Outdoors

Urban Gardening
My favorite place to be this time of year is sitting in the middle of my future vegetables. A cat usually wanders up and plops in my lap and I pull up some weeds that have emerged after the last big rain, but mostly I sit and stare at the wide leaves of the eggplant […]

Day trip: Wilderness Park, Prattville
You’ve got a few spare hours on an unusually under-committed Saturday. It has been nearly a decade since you last went to Pratville’s bamboo “forest,” otherwise formally known as Wilderness Park. You decide to return. The dog from 2008 is now deceased. The new dog stays on the leash, due to her excitability and newly-discovered […]

Kneel Before Sod
Let’s be honest: Talking about lawns is not the most exciting thing in the world. Plenty of ink has been spilled about the costs and consequences of America’s obsessions with our yards, ranging from suburbanization and sprawl through the environmental effects of incessant fertilizing and watering. But this is not a polemic about xeriscaping. This […]

New Nature Experiences
Sometimes I get tired of walking or biking in my neighborhood or adjacent historic areas and long for some adventure! So this last Sunday afternoon I opted to explore the new Lagoon Park Trail that I keep hearing so much about. After loading my trusty two wheeler up in the back of my car I […]

Chewacla State Park
We needed to get away. We were honestly envisioning some kind of epic, spur-of-the-moment road trip, which would lead us towards the kind of reflective meditation that you can only get from staring off of a mountain peak in one of America’s finest national parks. But because we are adults and have responsibilities, our whimsical […]

Remembering Loved Ones
This time of year there are lots of rites-of-passage events happening: graduations, weddings, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day. Our mailboxes are full of invitations and announcements. But trying to come up with the “perfect” gift can be difficult and stressful. Montgomery Trees has initiated one of the kindest ways to commemorate someone special through its […]

Picture of the Week: September 23, 2014
Brian’s Thoughts: It doesn’t get much better then this – Yoga in Cloverdale-Idlewild’s “Bottom” Park. While I had images of the big group actually doing yoga, I really liked this one. I feel as though it captures many of the attributes that define our wonderful community: close friendships and the ability to participate in local […]

Up the Alabama River … With a Paddle
I’ve previously written about Alabama’s many rivers and my love of kayaking on the Coosa here before, and last year Kate and Stephen interviewed Alabama River Alliance’s executive director Cindy Lowry about Rivers of Alabama Day 2013. Last week, I was lucky enough to participate in ARA’s Defend Rivers Paddle, launching the new Defend Rivers […]

Spring’s Beauty in Midtown Montgomery
I usually write about events in the midtown area, but this time instead of writing about what is happening, I am writing about what just is. I am writing about the natural beauty of this area. Just look around you. Just take a moment to appreciate how fortunate we are. Spring is a gorgeous season […]

Running: A Pain in the *$%!
I recently read a running quote that went something like “Success in running is learning to love your discomfort zone.” Sentiments like this are why many people believe that runners really are insane. I guess that’s because only crazy people would willingly continue to do something that is uncomfortable, sometimes painful, and actually enjoy it. […]
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