“Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.”
– Albert Einstein
My mother-in-law and I share many of the same, quirky interests—not the least of which is her lovable son. But on a recent trip to Florida, we shared a walk through the Naples Botanical Garden. The walk turned out to be more like a fanciful daydream through Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax” with its puffy flowers…
It’s a new year. Each year we shed the gunk from the last twelve months, brush ourselves off, and prepare our attitudes for another go around the sun. We attempt to find better attitudes, more willpower, extra tenacity—a well-meaning, Auld Lang Syne tradition, I suppose. This year, it seemed, I had an extra layer of…
Back in June of this year, my husband and I hiked a small, overlooked park in our area—the Conway Robinson State Forest. We followed the straight and narrow path for at least a mile. I admired how nice it was to see straight ahead, to have clarity about the future of our hike, to bask…
Autumn is a competitive season. Football, politics, World Series, cooking shows. But I have a flaw in my personality: I can’t talk smack. I never could. And all of these competitive events apparently require competent smack talk to fully appreciate the enjoyment they provide. But whenever I try, it comes out stilted or inauthentic or…
This past summer my husband and I spent a weekend at Wintergreen Resort. The highlight of the trip was a hike led by an expert at The Nature Foundation at Wintergreen. John, our guide, led our straggly group of twelve strangers on the hike while explaining the geological history of the area and the notorious…
Trees: wise, sturdy, stoic. I have always loved trees—individually and for the forest they form collectively. These slender pines seem to be on a race to reach the sun, or at least the Carolina blue sky, with their piney tufts topping each barked pole and shading the ground below. But on a recent hike through…
