weather – Between Urban and Wild

The Late Winter Rant

weather, wind, winter, writingBy Andrea Jones March 1, 2021

The view outside has become tiresome.

I don’t think I’m supposed to say that. I’m not a fundamentalist, but I’ve steeped myself in a tradition of natural history that holds the world as sublime: a wellspring of solace and inspiration and revitalization, source of and target for gratitude.

Such qualities are sorely needed these days, and so I started writing a post on the theme weeks ago. The rough start I made framed a dissonance between the constructed world of news and current events (the “urban” of this site’s title) and the unbuilt environment of ridgelines and woods and grasslands (the “wild” outside my door).

Riven

trees and plants, weatherBy Andrea Jones October 21, 2020 7 Comments

The color of the wood caught my eye. Dull gold? Whitened tan? Honeyed beige? Light, in any event, blanched against the worn grasses and graying woodland litter. We were on the way back from a little hike, about a quarter of a mile east of the house. I detoured uphill to investigate, and when I…

Isn’t This a Long One?

gardening, humans and wildlife, precipitation, rodents, trees and plants, weather, wildlife encountersBy Andrea Jones August 14, 2020 8 Comments

January last seems impossibly distant. Memories from back then are round-edged and worn, like relics of a lost civilization. The pandemic was dawning, of course, although few of us in this country had a clue what was to come. Lockdowns, masks, grimly mounting death tolls? Other people’s burdens, far away. I was more concerned with…

One Last Fire

change of seasons, snow, spring, weather, winterBy Andrea Jones May 31, 2019 4 Comments

Spring, as I’ve said before, is a slow unfolding up here in the mountains of central Colorado: the season isn’t to be rushed. But eventually the days lengthen and long-dormant plants emerge. Among the first of these are rough cinquefoil, dark clustered leaves scattered like green pawprints through the dead grass, the silver-brown thatch of…

Summer Got-away

fall, gardening, summer, time, weather, weedsBy Andrea Jones October 5, 2018 4 Comments

I promised myself last spring it wouldn’t happen again: the summer, this year, would not spiral out of control. I would manage my time, balance my obligations, ride herd on my expectations. But the summer got away from me. Again. I can never figure out how this happens, can never reconstruct where, exactly, the days…

Parched…and Yet

color, humans and wildlife, summer, weather, wildfireBy Andrea Jones June 18, 2018 2 Comments

I knew these days would come. In late spring for the last several years, I have nagged myself to remember—and be grateful for—the luxury of going into summer with moisture in the ground. How pleasant those days were. I didn’t have to witness the slow crisping of tender young leaves, didn’t have to stand by…

Waiting on Winter

precipitation, snow, trees and plants, weatherBy Andrea Jones December 29, 2017

For the past few years, a wintertime fancy has crept over me in fall. As the leaves of the scrub oak tan themselves to the color of unoiled leather, I begin to think of the looping rhythm of my days shortening along with the duration of the sun’s light, spiraling gradually toward interiority. I think…

Late Season

color, fall, gardening, humans and wildlife, rodents, weatherBy Andrea Jones November 15, 2017

Years ago, reflecting on our move from the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado to the more rural center of the state, I wrote about planning the space that would be our garden in the mountains: Despite the high elevation, short growing season, and abundant wildlife…we knew we wanted a garden, so we built a walled one,…

Summer of a Different Color

color, observation, weather, wildflowersBy Andrea Jones August 20, 2017 4 Comments

August: By now, usually, our high mountain landscape is burnished with a brassy gleam, as grasses send seedheads up to nod and wave in any breeze that bothers to turn up. In July, though, a monsoon weather pattern settled in, bringing daily thunderclouds and cool weather. The precipitation tally for the month overtopped six inches,…

The Rocky Mountain

change of seasons, precipitation, snow, spring, weatherBy Andrea Jones April 24, 2017 4 Comments

In the usual pattern of spring weather, the promontory on our northeastern horizon gleams white like an alpine stereotype. The broad hulk of Pikes Peak is fronted by layered foothills and crags, which cascade down toward a grassy pool called High Park, from whose western shore extends a line of dune-like rocky wrinkles speckled with…

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