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Wednesday, 08 May 2013 00:00

Some scarlet tanagers are orange

Last Saturday, I led a bird identification workshop for the Smoky Mountain Field School. We started out in the morning in a residential area (Minot Park) in Gatlinburg and worked our way into the higher elevations of the national park…
Wednesday, 01 May 2013 02:12

A book every naturalist needs on his or her shelf

Naturalist Donald Culross Peattie (1898-1964) was born in Chicago. In his autobiography The Road of a Naturalist (1941), Peattie recalled his first extended visit to the North Carolina mountains in 1906 as a time when he “saw the world of…
Wednesday, 24 April 2013 02:05

Cliff swallows return

That’s the news. Our common breeding swallows have always been purple martins, barn swallows, and northern rough-winged swallows. To a lesser extent, tree swallows also breed here, where there are suitable tree cavities or boxes. Cliff swallows are another matter. 
Wednesday, 17 April 2013 13:48

The blue-grey gnatcatcher is a mighty mite

Elizabeth and I were sitting on the deck Monday evening when a tiny bird made an abbreviated appearance — apparently just to check us out — and disappeared. It took only a fleeting glimpse for us to know that our…
Wednesday, 10 April 2013 14:45

Serviceberry is recurring harbinger of spring

I have two options when driving back and forth from home to town. One is along a river and the other isn’t. The choice is easy. I always follow the route along the north side of the Tuckaseigee west of…
Wednesday, 03 April 2013 20:04

Their own way of fishing

I’m sometimes asked if the prehistoric Cherokees used any sort of poisons on their blowgun darts. These darts (slivers of black locust, hickory, or white oak) were from 10 to 20 inches long with thistledown tied at one end to…
Wednesday, 27 March 2013 13:51

Saved by the appearance of a tree swallow

Earlier this morning (Tuesday, March 26) I gazed wishfully through my office window here in Bryson City. About all I could see was the fire station across the street just off the town square. Blue-gray snowflakes were slanting down. I…
Wednesday, 20 March 2013 13:44

My wife knows good morels when she sees them

It’s just about morel time. By early April (if not sooner), the succulent spring-fruiting fungi that are the most sought after mushrooms in North America will be popping up in woodlands across Western North Carolina.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013 22:40

In the land of water and rock

Like Old Esdras in the Bible, some live in a land of milk and honey. Here in the Blue Ridge, we live in the land of water and rock. Moving water and worn stone are the predominant features in our…
Wednesday, 06 March 2013 14:37

The harbingers of spring are upon us

As you read this it may well be freezing or even icy outside. But before long you’ll be outside working in the garden or searching for early spring wildflowers. How do I know? Well, for one thing, it always happens…
Wednesday, 20 February 2013 15:15

Be(ar) careful in the Smokies

In the natural world there are certain experiences that rivet our attention and remain stored in our memory banks. Through the years, I’ve written about my own encounters with rare plants, endangered landscapes, copperheads and timber rattlers, coyotes, skunks, eagles,…
Wednesday, 13 February 2013 14:09

In celebration of spring, dead leaves, and an ornery epitaph

About once a year or less, I work up the nerve to publish poems in this space. Head for cover. It’s that time of the year again.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

The mountain rhodo show

Rhododendrons are a part of the heath family (Ericaceae), which includes such diverse members in regard to size and habitat as pipsissewa, trailing arbutus, mountain laurel, doghobble, and sourwood. There are three evergreen rhododendron species in the southern mountains: rosebay…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Just looking around

I’m rediscovering that it’s good to just slip out of the office and amble around town for a few minutes. The semi-urban landscape here in Bryson City — or any of the other little mountain towns — provides an interesting…
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 14:54

Oil lamps have long history of lighting the way

Surprisingly, a recent column about wood-burning cookstoves attracted as much attention as anything I’ve written for years. Folks who live in The Smoky Mountain News distribution area and can pick up the print edition were the most numerous e-mail correspondents,…
Wednesday, 06 June 2007 00:00

Weed or wildflower?

