This is a rewrite of an earlier post published here on WIZ. One dark night in January of 2010 Mark and I made a last minute run to the only grocery store within 22 miles. On our return trip home, I drove with the SUV’s highbeams on, because we live on a rural road where, [...]
In my part of the spring world, the arrival of the vernal equinox has not felt much different from the arrival of the autumnal equinox. The green flame is burning unusually low for this time of year. Winds have been abrasive and cold. Usually, the Big Green is well on its way by now, but [...]
This is a rewrite of a post published here on WIZ that I’m including in my book Crossfire Canyon. I’m posting the rewrite today in response to finding a bounty-killed coyote on this morning’s walk. April 8, 2009. As I walked out of a nearby canyon last week along a trail where I had previously [...]
In my quest for perhaps a wrongly-remembered story about beavers in Yellowstone National Park, I’ve watched several national parks shows, including Ken Burns’ America’s National Parks series. Since we finished that show–worth the watch, by the way–I’ve looked for other, nature-toned documentaries. We saw that Amazon Prime would let us view PBS’s Nature series for [...]
Heart-iest thanks to participants who contributed to our sometimes sweet, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes citric Love of Nature Nature of Love Month. The list includes: Sue Halvorsen Merrijane Rice Ali Znaidi Scott Hales Enoch Thompson Lee Allred Theric Jepson Karen Kelsay Sarah Dunster Percival P. Pennywhistle Quite a spectrum to love this time around. Thank you [...]
God filled the earth with tigers; men and beasts warring for blood. He painted them with warning signs—what scarlet spots! In God we do not doubt. God filled the earth with tigers. The Father blessed his daughters in the order of His good Son, that we might all know good and evil. And still we [...]
We slumber heavy in the night so long as hills are bare and white, and what is real, is pressing. What can you do but answer. What can you do but take my jaw in hand and answer. And what can I, but know you while night visions press us, hot in our down blanket. [...]
For many, it’s a simple thing, going to sleep at the end of a day. For me it runs to the difficult side. I sleep with my special needs daughter to keep watch over her through the night. She’s often troubled by discomfort or becomes tangled in sheets and blankets. Sometimes, her arms and legs [...]
* The girls stand together, arm-in-arm, at the lip of the desecrated grave. The night before, as they lay in bed, they had listened to the wolves yelp and snarl over the corpse. As widows both before the age of twenty, they’d held each other until the noise died down. At dawn, they loaded their [...]
I received my annual notice that the Ellen Meloy Grant for Desert Writers is seeking applicants. The deadline for grant applications is January 15. The grant funds only desert-themed, literary creative nonfiction. No fiction, children’s literature, or poetry will be considered. To read the details, click here.You might want to take a look at past [...]