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Another Day, Another Avian Adventure
The alert came in at 6:30 AM and my collaborator texted me the particulars. I had dressed but still needed a strong cup of coffee to be of any use to her. Less than fifteen minutes later, she began the journey to my location. I had just enough time to change into my hunting clothes and prepare my vehicle. A vigilant spotter had arrived at first light to see if our target had moved during the night. We knew it would not hang around for very long. A stranger to this region, the creature’s habitat reached far into Alaska and to the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean during its…
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Slow Dancing with the Asphalt
I recently got my driveway repaved. It had been over twenty years since it had first been laid and the freeze/thaw cycle of Pennsylvania winters had taken its toll despite regular maintenance. It started to crumble in spots and if I didn’t get it done now when the base could still be salvaged, it would cost a lot more to remove the old asphalt, lay a new base, and then let it settle over the winter before adding a new layer. The crew began showing up at eight in the morning on what promised to be an absolutely gorgeous day. Sunny, temperature in the low seventies, light winds and low…
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Conquering the Acropolis of Athens
A (Very Brief) History of Athens, Greece Athens, Greece is the oldest capital in Europe. The highest hill in the city, The Acropolis, consists of a flat-topped rock over one-hundred-fifty meters high with three incredibly steep sides. An easily defended fortress and military base from both land and sea, it only became a religious center dedicated to the worship of the goddess Athena much later during the rise and fall of the Mycenae civilization near the end of the Bronze Age. For the next four hundred years, Greece plunged into a dark age when little is known. What we think of as Ancient Greek civilization began around the fifth century…
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Ode to a Grecian Spring
Many countries celebrate May First as International Labor Day, but it’s more commonly referred to as Protomagia throughout Greece. Literally, the first day of May. It all started with the ancient Greeks who honored the Greek Goddess Maia, who was somehow related to a Roman goddess of fertility. Festivals and parades abound. The locals go out to the country to gather wildflowers or attempt the season’s first swim. This year it fell on a Monday, and being a major holiday, Athenians decided to enjoy a long weekend. Even the land celebrated; the countryside overflowed with flowers. Arriving in Athens later than expected on Friday, we barely had time for a…
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Dancing Under the Cobwebs
I danced myself dizzy to the rhythms of a bouzouki and guitar. I drank local wine from a carafe that never went empty. Even though completely sated by Greek starters, I ate succulent grilled lamb till I thought I would burst. Ever-present Greek salad with feta, long ropes of pasta with slow simmered beef, garlicky tzatziki, roasted beets, local salami, chunks of crusty bread, and plates of unidentified savories arrived unceasingly from the kitchen. Corfu! Definitely one of the most enjoyable evenings I had in Greece. You may be familiar with Corfu from last year’s BBC series about the Durrells. The Greeks call the island Kerkyra. Corfu is the anglicized…
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Euros From Heaven
The history of Greece can be traced to the Minoans almost five thousand years ago. And this presents problems for all sorts of infrastructure improvements in the cities. Everywhere they try to put in a new Metro line or construct a new building, they find ruins of structures from long ago, mosaics and/or pottery or grave goods. Everything stops while the archeologists document the site. But still, these ancient sites attract tourists from all over the world. And I do mean the entire world. On my way to the Acropolis the first morning hundreds of passengers from three cruise ships joined us. By late morning maintaining a safe distance between…
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Sanctuary
Lucy closed her eyes and shuffled over to the old stuffed chair that he had loved and spent most of his last hours. She stared at it sadly. Funerals could be so depressing. Only a few neighbors attended the graveside service. More out of curiosity than sympathy. No flowers, no words of sympathy. Even the vicar seemed lost for words. A plain wooden coffin buried in what would soon be an unmarked grave. Erik and I kept to ourselves. Nosiness and human nature. An annoying fact of life here. Every bone and muscle in her body ached. She gazed down at her gnarly fingers and sighed. How have I gotten…
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The Origins of The Case Of The Missing Monarch
Life became pretty lonely when the pandemic lockdown began in March 2020. But the birds began arriving a few weeks later, and escape to the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge became my sanctuary and link to the outside world. I teamed up with a fellow birder who remained as diligent as I about masking and social distancing. The Case of the Missing Monarch started out as a serial sent to a select two to lift all our spirits, and document some of our nature adventures at the Refuge. I added a murder mystery plot and a couple of interesting leading characters who go to a lot of trouble to find…