The status of a given plant as either a “noxious weed” or a “lovely wildflower” is pretty much a matter determined in the mind’s eye of the beholder. Several weeks ago, in a column headed “Persecution of the Dandelion,” I…
Wednesday, 20 June 2007 00:00

Beware the leaves of three

If you like native Appalachian plants that are variable and adaptive, have interesting natural histories with abundant associations in both Cherokee and early white settler folklore, add immeasurably to the fall landscape with vivid colors, and provide nutritious fare for…
Wednesday, 27 June 2007 00:00

The elusive hellbender

Have you ever noticed that once you start thinking about something or someone you haven’t seen in awhile, it’s not long before he, she, or it pops up? This can be disconcerting when it’s a he, she, or it you…
Wednesday, 30 January 2013 14:49

The hardest tree in North America

I wrote a tribute to the black locust tree some time back. It’s time to take another look. This time around we’ll incorporate the perspectives of a French arborist who visited America during the mid-nineteenth century. Locust is a winter…
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 14:54

Northern siskins ‘irrupting’ right now at my feeder

“The opportunistic nature of the species and its partial indifference to constraints of time and space make it an intriguing subject.” — E.W. Dawson, North American Birds Online   Volcanoes “erupt,” birds “irrupt.” We haven’t experienced any eruptions of that…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Looking out on a busy day in Bryson City

For some, graveyards are morbid places. When I was a boy, I never liked to pass by or walk through one … especially in the dark. These days I rather enjoy visiting them ... for awhile. They are generally quiet.…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Are the ‘possums adapting to headlight glare

Where have all the opossums gone? People worry about cerulean warblers and frogs and honeybees and ash trees and hemlocks and snail darters and so on … as they should. But is anybody out there besides me worried about ‘possums?…
Wednesday, 02 January 2013 04:11

Indian words add color to our language

Tuckaseigee, Oconaluftee, Heintooga, Wayah, Cullasaja, Hiwassee, Coweeta, Stecoah, Steestachee, Skeenah, Nantahala, Aquone, Katuwah, and on and on. Our place names here in the Smokies region are graced throughout with evidence of the Cherokee culture that prevailed for more than 700…
Wednesday, 26 December 2012 15:01

The spirituality of mountain graveyards

“I am developing a taste for walking in cemeteries.” – Jules Renard, “Journals” (December 1909) Like Jules Renard, a turn-of-the-century French novelist, not a few of us are attracted to cemeteries. When looking for a quiet place, I often visit…
Wednesday, 19 December 2012 00:00

Winter mushrooms a welcome find

Most people who hunt mushrooms do so in late summer and fall when an array of choice edibles are abundant or in spring when morels are in season. It’s easy to forget — or maybe never even know — that…
Wednesday, 12 December 2012 15:13

Memories of the lost village of Needmore

Is there another region in the United States that has had more flourishing towns and villages disappear than the one along the Little Tennessee and Tuckasegee rivers in Swain and Macon counties? Almond, Japan, Judson, Bushnell, etc., in Swain went…
Wednesday, 05 December 2012 15:02

The appropriately named 'blue darter'

When I was a boy my favorite sport was baseball. I was a pitcher. I didn’t have any idea where the ball was going … or care … but I could throw hard. I liked the game and I liked…
Wednesday, 28 November 2012 14:16

Birds of a feather stay warm in bad weather

Because they seem so delicate and vulnerable, we go out of our way to feed birds that overwinter here in the southern mountains. This no doubt helps maintain bird populations at a higher level than would otherwise be the case,…
Wednesday, 21 November 2012 15:18

Byer’s book brings us a sense of place

Kathryn Stripling Byer lives in Cullowhee. Poet Laureate Emeritas of North Carolina for a number of years, she was this year inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. I’ve known her since 1973 … so I’m going to…
Wednesday, 14 November 2012 00:00

New book celebrates diversity and Biological Station

In regard to floral diversity, the Southern Appalachian region is unsurpassed by any other temperate region in the world. Whenever I’m conducting a plant identification workshop for the North Carolina Arboretum, Smoky Mountain Field School or other venue, I try…
Wednesday, 07 November 2012 13:52

A short bout with Victor the Bear

This is a bear story. Unlike many bear stories, this one is true. Tourism started in Western North Carolina during the post-Civil War era, but it wasn’t a huge factor in the region’s economy until the Great Smoky Mountains National…
Wednesday, 31 October 2012 01:38

Beauty, form and function go hand in hand

All too often, we tend to think of flowering plants as something beautiful put on this earth to stimulate human sensibilities. Nothing, of course, could be less true. Plants produce flowers to attract pollinators or otherwise distribute pollen in order…
Wednesday, 24 October 2012 12:50

Waterfalls have a near mystical attraction

We are attracted to water. Mountain paths always wind down to water ... down to springs, creeks and rivers. Water is the essence of our very being. Old-time mountaineers picked home sites according to the location and purity of springs.…
Wednesday, 17 October 2012 14:25

