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Almost Normal?
…It is always my place to come back and feel normal again. ~Alana Blanchard That quote referred to a special place for its writer, one of the Hawaiian islands. For me, one of the special places I seek is Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern North Carolina. I had not been in many months,… Read more
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Opossum Hole Happenings
The opossum hasn’t changed since the days when European explorers captured it and proudly sent it to their kings. We’ve just lost a bit of our wonder. ~T. Edward Nickens NOTE: I think this has now been corrected to show thumbnails (I hope) I admit to always having had a soft spot for these unusual… Read more
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Blending In
I’ve always preferred moths to butterflies. They aren’t flashy or cocky; they mind their own business and just try to blend in with their surroundings and live their lives. ~Kayla Krantz Went for a walk in the woods yesterday and as I approached one of our woodland benches, my eye caught something on the large… Read more
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Completing the Circle
I’ve always loved butterflies, because they remind us that it’s never too late to transform ourselves. ~Drew Barrymore Last year I finally had success in photographing a chrysalis of a beautiful spring-time butterfly, the Falcate Orange-tip. I collected four eggs and their host plants and brought them inside to rear because I had no success… Read more
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Return to Merchants Millpond
Paradise is just a paddle away. ~Author unknown When I worked as a District Naturalist for the state park system oh-so-many years ago, one of my favorite parks was Merchants Millpond State Park in northeastern North Carolina. It is a true natural gem of our state and remains one of my favorite spots to spend… Read more
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Refuges as refuge
For every day of loneliness we endure, we’ll spend a day in communion with the life around us until the loneliness passes away. ~Richard Louv If you have read previous posts on this blog, you know that we are lucky to live in a beautiful wooded setting with abundant wildlife from insects to birds. But… Read more
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Changes
Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day. ~W. Earl Hall It’s coming. We can see it and hear it in our woods. The big change is near – the approach of spring in the Piedmont! The first warm days last weekend ushered in a host of… Read more
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Plants, People, Privilege?
soft-soled sneakers step through messy mud, slip on stained stepping stones, dealing death-blows to decades of root work, rhizomes, winter rosettes of limp leaves no longer lifelike, lingering bereft, half-buried, burdened by compaction and lack of traction and human tracks from soft-soled sneakers, sealed over brown feet, belonging to bodies of brown men marching mindless of… Read more
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Living in the Wet Woods
Nana always said the rain was nature’s way of adding sparkle to the outdoors. ~Mehmet Murat Ildan Surely the woods are sparkling now after what seems like weeks of rain. We actually have had some occasional nice weather, but the past few days have been soakers. Our clay soils have added some slickness to our… Read more
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A Week in Winter
If one could take the cover off the ground in the fields and woods in winter, or have some magic ointment put upon his eyes that would enable him to see through opaque substances, how many curious and interesting forms of life he would behold in the ground beneath his feet as he took his… Read more
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Roads End Naturalist 