Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020 - 5

CONTRIBUTORS

Mike Roberts

Angela Minor

Mike Roberts (Elk) is a lifelong naturalist and
wildlife photographer from Evington, Virginia.
Having taught over 350,000 students in
classrooms across Virginia and Indiana about
the value of our natural environment, Roberts
now serves as the outdoor educator for the
Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation in Halifax,
Virginia, and the Thomas Road Outpost camp
near the Peaks of Otter, Virginia.

Angela Minor (Northeast Georgia Quick Guide)
is a frequent contributor of travel and nature
articles to numerous regional and national
publications including Blue Ridge Country,
Alabama Living, Ft. Myers Magazine, Kentucky
Monthly, Nevada Magazine, Oklahoma Today,
OKRA, American Wild Magazine, 3rd Act, and
others. She's the "Park Watch" Beat Writer for
10,000 Birds; and she created and authors the
Bird Watcher's Digest state park birding series.

Joanne O'Sullivan

Leonard Adkins
Leonard Adkins (7 River Walks) has completed
five Appalachian Trail traverses, and is Blue
Ridge Country's The Good Walk (formerly The
Hike) columnist. An award-winning author, his
20 books include "Hiking and Traveling the
Blue Ridge Parkway" and "50 Hikes in West
Virginia." Paraphrasing an American humorist,
Adkins lives by the motto, "I never met a trail I
didn't like."

Joanne O'Sullivan (Evan Williams profile) writes
about travel, art, culture and the environment
from her home in Asheville, North Carolina.
She's the author of the 2017 novel "Between
Two Skies", a Southern Book Prize finalist, and
the forthcoming children's book "The Great and
The Terrible!"

LETTERS

A HAWK, A 'POSSUM
AND MEMORIES

Thank you for Julia Duncan's precious story The
Christmas Hawk (Nov./Dec. 2019 issue). It is such a
heartwarming piece! When I read it, I immediately
thought back on an opossum that appeared on my
family's front porch on Christmas Night 1997.
I had put out food for my five cats' supper. After a
while, I looked out the window and saw something that
wasn't a cat, eating with them! The cats didn't seem to
be paying it any mind.
It was a 'possum! My mother decided to call it
"Christmas." I went out on the porch and was able to
stand just a few feet from the animal. It just looked at
me.
"Christmas" came back many times, always when
I fed the cats. At least, we assumed it was the same
'possum. It eventually stopped coming. Years later, my
mother would often ask "Wonder whatever happened
to Christmas?"
My parents are dead now; so are all my cats.
I presume "Christmas" is dead, too. But, as with
Christmases everywhere, memories live on!
-ANGELA WATKINS, NATURAL BRIDGE STATION, VIRGINIA

REMEMBERING
A RED BARN

I subscribe to your
wonderful magazine
and when I received
my copy of the Jan./
Feb. issue in the mail
yesterday, I was flipping
through looking at the
pictures when I spotted
a familiar barn.
The article is on the
Pisgah View State Park. I'm 74 years old and spent a
week at Pisgah every year when I was young and even
into my adult years. Glad to know it will be a state park
as it is a wonderful place to visit.
Thanks for bringing the memories forward.
-GEORGIA HARDEN, CLAY HILL, FLORIDA

BEANS!

You're killing me with those "Beans All the Way."
(BlueRidgeCountry.com/BeanBarn). Is the item available
for sale/shipment from the Bean Barn in Greeneville,
Tennessee? I am 450 miles away from Greeneville, and
that's a mighty long way for a bowl of Beans All the
Way!"
Hungry but with warm regards,
-BETTY WESTMORELAND, COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE
(A SUBURB OF MEMPHIS)

MARCH/APRIL 2020

5
http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com/BeanBarn
Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020
