Eclectic travelers

I came to Paris to find the muse that inspired The Lost Generation of writers like Hemingway and the force that motivated the great painters like Picasso and Monet, but I did not find it. I was not moved to write. I was driven to take photographs. Does this mean that the old muse is dead? I don't think so. For some it might be there. For me it has been replaced by a happy curiosity. The old creative energy is in the parks. It is the promenades; the small cafes, the Boulanger es, the fruit stands, the wine stores, chocolate stores and the movement of people. The Des Halles is the only exception. It is the Mall of Paris and as such it is the opposite of what my Paris is. There is no sunshine here. No street corner buzz of conversation, only a drive to consume without the Bonjour and au revoir of our daily interactions in the street stores. Instead it is the hypnotic use of lights and music and motion. I must stay away from this monstrosity. We have walked so many neighbor...

There are benefits to a long stay like this month in Paris That are not apparent in the course schedule, purpose Become evident as time passes. With just two days left in our journey and seven weeks behind us I am aware of how at home I feel and the fact That returning to our permanent home is not urgent.  We-have Traveled Almost every subway line and can make transfers with a glance as we are swept along with the crowds. I am Such Treated with curtesy Each one because Because of age and cane and we know how to make connections with ease. Now we are on a railroad car to go to Reims and again we-have lost the anxiety of our first ventures. We just walk in to the station and the train to ease it like it is routine. (Footnote here is this process They Asked for our passports qui we have-nots-been carrying. It worked out fine goal Reminds us That we are still officiellement foreign.). We greet friends Who come to visit and find shops and streets with ease. This is what we hoped for. We...

Going Nature’s Way By Kate Crowley With the ridiculously warm weather we had last week, the migration of birds returning north accelerated, only this year rather than seeing robins and red-winged blackbirds what I’ve been seeing are lots and lots of Bald Eagles.  It really has been spectacular. It began three weeks ago when we went to Bayfield and took the ferry over to Madeline Island.  There was ice on either side of the boat as we crossed the Bay, but the sun was warm and the sky was blue.  On the way back to Bayfield I noticed a couple large dark birds performing an aerial ballet, with twists and turns and I knew immediately it was a pair of Bald Eagles engaged in courtship display.  Then I looked ahead and to the left of the boat and standing on the ice floes were at least six dark bird shapes.  More eagles! The boat had left an open channel of water and some were standing near the edge, hoping I guess, for a fish to appear.  As we approached...

WINGIN’ IT By Kate  Crowley As we began a hike with our Brazilian friends, Deise and Ricardo, I told them about the birds known as Ruffed Grouse that live in our woods and scare the daylights out of me every time I’m skiing our trails and they suddenly erupt into flight. I call them ‘heart-attack’ birds. It’s hard to communicate that level of surprise, if you’ve never experienced it.  And it doesn’t matter how often it happens; from year to year, it always catches me off-guard. This winter, when I have been able to ski, I have only had a couple of grouse make themselves known in this shocking manner.  Ruffed Grouse, sometimes (mistakenly) called partridge are the most popular game bird in our state.  Annual hunter harvest averages more than 500,000 birds, but that is an average because these birds, like some other animals, have a cyclic population dynamic.  About every ten years their population will reach a peak in numbers and then gradually drop to ...

GOING NATURE’S WAY By Kate Crowley We are entering the month when people are getting tired of winter and Saturday with the temperature reaching into the 50’s didn’t make matters any easier. As expected, the temperatures dropped on Sunday and we got snow, typical for this month of transition. If you are beginning to experience the winter ‘blahs’, Mike and I can recommend a guaranteed cure that does not involve flying off to some tropical climes, even though that may sound pretty darn good.  No, what we recommend is importing some friends from the Southern Hemisphere.  These should be people who are not afraid of real winter weather; people like Deise Nizzola and Ricardo Alves. We have known Deise since 1995 when she came to the Audubon Center as an international intern.  She and Ricardo live at the very southern end of Brazil, so they do have seasons, including winter.  They might occasionally get a little snow, but it is short lived and mostly winter is a co...

WINGIN’ IT By Kate Crowley I am a Minnesotan who likes winter.  I like the beautiful images of snow falling and creating landscape-scale snow globes. I like being able to ski our trails and absorb the silence of the forest.  I like the sense of hibernation too, when our homes become sanctuaries of warmth and peace.  I even enjoy the act of shoveling because it gives me a real sense of accomplishment. I admit that I do not have to face the daily trials of bad driving conditions and cold cars in the  morning, which I believe are the cause of most people’s angst.  So, living through December, January and February is not a hardship for me and it usually isn’t until later in March that I start to get spring fever.  So, it wasn’t wishful thinking on my part when I walked past a townhome on a corner in NE Minneapolis last Saturday and saw two American robins in the yard.  I did a double take, but then stopped to watch as they pecked at the exposed gras...

Going Nature’s Way By Kate Crowley photos by Mike Link In the winter, as I ski through our forest I am able to see the trees so much better.  It is a mixed forest, meaning we have conifers (pines and firs) and hardwoods (maples, oaks, aspen and birch).  I have noticed that certain species tend to be found concentrated in different parts of the forest, which makes sense, since they differ in their specific needs for moisture, sun and shade.  Of all the trees, my two favorites are the Eastern White Pine ( Pinus strobus ) and the Paper Birch ( Betula papyrifera ); also known as White Birch. We have a good number of old growth white pines; trees that are over 100 years old. They stand as memorials to the vast forests of a century ago that covered this part of the state.  And they are the progenitors of the new growth spreading through the forest, something we are very pleased to see.  Efforts to replant white pines in the 20 th Century were mostly uns...