tales from the wild metropolis
The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm, btw) are generally given credit for publishing the first collection of fairy tales. I hate to quibble, but Mother Nature is the OG spinner of stories full of abandonment, alchemy, metamorphosis, maturity quests, enchanted slumbers, and awakenings. Read closely, and you'll discover that folksy sagas don't use forests, meadows,... Continue Reading →
As you might imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when, strolling through the shire one evening, a dashing young prince in the guise of a Blanchard's cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) bounced out of the shadows and onto the path before me, demanding a kiss.
Picasso was feeling low. Following the suicide of his friend and occasional roommate, the painter Carles Casagemas, Pablo plunged into a rock-bottom depression that lasted more than 3 years. During this time (1901 to 1904), the vividly extroverted artist faded from the Paris art scene to focus on a series of austere, melancholy, and eventually... Continue Reading →
Ever notice how many of the colloquialisms we use for comparisons aren't all that apropos, or even true? Like... graceful as a swan (have you ever seen one on land?) dull as ditchwater (believe me, that liquid is lively at the microbial level) happy as a clam (surely not all clams are cheerful, especially those... 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 →
I say potato, you like potahtos. You wear pajamas, I wear PJs. And a rose by any other name, we're told, would smell equally sweet. So does it really matter that we all agree on what to call an American bullfrog? "HELL, YEAH!" That's the collective cry of taxonomists around the globe raising their voices... Continue Reading →
It isn't easy being green. Kermit the Frog said it, so you know it has to be true. He's always seemed a reluctant celebrity, so my guess is that being the most famous Muppet-amphibian on the planet isn't always a picnic. I wonder whether life would be a little less stressful if, like some of... Continue Reading →
But never met this Fellow, Attended or alone, Without a tighter Breathing, and Zero at the Bone. Unlike Emily Dickinson, ophiophobia isn't an issue for me. I like snakes and know them to be upstanding ecosystem citizens... umm, ok, upstanding probably isn't the best descriptor for creatures without legs but you get my drift. Of... Continue Reading →
Next-Door Nature 