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Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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rhododendron

March 4, 2020 by Dave Bonta

The waxy surfaces of laurel and rhododendron leaves glitter in the sun. A bluebird sits silently on a branch, waiting for insects to stir.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bluebird, mountain laurel, rhododendron
February 26, 2018 by Dave Bonta

Bright sun for the first time in days. The wild rhododendron up in the woods shines like a city of glass seen from an airplane window.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags rhododendron
December 12, 2012 by Dave Bonta

Quiet and cold at mid-morning. The sole large rhododendron up in the woods keeps gleaming and fading as the sun moves in and out of clouds.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags rhododendron
December 23, 2009 by Dave Bonta

Four does pick their way down the road, file into the woods, and surround a small rhododendron. “Stop eating that!” I yell. They bound off.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags deer, rhododendron

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On This Day

  • December 3, 2024
    A stray snowflake wanders down from the pink clouds, itself still white. Doves flock to the birdseed on my mother’s back porch—the silvery whistles of…
  • December 3, 2023
    Steady rain. An hour past sunrise the sky brightens a little, and the trees in their green sleeves of lichen begin to glow.
  • December 3, 2022
    Cold rain. Four chickadees in a high-speed chase around the yard pause in the lilac for a vociferous exchange of views.
  • December 3, 2021
    Clouds with blue veins and sunrise bellies. Two nuthatches trade harangues. A crow summons other crows to—I’m guessing—a fresh gut pile.
  • December 3, 2020
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Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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