A Bird-skunked Day, Saved By A Chance Encounter With Two Old Friends

Due to bad light and shy birds I didn’t get any images yesterday to be proud of but a chance encounter with two old friends more than made up for it. The encounter took place in the wilds of Montana and the old friends are Terry Tempest Williams and her husband Brooke. Terry is a highly acclaimed author, conservationist and activist and both Terry and Brooke have been very active in the environmental movement for decades. I’m sure many of my readers have read some of Terry’s exceptional books and some may be familiar with Brooke’s work with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). Many years ago I worked with Terry at the Utah Museum of Natural History and through Terry I got to know Brooke but I’ve only seen them once in the past 30+ years so it was pure delight to spend some time with them catching up. We reminisced about old times at the Museum and swapped stories about friends and acquaintences in the environmental movement. Both Terry and Brooke are the epitome of genuine, caring, passionate people and their devotion to environmental issues runs deep. If you’ve read any of Terry’s books it”s “what you see is what you get” – she wears her huge heart on her sleeve and a warm, caring heart it is. And the lady can write! In an effort to avoid setting the precedent of publishing a post without including an image I’ll relate a story about Terry. And me. And a bird.     Sometime in the mid-80’s…

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