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 →

May 28, 2020 31

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 →

May 19, 2020 26

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 →

May 12, 2020 36

Mothers of Invention

By Eilene Lyon – May 5, 2020 “Necessity is the mother of invention” – a proverb Why “mother” and not father? I suspect women frequently find themselves in need of a solution to a problem. We tend to be multi-taskers by tradition and that means shortcuts and mechanical aids come in real handy. Plus, we’re... Continue Reading →

May 5, 2020 25

Signs of Life

By Eilene Lyon Spring is well underway in southwest Colorado. Let's see what we can find in the yard and neighborhood. Weeds always seem to get the jump on everything else, especially the mustards. Then there are the usual suspects. Only a few flowers have bloomed in the yard. But more are on the... Continue Reading →

April 21, 2020 31

Koch’s Disease

By Eilene Lyon -- March 24, 2020 It felled Egyptian Pharaohs and Greek warriors. It’s likely been around for 9,000 years or more. An estimate is that one in seven people who ever lived prior to 1800 succumbed to the disease, caused by a bacterium. Is this one of those plagues that have been eradicated... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2020 35

In The Library

By Eilene Lyon -- December 10, 2019 On this date 168 years ago, Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey (later shortened to Melvil Dewey) was born in Adams Center, New York, to Joel and Eliza (Greene) Dewey. He is credited with inventing the book-cataloging system that bears his name: the Dewey Decimal System. There’s a bit more... Continue Reading →

December 10, 2019 35

For the Birds

By Eilene Lyon The latest issue of Living Bird Magazine from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a clarion call to bird and nature lovers everywhere. I urge you to at least read the editorial "The choir must become a force for change." Somewhere between 45 and 50 million Americans say they are bird watchers.... Continue Reading →

November 5, 2019 31

Rio Grande Headwaters

By Eilene Lyon South of the South Fork of the Rio Grande that flows down from Wolf Creek Pass, the campers (many of them hunters) were thick as late-summer flies. We spent one night on Park Creek as a waypoint between the Conejos River (two nights) and the Rio Grande headwaters, west of Creede, Colorado.... Continue Reading →

September 17, 2019 38