Should You Skip the Straw?

Single-use plastic straws carry a lot more than a sip of iced tea from the glass to your waiting lips these days. Are straws really harmful to marine life? Does refusing a straw really make a contribution toward reducing ocean pollution? You can Google these questions ’til the sea cows come home. For me, the […]

EE Haiku

mourning dove and kids who dislike poetry melancholy coos *EE = Envionmental Education

Rocky Mountain Homesick Haiku

alpine tundra magic petite petals and great gusts rocky mountain high, indeed

Florida Storms

I heard the first distant rumblings of thunder and put down my glue stick. I looked around to gauge the reaction of the other students. Did they hear the thunder? Were they as nervous as I was? They kept cutting and gluing, either oblivious to or apathetic about the approaching storm. It was the middle […]

July 4th Haiku

fireflies are fireworks happy 4th

The Dead Mole

It wasn’t a mole. But it was dead. I didn’t know what kind of rodent it was (maybe a mouse?), so I didn’t correct anyone. I could just as easily have titled this post ‘The Dead Mouse’ but that’s not what the kids were calling it. The species wasn’t important. Its death was. I was […]

Bird Show Karma

I can’t remember how my obsession with birds began. I was probably in second grade, because by third I was telling everyone I was going to be an ornithologist when I grew up. I remember my grandparents giving me an old field guide to the Birds of North America, a hand-me-down from a retired birder […]

Lotus Pond Poetry

backward baseball hats and red-winged blackbirds bros at the lotus pond ~ dragonflies above tadpoles below lily pad limbo

Wedding Planning Tips for Nature Lovers

I just got married! If I learned anything about being engaged it’s that planning a wedding is not all fun and games and giggles and snuggles. It’s stressful! I gathered some tips to assist and inspire other nature-loving couples who have decided to plan a wedding… My fiancé and I already live together and don’t […]

Cherry Blossom Haiku

reading haiku on the metro, en route to cherry blossoms a cherry blossom falls in the shadow of the Washington monument cherry blossoms float in bunches toward the Potomac and the Atlantic in the tidal basin a duck pair forages among flower petal sludge reflections of cherry blossoms in goose wake- petals ripple branches heavy […]