One of our favorite pastimes? Visiting craft breweries close to and far from home. Since we once homebrewed, we’re fascinated by what these local folks can do. Many of them began as living ro…

I fell in love twice during the summer of 2009. The first time I fell in love with the man who would become my husband. The second time I fell in love with Pittsburgh, the city he had called home f…

A Place of Calm in the Middle of Chaos Piney Z Lake, Tallahassee, Florida We live on the southeast side of Tallahassee, but when we drive a mile from our home to a city park, it’s hard to believe w…

By P.C. Zick @pczick.bsky.social “Are you going to Acadia?” Photo by P.C. Zick – Thunder Hole, Acadia National Park This question popped up at first mention of our impending trip to Maine. If…

By P.C. Zick – @pczick.bsky.social “I’m just a little old lady in tennis shoes.” So said Margaret Hames when other more glowing titles followed her name. Environmentalist, co…

By P.C. Zick – @pczick.bsky.social On a recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina, we kept hearing about the charming town of Folly Beach a short drive south of Charleston proper. Photo: Pinea…

By P.C. Zick – @pczick.bsky.social In 2004, I took a solo trip to Morocco where a friend was assigned to the consulate in Casablanca. I traveled around the country on my own, but in Casablanc…

Photo: On the dam trail in Tygart Lake State Park By P.C. Zick – @pczick.bsky.social We stumbled upon a unique area in West Virginia. Each year we visit family in Blacksburg, Virginia, and Pi…

“Let’s go somewhere we’ve never been,” I suggested nearly a year ago to my husband. “I’ve never been to Maine,” he replied. I had been to Maine once for fi…

As a freelance writer, I’ve been fortunate enough to write about some interesting events and people. In a few instances, I’ve even had the privilege of interviewing a handful of famous or infamous …

Last week, I wrote about the inspiration of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings on my life and career. Here is the essay “Human Heirs” that I wrote for the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Essay Contest i…

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling and Cross Creek and many more books, remains an inspiration to me even though she died a year before I was born. Still, her journey as author and wo…

Perched atop one of the highest points on Florida’s west coast sits the state’s shortest lighthouse. The Cedar Keys Lighthouse, built in 1854, stands a mere 28-feet tall upon a 52-foot …

When I moved to a small north Florida town in 1980, I loved the location in the middle of the state. We could drive to the Atlantic Ocean in less than two hours, or we could be sitting at a bar ove…

I no longer receive many personal items in the mail. I still send out cards and letters myself, despite knowing I’m in a slim majority. I send photos, fun pop-up cards, and feel-good notes of encou…

A bill is moving through Congress right now that would jeopardize Medicaid and Planned Parenthood health center patients' access to care. The Trump administration, its allies in Congress, and Elon Mus...

I recently spent an unforgettable afternoon at a book reading for Lights in the Darkness, a book of essays from sixteen nonspeaking authors. Listening to the words from the minds of these young peo…

Whenever I mention the lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida, on Anastasia Island, I know immediately if that person has been there. Gasps of “Now that’s a climb” or some variation usually occur. Th…

The centerpiece of Monticello, Florida, thirty miles east of Tallahassee, can be seen from all directions when approaching the downtown of the small town and county seat of Jefferson County. The tw…

Ibis and snowy egret in conversation on the Wacissa River, Florida. Photo by P.C. Zick Fifty-five years ago on April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated. Maybe the word “celebration” doesn’t quite fit here because its inception came as the result of some horribly tragic events—an oil spill and the discovery by a woman scientist/writer of the harm done to wildlife and humans from pesticides.

To start off Earth Day 2025 week, I'm offering my Florida Fiction novel, Trails in the Sand, for free downloads April 21-25. Click here to download #free trails in the sand What does this novel have to do with Earth Day? Everything. Book Blurb: When environmental writer Caroline Carlisle sets off to report on endangered sea turtles during the Deepwater BP oil spill in 2010, she also uncovers long-kept secrets that threaten to destroy her family.