Category Archives: Uncategorized

years ago, now 25 of them,and for so many of thoseI thought what a shame it wasthat, as early flowers were raisingtheir heads and tiny flies and antswere beginning their work,when you could see the buds onwinter-bare branches,you were missing … Continue reading →

is, apparently, my leprechaun name,and since we are all Irishon St. Patrick’s Day, let it be so. Though I pay tributeto my actual Irish ancestorsnamed Keeley, including my grandpa who couldturn on a brogue with a twistof the tongue, and … Continue reading →

I did not know its name untilI took a photo of the wingéd thingclinging to the stucco wall nearmy front door, and looked it up: a white-lined sphinx moth,aka, the hummingbird mothfor the way it hovers. Largeand lovely as some … Continue reading →

We the multitude rising with spring.—Kim Stafford Eager for spring, we have leaptacross an hour as the equinoxapproaches in five days. Consumed by so much of humanity’sturmoil, we cannot help but brightenunder March sunshine, warmer days and, at the grocerystore, … Continue reading →

At the end of every day,the Committee in Charge of Sunsetssets in motion a sky show that draws humans to lookwest over an ocean to watchour nearest star slip below the horizon, periodically withgorgeous lighting effects—pinky oranges with beams angling … Continue reading →

Let it be on a painterly blue-sky day likethis one under an artistic wash of light clouds, on a trail that feels like ours, weaving throughpines with periodic peeks of the calm Pacific. As you lean into a slight rise … Continue reading →

(Tidepool watching, Pt. LobosState Natural Reserve, Carmel, California) (for Sue Lester, DVM) ••• Hermit crabs of various sizesmeander the little crabby highwayof a low-tide pool as I sit and watch the show on a spring-like afternoon.I cannot peer in tide … Continue reading →

If this were Hawaii,we’d be looking for honuas we walk this blufftop trail. But this is California’s central coast,where kelp forests shimmy underthe surface of the sea, not turtles,though a few slender-neckedcormorants on the hunt pop up,then dive to surface … Continue reading →

The first tentative forayof a not-too-long walkputs us on an elevated path above Pacific waves smashingrocks into sand. We bothget easily winded, especially coming up steepstairs that lead to and fromthe tiny cove mostly hidden (as its name testifies)unless you … Continue reading →

hover over a quartet of almonds,which sidles up to a couple of olives, alongside a bit of goat cheesethe color of the streaky clouds high over the ruler-straight horizondividing sea and sky. You, butterfly lover, would admirethis arrangement. He, a … Continue reading →