All animals struggle to find adequate food in cold, dark winters. Around 12,000 years ago, our ancestors started planting wild varieties of peas, lentils, and barley, along with figuring out that herding animals for food and warm clothes was much more dependable than hunting or foraging. So, we humans rely on cultural solutions like inventions […]
Winter is often described as somber, dull, dreary, endless, best to avoid by staying inside and warm. The brief days and persistent nights can make us feel depressed, especially during this year of a terrible global pandemic. Maybe I’m a bit daft to love this season, but I find that winter’s magic and majesty lays […]
In the animal kingdom, camouflage is a key strategy to survive and breed by disguising one’s location, blending in, appearing as something one is not like a leaf or twig, melting into the background of colors and textures of plants and trees in order to avoid being eaten or increase the chance of getting a […]
Creating a garden is a form of love, love for beauty and the gifts of the natural world. Gardening and growing your own food are activities that make us part of the sacred space of plants. Only outdoors, do I find revitalization and serenity, despite the tempest that rages around us. My garden has distinct […]
Circum-horizontal arcs, or “fire rainbows” are refractions of sun or moonlight on plate-shaped atmospheric ice crystals. I couldn’t quite apprehend that this phenomenon of nature was real, not a virtual fantasy.
In an unexpected summer storm, I dash underneath an old valley oak and look up at its thick, furrowed trunk pushing upwards to the sky, the hail bouncing off its spatulate leaves. Trees are so familiar to us, but too often we view them as simply objects, background, or products, incapable of awareness, memory, feeling, […]
THE CURE OF TROY by the great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, is oft quoted by our new President Joe Biden, as it touches the heart of rising above hate and violence; and in doing so, imagine hope and heal each other. Human beings suffer. They torture one another. They get hurt and get hard. No […]
I came across cold winter’s delight A frozen droplet clinging to a twig A glowing promise of spring to come.
My favorite Franz Schubert song from “Winterreise” is called “Der Lindenbaum” (The Linden Tree). Another name for this tree which often line avenues is the lime tree, said to have been present in Britain since about 7300 BC. A graceful, ample, wistful shade tree much celebrated in literature. Schubert’s song is set to the words […]
I haven’t posted for a while, as I’ve been recovering from shoulder surgery and pondering last week’s events, the images of a violent mob storming the citadel of our democracy, emboldened and incited by a president who broke his oath to protect it. I wrote this four years ago, still so haunting today: “With an […]
Join my mailing list to get blog and event updates
My mailing list is not sold, lent or traded and will stay within my own private records.
You can also find me on:
