Published in SNAPSHOTS·21 hours agoMember-onlyA Hummingbird named Agave“Big Red”, our dominant male Allen’s Hummingbird, has a new rival — I’ve nicknamed him “Agave,” because he spends most of the day perched on the tip of the giant agave in the center of my backyard, perfectly positioned in the midpoint between the water fountain and the feeder, which he has claimed as his own.Photography4 min readPhotography4 min read
Published in Scribe·2 days agoMember-onlyA Courtyard of a Thousand Pots of MoonsMusings about Buddha and Li Po and the source of light — Last night, I stepped into a courtyard of a thousand pots of moons. The Buddha once said, “Be a lamp unto yourself — your ideas of truth must be put to the test.” And long ago, Li Po drank his clear wine of enlightenment under a brocade of blossoms and…Poetry3 min readPoetry3 min read
Published in SNAPSHOTS·4 days agoMember-onlyI Caught You Red-Handed, Mrs. Squirrel!I knew that someone was digging up my spring bulbs — Well, they must be tasty snacks because my spring bulbs have been pulled up and munched on at an alarming rate lately! And the left-overs have been casually tossed aside here and there — evidence of the thief’s activities. But we had no idea who was doing the digging. “Racoons?”…Photography4 min readPhotography4 min read
Published in Six Word Photo Story Challenge·5 days agoMember-onlyThe Ferocity of Liquid Light — A Male Allen’s Hummingbird Defending his FeederMarch Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Movement” — Don’t you dare touch my feeder! Little jewel, like liquid light, darting here, then out of sight — You terrify the others with your might. Is the nectar not enough to share? Dividing it would be most fair. And yet you hover in the air with a ferocity that says “don’t you dare” come near my feeder…Photography2 min readPhotography2 min read
Published in Six Word Photo Story Challenge·Mar 12Member-onlyStillness Within Motion — Bee and BorageMarch Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Movement” — A halo of motion around stillness What does it feel like to linger in the air, knees dusted with pollen, amongst a forest of borage, a stillness of wing within motion? The eye cannot see all the details. The sun warm on his back, spring’s breath in his hair, anticipation patters within his tiny breast. A…Photography2 min readPhotography2 min read
Published in Scribe·Mar 11Member-onlyFull Crow MoonScribe Writing Prompt — On the Road to Spring — Like ink, they gather on the branches. Smudges of spring. The Crow Moon rises tonight. Cacophany. A softening of earth. A yielding to worms and things rising through the dark loam of mycelium. Like old men, they rasp and chatter and carry on with their complaints. But they know, those crows…Poetry3 min readPoetry3 min read
Published in Butterfly Dreams·Mar 8Member-onlyMy First “Boosted” Article, Graupel in Southern California, Snow on Saddleback, Uma Loves Yoga, Cooking with the New Yellow Pots and Pans, the Best-Rated Pizza (786 Degrees) in the Country, and “I wanna be on TV too, Mom”A couple of weeks in photos — Does the new “boosting” that medium has introduced make a difference? I had my first “boosted” article a few days ago and I would say “yes, it does make a difference.” It’s still a little early to write about all the details, but I had three articles published in Globetrotters…Photography7 min readPhotography7 min read
Published in Six Word Photo Story Challenge·Mar 5Member-only“I Always Wanted to be on TV, Mom!”Six Word Photo Challenge: Freestyle — Freyja, now starring on cat TV Well, she is pretty enough to be a kitty superstar! And she and her siblings have actually been the recipients of a free toy once because someone who worked at a kitty toy company thought they were so cute. When I saw this little scratcher, I just knew we had…Cats2 min readCats2 min read
Published in Butterfly Dreams·Mar 3Member-only“Snow-Hail” in my Southern California Spring GardenIt’s called “graupel” and in the thirty-three years I’ve lived in Southern California, I’ve never seen this before — Hail is not unheard of in Southern California. And we’ve certainly had our share of atmospheric river storms this winter. Our once-parched hillsides are budding with green again and wild poppies and lupine have burst from the earth. Spring had appeared to have “sprung.” So, when I stepped out into…Photography4 min readPhotography4 min read
Published in Globetrotters·Feb 28Member-onlyA Denali Glacial FlightFlying over the vastness of Alaska and landing on a glacier at Denali Base Camp — “Denali drifts in and out of layers of fog, dwarfing the nearby peaks. Last night, she gave us a peek at her shoulder, but not much more. It was impossible to fathom her size.” — notes from my journal, August 2020 She’s mammoth. Her sheer scale dwarfs all of the…Travel8 min readTravel8 min read