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586 Search Results for "george ellison"
The smelly truth about stink bugs
Published: 2015-12-16 17:29:16Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later. Our house has been invaded by a herd of pygmy rhinoceroses, which is the plural form (I just discovered) of rhinoceros. . Actually, they aren’t pygmy rhinoceroses. They just look like pygmy rhinoceroses. Th...
Read MoreHorseshoe Rock phenomenon attracts writers’ attention
Published: 2015-12-02 17:08:45“As for the Horseshoe Rock, it is one of those curving balds of solid rock. The depressions found on the rock are quite a curiosity, because of their great number, uniform size, and arrangement in long straight rows running parallel close together and ...
Read MoreNaturalist to give sneak peak at upcoming book
Published: 2015-12-02 16:51:57Naturalist and historian George Ellison will preview his upcoming collection of essays, Literary Excursions, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. . The book is a collection of 50 essays that have appeared throughou...
Read MoreChinquapin among our most interesting, graceful plants
Published: 2015-11-18 17:31:37In 1900 about 35 percent of the deciduous forest in the Southern Appalachians was comprised of American chestnut (Castanea dentata). . But chances are you won’t be eating chestnuts roasting on an open fire or any other sort of fire for the holidays, un...
Read MoreFerns stand out this time of year
Published: 2015-11-04 15:42:59One of my favorite times to observe ferns is in winter when they stand out in the brown leaf-litter. Of the 70 or so species that have been documented in the southern mountains, perhaps a fourth are evergreen. These would include walking fern, rockcap fe...
Read MoreObserving the outside world with inward eyes
Published: 2015-10-21 17:00:15Looking back I can remember that 1975 was a wildflower sort of year. 1980 was a tree sort of year. 1984 was a bird sort of year. 1989 was a mushroom sort of year. 1999 was a fern sort of year. . The summer of 2015 was a butterfly sort of summer. The shru...
Read MoreThe secret of ministry of frost
Published: 2015-10-07 17:46:57It’s Oct. 6 as I write this. The first frost hasn’t as yet arrived. But it won’t be long coming. Most gardening resources for Western North Carolina cite on or about Oct. 10 as the average date for a killing frost. . The first frost serves as a giv...
Read MoreDealing with the dreaded writer’s block
Published: 2015-09-23 15:12:26In the June 14, 2004, issue of The New Yorker magazine, there is an essay titled “Blocked! Why Do Writers Stop Writing?” (I can’t find the author’s name in the online edition). Therein one of the Romantic poets, Coleridge, is cited as a prime exa...
Read MoreMy favorite literary opening paragraphs
Published: 2015-09-09 16:15:33I don’t like to talk or write about writing — but when forced to do so by, say, an approaching deadline, I will. I am, in fact, doing so right now. But I’ll be concise: have a beginning, have an ending, and don’t worry about the middle. . Endings...
Read MoreBlueberry identification is ‘difficult at best’
Published: 2015-08-12 16:12:48“It’s football time in Tennessee!” is what John Ward, the long-time announcer for the University of Tennessee, used to declare when the opening kickoff of the season was airborne. . “It’s blueberry picking time in Western North Carolina!” wou...
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