There are those of us who simply will not sit or lie on a beach all day. Not that sun, sand and surf are not wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating. The question is, how much time are you going to bake in the oven, even with sunscreen?

A terrific morning birding along the Appalachian Trail with great old friends Steve Kotchko and Judd Everhart. With the Housatonic River to one side and deep forest to the other, this section of trail is a special place to take in the grand spectacle of spring migration.

Sometimes you just need to seize the moment. I was about to return to Connecticut after six weeks in Florida when my son, Scott, asked if I had any interest in traveling to Europe or the western U. S. for 5 or 6 days.

Along the densely settled Florida coast between Route 1 and the Atlantic Ocean is a remarkable natural remnant, Savannas Preserve State Park, which stretches 10 miles from Fort Pierce to Jensen Beach.

The historic-size blizzard that swept north from the South, inundating Washington, D. C., Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York City with accumulations of two feet or more, left only 6 or 7 inches of powdery snow here in the Farmington Valley, the northern edge of the storm.

In what is thought to be only the 4th or 5th known appearance of the species ever in Connecticut, a pink-footed goose has been seen repeatedly in Farmington and Avon in recent days.

So magnificent is the autumn foliage spectacle in New England that writers have struggled for centuries to capture its essence in words.

Well, you have a once in a generation celestial event, especially one that comes at a comfortable time – late evening – and you better not miss it. Last night’s total eclipse of a “supermoon” may not, from my perspective anyway, have been as spectacular as some of the media predictions, but it nonetheless was pretty cool.

I like to say that rivers are the lifeblood of the landscape.

Here in Connecticut, as in so much of the developed world, we haven’t always treated them well, lifeblood or not.

Wild ginger is an interesting wildflower that blooms in May in Connecticut woodlands. The flower is almost secretive, blossoming at ground level and hidden by two heart-shaped leaves.