The path from March to May always twists and turns, fraught with weather surprises. At the Friedman Memorial Forest, April snow is heavy and winter’s hush has returned to the woods. Shark fins of bright green skunk cabbage pop up through snow by the brook, looking implausible, a page from a kids coloring book. No […]
Rookery Appointment Log Read Post »
Two crows are speaking their gentle Morse Code language high in a gypsy-moth-beheaded Maple as I go by. They always sound contented while making these vocalizations, like an affectionate couple sharing a story about a weird neighbor (I’m sure Bernd Heinrich knows what they really mean). I’m walking Joshua’s Trust’s Pond Lot trail in late
Six of us strode a sunlit forest ridge along Chapin Brook in Holt/Kinney Woods late last fall. Earlier Co-Steward Mia and I had discovered a carefully hidden mountain bike trail there. While we all discussed how to dismantle it and discourage future bikers, it became clear that we could repurpose much of it as a
At four AM the night sparkles. The full moon is low enough to cast reflective glitter on the inch of eerie blue snow in my yard. Snow is frozen (crystallized) water vapor. Yes, it’s a gas turned right into a solid – fallen from the sky. A “blizzard” is defined as a severe snowstorm with
Quiet Corner Storm Stories: Remember Snow? Read Post »
As you can see from the photograph, I wasn’t always an angry guy- it’s not a genetic characteristic. My old friend Joe the Psychologist tells me anger can also be a result of “environmental factors”. Well, yeah. My environment is under siege, so I think outrage is an appropriate response. In fact, it’s my biological
Taking It Personal Read Post »
One can easily be miserable in this kind of weather; I’ve just chosen not to. The rain and wind are getting nasty. The hood is up on my raincoat and my gloved hands are deep in my pockets. I follow the red trail at Chenes Roches along a nameless brook, down its dark ravine between
