s albatross species are globally threatened because of human action, with up to 100,000 birds killed annually as bycatch. www.birdlife.org [2] This particular lizard is a waran. It was bigger than me! Go to my earlier posts Warning: Waran!! and The Outback for more on my encounters with these critters. The Komodo dragon is classified by the IUCN as Endangered and is listed on the IUCN Red List. [3] Nothing compares to the Hell that is a swarm of flies in Australia’s Outback. Nothing. © Jadi Campbell 2025. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. Fun animal names from www.writers-free-reference.com, Mother Nature Network and www.reference.com.

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Eva Herlitz + Her Oversized Bears

Eva Herlitz was born on July 28, 1952 in Solingen, Germany. She was a teacher and interior decorator, and a visionary. Eva Herlitz and her husband Klaus created the wonderful United Buddy Bears. The couple invited artists from every country in the world to decorate oversized bear statues. The Buddy Bears are placed in circles side by side, in exhibits that tour around the globe and are always free to the public. Donations are raised for UNICEF and other charities for children. According to the Buddy Bears website: “Since 20th June 2001, when the Buddy Bears appeared in Berlin’s streets and squares for the first time, Buddy Bear activities and help for children in need have formed an inseparable unit.” In Eva Herlitz’s honor here I give you the post I wrote after The Buddy Bears came to downtown Stuttgart. – Jadi

Many people feel Berlin is now the cultural heart of Europe. Creative impulses come from Germany’s capital and spread from there. One of the quirkiest is the Buddy Bears.

The Buddy Bears creators were inspired by the cow parades in New York and Zurich. Eva and Klaus Herlitz of Berlin wanted to initiate a similar street art project. The bear is the icon of Berlin, and thus in 2001, the Herlitzes created the first bear with a sculptor named Roman Strobl.

United Buddy Bear New Zealand — New Zealand

Their projected expanded, and in 2002 it went international. They had a bear created for every country the UN acknowledges, designed by artists native to each country. The bears have their arms raised as if they’re holding hands. (This can also be described as the laughing Buddha pose.) Each bear is painted with images of the culture, history, landscape, economy, art and music of its country.

The first display took place in a circle around Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. The circle symbolizes the Art of Tolerance. One and a half million people saw the exhibit, and since then, they’ve toured 5 continents and stood in an alphabetical circle in the centers of host cities.

I saw the Buddy Bears in 2008 when they came to the Schlossplatz in downtown Stuttgart. They send a message about peace, understanding, love and tolerance among the world’s nations, cultures and religions.

When new bears are commissioned, the older ones are auctioned off. All monies go to UNICEF and other childrens’ charities. As of September 2018, 2,300,000 Euros have been raised for charities such as Eva Herlitz’s Buddy Bear Help!

Over 240 artists have been involved in the project, and more than 30 million visitors have seen the United Buddy Bears. A smaller circle of United Buddy Bears-The Minis (1 meter high) also tours.

The United Buddy Bears exhibitions are always opened by national and foreign dignitaries. After he saw the bears in Berlin, actor Jackie Chan made sure they came to Hong Kong. When UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Sir Peter Ustinov saw them, he insisted that Iraq be represented.

There is one very special grey and white polar bear. He has the image of Albert Einstein and the following quote: ‘Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding’.

Kirgyzstan, Columbia, Congo and Congo-Brazzaville

It’s fascinating to consider that United Buddy Bears change their order as they travel. The circle is always organized in the language of the host country. Buddy Bears may suddenly hold hands with distant or hostile neighbors…

In memory of Eva Herlitz, 28 July 1952 – 26 February 2021

Selected Bibliography:

Herlitz, Eva & Klaus, United Buddy Bears — Die Kunst der Toleranz. Bostelmann & Siebenhaar Publishers, 2003. ISBN 3-936962-00-6.

Herlitz, Eva & Klaus, United Buddy Bears — World Tour. NeptunArt Publisher, 2006. ISBN 3-85820-189-8.

Herlitz, Eva & Klaus, United Buddy Bears — The Art of Tolerance. 384 pages, English/German, December 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-029417-4.

NOTES: Photos and Text© 2013 Jadi Campbell. Previously published as The United Buddy Bears. To learn more: Buddy Bears website. I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My award-listed books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. My most recent book, The Taste of Your Name, was a finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award. Follow these links for Amazon.com or Amazon.de.