Rose-breasted grosbeaks on the move through the Smokies

Migrating rose-breasted grosbeaks have been appearing at feeders throughout the Smokies region in recent weeks. Those birds that migrate hundreds of miles across the Gulf of Mexico from Central and South America to nest in the United States and Canada…
Wednesday, 10 October 2012 13:44

First frost ushers in winter

It’s Oct. 7 as I write this. The first hard frost hasn’t as yet arrived. But it won’t be long coming. By the time you read this it may well have occurred throughout Western North Carolina.   The first hard…
Wednesday, 04 July 2007 00:00

Thunder in the valley

Last week a late evening thunderstorm with high winds and occasional flashes of lightning rolled out of the high Smokies and down into the little valley where we live several miles west of Bryson City. I had sensed its arrival…
Wednesday, 03 October 2012 20:18

If you suffer from hay fever, blame the ragweed

Allergies are a type of immune reaction. Normally, the immune system responds to foreign microorganisms, or particles, like pollen or dust, by producing specific proteins, called antibodies, that are capable of binding to identifying molecules, or antigens, on the foreign…
Wednesday, 26 September 2012 14:24

Let the fall wildflower fruit displays begin

Most wildflower enthusiasts quite naturally hone in on the showy flowering phase of a plant’s life cycle for observation, identification and enjoyment. Only slowly do we learn to appreciate the post-flowering phase.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:21

Southern mountains a peninsula of northern climes

Geographically speaking, where are the Great Smoky Mountains in regard to the other mountain ranges in the southern Appalachians. Where is the line between the southern and the northern Appalachians? In other words, where are we?
Wednesday, 11 July 2007 00:00

A man’s got to work and fish

This past Sunday afternoon I decided to go for a walk along the Tuckasegee River west of Bryson City. If I had an objective, it was to see how far the waters of Fontana Lake have receded due to the…
Wednesday, 18 July 2007 00:00

The thrill of new discoveries

I’ve had the opportunity to spend a lot of time recently up on the Blue Ridge Parkway conducting natural history workshops for the North Carolina Arboretum. Mid-July is the peak period for high-elevation wildflowers. I can report that the flowering…
Wednesday, 25 July 2007 00:00

Sicklefin redhorse and the Cherokee

An article by Jon Ostendorff headed “Rare fish released into Oconaluftee River” appeared in this past Monday’s edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times. It caught my eye because of an ongoing general interest in the fish found in Western North Carolina…
Wednesday, 12 September 2012 13:10

Kudzu’s unstoppable march across the South

Few people want to get close enough to observe the attractive flowers that kudzu produces. The plant probably won’t actually reach out and grab you — but then again, it might. One of the many kudzu jokes that has emerged…
Wednesday, 01 August 2007 00:00

Hollyhocks and reminders of the past

Sometimes it’s difficult to draw the line between the natural and cultivated plant worlds. As cultivated plants escape they often establish themselves as part of our regional flora. My wife, Elizabeth, and I are particularly fond of those old-fashioned garden…
Wednesday, 08 August 2007 00:00

The golden season

It’s starting to become the goldenrod time of the year. Goldenrods — like asters, thistles, cosmos, zinnias, daisies, coneflowers, dahlias, sunflowers, ragworts, hawkweeds, etc. — belong to the vast “Asteraceae” family that numbers almost 20,000 species worldwide, with over 300…
Wednesday, 15 August 2007 00:00

Ginkgo — a living fossil

When a street was being cut in front of the new county administration building here in Bryson City back in the 1980s, a large foreign-looking tree could well have been felled in the name of progress. But resident R.P. Jenkins…
Wednesday, 05 September 2012 03:06

Dueling was a common way to right a wrong

Let’s suppose that you intentionally or unintentionally insult someone; after all, that’s something that does happen from time to time. You deal with it by apologizing or refusing to apologize. There may be words. The possibility of a little fisticuffs…
Wednesday, 29 August 2012 13:10

Keith was among best early geologists to visit this region

Numerous geologists have visited the Smokies region. None was more observant than Arthur Keith. The Murphy Marble Belt is an elongated, lens-shaped mass of marble and related sedimentary materials up to three miles wide that extends in a crescent from…
Wednesday, 22 August 2012 13:42

