Nature and Nostalgia
Farm animals, wild animals, exotic pets – if you see an animal where you've never seen it before, you may be in North Carolina. Once when driving home from work, I passed a horse running along with traffic in the median of a divided interstate. I was in the far-right lane and called 911. The... Continue Reading →
After the devastation of Hurricane Helene, North Carolinians need any positive news we can find this year, so I'm rounding up some 2024 highlights from the wildlife realm. 1. 399 Cold-Stunned Endangered Sea Turtles are Rehabilitated and Released North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island took in 576 cold-stunned sea turtles in December 2024 when the... Continue Reading →
Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas again this year, with “O Tannenbaum” and the gang singing, “Christmas Time is Here,” got me thinking about all the other songs I loved as a kid. So, recalling what I heard on the radio, on my albums, and from Christmas TV specials, I created a list of the best... Continue Reading →
Rabbits are everywhere around my home this year. My dog tells me first by freezing in place and then by clawing at the sliding glass door. Outside, he's on the hunt, looking under bushes and around corners. This rabbit proliferation got me thinking about the last time I saw this many rabbits and of course... Continue Reading →
Visiting Brevard, a peaceful mountain town in Western North Carolina, I was expecting to see a few of the over 250 waterfalls in the area and some gorgeous sights while hiking in the Pisgah National Forest. Pisgah National Forest, by Jeff Gunn from Atlanta, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons I didn’t expect... Continue Reading →
Have you heard of the annual Mayberry Days celebration? Since 1990, it's been North Carolina’s way of honoring their beloved native son, Andy Griffith, and the show named after him. Mayberry, the fictional town where The Andy Griffith Show (1960 to 1968) was set, was supposedly based on Andy Griffith’s hometown of Mount Airy,... Continue Reading →
After recently rewatching 1989’s Turner & Hooch, I started thinking about my favorite TV dogs from childhood … the ones I saw on TV in the '70s ... back when we had few choices of what to watch on our old black and white Zenith with the 13-channel dial. 1. Lassie — the Intelligent, Hero... Continue Reading →
Cicada 1, face by USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Program is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0 Walking my dog yesterday morning in a small, wooded area behind my home, I couldn’t figure out what that loud, humming, whirring noise was. Maybe heavy trucks on the interstate not far from here … but it didn’t stop.... Continue Reading →
Being that nostalgic time of year, I thought I’d look back on the Christmas shows I watched all those decades ago. So many catchy songs, heartfelt messages, and lovable animated characters, some drawn, some clay, some puppets — are all still alive digitally. And some of the terms embedded in American culture have their origins... Continue Reading →
1. What Were the Costumes in the 1970s like Compared to Now? From 1970s plastic masks and plastic clothes to 2023's inflatable and maskless costumes. Black & white picture: "FRANKENSTEIN - Costume - Halloween - 1970's" by monstersforsale is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0. Color picture: "Spooktacular Creations Inflatable Costume Dragon Riding a Fire... Continue Reading →
Walking around a touristy beach town, I knew I’d see lots of street musicians, seafood restaurants and souvenir shops selling ocean-themed mugs and towels, but the art was an unexpected thrill. Here’s a splattering of what my amateur lens captured in what I later learned is the ViBe Creative District. Great America Number 1: Our... Continue Reading →
An oddly-shaped, magnificent bird has been haunting me since I first saw it 18 years ago in North Carolina – the great blue heron. I was doing a 2.8-mile walk on the trail around Lake Lynn in Raleigh when I saw a blue-gray bird standing on long, stick-thin legs in shallow water. September 2022 picture... Continue Reading →
Tina Turner’s passing last week brought back a lot of memories of her and my life in the '80s. So, I’m taking a moment to appreciate all her talents. Besides the quality and power of her voice, her music, and her ability to dance in spiked heels while singing songs that swept you up, she... Continue Reading →
Walking my dog at 6 a.m. years ago, I noticed a long, skinny, green twig in the grass. It had an upward bend that hovered over the sidewalk. When my dog stopped a few feet away to stare at it, I took a second look. Then I noticed the twig had eyes, so we backed up.... Continue Reading →
“The trees are making me claustrophobic.” An out-of-town friend said this as I drove us on a rural road in North Carolina. The tall, evergreen trees stood close to both sides of the two-lane road, and at points, they arched above us and almost touched each other. She explained that she grew up in an... Continue Reading →
Karen M. Free 