“I haven’t found the peace of Christmas yet,” my mother announced one Christmas over 20 years ago. She was in her eighties and still full of vim and vigor, visiting me from Ohio. We were decorating my Christmas tree together, and she had been telling me all about the fun social gatherings that she had…
The toes are tapping, and I am glad of it. Not one foot, but dozens of them scattered under the semicircle of chairs for the first middle school band concert of the year. Some are on the downbeat, some are on the up beat, but all, mostly, are in sync. And I am glad of…
The hummingbirds left first. And it won’t be long before the loons leave too, taking with them their happy, haunting music. All summer we enjoyed their company on a lake in Northern Wisconsin. And now, these feathered friends and hundreds of other species are leaving on their long journey across the country to as far…
Finally, the windows are open wide. The fragrance of fresh wildflowers and damp earth flow through them, and suddenly, so too does the hooting happiness of a pair of owls singing in our backyard trees. To hear their music better, I leave my lazy nest of blanket and books and step out into the dark…
I am not afraid. Though maybe I should be, for I am walking with wolves. Not literally, or course, but we are on the same trail. I know this because I frequently see their tracks along the snow-covered isolated road that I hike in northern Wisconsin. My road is also abuzz with the prints of deer, snowshoe rabbit, and fox, but it is…
Stars shimmering in a great silence. Lyrical rivers running over rock beds. Air so pure and fresh, it takes your breath away. And the beauty? Well, it is indescribable. All I can say is that it touched the heart of my soul. That is what I remember most about my trips to three National Parks:…