The natural world, life, and dogs.
It’s the evening of December 31st. New Year’s Eve. I’m so done with 2020 and eager for 2021 to begin and be better. It’s a low bar, 2021; you can do it. Over the past few days, reading news articles looking back over 2020 and focused mainly on its awfulness, I tried to be mindful… Continue reading An Author’s Rewards
A symbiotic relationship is one that benefits members of two different species or groups. Last summer I wrote about the symbiotic relationship between ravens and wolves. While I wish I could personally observe that relationship in action, wolves are too elusive (as they should be) so it's only the ravens I'm privileged to see up… Continue reading Symbiosis: Ravens and Dogs
I'm fortunate. I get to see lots of wildlife where I live, adjacent to a national forest in Idaho's mountains. While I rank the wolf - including the one I was privileged to see in its natural environment back in 2006 - as my favorite animal among the local wildlife, red foxes are a close… Continue reading Outfoxed
The slow march to the shortest day and longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere ends today, the winter solstice. Here in central Idaho, it has been a day of fun (running snow-covered trails with the boys this morning) and celestial wonders, mixed with relief that our daylight hours will finally start lengthening.… Continue reading Winter Solstice
I’ve begun speaking aloud my thoughts about moving away from Idaho, maybe to Vermont. This shift from internal musings to sharing the idea with friends is one of the ways I process big changes I’m contemplating, putting it out there – verbalizing my reasons, hopes and concerns – and listening to the feedback. This lets… Continue reading Searching for My Tribe
Such a pretty word, serendipity. Tickles the lips and tongue to say it. Yet it's the word's meaning and its occurrence in life that's truly delightful. The fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance.Cambridge Dictionary A happy coinage by Horace Walpole to denote the faculty of making lucky and unexpected 'finds' by accident.… Continue reading Serendipity
At daybreak this morning the temperature is nine degrees Fahrenheit. Fog - common most mornings from autumn through spring - drapes the pastures on the valley floor, hiding roads, homes, trees, fences, and cattle under a fluffy light gray blanket. Fog lingering on the valley floor. Some days I watch the fog creep slowly up… Continue reading Frost: Nature’s Flocking
I’ve been wrestling with myself. A fierce internal battle for over three weeks now, and I’m exhausted. Should I write about “the incident” I hinted about in my last post? Or try to let it recede into my psychic background, let it die from lack of oxygen? And if I do write about it, how?… Continue reading Fear and Anger: A Toxic Mix
Ah. This - procrastinating - is something I'm good at! "To put off intentionally the doing of something that should be done."Merriam-Webster Dictionary In the first comprehensive English dictionary, Dr. Samuel Johnson defined procrastinate with a single word: delay. But there's much more to it, an underlying reason for the delay, whether anxiety, wishful thinking,… Continue reading Procrastinating
Autumn in these Idaho mountains arrives in late August and continues until the snow comes, usually in late November. A few late-blooming flowers offer splashes of color while the grasses, leaves and larch needles transition from green to various shades of yellows, oranges, reds and browns. It's pretty, in an understated way. This has been… Continue reading Dog Photobombs VIII – Autumn
Wild Sensibility 