So, this happened on May Day. Snow, glorious snow. Since we’re still running a drought deficit here in Colorado, every flake is very welcome. The birds are a bit frantic, though, and my pastel tulips are pounding on the door, screaming to be let in. Dulcinea loves the snow, but she’s also enjoying the succulents […]
Category Archives: Nature
The Cruelest Month
Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. The Waste Land is not an easy poem to teach, but I’ve always liked teaching it anyway. There’s so much to contend with, even in that overly familiar opening stanza. I love that phrase–“forgetful snow.” We got 12 inches […]
Unexpected Foliage
So I’ve been reading Tovah Martin’s The Unexpected Houseplant, which is the sort of gardening book that makes me want to unpack the rest of my vintage flower pots and fill them with succulents already. Paired with Ken Druse’s classic text Making More Plants, Martin’s book is there to help you, if and when you […]
Bryce Canyon
We hit the road Thursday, heading for Utah’s Bryce Canyon. On the way over the Continental Divide, we stopped at the Royal Gorge, crossing the highest suspension bridge in the world. [That little tram is hanging a thousand feet above the river.] We made it to the Queen’s Garden by sunset on Friday. Luminous hoodoos! […]
Peak to Peak
It was sunny this weekend, so we took Dulcinea for her first drive on the Peak to Peak Highway. She wagged her tail and sniffed about in front of the Saint Malo Chapel, then scrambled up the hill to reach the road. Longs Peak is in the background. My brothers and I hiked up to […]
Homestead Meadows
On Labor Day weekend, we hiked up Lion’s Gulch to a place called Homestead Meadows, near Estes Park. It’s a steep, rocky trail in the mountains, and the sunny meadows at trail’s end are more than 13 miles from the nearest town. A woman named Sarah Walker homesteaded here alone, with only a cow and […]
Summer color
It’s been a busy summer. My friends Kelly and Laura came to visit for a few days, and we took them to the Dushanbe Tea House in Boulder. My nieces came to visit for a few days, and we took them to see prairie dogs. And the farmers came to market, and we took some […]
Summer stroll
We went hiking today on the mesa trail above NCAR in Boulder, heading for the Chautauqua trail head. Everything was perfect: the wildflowers, the color of the sky, our favorite hats, my old shoes.