By Eilene Lyon I never expected a problem, really. We have wildlife all around our home: deer browsing the shrubs, robins stripping berries from the juniper, chipmunks burying seeds in the flower pots, raccoons in the rafters, mice roaming the dark interior of our walls. Frankly, the dogs never did much to stem the tide,... Continue Reading →
The Interior West
By Eilene Lyon RVing has taken off this year, more rapidly than Covid-19 infections. It’s a relatively safe way to travel, because you take your lodging and kitchen with you, minimizing the need to spend time indoors in potentially dangerous places. The Putterer, Sterling, and I packed ourselves into our new (used) Ford van and... Continue Reading →
Absurdities #9
By Eilene Lyon The other day I dropped by the local college campus to review a book in their research library. As I headed back to my car, I encountered a mule deer buck in velvet, blithely using a rear hoof to scratch his ear, like a dog, as he idly chewed some leaves he'd... Continue Reading →
Hyphens Matter
By Eilene Lyon Just in case you don't think hyphens are really necessary. I thought, "Gee, that man must have an enormous appetite!" Feature image: Guadalupe Island great white shark (Wikimedia Commons)
The Slide Years: Seismic
By Eilene Lyon The Slide Years is a series in which I select an image my dad took from 1957-1982 with Kodachrome slide film, then I write a stream-of-consciousness essay – a sort of mini-memoir. The freight-train rumble woke me out of a sound sleep at 3:04 a.m. on February 4, 1976. Wait a minute,... Continue Reading →
Back on the Bayou
By Eilene Lyon We picked up a rental car at the New Orleans airport and headed to our hotel – a reasonably priced national brand right on St. Charles in the Garden District. For our brief stay in the city, we could take the trollies wherever we needed to go. We took the St. Charles... Continue Reading →
The Drought Diaries: Innovation
By Eilene Lyon The Drought Diaries has been on hiatus, but the issue is at the forefront of my mind once again as we head into another season of extreme drought here in the southwestern U.S. Runoff from the area snowpack is expected to occur quickly and at a lower volume than average. There has... Continue Reading →
The Jewel of Idaho
Week 14: #52 Ancestors – Water By Eilene Lyon Priest Lake, near Canada in Idaho's panhandle, has long been a popular recreation area. In the 1920s, actor/director Nell Shipman "discovered" the lake and established Lionhead Lodge and her own film production company there. Though she stayed only a couple years, her movies introduced the country... Continue Reading →
Louisiana Wild
By Eilene Lyon Since we won't be traveling in the foreseeable future, I decided to look back at a trip we made in April 2012 to Louisiana - our first visit to the "deep South." It coincided with the migratory bird festival on Grand Isle. And since this past Saturday was World Migratory Bird Day... Continue Reading →