“Once upon a time, I was falling in love. Now I’m only falling apart.” ~ Heart I’m still in love, but the falling apart bit rings true for me. The recent eclipse reminded me that time and the universe move on, with or without us. I’ve had various aches and pains for as long […]
Category Archives: family
My garden is kind of a mess this year, even more so than in prior years. The raised garden boxes we built a while ago to save my old back are wonderful to help avoid the kneeling and bending, but have also reduced the garden area to a more defined space. The earlier garden sprawled […]
Will you still need me, will you still feed meWhen I’m sixty-four? ~ The Beatles I remember when I thought that the idea of being sixty-four was outrageous. It was soooo old … Well, this week, I turned seventy-four and I’m beginning to see what old really means and feels like. I can visualize […]
Our dog has become very anxious about recent thunderstorms. She gets nervous and barks, something I try to discourage. Petting to try to comfort her seems to help, but only works if she will stay near one of us. Over the last few days, we’ve heard random firecrackers in the neighborhood. At night, these seem […]
Recently, the BBC released a list of the 100 best children’s books ever. Reading the list evoked my childhood and even my later youth. My father read to us frequently, and I became the reader for my younger sister, a role I kept into my teens. My wife and I both read to our son, […]
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” ~ John Muir “We forget that nature itself is one vast miracle transcending the reality of night and nothingness. We forget that each one of us in his personal life repeats that miracle.” ~ Loren Eiseley […]
“Wild thing (bam, bam bomp!) You make my heart sing (bam, bam bomp!) You make everything … groovy.” ~ The Troggs My sister reports from San Antonio that she has made friends with a neighborhood possum. She occasionally puts food out for it, mostly leftovers of some kind. Possums are omnivores, so they eat […]
The last few tomatoes from the summer crop had taken turns ripening slowly on the kitchen counter over the fall. Every year when the first frost comes on, I harvest all the tomatoes, red and green alike and lay them out on the counter. The ripe ones don’t last too long — salads and sandwiches […]
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,We learn from all your beauty;O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,We learn from all your beauty.Your bright green leaves with festive cheer,Give hope and strength throughout the year.O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,We learn from all your beauty. ~ George Strait Tales of sacred plants — and their keepers […]
“The amount of contamination that plants can remove from aquatic environments depends on the amount and type of pollution, the plant species used, and the size of the floating wetlands.” ~ Susan Cosier When I was a kid in Texas, we used to go out to farms and ranches owned by our dad’s clients. My […]
Writes of Nature 