Ghosts in the Stones Lake Michigan reached record low-water levels in January, 2013, creating bountiful beaches on Wisconsin’s shoreline. By Winter, 2014, however, the Lake started rising. By April, 2020, it had risen more than […]
Head Up, Shoulders Back
Head Up, Shoulders Back It’s circa 2000s, I am circa 40s, and I’m learning how to walk again. My physical therapist has a keen eye for a hanging head, slouching shoulders, weak abs, a protruding […]
Outdoor Edibles
June Little stirs our Wisconsin hearts the way first glimpses of green do each spring. Soon our minds wander to yards, to gardens—and to sojourns in Wisconsin’s wild places. To those who are lucky, careful, […]
Horseshoe Crabs on Memorial Day
Horseshoe Crabs on Memorial Day As a child summer-vacationing at an Atlantic beach, I discovered horseshoe crabs. They washed up on Maryland’s barrier spit and created spectacles for screeching toddlers. Their bodies were sleek, green, […]
Good News for Swearing, Messy, Night Owls
Good News for Swearing, Messy, Night Owls Were you annoyed as a kid when your parents told you to clean your room, sent you to bed early, and scolded you for cursing? There might be […]
Milkweeds & Monarchs
May Landscaping with Wisconsin native species brings the frugal, time-crunched gardener an array of benefits. With knowledge and a keen eye, a gardener might find low-cost (or no-cost) starter plants. Because native plants evolved in […]
Earth Day
April “It was a gamble, but it worked,” recalled Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day. The late Wisconsin governor and United States senator (D) successfully infused the activism of the late 1960s with such […]
Permian Amphibian
Permian Amphibian North America’s Great Lakes region was once the bed of an ancient sea. Fossils abound if one knows where and how to look. Paleozoic fossils of many periods regularly wash up on the […]
Paramount Blues
Paramount Blues The founders of Paramount Records knew nothing about the music business. Launched in 1917, the label was simply a subsidiary of Wisconsin Chair Company (WCC) based in Port Washington, Wisconsin. Companies that made […]
Meteorites & Earth’s Age
Meteorites, Plate Tectonics, & Earth’s Age Meteorites are fascinating relics of a universe in transition. They are also the most important clues for determining Earth’s exact age. One can find meteorites on Great Lakes beaches. […]
Invaders from Other Ecosystems
March More than two centuries ago, cargo ships released freshwater ballast from the Ural region of Russia into the rivers and lakes of western Europe. That ballast contained tiny striped hitchhikers. In the 1820s, Londoners […]
Stromatolites
Stromatolites North of the Great Lakes lies the Canadian Shield, a very ancient geologic feature that bears Banded Iron Formation (BIF). Formed 4 to 2.5 billion years ago, BIF is among Earth’s oldest rock formations. […]
February @ Lake Michigan’s Left Coast
February @ Lake Michigan’s Left Coast The Great Lakes of North America contain 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. Seventy percent is locked in the ice of Antarctica. All other lakes and ponds and […]
ELIZABETH G FAGAN 