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By Posted on Posted in culture, Essay, Outdoors 2 Comments

Back in December, I was offered the opportunity to contribute a “500-700 word article on Southwest Virginia’s outdoors or nature” by the Crooked Road folks. It now appears (on page 23) in the program guide for next week’s Mountains of Music regional celebration. The topic I chose (because Jane Cundiff and I had been talking about Big Trees in Floyd County) was SWVA’s known and as-yet-unrecorded Big Trees–and the Stadium Woods issue on the Va Tech campus. You can read my article; see a …

Music, Mountains and Big Trees Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Essay, pets 5 Comments

Go to medium.com to see more images for this post. We don’t know what goes on in their minds when they are with us, but only the smiles and memories they leave in our own hearts and memories when they are gone. We did not even know her name in 2014 when we first insisted that the white dog go back down the road to the new neighbor’s house where she belonged. Surely her family doesn’t want her wandering too far from home, we …

Feather Go Home Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Environment, Essay, Photography 1 Comment

This is part 5 of excerpts from a piece that may someday (or may not) be a chapter in a book, given adequate keystrokes in these out-of-warranty joints; enough minutes of absolute time but especially minutes with adequate clarity and passion, wisdom and focus; and a remaining pool of neurons who get along well enough with each other to produce actual words. From the end of Part IV I have jumped to the end of the draft for this final installment, taking pity on any …

Time and a World of Change ~ Part V Read more »

By Posted on Posted in Essay, Reflections 3 Comments

So I may have mentioned (and perhaps one reader noticed) that I am accumulating draft pieces toward a third book if all goes well. (All never goes well, sometimes something does, OTOH, and I’ll take it.) The working title changes from time to time. Currently is stands as “One Place Understood: Field Notes from Earth.” The title comes from a Eudora Welty quote I have taken on as a writing mission statement. The southern writer tells us “One place understood helps us know all …

Finding Water: A Draft Read more »