Nature is raw and wild and can often seem harsh, but I think that nature is also an honest and healing place, a place to find peace amid the wonder of it all.

Walter had an extraordinary life that included award-winning land-planning concepts... and among many other buildings, he designed this very unusual home.

As with every fire, our thoughts are with the creatures and people who are having to flee their homes, we’re also concerned for the fighters of the fire, and all of the volunteers who help the evacuees. If you’ve never been evacuated, I’m sure you can imagine,

Our week at Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge

Tracks by the Post 2026 no.23, Leslie and Frank Bevans visit Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge. Frank's nature photos include pronghorn, greater sage grouse, golden mantled ground squirrel, common nighthawk.

Dear Friend, Do you ever think about how others see you? Are you concerned about your hairstyle, brand of clothes and shoes and car, the doggy breed you’ve chosen to drag you down the street? How much do you care what people think? It seems obvious that nature sets its own bar around surviving, do you think it even considers how it comes across? Do you think it cares if it bugs you? Surely, creatures somehow recognize each other, and each species must appreciate their own

Dear Friend, What were your first waking thoughts this morning? (I wondered where I was, but that isn’t unusual). I hope that you’ve been snug and fit this week and on a positive plane of health and stamina. As I mentioned in last week’s blog/letter, we were stopped for a few days in a forest near a lake in Northern California. Last Wednesday, Frank left our forest campsite and drove further into back-country. He found a grove of Sequoia trees that he’d heard about. The

Dear Friend, Hi, how was your week? We hope that it’s been good and that you’ve found a way to stay cool (if it’s summertime where you are), or warm and toasty, (if you are in winter). We’ve moved on from cat-sitting in Sacramento County, CA, and are now back on the road. We’ll be camping this week, more on that, next blog. The evening before we packed up to leave Sacramento County, we met a very cute bee. A Valley Carpenter Bee aka: Teddy Bear Bumblebee. These bees a

Dear Friend, Hello! It has been a handful of weeks since our last post. We hope that things have been going well in your world. Frank and I will be getting back on the road next weekend. Meanwhile, we’ve been in separate counties of California, dog & cat sitting. We feel very grateful to get to spend time with these sweet friends, and we look forward to being together soon. Frank is a photographer, as you know, and his life-long love of nature has taken him to many beau

Dear Friend, Happy Solstice, (first day of Summer & Winter), and we wish each and every Dad an all-time wonderful day! Remember the question from last week’s blog/letter: ‘In your opinion, what is the most important thing to have?’ So many answers, each depending on the journey of the answerer: Water, self-esteem, air, peace, friends, time, health, hope, self-awareness … so much to be grateful for. YOU, for instance. Since every today is celebrate-able, what will you

Dear Friend, We haven’t posted a Tracks for a couple of weeks so we thought we’d better check in and let you know that we’ve been thinking of you. And I must apologize that this blog/letter only has one photo, a cute outtake that Frank took when portraiting his Otter pal. Frank hasn’t photographed very much in the past couple of weeks. What have you been up to? It’s the middle of June, the time of year for big events like graduations and weddings (and summer colds - boo h

Dear Friend, Hello and hugs! Today we are sharing some photos that Frank captured two days ago in a coastal forest near Big Sur, California. The fog, the ocean mist and the healthy soil all contribute to the lush green of this forest. Because drought is difficult for moisture-loving plants, coastal redwood forests like this depend on moderate temperatures, good rainy seasons, and frequent fog year round. carpets of redwood sorrel cover the forest floor Living greenery th

Dear Friend, Today seems to be a pretty good day to think of moms. If you can be in the same place at the same time with your Mother today, we hope you are enjoying this time together! Frank and I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day. If you aren’t a mom, may it bring you joy to think about the many wonderful and nurturing people in your life, and if you are a mom, we hope that you are feeling especially appreciated today. Did your mother ever leave you notes? (It can't just b

Dear Friend, We hope that you and yours have had some really-good-memory-making experiences in the past couple of weeks! I am dog-sitting away from Frank and will rejoin him in a bit. We didn’t want to skip posting another Tracks, so he emailed me these beautiful photos, taken just a few days ago. Thanks, Frank! You will probably recognize these shorebirds along with some seabirds and other friends, as Frank captured all of the birds that he saw along the coast during t

Dear Friend, In all of your travels today, whether you’re moving from bed to couch or you’re already on a jet plane flying from here-to-a-faraway-there, we hope that your journey is enjoyable and, when you arrive at your destination, may there be time for you to rest-up before embarking on your next adventure. All creatures need to rest. It’s not being lazy, it’s time for the body to heal, and rest is necessary for rebuilding strength and stamina to do what needs doing fo

Dear Friend, How are things in your world? We hope that this week is off to a good start. This is a brown pelican flying over the surf near Monterey Bay, CA. You may remember that Theodore Roosevelt was the President of the United States, September 1901 through March of 1909. In early March of 1909, President Roosevelt put forward the first National Wildlife Refuge, ‘Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge’ in Florida, along the coast. People had been killing Brown Peli

Dear Friend, Happy Easter Day to you and yours. Thank you for being here to read Tracks by the Post! We know that there are many other things that you might otter be doing today. Aren’t Otters so cute? These are Sea Otters. (Hopefully, we can talk about River Otters in a future blog). Sea Otters are social friends. They enjoy each other's company but have to spend a great deal of time hunting alone. They can be seen floating on their backs along the coast in the ocean o

Dear Friend, Back in the early 1960s, Frank’s mom dropped off the family station-wagon to be serviced, it had suddenly started acting weird. The mechanic soon discovered the problem and the car was good as new after twenty-one plastic circus animals were rescued from the gas-tank. (Frank shared that story with me yesterday following his long day of repairing rodent damage to our vehicle). It’s hard to believe that our fix-it-guy is the same person that, at 3-years of ag

Dear Friend, What was the most profound thing you experienced in the past week? Was it something that happened to you, something that you realized, or maybe something that you heard or read about? It’s not unusual for praying mantises to land on my brother at the most uncanny times and places. He could be in a grocery store or the airport and one will find him. I haven’t seen my brother for over two years, he lives on the other side of the country, so, it’s good that we a

Dear Friend, The world is a planet full of life and it’s a big place. Technology allows people to observe lots of things happening all at once. How do you manage your focus? When is the last time you went beach combing? Did you come prepared with buckets, shovels and a strategy? Or did you, like Frank, prefer to document what you saw? Either way, do you find that your thoughts drift in a more positive direction when you meander near (and sometimes, into) the ocean? If so,