Happy holidays, readers! Today we’ve got a special group post for you — a roundup of the best and worst gifts we’ve ever received. Enjoy! (And please post yours in the comments for the enjoyment of all). We’ll be back bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in 2026. Jenny The best and worst gifts were both from my […]
Miscellaneous
I am lately returned from Punta Tombo, the Magellanic penguin breeding colony in Argentina where I spend several weeks each year. One of my tasks there is to open the field season in late October, which means I spend a lot of the early days stumping around our designated study areas looking for study penguins. […]
This post first ran in April of 2019 and the 6th grader I’m referring to is now in college and I’m leaving every possibility open to journey with them again. I pulled my 6th grader out of school for a week to hit the road. I adore the public school teachers who spend time with […]
The little creek that runs along the railroad tracks through Bellefonte, Pennsylvania is beautiful at this time of year, shallow water running clear and dark, banks and bare branches covered in snow. The creek is a tributary of Bald Eagle Creek, itself a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna. It’s the place my husband first learned […]
Dreading the coming face-plant into January? I am. Cold, dark mornings followed by cold, dark evenings, chintzy decor strung up well past its prime, dirty snow (if any snow at all) heaped under dreary parking lot lighting, long gift-return lines. Nature brown and bare. Plus, the state of the world. THE STATE OF THE WORLD. […]
The writer Tom Stoppard died on November 29. We’re re-posting this essay (which originally appeared on June 10, 2011) in his honor. The references to dates (e.g., “A few months ago”) remain as in the original post. The 16-year-old student has an idea, but she doesn’t have the maths to support it. She does, however, […]
This post first appeared in October of 2019. All original artwork by the author.
Autumn always makes the woods feel emptyThough I know strictly speakingThis isn’t true Bears prowl orchardsChuff through oak grovesStuff themselves before a slumberThat grows shorter every yearDeer, too, are bolder now and dumberHaunting the edges of highwaysRunning to or from the rutEven many insects remainHidden in soil or bark Unnamed under leavesOr within the spongy […]
