by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Apr 19, 2018 | Appalachian, dogs, Hiking, Nature
We’re fortunate to live just a mile from Pisgah National Forest. Almost every day after work I head to the woods for a hike with Thistle. On the weekends, my husband comes along and we go even further afield. Hiking not only provides Thistle and I with exercise, it...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Mar 29, 2018 | Appalachian, Hiking, Nature
My favorite spring symphony. And yes, they DID stop peeping shortly after I stopped talking. Ornery little frogs. Do you have spring peepers where you live? [wpvideo jb4X2O9a]
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Jan 8, 2018 | bears, Hiking, Thistle
In The Sound of Rain my hero, Judd, is shown a 1950s poster of Smokey Bear. His boss–who is also my heroine’s father–wants Judd to serve as a sort of liaison with the forest service in their efforts to preserve forests. Although I only mention the...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Dec 28, 2017 | Appalachian, Friends, Hiking, History, Nature, Writing
I love it when I describe something in one of my novels that I can clearly picture and THEN find that what I described actually exists. In Miracle in a Dry Season Casewell cleans out an old spring with a catch basin. Guess what my husband found in the woods on the...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Oct 5, 2017 | Appalachian, Hiking, Nature, Thistle
Mud boots, gum boots, rain boots, rubbers, wellies, or, you know, plain ole rubber boots. I don’t suppose they’re uniquely Appalachian, but they certainly are ubiquitous to every mountain farm I’ve ever set foot upon. Some evenings, when I’m...
by Sarah Loudin Thomas | Sep 28, 2017 | Appalachian, Hiking, Nature
It’s officially autumn. October arrives this weekend. The days are cooler, the nights make an extra quilt welcome. I love this time of year. Maybe it’s the bittersweet way nature fades from lush green, to russet and gold, and then to brown and grey. And,...
