A Taste of Mid-September Nature at the C&O Canal National Historical Park
Cumberland, Maryland and My Central Appalachian Roots I attended my 50th high school reunion this September. Who could possibly have imagined how many old people would be there! So great to see some 100 fellow class-of-69 time travelers. Our Earth has revolved on its axis more than 18,000 times since we graduated. Every hour of […]
Lake Guntersville State Park — The Glory of Sunrise and Sunset
I returned to Lake Guntersville State Park October 16-18 to attend our fall meeting of the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board. Always ready to take advantage of every opportunity to further explore our 21-pearl necklace of State Parks (covering 47,000 acres), I arranged to spend two half-days on park trails with Lake Guntersville State Park […]
Buck’s Pocket State Park
I stopped by Buck’s Pocket State Park mid-October… a side excursion from my primary destination at Lake Guntersville State Park (LG SP). What a great stroke of good fortune. My first visit and an unanticipated thrill. We entered via a short 20-minute drive from LG SP across the plateau of Sand Mountain. The Buck’s Pocket […]
Mid-October Lake Guntersville State Park: Special Small Trees and Shrubs
I spent two half-days at Lake Guntersville State Park on the trails with Park Naturalist Mike Ezell, October 15-16, 2019. I never tire of this State Park pearl, just one hour twenty minutes from my home. My intent is to share photos and reflections from this early fall point-in-time exposure. Each immersion in Nature, even […]
For to Cherish We Must See and Fondle
Here’s how I began this extended series of Great Blue Heron Blog Posts more than two months ago: July 12-24, 2019 Judy and I enjoyed a dream National Parks tour through Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Badlands… among other natural and historic features and monuments. Watch for 6-10 additional Blog Posts with photos and applicable observations […]
The Tumbling Mirth Of Sun-split Clouds: Sky Gazing on a 12-Day National Parks Journey
This Post is the next in a series of multiple photographic essays from our July National Parks journey, beginning with my late July Post previewing the series: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2019/07/26/previewing-a-series-of-blog-posts-july-2019-national-parks-journey/. See all the subsequent Posts at: https://stevejonesgbh.com/blog/. My focus for this Post is heavenward. NASA describes our planet’s atmosphere in objective clinical terms: The Earth’s atmosphere is […]
Eleven Time Zones Apart, Yet Oh So Familiar!
I will always cherish the opportunity afforded to me by an August 2019 visit and tour of National Parks in Kazakhstan by Kimep University in Almaty: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2019/09/10/three-national-parks-in-kazakhstan-an-august-immersion/ Although eleven times zones to the east of my Central Time USA location, southeastern Kazakhstan (latitude the same as Syracuse, NY) struck me as remarkably similar to what […]
August Revelations at DeSoto State Park
My late August trek at DeSoto State Park enlightened and rewarded me with more than just a set of April-to-August ecological comparisons: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2019/09/15/desoto-state-park-april-and-august-2019/. I offer in this subsequent Post my observations and reflections on non-flowering plants, the native black birch’s propensity to cling like hell to its rock, some great sandstone glades late summer flowering […]
Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature
I’ve now published some 180 of these Great Blue Heron Blog Posts on Nature-Inspired Life and Living: https://stevejonesgbh.com/blog/ Over the course of the nearly three years represented I’ve maintained fidelity to the original theme, tenets, principles, and purpose, which I’ve developed far more comprehensively in my three books: Nature Based Leadership: Lessons for Living, Learning, […]
Beyond Yellowstone: Badlands, Devils Tower, and Mount Rushmore
This Post continues my series of photographic essays from a 12-day five-state tour of National Parks, Memorials, and Monuments July 12-24, 2019. See the chronological archives for this series that began July 26: https://stevejonesgbh.com/blog/ The immediate prior journey Post covered the two days we based in West Yellowstone, Montana focusing on the great Yellowstone caldera […]
DeSoto State Park: April and August 2019
Nothing in Nature is Static Beginning July 12, I embarked upon a 12-day five-state tour of National Parks, and an eight-day, three-National Parks tour of southeastern Kazakhstan. Three days after returning to Madison, Alabama I met with ten Alabama State Parks Naturalists, assistant Naturalists, and staff at DeSoto State Park. The next morning I ventured […]
Three National Parks in Kazakhstan: An August Immersion
I dedicate this Post to my new friends at Kimep University, a western-style English-speaking institution in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Dr. Timothy Barnett, Provost and General Deputy to the President, a former University of Alaska Fairbanks colleague of mine, invited me to present a half-day Academic Leadership workshop for Vice Presidents, Deans, Directors, and Chairs Wednesday August […]