At the Intersection of Theology, Nature, and the Arts
Like Muir, I'm a saunterer!!! Hiking—"I don't like the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains—not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the …
On this Easter, so often celebrated with delicate bunnies and fragile eggs, I want to speak instead of Resurrection Day and the powerful, power-filled Jesus, the Risen Prophet-King, the Roaring Lion, the Holy Lord of Lords. My dear friend, Tom Graffagnino, in his brilliant—and all too timely—treatise on the troubled No Border Land that is …
Continue reading "Reflections on Resurrection in the Time of COVID-19"
This morning's email briefing from the New York Times included an item on the now-airing and hugely popular Netflix documentary series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.” The NYT describes the program as centering on "a roadside zookeeper and his plot to kill an animal activist." The show reminded me of a podcast from my …
I've just finished reading The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit. It's the compelling true story of a twenty-year-old who drove his white 1985 Subaru Brat into central Maine, dropped his keys on the center console, exited the vehicle, started walking without knowing where he was going, and disappeared …
Continue reading "The Stranger in the Woods…So Much to Ponder"
Two years ago today, I was celebrating the fact that I'd completed 35 chapters and an 11-page Notes section for Celebrating America's National Parks, a book on which I was collaborating with photographer Clyde Butcher and designer David Griffin. I had just the last little bits to edit and all the pages to proof and …
Continue reading "Celebrating America’s National Parks Honored with 2017 IPA Award"
I had the pleasure this week of visiting with some of the birds that are under the care of the Cape Fear Raptor Center in Rocky Point, North Carolina. The organization educates the public on the importance of these extraordinary creatures and provides rehabilitation services to injured raptors with the goal of releasing them back to their natural habitats. …
Oh, how I enjoy being gently wakened by a soft breeze and a sound river of birdsong just as the sun is rising! Our Creator knit us together in our mothers' wombs and He knows us better than we know ourselves. He delights in bringing this treat of peace and pleasure for our senses before …
Topsail’s Turtles, Episode 2 of Wild Life! Wild Places!, on Pet Life Radio, is now available for listening. In this program, I take you to North Carolina where I am helping monitor sea turtle activity on Topsail, one of the state’s barrier islands. Topsail is a northern rookery for the threatened species that is the …
Celebrating America's National Parks, a book on which I collaborated with Florida-based photographer, Clyde Butcher (his images, my words) was released in 2016. This volume features parks ranging from Maine’s Acadia to Alaska’s Denali to Florida’s Everglades. Shared alongside Clyde’s images, that he captured over a span of 50 years, are the fascinating details I discovered on the …
I apologize for neglecting this blog in recent days. I’ve been holed up writing and editing but will soon resume posting on this site. Big Cypress Swamp: The Western Everglades, a book I edited, has just been released, and The National Parks, a book on which I collaborated with photographer Clyde Butcher (his photographs, my words), …
DFG Hailson 