A tree uprooted from a steep embankment and toppled on the path through Glover Archbold National Park, at a place about a quarter mile north of Reservoir Road. Some path travelers turn back. Some climb through the thick tangle of limbs and leaves. Many go around the fallen white oak, which crashed at least 10…

Concern about falling debris from an abandoned trolley trestle prompted closure of the south end of the path through Glover Archbold National Park, according to National Park Service  officials. (See, Glover Archbold Bridge And Sewer Limbo, August 29, 2017, PotomacTimes) The park service said it acted out of caution for the safety of people passing…

Storm water runoff piles up against the earthwork that carries Reservoir Road across Glover Archbold National Park, located in northwest Washington, D.C. The image is from the morning of August 18, after an overnight rainfall of 0.88 inches, recorded at National Airport by the National Weather Service. © 2016 John A. Bray

Thffthdth-thff! The sound came from the right side of the forest path, low and very close. It was an owl, suddenly, pulling itself into the air on great gray-brown wings, then slicing acutely across the trail in front of me and ghosting away out of sight. Based on the telltale nighttime hooting often heard in…

© 2016 John A. Bray

The weeds are getting their way in some plots, sagging on best intentions like the muggy Monday air. It’s evening on the opening day of August. “You’d think there would be more people out here taking care of things, but it’s hot and I don’t blame them,” said Sherry. She was among the stalwarts, digging…

Last night, while draping my grape vines with window screening to keep them out of the mouths of deer, I found amid the folds a substantial beetle. It was almost 1.5 inches long, the biggest I’d ever seen outside of captivity. I finished covering the grape vines and went to bed. At dawn, the beetle…

Fred Brandell starts with what looks like a big metal stein, except it has a little chimney on top and a squeezebox stuck on the side. He pops it open, stuffs in a wad of burlap, and lights it. Gray curls rise. He pops it shut and pumps the bellows. “I always like to have…