Hiking with friends in Hurd State Park yesterday we came upon a most unusual mushroom, a whitish, shaggy-looking thing growing in a crevice in a silver maple on the banks of the Connecticut River.

Stopped by the community vegetable garden at mid-morning after a frost last night, the second one this week. The tender plants like basil are dead. The hardy plants, like carrots and turnips, are fine. I picked some turnips, a cluster of beautiful carrots, a couple of small eggplant that somehow survived the cold this week and some kale.

Prominent through much of the Ken Burns series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” is John Muir, an early and persuasive voice for preservation of significant natural areas. I ran into a friend at Starbucks the morning after the first segment. He wanted to know more about Muir. “You have any books on Muir?”

At Sedona, Arizona I know them only as Kristen and Phyllis, two birders from Cottonwood, Az. I met them while hiking along the West Branch of Oak Creek, in the Coconino National Forest. With binoculars around my neck and a field guide in hand, it wasn't hard to peg me as a fellow birder.