The unique habitat of mountain streams

The creeks and streams of the Southern Highlands are one of the most exciting natural areas we have. Unlike most upland habitats — which generally occur as blocks or patches or elevational zones — streams form winding corridors that afford…
Wednesday, 22 August 2007 00:00

Remarkable red cedar

I sometimes have occasion to drive Interstate 81 up the Great Valley of Tennessee and Virginia to Washington, D.C. As soon as I pass out of Western North Carolina into the terrain north of Knoxville, the dominant tree along the…
Wednesday, 29 August 2007 00:00

All in a day’s work

One of the more interesting and entertaining early descriptive accounts of the southern mountains is contained in a diary kept by surveyor John Strother. In 1799, he was appointed one of the surveyors for determining a portion of the boundary…
Wednesday, 15 August 2012 14:56

The ‘perfect’ hunter and fisherman — if I do say so myself

Samuel J. Hunnicutt was one of the original characters of the Smokies region before the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was founded in 1934. He is far less well known than Quill Rose, Horace Kephart, or Mark Cathey, but he…
Wednesday, 05 September 2007 00:00

Enchanting the summer evening

No late summer wildflower is more widely recognized than evening primrose. The four broad yellow petals that open in the evening and often linger into mid-morning on overcast days are a dead giveaway. If you’re looking for the plant, you…
Wednesday, 12 September 2007 00:00

Walnut toxicity

The walnut trees along the creek where we live are exhibiting a bumper crop this year. At night we are starting to hear their fruits dropping with heavy thuds on the ground or like depth charges into the water. Hopefully,…
Wednesday, 19 September 2007 00:00

Saying farewell to summer

It’s mid-September ... late summer is sliding toward early autumn. The end of summer officially arrives with the autumnal equinox of Sept. 23, when the sun crosses the celestial equator going north to south. One senses this transition in the…
Wednesday, 08 August 2012 14:04

Cardinal flower among the most popular in U.S.

The late summer wildflower season has arrived. Along roadsides and woodland edges some of our more robust native plants are now coming into full bloom. By “robust” I mean high growing and stout. These would include wild lettuce, common mullein,…
Wednesday, 26 September 2007 00:00

Sweet bubby bush

I recently received an email from a reader who asked, “Could you write about the sweet bubby bush? That’s the only name I know it by. Old plant, my mom loves it. I’d like to plant one. Haven’t seen it…
Wednesday, 03 October 2007 00:00

Shrills in the night

When I was growing up in the tobacco-farming portion of the southern Virginia piedmont, there were many haunted outbuildings throughout the region. My friends and I knew they were haunted because we would nightly, from early spring into early fall,…
Wednesday, 01 August 2012 14:19

Zeke was a friend I won’t forget

Dogs have been a part of my life since I was a boy. My first dog — part one thing, part another — was named Rascal. I was a sophomore in college when Rascal had to be put to sleep.…
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 00:00

Beauty of the cardinal flower

The fall wildflower season has arrived. Along roadsides and woodland edges some of our more robust native plants are now coming into full bloom. By “robust” I mean high growing and stout. These would include wild lettuce, common mullein, Joe…
Wednesday, 17 October 2007 00:00

Uncovering winter’s delight

Some trees that might be difficult to locate during the spring through fall foliage season become more apparent in winter. This is the instance with sweetgum, which holds its leaves into early winter after most other deciduous trees have shed…
Wednesday, 24 October 2007 00:00

The gall

The various relationships that exist between plants and animals are fascinating. My view of wildflower ecology is dominated by the specific pollination requirements of a given plant. Insect pollination is usually a two-way exchange in which the insect benefits as…
Wednesday, 31 October 2007 00:00

Overnight hibernation

As I write this on Monday morning, we’ve just had our initial hard frost of the year here in Swain County. For the first time in seven or so months, I had to dig around and find my windshield scraper.…
Wednesday, 07 November 2007 00:00

When litter is good

Due to the virtual absence of wind and rain, the fall color season is lingering with us. But winter weather and the descent of the leaves will come soon enough. Right now is a good time to keep on paying…
Wednesday, 14 November 2007 00:00

Winter preparation

If you’ve been getting out in the woods at all lately, you’re aware that it’s been an especially good season for chipmunks; indeed, perhaps because of the late frosts and dry weather, it’s been a chipmunk kind of fall. They…
Wednesday, 21 November 2007 00:00

