Fog is like water, in the valley where I live. As dusk approaches, rivulets of cold air flow down the slopes and gullies of the surrounding mountains. They pool in the flats, the horizon line where dark brush rises from snow blurring as if smudged, the softness blending up, beginning to erase the world. Leaves […]
Animals
My dog died this week. It was entirely without warning; she was fine Saturday and on Sunday she collapsed, and then she was gone. I am shattered. I am in a state of constant saudade, a Portuguese word meaning the feeling of longing for something or someone you love that has been lost forever. I […]
I am turning 40 on the day I am supposed to write this, so instead, I am re-running my favorite LWON essay–one suited to summiting the peak of midlife and looking out towards the horizon of death (ideally still just at the limit of one’s vision). Enjoy!
The Svalbard archipelago, midway between continental Norway and the North Pole, is famous for its polar bears, but it is also home to the distinctive (and distinctively adorable) Svalbard reindeer. Shaggy-haired and stubby-legged, the Svalbard reindeer is not only the world’s smallest subspecies of reindeer but also the world’s northernmost herbivorous mammal, and its survival […]
We’ve had a number of cats around here over the last year, roamers and strays. Two we brought in and three, the feral ones, came on their own. A little more than a year ago, a barn cat showed up at a friend’s ranch an hour from where we live in southwest Colorado. It was […]
Last fall, when I was deeply in need of a warm, distracting project, I got a puppy. She is very cute, extremely soft, and really annoying. She enjoys chewing everything, but she especially loves my shoelaces and my wrist, both of which she would carry in her mouth at all times like a prized possession, […]
On Poipu Beach on Kauai, bikini-clad humans are sometimes joined by two endangered species: monk seals* and green sea turtles. Both are there for the same reason we are—to bask in the sun. But while the only beings taking notice of me as I lie supine on the soft beige sand are the fearless wild […]
Most people know that the world is facing an extinction crisis. Overfishing, unchecked energy exploration, and human sprawl has put 16,000 species on the Endangered Species List, with many more waiting to get on. Evidence suggests that once on the list, the chances of ever getting off are slim. But does that have to be […]