1183 stories
Just five days from now, the magic will happen. Santa Claus will step into his gift-laden, reindeer-powered sleigh and make his annual, around-the-world trip. The character of Santa Claus was originally inspired by the fourth-century, Greek bishop Saint Nicholas of Myra in Asia Minor (now Turkey), a man renowned for his generosity and kindness.
It’s taken quite a number of years, but I’ve learned to be a proud introvert; and, well, as a writer, it also kind of comes with the territory. But we humans aren’t the only ones to have introverts among us. Nonhuman animals, too, have their share of “quiet ones.”
Wolves are probably one of the most widely studied species on the planet. What’s fascinating, though, is that just when we think we know almost everything there is to know about them, they find a way to surprise us. It’s estimated that 2 million wolves once roamed freely throughout North America.
From spots on leopards to stripes on zebras to hexagons on boxfish, nature creates an almost infinite array of dazzling patterns and stunning colors. But a full explanation for how these designs form has remained elusive—until now.
“This is the most magnificent mammal on our continent. Its story is so complicated and so interesting and moves into every aspect of almost every era of our lives and touches on so many subjects you wouldn’t think it would necessarily touch on,” says filmmaker Ken Burns of our national mammal, Bison bison.
Jaguar sightings in Brazil’s Pantanal have increased markedly in recent years, transforming this vast wetland into one of the best places on Earth to observe South America’s largest big cat in the wild.
From Australia to Zimbabwe, our nature journeys will stoke your sense of awe and draw travelers with a zest for adventure!
Africa’s great wildebeest migration and Mexico’s “living mountain” of fluttering butterfly wings are just two of nature’s many amazing and fun phenomena. But, especially appropriate for this time of year, nature holds some scary wonders, as well. One of them is ants who become real-life zombies.
Spring may be for pastel tulips and heavenly scented lilacs, but autumn is when plants with spooky names like bat flower, cobra lily, corpse flower and doll’s eyes take their turn in the spotlight.
For most of us, Thanksgiving is the only holiday of the year centered on giving thanks for what we already have, our families and our friends. It is also the only holiday I know of that has food as its major focus. For a lot of us, the holiday means eating turkey.
On November 5, 2023, daylight saving time (DST) will end and standard time will once again reign. While recently there have been many attempts to do away with Americans’ “springing forward” and “falling back” each year, it looks like we’ll be continuing with the practice for some time to come.
I’ve always been drawn to what we call “earth colors”—soft browns, olive greens, muted oranges, dusty pinks and corn-husk yellows. Colors have been on my mind because I recently moved to the Pacific Northwest into an older home that needs paint and some new carpeting.
