July 17, 2022, I hiked the Rainbow Mountain Loop Trail at Madison, Alabama’s Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve. My intent was not to rush from start to finish, but to proceed slowly and deliberately…with eyes wide open, searching for what lay hidden in plain sight. This Post offers observations, reflections, and photographs from my three-hour stroll. […]
June 21-24, 2022, Judy and I celebrated our 50th anniversary staying at the Village Hotel on the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. This Post offers observations, reflections, and photographs on the grand intersection of human and natural history on the Estate. Rather than recount the full story behind the Biltmore Estate, allow me to offer […]
This Post launches the 12-minute land legacy video tale for the Wells Memorial Trail at Alabama’s Monte Sano State Park. The Post chronicles and presents the year-long video production. Bill Heslip, retired videographer, and I conceived and co-led the effort…Bill Directed; I Produced. Bill dubbed our two-person team Two Guys & A Camera. We enjoyed […]
Every forest…nay, each stand in every forest…contains rich stories of ecosystem life and living. Plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms, water, sunlight, soils…all dancing in evershifting patterns, choreographed by 3.8 billion years of evolution. The book’s type is not set, its stories and characters change minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, year, decade, century, […]
Thursday June 23, 2022, Judy and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary at the North Carolina Arboretum, where I served on the Board 2001-2004, in my capacity as NC State University Vice Chancellor for Extension, Engagement, and Economic Development. Our dear friend, founding (1987) and still current Executive Director George Briggs, hosted us. This Post […]
May 27, 2022, my wife Judy and I, along with our two Alabama grandsons Jack and Sam, visited the Blackwell Swamp area of nearby Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped to look at the January 1, 2022 tornado swath; hiked along HGH Road at the northern edge of an extensive riparian forest; and viewed the […]
This Post serves as the immediate sequel to last week’s photo-essay: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/06/20/chapter-one-late-spring-return-to-the-sanctuary/ May 13, 2022, I returned to Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary with Bill Heslip, retired videographer, Margaret Anne Goldsmith, benefactor who donated the property to the City, and Marian Moore Lewis, author of Southern Sanctuary, a month-by-month almanac of the Nature of the […]
May 13, 2022, I returned to Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary with Bill Heslip, retired videographer, Margaret Anne Goldsmith, benefactor who donated the property to the City, and Marian Moore Lewis, author of Southern Sanctuary, a month-by-month almanac of the Nature of the Sanctuary. I’ll take you along with photos, observations, and reflections on our […]
April 28, 2022, five weeks following my March 24, 2022 stroke, I ventured into my favorite location on Alabama’s Monte Sano State Park, the deep cove forest along the Wells Memorial Trail. I viewed this as a celebratory hike, treading carefully with the assist of a trekking pole in each hand. Although I had missed […]
May 17, 2022, I hiked a section of the Richard Martin Rails to Trail in Limestone County Alabama with Chris Stuhlinger, fellow Board member of OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. We were doing a dry run for a hike we’ll be co-leading for OLLI June 11, 2022. Introducing […]