Everyone I know is facing some sort of quality of life crisis and I’m no exception. I find it helpful to sort out my thoughts when I can go for a long hike.
The issues I have to resolve have kept me from spending more time in the woods, but most of the nice weather is still ahead of me. So much of what happens is how you deal with things.
I just made a series of decisions that I would have made differently if I had chosen to spend more time hiking. We all lose perspective from time to time. (more…)
I’m delighted that one of my fellow CSA members at Harmony Farm has joined me in eating the rhizomes and roots of the thistles we are weeding to make room for the cultivated vegetables.
When I hear a Wood Thrush sing for the first time each season, it’s a moment of pure joy. This has been a remarkable year. I not only got to hear a few stanzas, I got more than a glimpse. I’d love to have gotten closer, but I’ll take what I can get:
It’s very odd to be wandering through an urban park, like New York’s Central Park and see more wildlife in a few minutes than I typically see on my usual Hudson Valley hikes.
I first thought this was a cat stalking the migrating birds, but a closer look revealed a raccoon on the way home from a night’s foraging:
As I worked on identifying migrating warblers, I was totally surprised to find that not only squirrels, but cardinals, robins, and even house sparrows would approach anyone with binoculars, expecting seeds.
You just don’t see that in a typical wilderness situation. (more…)
