“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!” ~ Hamlet by William Shakespeare I’m not sure how I started composting. Maybe it was just a result of not wanting to have stinky things in the trash so I didn’t have to take it out so often. I also dislike the idea of raking up […]
Tag Archives: health
Quite a mix of birds has collected around the bird feeders outside our kitchen windows this year. The Chickadees and Juncos vie with the House Finches, Nuthatches and occasional Sparrow for a place at the trough. Lately, the big birds – Robins, Doves, Flickers and Jays – have become more aggressive in getting their share. […]
Van Gogh, Starry Night The area so dark, I could watch the champagne fizz of shooting stars from my bedroom window; catch a glimpse of the harvest moon while brushing my teeth. Every evening, the night pressed in against my windows in a way that felt visceral, like a velvet blanket tucking me in. […]
“Contact with nature in cities significantly reduces feelings of loneliness, according to a team of scientists … Loneliness is a major public health concern, their research shows, and can raise a person’s risk of death by 45% — more than air pollution, obesity or alcohol abuse.” ~ Damian Carrington It is well known that […]
I live on the edge of a metropolitan area. To the east are a couple of undeveloped mesas, some agricultural lands, and suburbs stretching the twenty miles or so into urban Denver. West, the mountains rise abruptly over two thousand feet in a couple of stages. The mountain face (Front Range) is mostly open, but […]
“It was a dark and stormy night …” ~ Snoopy Colorado is nice in the summer, and camping out is a favorite activity for many of us here. Fall and spring can be nice, too, but the weather can be unexpectedly erratic. Across the southern U.S., the weather is nice three-quarters of the year […]

Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most commonly occurs during winter months. ~ Wikipedia Lately, I’ve become envious of those animals that can just go into hibernation and ignore the outside world. Between the pandemic totally disrupting our lives both […]
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 […]
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 […]
“To listen to trees, nature’s great connectors, is therefore to learn how to inhabit the relationships that give life its source, substance, and beauty.” Maria Popova in The Songs of Trees It’s a special, but not rare thing. I can sit on the patio and hear the whisper of the breeze through the trees […]