Washington Post Sunday Edition

Travel Section | Road Reads

Sunday, May 20, 2007; Page P02

Perhaps Fred First was a thoughtful man even before he moved to Goose Creek. Thoughtful and observant. But living on (or, as he characterizes it, being married to) his particular plot of land in rural Floyd County, Va., surely has sharpened his senses. His book of Blue Ridge days demonstrates the value of focusing on just one place, watching it through multiple seasons and learning the names of things. ("What we have names for, we are more likely to notice and appreciate.") 

In midlife, First, whose training was in biology and physical therapy, suddenly had to find a new answer to "What do you do?" His tentative response: "I put away scraps from the everyday, collect odd bits of experience and memory." Among them are the arrival of Mexico-bound monarch butterflies, the almost sacred gathering of firewood, and the rich "Life of the Nose" of his canine partner, "Buster, Dog of Destiny."

-- Jerry V. Haines