Fred First
FRED FIRST: Turning Points of Note From a Season of Change
First night: Middle of April: The sliding doors are open with nothing but the screens to filter the sweet air at midnight. The occasional hello of a distant dog or...
FRED FIRST: What Was A Half Million Acres of Cypress Swamp
The transformation of the Missouri Boot Heel
A year from today, I will be living in...
FRED FIRST: There Are Places I Remember
The Moods and Memories of Mountains
On reaching the summit of the long incline up from...
Within Our Grasp – Learning To Live With What We Have
We are coming to the end of many familiar and comfortable ways of life in...
FRED FIRST: Country Mouse, City Life / Growing New Roots without Transplant Shock
As soon as we made the decision in November to move to Columbia, calculating the...
One Subaru – Sunny Side Up
It was miserable, cold and wet. The wind made the umbrella in my hand a pathetic mockery of shelter from the storm.
It would...
Taking in The Last Garden of 2010
I put away the garden of the summer of 2010 this morning. It was a fair year—more productive than some disastrous gardens we’ve had,...
The Blue Ridge Parkway: Gateway To The Future
The 469-mile-long Blue Ridge Parkway is often depicted as being “more than a road.” Superintendent Phil Francis interprets this in part by explaining that...
The Glorious Good-bye of Autumn
It seems fitting to celebrate the transition from summer to fall, missing the freedoms of the former, looking with a mix of dread...
Chicken Tales: Fowl Language Warning
Yesterday, fall was in the air. Â I sat down in the maple shade of mid-afternoon with my legs full out on the...
America’s Great Outdoors: What Makes Here a Special Place?
The America's Great Outdoors initiative aims to develop a new strategy for 21st century conservation and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors. Conservation...
