Author Archives: Elaine Burnes
Hawks and Doves
Warning: animals were harmed in the inspiration of this blog. Not by me. And no, this is not a political rant. Recently, a Cooper’s hawk has been using my bird feeders as a buffet. It’s the price of attracting birds in winter. You also attract those who eat them. I can’t mind, really. The hawk […]
What’s the Story About?
In a writing workshop with the wonderful Ted Gup, he told us every story should ask two questions: What is the story about? and What is the story about? That may seem too Zen to be practical. But think about it. It’s true everywhere you look. To Kill a Mockingbird is about how Scout’s brother […]
The Nature of Character
I recently learned that all four baby eagles I’d watched hatch and fledge from a nest in Iowa last year, thanks to a web cam, have died. Mostly from electrocution. Power poles are dangerous. It struck me as incredibly sad, but also as an important lesson about nature—bad things happen. The parent eagles are back […]
The Things We Leave Behind
One thing I’ll say for this snowy winter—it’s been good for tracking. After a fresh snow, I thrill to see the first prints. Bird, cat, maybe a fox, a wing impression, blood spatters. The wandering track of something clearly not a squirrel crisscrosses my yard. Cat? Fox? The snow is too deep to tell. Squirrel […]
HOSED
Lately, I’ve been lying awake at night listening to the sounds the house makes. Creaks and cracks from the cold winter outside. Drips from water leaking behind the gutter and down around the front door and into the basement. A mystery drip somewhere in (or just outside?) the bathroom. It’s deep winter, one of the […]
Feed the Birds
Coming up with that title made me think of my favorite song from Mary Poppins. “Feed the Birds” has a whole different mood from the others—less “Disneyish” if you will. Apparently P. L. Travers agreed, and it’s reported to be what won her over to making the movie. But my point isn’t the song or […]
Inner Space
I recently read in Time magazine an interview with Sylvia Earle, the 79-year-old oceanographer. She makes the case for exploring and conserving our oceans. She doesn’t say we should do this instead of exploring space, but I will. I also recently read an essay in Discover magazine (from a couple years ago; I’m rather behind […]
Women’s Week 2014
I’ve had the good fortune to attend Women’s Week for several years now and have something to read each time. Sacchi Green started it all by organizing a reading for a group of us at Vixen. A dark, black room with harsh spotlights on us readers at the front. Vixen has since been transformed into […]
Freefall
I’ve been pushed out of an airplane and am waiting to see if my chute opens. This is the exciting part. This is where the action is. Will I land gently and on target, or will I crash into that guy’s barn? I joke, but that really happened recently on the Cape. Two men died. […]
Elaine Burnes 