tales from the wild metropolis
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 →
They say necessity is the mother of invention — I guess that's why spiders found a clever way to order in, long before Kroger and Amazon began to lug customer's grub. Not even a Costco cart is big enough to satisfy arachnid appetites but spiders rule when it comes to home food delivery. You see,... Continue Reading →
When the annual cicadas emerge each summer their tymbals vibrate at arboreal drumming circles all over town. The beats bounce and reverberate against hard city surfaces; during a crescendo, I swear I can feel the buildings and sidewalks pulsing like wings, like a heart. Yet, despite the percussive nature of this invertebrate orchestra, to my... Continue Reading →
Daddy longlegs are the jazz cats of the arachnid world! This realization came to me as I watched a single backlit note, poised on a broken music staff, bebop across the asphalt path in front of me. A soundtrack of jazz piano greats immediately began to play in my head — Willie "The Lion" Smith,... Continue Reading →
I don't live far from the eclipse's Path of Totality, but I decided to stay put just the same. I didn't even order eclipse glasses. I know there will be plenty of great video to watch throughout the day, and since my sweetheart is a talented professional videographer, I feel like I've got that angle... Continue Reading →
Productivity. A word that has long enjoyed favored status in U.S. culture. Americans are always trying to do more work in less time so we can… do even more work. We purchase time-saving apps and appliances and then fill the promised free-time that closed the deal with new projects and expectations. . As the saying... Continue Reading →
One of my favorite things about summer is the free outdoor concerts. I’m not talking about local bands that occasionally perform from the park gazebo even though they can be a pleasant accompaniment to my evening dog walk. No, nothing says summer like the insect-amphibian jam sessions that take place almost every evening. . I've moved quite a... Continue Reading →
Next-Door Nature 