Category Archives: Uncategorized

Just Talking About…Our Temperature Sweet Spot March 21, 2021.  You know how, sometime in late spring or maybe early summer, you step outside without a coat on, feel a certain gentleness in the slight wind brushing your face, see the … Continue reading →

May 24, 2020.  There are many birders, but fewer life-listers.  The former are serious enough bird watchers to stop dead in their tracks and look up when they hear the call of an uncommon bird passing overhead.  I’ve done that … Continue reading →

February 18, 2018.  Taking a walk through Graceland Cemetery at Clark and Irving Park in Chicago we watched a coyote watching us.  At a distance of a hundred yards and in poor light, we could only see its outline—in profile … Continue reading →

September 26, 2017.  Last summer my neighbor and I conspired to turn our shared boulevard (the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street in our Winona neighborhood parlance) from a crabgrass herbarium to a prairie.  We covered the … Continue reading →

October 18, 2015. We have an apple tree in the backyard. In spring, apple blossoms and their scent fill the eyes and nose, in summer, leafy shade gives cool comfort, and in the fall—ah, in the fall—apples in abundance. More … Continue reading →

Despite my distrust of the Catholic Church hierarchy (raised Lutheran, you know), I was really looking forward to Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter laying out his thoughts on the right relation between people and nature.  At over 40,000 words, laid out … Continue reading →