On the first day of September, a light rain began falling. Welcome as any April shower after a hard winter. Only today the shower comes after a long , hard summer. Ninety days of ninety degree daily heat. I’m not sad to say good-bye August! Time was when I personally welcomed baking dry heat, frying … More Welcome, September Rains

In the early dusk, day before yesterday, dog and man felt a need for a change of scenery. Down here in the lowlands along the west-flowing river, all is cool, green and shady. But it can feel closed in, especially when the humidity starts climbing. Given the way the topography works here, it only takes … More The Whippoorwill and The Bear

What summer’s proposing is some kind of happiness. The morning is hot, the afternoon will be one of those shades-drawn electric-fan kind of laziness. But then, pretty soon this early June sun will go down after this muggy day. Chores will be done, some small amount of wood split, kayak nosed out of its winter … More Saturday Night

June 2, 2020. Not many people call this place where I live The Flat anymore. But for 200 years that has been the name of this curious place. Part real, part imaginary as you will see. The Flat actually is flat, a broad flood plain terrace that fans out a square mile or two along … More Living On the Edge of The Flat

29 May, 2020 A cool breeze lifts the page of a morning that was supposed to be full of rain but it’s not! Early summer sun rises behind me, it lights on flowering bush and tree: lilac, quince, cherry, rhododendron, the especially golden buttercup patches. The back lawn looks like a crazy quilt, the work … More Summer’s Doorstep

Welcome! The rivers of the title and this journal are the sources of daily adventures, both real and imaginary. My West-flowing river, known to Indigenous peoples as the paguag, and to English speakers as the Millers, passes along the woodlands of my ancestral family homestead where I have lived for the past 50 years. It … More River Stories Journal