Quiz time

Naturalists are always being quizzed about this or that. Turn about is fair play. So, are you ready for a natural history quiz? Here are 20 questions related to the natural history of the southern mountains. My answers are given…
Wednesday, 28 November 2007 00:00

The essential nature of winter

When late November finally arrives, my wife, Elizabeth, and I go into another mode. Her busy season in the gallery-studio she operates here on the town square in Bryson City pretty much comes to an end. The Elderhostel programs, workshops…
Wednesday, 25 July 2012 14:04

The evocative power of the color blue

Green used to be the color that caught my eye. Now it’s blue. So much so that I wrote an ode (of sorts) to the color blue that is in my book Permanent Camp. It goes like this:
Wednesday, 12 December 2007 00:00

Rocking out

Here in the southern mountains there are magical habitats to be explored in every direction and at every elevation. Periglacial boulderfields are among the most unique of these. I learned about them some years ago when I happened upon this…
Wednesday, 19 December 2007 00:00

A honey of a locust

Every few years, there will be a bumper crop of long flat strap-shaped honey locust pods, many up to two inches wide and a foot or more in length. Hanging in abundance along roadsides, they always bring back childhood memories.
Wednesday, 26 December 2007 00:00

A plant’s purpose

There are more than 300,000 plant species in the world. Some are edible, some can be used for their medicinal properties, and many are poisonous. The latter category is defined by Nancy J. Turner and Adam F. Szczawinski in Common…
Wednesday, 02 January 2008 00:00

Cherokee and their bird stories

The second soul, that of physiological life, is located in the liver, and is of primary importance in doctoring and in conjuring. This soul is a substance, is not anthropomorphic in any, has no individuality, and is quantitative, there is…
Wednesday, 09 January 2008 00:00

In living colour

Cedar waxwings and American holly are with us year round. The waxwings wander around a lot in extended family groups, but they can be spotted in any season here in the Smokies region. Holly trees don’t wander around, of course,…
Wednesday, 16 January 2008 00:00

Sneaky snipe stamps scouts

Until I started birding seriously as an adult, I didnÕt know that snipe actually existed. For years that bird was categorized in my mind with other mythic critters that included hoop snakes, side-hill winders, and dragons.
Wednesday, 23 January 2008 00:00

It’s a dog’s life

A new book has been published that will be of particular interest to area hunters, outdoorsmen, and dog lovers. It will also be of considerable value to those concerned with the region’s human history.
Wednesday, 30 January 2008 00:00

Right in the thick of it

Our southern mountains are old and relatively sedate when compared with the Himalayas, Rockies, and other “young” mountain ranges. But as any backcountry ranger, hunter, or rescue worker will attest, there’s still plenty of rough, steep and potentially dangerous terrain…
Wednesday, 06 February 2008 00:00

Dr. Elisha Mitchell

While scanning the shelves of a rare bookstore in Asheville several months ago, I happened upon a regional volume by Elisha Mitchell I’d been seeking for many years. Titled Diary of a Geological Tour by Dr. Elisha Mitchell in 1827…
Wednesday, 13 February 2008 00:00

Upper world guardians

We are all fascinated by birds. In addition to being pretty (even buzzards are pretty in their own way), they can sing and fly. Unlike me, many of you can actually sing; so, you will not be as awestruck by…
Wednesday, 20 February 2008 00:00

Highlands plateau still a world of green hills

Several years ago I wrote about Bradford Torrey’s A World of Green Hills, which was published in 1898 by Houghton Mifflin and Co. The book is divided into two parts, equally devoted to Torrey’s travels in Western North Carolina and…
Wednesday, 27 February 2008 00:00

Alum Cave for a breath of fresh air

I recently happened upon an interesting article that described an excursion made in 1860 to the Alum Cave on the Tennessee side of the present-day Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Titled “A Week in the Great Smoky Mountains,” it was…
Wednesday, 05 March 2008 00:00

An early account of Western NC

While crossing the Blue Ridge north of present Asheville in the early 1540s, Hernando de Soto’s scribes entered some brief descriptions of the landscape in their journals. In all likelihood, a letter written in 1674 by Abraham Wood, a Virginia…
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 13:41

Looking for carnivorous plants in WNC

Some plants like Jack-in-the-pulpit and Dutchman’s-pipe have evolved methods of entrapping insects in their flowers so as to assure pollination. But only a few plant species in North America actually devour insects so as to obtain life-giving sustenance. The carnivorous…
Wednesday, 11 July 2012 14:29

