tales from the wild metropolis
The aliens are back. Just when I thought they were through with me they reappeared, sliding silently through walls that appear solid (but the quantum physicists know better). Suddenly they are everywhere. Staring at me from the rim of a glass when I open the cupboard. Calmly observing me as I sleep from my sweetheart’s... Continue Reading →
Sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence, especially if your yard-care ethic is benign neglect, and your neighbor is a wannabe greenskeeper. Generally speaking, though, the sentiment behind that familiar grassy idiom is sound—we humans tend to value what others have more than what we ourselves have, and the... Continue Reading →
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we're twenty years into the Information Age so I’m pretty sure everyone in this courtroom knows that, to quote a famous New Yorker cartoon, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” The anonymity baked into the the interwebs means we’re all free to be whatever, or whomever, we... Continue Reading →
My wire fox terrier and I were walking along a favorite path on a cool autumn morning. Stopping to investigate a patch of tall plants clinging to the steep sides of a ridge that used to carry Virginia Anthracite Coal and Rail Company trains, I leaned in to get a closer look at the bright... Continue Reading →
Does living in the city make it easier to be nocturnal? Natural-born early birds may never learn to love the nightlife, and owls might not ever welcome dawn's early light but bobcats (Lynx rufus) have shown themselves to be as adept at changing their circadian time signature as a jazz combo. Territorial and mostly solitary,... Continue Reading →
Arrrggghhh! I can NOT get that song out of my head!! I don't know where I heard it, maybe the grocery store's Music to Inspire Endcap Impulse Purchases station. It's familiar but definitely not a favorite. I have eclectic musical tastes that span eras and genres, so why is it that my cranial jukebox defaults... Continue Reading →
Seriously, it could happen to anyone. Well, any working mom operating on instinct and snap-judgements who needs to snag some groceries before she flies back home to those perpetually ravenous kiddos. Okay... maybe it couldn't happen to anyone. But every now and then, once in a very blue moon, some harried female Cooper's hawk (Accipiter... Continue Reading →
Everyone has their own personal markers of summer—the flash of a firefly, the pulsing hum of cicadas, the aroma of freshly cut grass... I'm sure you have a favorite. To my mind, nothing says summer quite as definitively as the sight of chimney swifts (Chaetura pelagic) foraging overhead. These small, sleek birds have belonged to... Continue Reading →
Next-Door Nature 