“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure,” Gandalf to Bilbo Baggins

In the 5th grade, with my bob haircut and charter school issued uniform, I told my class that I was going to be a National Geographic photographer and journalist. Growing up, I spent every day outside, flipping logs and catching snakes, racing back to my grandparents house when the outside lights came after dusk. Having this freedom, and innate curiosity has led me to where I am today. No, I am not a National Geographic photographer, but I am jumping back to the dream of science journalism. This blog will be the oil to my rusty chain.

A little bit about me! Since my declaration in the 5th grade, my path veered a little bit. I graduated Delaware State with a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources. I have paid my dues of working non-paying internships (right of passage for students of Natural Resources) in the marshes of Delaware and North Carolina, and in the rainforests of Panama and Honduras. I was fishing out coins from furniture and begging for tips from dog grooming clients to pay for these travels. Settling down, getting married, and buying a house has led me to seek stability instead of rainforest adventures. Now, I love my little old house, my native garden, which has reared 15 monarch caterpillars in one summer, my husband and dog. But I found myself starving my journey since elementary school because of a blatant lack of self esteem. I filled a Dostoevsky novel with, “I can’t”.

Reading that novel of I Can’t, is ad nauseum. It is the extra 2lbs to a backpack when climbing out of a canyon. However, I am not going to say I am late to my dream. I run an invasive insect program for the state of Delaware, backpack on long weekends with my twin and dog, read about the natural world whenever I can. Right now, I am researching grad school for Science Journalism, and saving up for a camera for micro imaging and putting in a some time with accumulating and sharing natural wonders, big or small. I just took a switchback detour to an overlook. While that overlook is like Mt. Washington, sunshine one minute and fog the next, it is time to move on.

The content of my notebook is to inspire curiosity. Lately I have been surrounded by walls and a computer, entering data, and meeting report deadlines. My shoulders hunched and eyes straining at artificial light. Step out of the hamster wheel with me! Here are my blog ideas:

  • Fly Fisher(wo)men

  • Fort Delaware Emergence (bats!)

  • Lenape Tribe and Fork Branch Restoration

  • Last Child in the Woods?

  • Fish out of salt water and into fresh - Anadromous (bless you) species of Delaware

I will also share the nooks and crannies of my childhood woods and the old growth woods I have come to know as an adult. If you have any ideas or contribution please reach out! Also, bear with me as I navigate this new adventure.