Random thoughts and voices

Here I sit by my window watching the creek go by with nothing in particular to write about except the random thoughts and voices in my composition book: “Negative capability is the gift of being in the world without any…
Wednesday, 04 July 2012 00:00

Lesser known plants after more tangible awards

For me, those plants found here in the Smokies region that have verified practical human uses are, in the long run, of more interest than those with often overblown reputations for sacred or medicinal uses. For instance, the history of…
Wednesday, 27 June 2012 14:13

Combating things that sting and itch

This is about critters and plants that sting and itch. There are lots of things out there in the woods that can cause discomfort or worse: hornets, poison ivy, poisonous serpents, poison sumac, ants, skunks, no-see-ums, and so on. Two…
Wednesday, 13 June 2012 19:12

The feisty, showy and talented grosbeak

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about scarlet tanagers, a showy rather common species I assumed most were familiar with. But at least 10 readers emailed or otherwise contacted me to say they had located and seen their first…
Wednesday, 06 June 2012 13:32

Almost everything you wanted to know about sassafras

Season in and season out, one of the more interesting common plants in our woodlands is sassafras, which may be shrub-like or attain heights of 130 feet as part of the forest canopy in rich cove hardwoods. In spring, well…
Wednesday, 30 May 2012 14:01

Its a scarlet tanager kind of year

“The scarlet tanager flies through the green foliage as if it would ignite the leaves. You can hardly believe that a living creature can wear such colors.” — Henry David Thoreau This seems to be a scarlet tanager kind of…
Wednesday, 23 May 2012 13:28

The allure of Panthertown Valley is timeless

The announcement in November 1989 that the remote 6,300-acre Panthertown Valley tract in Jackson County had passed into the public domain was welcome news for knowledgeable outdoor enthusiasts throughout the southeastern United States. After years of private management, this truly…
Wednesday, 16 May 2012 13:28

The beetles beneath the ground

“Ere the bat hath flown His cloister’d flight … to black Hecate’s summons The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night’s yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note.” — Shakespeare, Macbeth There are a…
Wednesday, 09 May 2012 13:37

Intricate flora sometimes defy description

Through the years I have attempted to describe the flora of the Smokies region for newspaper, magazine and book readers. I have learned that describing the “botanical architecture” of trees, flowers, fruits, etc., can be tricky business. Drafting a “sketch”…
Thursday, 03 May 2012 02:12

Twice sold lands now part of Bryson City

This is the peculiar story of the land transactions, disputes, and incidents that led to the establishment of Bryson City and the construction of its first jail. This town was a village named Charleston before it became Bryson City in…
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 13:39

Black locust a favorite for its strength

All of the spring flowering plants are early this year by as much as two to three weeks. Black locust is no exception. Their beautiful creamy-white pea-shaped flowers form dependent clusters so fragrant that the air is heavy with scent…
Wednesday, 18 April 2012 12:53

Cherokee masks come in many guises

A mask is a mechanism employed to cover the face as a protective screen or disguise. For protection, they have been utilized for centuries by medieval horsemen, welders, fencers, hockey goalies, and so on. Their most intriguing uses, however, have…
Wednesday, 11 April 2012 14:18

WNC border may have been drawn “under the influence”

Editor’s note: This column first appeared in The Smoky Mountain News in April 2002. Have you ever looked at a map of North Carolina and wondered how in the heck the Old North State came to be shaped like that?…
Wednesday, 04 April 2012 13:05

When the kingfishers return

Belted kingfishers are one of my favorite birds, so much so that I wrote a poem years ago about anticipating their return to our creek each spring titled “Kingfishers Return.” A pair fishes along the small creek on our property…
Wednesday, 28 March 2012 12:52

Nomenclature has meaning when it comes to plants

What’s in a name? Well, sometimes a lot, especially when you’re considering the names we assign plants. The striking little early wildflower of deciduous woodlands with its yellow reflexed petals, long red stamens, and lush brown dappled green leaves goes…
Wednesday, 21 March 2012 14:15

Learning and writing haiku

Lots of people write haikus or haiku-like verse. This past year we had several haiku-writing fests at our house. House rules during Lands Creek haiku fests are that each haiku must be of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllabic structure.…
Thursday, 15 March 2012 04:46

The art of interviewing — let’em do the talking

When I started writing features for a newspaper in the late 1980s, I didn’t have much of a clue as to what I was doing. I was working as a “stringer” for a regional insert called “Smoky Mountain Neighbors,” which…
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