Started in 1938 — National Wildlife Week is one the longest-standing wildlife and conservation education
programs in the U.S.
This year the theme is focused on wonderful and unusual characteristics of North American Wildlife.
Each day there is a different subject for educators, home school parents and kids to …
“If you want to see birds, you must have birds in your heart.” – John Burroughs, Outside Magazine
Read the quote again. And again. Do you get it? Do you REALLY see birds?
Back when I was a teenager, I used to think my mother was bonkers. Why else would a middle-aged woman sit by a window with a pair of binoculars and a book, “Guide to the Birds of
the Eastern United States”, resting on a nearby table. B-O-R-I-N-G. She would tell …
In Northwest Arkansas, about three hours from my home in Tulsa, is a little place deep in the Ozark Hills known as Eureka Springs. A quaint, old
village built into a narrow valley between rocky hillsides, the place has retained its eclectic, Victorian charm over many decades. Narrow streets wind through the town, with no rhyme or
reason to their path, or their width. Bed and breakfasts abound, and the town is a mecca for shoppers, antique hunters and …
Just like us, animals come to life again as the days lengthen and the weather warms. …
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain, Autobiography
You may have seen this quote before. I have. But every time I read it I am challenged to ‘sail away from safe harbor.’ Forget that this harbor is where we are most comfortable.
…
She woke up slowly, stretched and yawned and stretched again. The soft, warm, downy bedsack tempted her to go back too sleep. It was easy to
roll over and close her eyes again.
An itchy place square in the middle of her back nagged at her.Forget any thought about lying still. And she was hungry. Not just hungry, ravenous. As if she hadn’t eaten in months. And she
hadn’t. Really.
The house was dark, and oh …
Couldn’t resist. It’s Leap Day!
And that only happens every FOUR years. It is our way of correcting our calendar, and using up the solar time that we have not been able to fit into the usual 24 hour per day, 365 day per year
calendar. (Those pesky 6 hours of day each year have to be added together and put someplace!)
So, what does it all mean? Simply put, we are synchronizing the calendar year with the astronomical or seasonal year. …
Ooooh, I’m almost too late for this one! The Bradford Pears are blooming and so are the native crabapples. There is
color in the woods, and in our yards, and it’s not even MARCH!
I wanted to talk to you about Eastern Red Cedars! They are the ‘christmas’ trees that grow so easily throughout Oklahomak, adding spots (or blotches) of green to our otherwise brown winter
landscape. Snow drapes on their branches, and little birds flit in and …
“Being aware of the splendor of the seasons, of the natural world, makes us understand man’s critical need for wild places. Living with familiar
things and moving in the seasons can fulfill that profound need common to us all: a sense of place.” – Jo Northrop, Country Matters
I can sense it. Spring. I feel it in the rustling of the wind and the warmth of the sunrays. I smell it in the air, and see it in the blooms of …
I’ve always been lured to the mystery and romance of the Old South. Half of my brain accepts that the Old South is no longer there, but half of it is
consumed with the idea of ghostly plantations with stately buildings and beautiful gardens. In February 2011, I had the opportunity to visit the Old South and actually spent the night on two
former plantations. The experience was, in some ways, bittersweet for someone with the mind of a …
Mary Coley Writes 