Protecting Land and Preserving Heritage. Forever.
You rarely know who or what has unseen eyes on you during a casual stroll in the forest. In this case, it’s a half dozen turkeys, more curious than afraid. At least, theirs are the only eyes I’m aware of. I’ve walked the loop at Hemphill Woods before, admired the age-old wall stones carefully crafted […]
Sometime twelve to twenty thousand years ago, this familiar boulder ceased its laborious inching along under a retreating wall of ice and came to rest on a south-facing cliff between what would become Mohegan and Nipmuc territory. I can’t see our future. I can barely see my own past. And this after seventy-plus years and […]
I was more than a little uncomfortable yesterday beginning the hike up Utley Hill alongside Columbia Lake Brook. “Walking it Back” suggests undoing a position, an action, or a decision – and in this case, the vivid memory that needs reversal lies in my own head. I’ve avoided this particular Joshua’s Trust area for ten […]
The barberry and bittersweet thin out as we get further from the road, replaced by ferns and hemlocks. Automobile noise is supplanted by bird sound. A flock of robins surround us and complain; “Tut tut tut”, a sound that has been perfectly described as disapproval and annoyance. “Don’t you try anything, humans.” Invisible chipmunks too […]
(sorry, I couldn’t resist. Dunham Pond was for me what Walden was for Henry David.) -Bob Kortmann A few weeks ago, I received an email in my inbox from Bob Kortmann. Not all the emails I receive from unknown individuals are kind so I was pleasantly surprised when I opened Bob’s email and he wanted […]
Some of us in the May nature writer’s workshop took that day’s drafts and re-worked them later to share here. We’ll do another workshop in September, at a new spot, for those whose schedules interfered at the last minute – and all interested others! Under the partial shade of a sugar maple I sit on […]
On Google Earth it looks like a shag rug. Deep green, a hidden oasis surrounded by modern civilization. I circle the margin, trying to become part of that world of shallow water and thick Atlantic Cedars. And I fail. It’s closed off to non-avians; I bet a tick would struggle to survive. The bog is […]
This Red Oak in my front yard is in the prime of its life. My favorite tree, it’s been the home to many an Oriole family and shades my house all summer long. I saved it from Gypsy Moths in 2017 and 2018 only to have it hit by lightning in 2019. Aargh. Look again […]
After spending the last five winters in sunny Florida, I found myself back in my adult hometown of Storrs. My family and friends-both here and in Florida-found my excitement about experiencing winter again –the snow, the cold, the ice, the shoveling, the need for boots and warm coats, hats and gloves- surprising, amusing, and confusing. […]
Connecticut Tribune, March 09, 2022 PIG BOMB? State Police refuse to answer questions about the 2-year-old story, insisting that it never happened. But rumors continue in the Quiet Corner about a nighttime semitruck accident on Rt. 84 that accidentally released a cargo of Wild Boar into the forests of Tolland and Willington. At the TA […]
