Into the Woods

Photo update: Snowmageddon arrives: A file photo taken here in March 2014 — a cardinal While looking out the upstairs windows with Lily this morning, it was apparent that the birds were unusually active and agitated. The traffic into and out of the arbor vitae trees was particularly busy, as though the birds are laying […]

Here in the foothills, some of the leaves are hanging on. But not far north in the Blue Ridge mountains, it’s all over for the summer of 2018. It was a good growing season, though, with more than 60 inches of rain so far this year in many areas of the mountains.

I’ve always assumed that, at the very least, transient juvenile bears sometimes wander up the creek from the Dan River. That’s because I saw the tracks of a small bear in the mud six or seven years ago, down by the creek, about a quarter of a mile below the abbey. Today, a neighbor with […]