On a cool January morning in 2015, I headed into the Kisatchie National Forest on ATV trail that leads to a longleaf pine plantation about three-quarters of a mile in. I had parked a few yards behind me, answered a phone call, then started walking, and was still fiddling with my camera, checking the settings as I walked.

Suddenly a deer burst out of thick cover to my left and ran across the road in front of me, all rimmed in early morning light. Do you see it? Of course you do.

I pray I will have enough time on this earth to finish the book I’m working on and to produce another. It will be called “Kisatchie Splendor.” It will be about the forest as source of abundant life, peace, joy, and contentment.