WriterByNature.com

December 31, 2005 4:57 pm

One of the joys of living in a multi-cultural area is that I get to say “Happy New Year” at least five times a year.

From the day I entered nursery school New Year meant the start of school in September. In kid-think September is a NEW Year - new teacher, new homeroom, new desk, new rules, sometimes new classmates - maybe even a new building. I cannot think of anything more specifically “New Year” than the start of school.
December-to-January is the time to order seed catalogs if you’re a gardener or a farmer. That’s a New Year for the plants. I guess it just depends on your definition of NEW and YEAR. (more…)

December 30, 2005 3:09 pm

This was the perfect day for an 8.2 mile hike - my first longer-than-5-mile hike in weeks. What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was ice hiking in rain. Today I spent my hike negotiating mud, flood, and slippery rock surfaces. Even with today’s obstacles, I covered in 45 minutes what took me over an hour yesterday. Don’t tell me it’s not spring - mud season is when snow melts faster than the earth can absorb the moisture, just before the sap starts to rise. (more…)

December 27, 2005 4:18 pm

I get the feeling that our calendar system is profoundly inaccurate. When the calendar indicated it was autumn, I was experiencing the frigid air temperatures and packed powder snow of winter as I hiked and camped. Now that the calendar indicates it’s winter, I’m hiking in 45-degree F air temperature, up to my ankles in mud and seriously contemplating kite-flying on what feels like a spring day. There’s even an extra minute of daylight.

I’m going to allow myself to feel the hopefulness that comes with spring - at least until an icy winter blast changes Nature’s offering.

3:42 pm

This short story was first published in PAWS & TALES Magazine.

Whatever Lola Wants

3:41 pm

This is one of a series of nature poems.

Transition

3:39 pm

This is one of a series of nature poems.

In the Moment

3:37 pm

The title of both an award-winning animated JJ film and a JJ poem.

Leaf Dance

3:32 pm

A more-than-a-food poem.

Corn Ceremony

3:30 pm

A workshop assignment using apparently unrelated words including: boundary, lamps, host, parasite, crutch, eunuch and balance.

In Praise of Ancient Life

3:25 pm

I wrote this in 1995, long before reality TV shows.

Natural Snack