My older brother, Kenno, died last April, and tomorrow, December 10, would have been his 75th birthday. It’s hard to think of a world without him in it. He was such a huge figure in my life. Being two-and-a-half years older meant that, as kids, he was always bigger, stronger and smarter than me. He […]
Category Archives: human nature
It’s still dark outside, but the older cat yowls in the darkness, expressing some real or imaginary complaint. The dog stirs and “boops” me under the side of the covers to see if it’s time to get up. I rub her nose and eyes then “scritch” her back to see if she’ll settle back down. […]
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and […]
Humans need to find peace and quiet. Any parent has reached their screaming point from all the chaos that children and jobs can bring into their lives, but we all occasionally need some calming, uninterrupted time for our brain to settle down and clear out our thoughts. For some, a walk in the woods or […]
Leaves are covering the yards, the garden plants are slowly (or, if a freeze, quickly) dying, and the squirrel-mutilated faces on pumpkins are moldering across front porches everywhere. It’s the perfect time to start your garden compost pile! Composting is an age-old practice to conserve the nutrients that nature provides. Normally, trees, shrubs and grasses […]
The incessant roar of waves permeated everything, except for the occasional blast of October wind through the row of houses. Tendrils of sand blew unceasingly down the beach, past the imperturbable groups of seagulls who searched the sand for anything edible — or at least interesting. So too, the scattered human beachgoers braved the wind […]
It’s nearly over. The weather is changing and we’re getting our first frosts this week. The leaves are changing and the squirrels are busy all day. It’s time to look over the vegetable garden and see what needs to be picked and what may survive a few more weeks. Our annual vacation always seems to […]
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare We called them ‘doodle bugs,’ but a girl I knew called them ‘rolly-pollys.’ When in college, I learned they were actually ‘wood lice’ or the singular, ‘woodlouse.’ Wikipedia lists about fifty other names for these guys, not including […]
“By composting, you reduce your carbon and financial footprint; your waste doesn’t have to be transported, nor do you have to buy nutrients in. By embracing rot, you will start to see failure in a new light …” ~ Alys Fowler When I first started my vegetable garden, nearly forty years ago, I made […]
Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow? ~ English Nursery Rhyme Well, the hot weather here has been both good and bad for our vegetable garden. The heat, and maybe my ineffective watering, has hindered the snow peas, Big Boy tomatoes and the spinach, but it does seem to have helped the […]
Writes of Nature 