Magic and Wonder — A 30-Day Backyard Cloud Catalog
I’ve said previously in these Posts that I’m fascinated by all of Nature’s faces. From geography to plants to fauna to weather. Among weather phenomena, cloud magic and wonder furnish frequent inspiration. I present here a set of photos I snapped at home in northern Alabama over the past 30 days. April morning rain gave […]
Bryn Athyn College Distinguished Lecture Visit
I delivered The Spring 2019 Distinguished Lecture on Nature as Revelation at Bryn Athyn College (BAC) April 1, 2019. I had previously visited my friend and colleague, Rev. Dr. Ray Silverman, associate professor at BAC, located just northeast of Philadelphia. From the college’s web site: Bryn Athyn College of the New Church serves as an […]
Launching the Alabama State Parks Foundation
I’ve been writing and issuing these Great Blue Heron Blog Posts on Nature-Inspired Life and Living for about two years, issuing to-date approximately 150 Posts. I have focused at least three dozen based upon exploring our Alabama State Parks. My hope is to have visited all 21 State Parks by the end of 2021. I […]
Mid-March Revelations on “Worn-Out” Land!
I returned mid-March to the site of my east-central Ohio Land Legacy Project, an 1,100 property that nineteenth-century agriculture brought to ruin. Poor practices led to wholesale erosion, impoverished land, and abandoned farms. Mid-twentieth century strip mining led to more “scars upon the land,” perhaps, in retrospect for this property, opening the door to reclamation […]
My Winter Term Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Class Visits DeSoto State Park
March 20, 2019, staff at DeSoto State Park (DSP) welcomed members of my Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI at University of Alabama in Huntsville) winter term course on Northern Alabama State Parks. The 35 or so registrants elected to visit DSP on this supplemental field trip from among the Parks we brought to OLLI during […]
Where Is Wild and How Do We Recognize It?
And for as long as I stay here, I know I will also have to get to the wild places. And this was the vision of a world place that had stayed with me: somewhere boreal, wintry, vast, isolated, elemental, demanding of the traveler in its asperities. To reach a wild place was, for me, […]
Seeing and Translating Nature’s Infinite Storm of Beauty: My Keynote Atop the Mountain
This is the fourth and final post from my February 28-March 2 visit to Cheaha State Park. I joined some 120 environmental educators attending the annual meeting of the Environmental Educators Association of Alabama (EE AA). The group invited me to present the opening keynote address Thursday evening (2/28). I stayed for the entire conference, […]
Non-Flowering Plants Atop the Mountain at Cheaha: EE AA Annual Conference
This is the third of what will be four posts from my February 28-March 2 visit to Cheaha State Park. I joined some 120 environmental educators attending the annual meeting of the Environmental Educators Association of Alabama (EE AA). The group invited me to present the opening keynote address Thursday evening (2/28). I stayed for […]
Scars Upon the Land: Thoughts Stirred by a View from Cheaha’s Rock Garden
This is the second of what will be four posts from my February 28-March 2 visit to Cheaha State Park. I joined some 120 environmental educators attending the annual meeting of the Environmental Educators Association of Alabama (EE AA). The group invited me to present the opening keynote address Thursday evening (2/28). I stayed for […]
Magic and Wonder on the Mountain: An Inspiring Conference at Cheaha State Park
An Adventure in Learning and Reflecting Some 120 environmental educators (annual meeting of the Environmental Educators Association of Alabama — EE AA) met February 28 through March 2nd at Cheaha State Park. The group invited me to present the opening keynote address Thursday evening (2/28). I stayed for the entire conference, enjoying it immensely. I […]
Enjoying Nature from the Inside-Out — Tennessee Aquarium
We visited the Tennessee Aquarium January 3 with our two Alabama grandsons (Jack, 11; Sam, nearing 5). They were enjoying the holiday break from school; we remain in retirement’s continuing holiday! What better time to visit Nature indoors following December’s 10.72 inches of rain and the inch-plus that we recorded for January’s first two days […]
Mid-January at Alabama’s Gulf State Park: Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies!
Because this is the fourth and final GBH Blog Posts from my visit to Gulf State Park, allow me to repeat elements of my introduction from the first three: Introduction I toured Gulf State Park (GSP) January 18, 2019 from 8-5:30 with Kelly Reetz, Park Naturalist. See my January 28, 2019 Great Blue Heron Blog […]