Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Marietta, Georgia
Only a short distance from my home, this is a favorite place because it has great trails, a good, moderately strenuous mountain climb, poignant history and lots of great plants. It is a 2,923 acre oasis of pretty wild country in the midst of suburban Atlanta sprawl.
In 1989 I began a fairly comprehensive survey of the plants on the mountain and have kept field notes of my explorations ever since. I worked with Ed Bostic (now retired from Kennesaw State University) on a survey of several notable plants on the mountain for The Nature Conservancy. From my studies I've written The Vascular Flora of Kennesaw Mountain, a checklist of all the plants I've seen along with geological, soil, habitat and land use information of the mountain. If you'd like a pdf copy, just email me.
In 1989 I began a fairly comprehensive survey of the plants on the mountain and have kept field notes of my explorations ever since. I worked with Ed Bostic (now retired from Kennesaw State University) on a survey of several notable plants on the mountain for The Nature Conservancy. From my studies I've written The Vascular Flora of Kennesaw Mountain, a checklist of all the plants I've seen along with geological, soil, habitat and land use information of the mountain. If you'd like a pdf copy, just email me.
Cypripedium Gulch, Suches, Georgia
In 1996 the Georgia Botanical Society began monitoring a wonderful population of orchids on the northern slope of Cynthia Knob near Wildhog Creek in Union County. All the lady slippers are state protected and the Isotria medeoloides (Pursh) Rafinesque, small whorled pogonia or little five-leaves is federally listed. I'm not going to provide directions to the site as it is so special and so full of desirable plants that I don't want to do anything to encourage their demise by collecting or trampling. The BotSoc regularly has organized field trips to the site. It requires off-trail bushwhacking on steep slopes.
Here I sit taking notes on my observations of one of the three slippers here, Cypripedium parviflorum Salisbury var. pubescens (Willdenow) Knight, large yellow lady's-slipper or whippoorwill shoes with their big pouches and yellow-green sepals. Just downslope is another garden of C.p. var. parviflorum, small yellow lady's-slipper with much smaller pouches and very maroon sepals. In May, explorations of "the gulch" reward the eye and mind with many hundreds of plants, each with many flowers.
Here I sit taking notes on my observations of one of the three slippers here, Cypripedium parviflorum Salisbury var. pubescens (Willdenow) Knight, large yellow lady's-slipper or whippoorwill shoes with their big pouches and yellow-green sepals. Just downslope is another garden of C.p. var. parviflorum, small yellow lady's-slipper with much smaller pouches and very maroon sepals. In May, explorations of "the gulch" reward the eye and mind with many hundreds of plants, each with many flowers.
Lake Conasauga Recreation Area, Murray County, Georgia
At 3,100 feet above sea level, this is Georgia's highest lake and home the Ranger's favorite car-camping location. We've been here uncountable times since 1979 when we discovered the area. It is a great escape from city life any time we can get here. In the spring, it is a wildflower haven and on Grassy Mountain one can find eight species of trillium in the same woods: grandiflorum, decumbens, simile, erectum, vaseyi, catesbaei, luteum, and cuneatum! Around the lake trail there is an unusual form of Trillium undulatum Willdenow, painted trillium, the "unpainted" without the magenta spot on each tepal. There are both large-flowered and pink lady slipper, lily-leaved twayblade orchids. Birding is excellent here as well.
Zambia
Located in the center of southern Africa, Zambia is the former Northern Rhodesia. It is pronounced ZAHM-bee-uh by the locals and gains its name from the mighty Zambezi River (which is pronouced Zahm-BEH-zee) that originates in the highlands near Mufumbwe and forms the southern border with Zimbabwe. Unlike so many African sovereign states, Zambia gained its freedom with near perfect peace on October 24, 1964, but still suffers from the effects of "white flight". It is a nation of many people with 15 distinct languages with 73 tribal dialects.
