(Photo Credit: Shutterstock) As 2023 wound down, I began searching for a metaphor to understand the year that was. A hectic schedule found me immersed in unrelenting work demands that kept me away from the joy of writing. As I often do, I turned to nature to unwind and invite inspiration back into my world….
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…
Alleghanian Orogeny sounds like a concept that belongs in a sex self-help book. But actually, it’s a geological term to describe what occurred over a billion years ago in central Virginia when the ground smashed together until rolls and ridges formed the Blue Ridge Mountains. Today, those mountains harbor wildlife, prop up sunrises and sunsets,…
The view from High Knob Fire Tower is worth the hike—with or without fires. Miles and miles of horizon, hills, and heaven, all under a canopy of clouds that drift in and out of relevance. I hiked this trail with my sister and her family in May this year. The verdant brush with hopeful buds…
I’m always amazed at how memory shows up in the creative process. This photo (circa 1975) had been lost to me for decades. I recently found it and was surprised how the visual of the mountains resonates in the words from a short story I wrote just a few years ago: Mitch looked into the…