Today’s Birthday: Colleen Margaretta McCullough

Author Colleen McCullough was born on June 1, 1937 in Wellington, Australia. She wrote a highly regarded series on Rome; she taught and did research at Yale’s Medical School Dept. of Neurology. And while she was working at Yale – because neurology and a position at an Ivy League university somehow didn’t take up all her time – she wrote The Thorn Birds. In her honor I give you the post I wrote after visiting the Outback. —Jadi

In The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough vividly depicts a turn of the century sheep ranch in the Australian Outback. The hardships of working an unforgiving landscape, conditions that seem too extreme to be real, and the isolation are all accurately portrayed.

You’re already yawning, right?

All right then, how about this? In The Thorn Birds, young heroine Meggie and the priest Father Ralph de Bricassart, many years her senior, fall in love. Their life long passion is both forefront and backdrop to the fates of a family in the Outback.

That caught your attention!

I’m not usually one for the guilty pleasure of romance novels, but this one works on so many levels that it’s irresistible. Whether as romance, family saga, or historical portrayal, The Thorn Birds is a great read. It’s also accurate to a fault. As you read this book, you experience Australia’s hard climate along with McCullough’s characters.

Uwe and I drove through a small portion of the Western Australia Outback. Our goal was the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and we had a long, stop-every-3-hours to stretch our legs drive to do. The Coolgardie-Esperance Highway goes on with no bends or turns (and very few trees).

We halted briefly in Norseman

WR_05_03_508 — Norseman, Western Australia

and purchased sandwiches and drinks for a planned picnic stop. But there was a problem: no picnic tables anywhere. We drove and drove. Why, on such an endless highway, were there were no facilities?

We finally gave up and pulled over to the side of the road.

WR_05_03_390 — At least there was a tree and some shade

I got out of the car and spread lunch on the hood. I was too hungry to wait for Uwe, so I unwrapped my sandwich and yummy cake, and gazed out into the endless empty brush.

WR_05_03_393 — The Indian Ocean is somewhere on the other side of those mountains

Every fly in the endless empty brush left wherever they’d been snoozing. Within seconds my eyes and mouth, my hands and arms, and my lunch were engulfed with fat hungry insects. My sandwich was rendered way beyond salvaging; it had vanished under layers of crawling flies. I wrapped everything back into a bag to throw away later and contented myself with a piece of fruit (eaten in the car, with the windows all closed).

In case you’re eating your own lunch as you read this I won’t tell you what it is in The Thorn Birds that’s covered in flies. But man, that McCullough sure can write!

In memory of Colleen McCullough, June 1, 1937 to January 29, 2015

NOTES: Copyright © 2013 Jadi Campbell. Previously published as The Outback. To see Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. PS: In the last thirty years, I’ve read The Thorn Birds four times. I’m sure I’ll read it again….

I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My award-listed books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. My most recent book, The Taste of Your Name, was a finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award.

Follow these links for Amazon.com or Amazon.de.

My Imaginary Friends: #13 Brian Klevenger

Maybe it’s weird, but I know more about people in my imagined universe than I do about the real people in my life. I figure real folks are entitled to their privacy. But if I thought you up and wrote you down, I DO know and WILL share salacious and embarassing details.

I create back stories for all my characters. People in my books reappear in later works. I take characters who showed up in an earlier novel or short story and fill in their profiles – sometimes against their wills.

Which brings us to Brian Klevenger. He made a brief appearance in Tsunami Cowboys, remember? Brian is Scott McCreedy’s best friend. He’s an only child, the son of alcoholics, and spends as much time as possible at Scott’s house.

Brian takes center stage in my most recent novel The Taste of Your Name. He’s fled to Germany where he does reminiscence therapy with dementia patients. He’s sleeping with two sisters. And (because I wrote his story) I tell the readers his most secret inner thoughts and emotions (because getting to do so is one of the great rewards of being a writer).

Brian is one of the most complex, complete human beings I know. You can meet him here: Amazon.com. Available around the world as eBook, hardcover, and paperback.

I am a Best American Essays-nominated writer. My books are Broken In: A Novel in Stories, Tsunami Cowboys, Grounded, The Trail Back Out, and The Taste of Your Name. My most recent book with Brian, The Taste of Your Name, was a finalist for the 2025 Compass Press Book Award.

Category: Relationships

Save the Animal Kingdom! #9

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Kids at Cranberry

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #8

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New Zealand’s Pancake Rocks

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #7

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The Ghastly Ghost Writer

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Save the Animal Kingdom! #6

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Eva Herlitz + Her Oversized Bears

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Today’s Birthday: Colleen Margaretta McCullough

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My Imaginary Friends: #13 Brian Klevenger

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