Annette and I ended up here in June of 2003 because of Allie Hunt, one of Annette's students. A member of the Habitat for Humanity club at Wheeler High School, she needed a senior project and asked if Mrs. Ranger would go "with her" on a trip. "Sure", Annette says. So we end up in Zambia because team leader Lynn Twitchell would accept teenagers. We knew little of Africa, let alone Zambia, but we both now consider this one of our homes and are well-traveled through the western half of the nation and since our first visit have now led four Global Village teams there.
Annette and I ended up here in June of 2003 because of Allie Hunt, one of Annette's students. A member of the Habitat for Humanity club at Wheeler High School, she needed a senior project and asked if Mrs. Ranger would go "with her" on a trip. "Sure", Annette says. So we end up in Zambia because team leader Lynn Twitchell would accept teenagers. We knew little of Africa, let alone Zambia, but we both now consider this one of our homes and are well-traveled through the western half of the nation and since our first visit have now led four Global Village teams there.
Nkwazi, Zambia
In this photo the style of houses is well illustrated and you must know that each day we try to make 3,000 bricks. It's simple: no bricks, no building!
It distresses me to tell you that I cannot remember the of the boy to my left, but I can tell you that to my right on June 15, 2006 stands McOscar Bwalya Mwewa. He and I met in 2003 and we are still friends on Facebook. He's now moved on from Nkwazi to Chingola and hopes to become a lawyer.
Nwakzi, the Zambian name for the fish eagle which is the symbol of the nation, is the first place where our African hearts are. David Livingstone (1813-1873), perhaps, most famous for the "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" question by Henry Morton Stanley, is a great role model for us. While a protestant missionary, he was first a doctor who wanted to help the people whom he met. He became a Zambian. When he died near the shores of Lake Bangweulu, his Zambian friends cut out his heart and buried it under a mvula tree and told the British "You can have his body, but his heart belongs in Africa!" In 2003 upon seeing Livingstone's tomb in the floor of Westminster Abbey after living with and learning from Zambians, I could do nothing but cry. Because he became an African, the only Western name kept by the Zambians is for the city of Livingstone. My heart has a very large place for Zambia.
It distresses me to tell you that I cannot remember the of the boy to my left, but I can tell you that to my right on June 15, 2006 stands McOscar Bwalya Mwewa. He and I met in 2003 and we are still friends on Facebook. He's now moved on from Nkwazi to Chingola and hopes to become a lawyer.
Nwakzi, the Zambian name for the fish eagle which is the symbol of the nation, is the first place where our African hearts are. David Livingstone (1813-1873), perhaps, most famous for the "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" question by Henry Morton Stanley, is a great role model for us. While a protestant missionary, he was first a doctor who wanted to help the people whom he met. He became a Zambian. When he died near the shores of Lake Bangweulu, his Zambian friends cut out his heart and buried it under a mvula tree and told the British "You can have his body, but his heart belongs in Africa!" In 2003 upon seeing Livingstone's tomb in the floor of Westminster Abbey after living with and learning from Zambians, I could do nothing but cry. Because he became an African, the only Western name kept by the Zambians is for the city of Livingstone. My heart has a very large place for Zambia.
Habitat for Humanity doesn't build houses...
...it builds homes. Here Annette and I sit with Idah, one of the strongest women I've ever known. She served as president of the Nwkazi affiliate of Habitat for Humanity Zambia in 2006 and was a most gracious hostess for our team.
We've now spent enough time here to be given Zambian names. Annette is "Mrs. Kabwe" as she always sings the wrong words for "Rock of Ages" using "kabwe" for rock. I'm humbled to be "Mr. Mulenga", named after the Bantu god of creation. We were instrumental in the creation of the community of Nkwazi. Our hearts really have a very large place here.
We've now spent enough time here to be given Zambian names. Annette is "Mrs. Kabwe" as she always sings the wrong words for "Rock of Ages" using "kabwe" for rock. I'm humbled to be "Mr. Mulenga", named after the Bantu god of creation. We were instrumental in the creation of the community of Nkwazi. Our hearts really have a very large place here.