Author Archives: Kim & Jim

June 9, 2016. The Fort McMurray wildfire in Saskatchewan, north of Calgary, the provincial capital and an oil producing mecca for decades—most recently using sand impregnated with bitumen and called “tar sands”—is the biggest disaster in Canadian history. It burned … Continue reading →

June 8, 2016.  I spent some time yesterday sitting in my front yard watching a bumblebee forage in the flowering pinks on the verge of our sidewalk. She was visiting not only the new blooms but also the nearly-expired ones, … Continue reading →

May 22, 2016.  Spring has come to Minnesota…well, we actually had summer back in March, then late winter a week ago, so I’d say spring has come twice to Minnesota, all in the same year.  And with spring there is … Continue reading →

April 21, 2016.  Our resident superstar, Prince, died this morning about thirty miles west of here, and I am pondering how decisions by each of us, individually, affect the big, beautiful, blue-green world.  His particular genius required he stay out … Continue reading →

April 17, 2016.  This is a photo of a cherry tree in bloom, under the river bluffs of my hometown, Winona, Minnesota. The sight of blossoming cherry trees is not unusual in spring, but this tree is: it is a … Continue reading →

March 19, 2016.  Our remarkable, ever-surprising country has a case of Berniemania and Trumpitis, with a low-grade Cruz-Hillary fever.  Driving the highway a few weeks back, pondering all this, I passed a place where, over a decade ago, I’d saved … Continue reading →

March 1, 2016.  Last month Elizabeth and I drove several hours in the general direction of the North Pole, walked across a frozen lake on snowshoes, and settled in for a few days of isolation and immersion in the cold … Continue reading →

February 6, 2016.  We’re all mostly correct in our collective outrage that Flint’s water supply was contaminated with lead after switching from using Detroit’s water system to drawing from the Flint River.  As we now know, that river water corroded … Continue reading →

January 9, 2016.  One day this week I spent twenty minutes watching an immature red-tailed hawk trying to catch squirrels in my back yard.  I first noticed him out my dining room window—if you have never seen a red-tail, they … Continue reading →

November 14, 2015.  Watching the horror unfold in Paris yesterday, reminded of the many horrors visited on the world regularly, I can’t help but feel that writing about a bird is a trivial, perhaps even disrespectful thing to do.  But … Continue reading →