Skyfall: Parallax, Parsecs & Gravity

Skyfall: Parallax, Parsecs & Gravity

I’m 10 years old and lying on the grass in the backyard of my grandfather’s rambling South Carolina farmhouse some 65 years ago. I’m staring straight up. The sun has just set, and the late fall sky is an imagination-inspiring, vibrant palette: bright yellow-orange in...

Coyotes

Coyotes

It was the last day of deer season. Dalton had not hunted all year and he questioned the point of going when the alarm sounded. Yet his wife rousted him from bed.  “Go. It’s what your dad would have wanted,” she said. Dalton’s father had died the week before. A man...

Home Coming Whitetails

Home Coming Whitetails

The rustle of fallen white oak leaves littering the ground 30 feet below demanded my immediate attention. There, patches of brown moved. A deer! Heartbeat racing! Breathing? I am not certain I even took a breath.  A solid hour before first light and under the cover of...

Fair Winds, My Brother: Daufuskie Family

Fair Winds, My Brother: Daufuskie Family

Forget about deer stands,” he said. “Just boost your woman high up in a live oak late in the afternoon. That way you’ll know she’ll still be there when you come to fetch her home after sunset.”  We were on his front porch, out of the wind on a chilly afternoon, easing...