I’m walking the bike trail along the Hoosic river toward the Spruces park in Williamstown, and the meadows and the pollinator garden are high with wildflowers.
Read articleQuiet ripples in a mountain spring — #berkshireweekend
I’ve found a spring I never knew before, up the Appalachian Trail in North Adams as the path climbs from North Hoosac Road and toward the ridge.
Read articleStone formations shapeshift on Tyringham Cobble
The sun is high — a rare afternoon in this rainy summer — and the path begins in the open, but I’ll have shade on the hill. I’m walking in the meadow at the foot of Tyringham Cobble.
Read articleHere be dragons … real ones #berkshireweekend
I met a dragon in the ruins at Ashintully. A live one — really. She’s a bearded dragon named Phoebe, and she came up with a young couple exploring the hills …
Read articleGood nights to wink back at fireflies — #berkshireweekend
The ducks take off, almost running on top of the water, and we watch them through a screen of cat-tails. The tops of the stalks carry cones of russet-gold we think must be pollen …
Read articleThom Smith knows the hidden places in the hills
Thom Smith, if you’re reading this, do you remember the day ten years ago in July when you invited me along with friends to look for rose pogonia orchids in Hawley bog?
Read articleWe belong to the light, we belong to the thunder — #Berkshireweekend
A silvery stag’s antlers spindle into leaves, and I wonder what makes the patterns in them … or in lightening. I’d driven south through a thunderstorm to look for sculpture in Edith Wharton’s gardens.
Read articleReimagining the Hoosic River — community weighs in
The Hoosic River faces challenges to a healthy flow of water for the plants and animals and people who live along it, and local nonprofits and volunteers are talking about the future — as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens a study that has taken years to secure.
Read articleAzaleas are in full blow on the Taconic crest
It’s hard to explain the feeling of a whole hillside of azaleas in bloom. Blossoms rise in waves twice my height, blossoms thick on the bushes in clusters ...
Read articleOlivia’s Overlook soothes and surprises on a spring day
Lie on your back up here with your feet under the lowbush blueberries and you can hear the wind around you like a river. The cups of the blueberry blossoms and a wild cherry sapling are quivering in the warm air.
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