Books
Biography
Archive
Feedback
Billie Silvey
An eclectic website about Women, Christianity,
History, Culture and the Arts--
and anything else that comes to mind.
Portuguese
Space/Sea
Us
Discovery
Katyana discovers rainbow trout in a
coastal stream at Monterey Aquarium.
It’s September, and time to go back to school.  Katyana, in
her new clothes, shoes and backpack, will be starting
second grade and making new discoveries—in history,
geography and science as well as reading, writing and
arithmetic.  

She will do well, because she goes at life with courage and
curiosity.  She is one of the discoverers.

She reads to find out what happens next.  She studies
science to learn more about this wonderful world we live in.  
She loves history—her own and her family’s.  The comfort
of the unchanging amidst all the change—the stories of what
Uncle Robert did when he was little that make her own
stories seem less earth-shattering.

Her summer was a summer of discovery, with two trips to
Monterey.  The first was to the aquarium, where she
discovered much about life in the waters that cover our
planet, and the second to
Asilomar for a family reunion,
where she discovered sand dunes and coastal pine forest—
and three generations of Silvey aunts, uncles and cousins.

It seems like yesterday when her discoveries were more
personal—a hand or a foot flying across her field of vision,  
explored by eyes, another hand, a mouth.  She’s already
past her years of greatest discovery, the first five years of
her life.  

She’s growing up fast—too fast.  I love being able to talk
with her with greater understanding,  taking turns reading
and discovering books together, watching her discover her
fashion sense, her taste in music, her knowledge of right and
wrong.  

But I feel a poignant sense of loss with each new inch, lost
tooth, new skill.  Discoveries are but steps in the inevitable
process of growing up, and I know that eventually some will
be less joyous than starting second grade.

Other articles in this website include early
Portuguese
explorers who discovered a route to India around the coast
of Africa; modern discoveries in
space and sea; and
explorers of the
internal landscape of genetics and the brain.

I hope you enjoy the website and will write me with your
comments at
b.silvey@sbcglobal.net.
Katyana (left) gets to know two Toronto
cousins.
Katyana reads to her pony.
September 2013
Sand dunes at Asilomar with boardwalk
built to protect them.
Katyana ready for second grade.