Shannon Rhodes

When I marveled at seeing students eagerly identify birds, Mr. J. smiled. “You know, Shannon, it isn’t about the birds. It’s about being aware.”

In this episode of Wild About Utah, Shannon Rhodes reflects on her junior high history fair project and her chat about snow with a Utah snow giant, Alf Engen.

I guess the lesson, as a wise first grader reminded me this week during our opinion writing session, is “Don’t yuck somebody’s yum.”

A good walk outside is great for the distressed heart and mind. Next time you are frightened by the unknowns or scarred by the realities, consider falling into a forest.

The crinoids encased in the limestone boulders along the riverbank remind me that this place was once for millions of years, actually, an ancient inland sea. I find deliciousness here in the dry heat, the muddy grit, as a guest who will return, hungry for more.

Charles Darwin suggested that “a taste for collecting beetles is some indication of future success in life."

Did you know that Mormon crickets are not crickets, grasshoppers or cicadas, but large shield-backed katydids that walk or hop rather than fly?

Decades ago my friend Amberly and I borrowed the phrase “purple mountain majesties” as we gazed at the larkspur dotting our way to Emerald Lake, and it has been a common exclamation for me ever since.

"I wouldn’t make time this week for nature, so nature came to me, begging me to slow down, take notice, pause, breathe."

My Grandma Eda asked that thistle be a prominent flower at her funeral. I’ve always been struck by how she saw past the prickly spikes to find beauty in the flower I know as a weed, certainly a metaphor for how she saw her life.