“The walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours …but it is itself the enterprise and adventure of
Category: Nature
We have a dead tree in the middle of our backyard, a crabapple, which has zero leaves on it and drops dead branches daily, as if someone were trimming her hair. Everyday. Stray branches pile
In winter, there is a time, specifically at sunrise, when the sun has not yet risen above the horizon, and it is as if the sun has arms, made of the most beautiful pinks and
This week marked the 8th month of the beginning of the quarantine here in Maryland. Although things have ebbed and flowed – restaurants were open, then closed, then open only outdoors, then inside but limited
Heat and humidity have been the daily recipe for weather here in Maryland. We are going on week 5 of temperatures in the 90s. Yesterday morning the air was cooler, slightly crisp and I drank
I grew up in Iowa, where a few hundred years ago, tall grass prairie covered 75-80% of the landscape. Now, the land is mostly farms. Hiking into the woods was not an option. Trees, in
Our little bubble, the one we have been living in for 14 weeks, the one where we ventured into public places as little as possible due to the pandemic, the one where we spent more
I am grateful. We live in central Maryland, on 2.6 acres with woods and a stream which leads to a neighbor’s pond. This week, my kids and I spent hours in the woods each day
Spring officially arrives in 2 days although while out walking earlier today, I noticed an abundance of birds were chirping, the grass was greener today than yesterday, and daffodils were in full bloom. The deer
A few weeks ago, snowflakes fell in the night, making the morning seem like an Earthly blush. At sunrise, the palest of pinks and peaches filled the sky, warming the world slowly. With only one
When I was a kid, my family and our best friends would head north, to the woods and lakes of Minnesota. For one week, we fished and swam and played and ate and lived outdoors.
I know it is officially Spring when the cherry blossoms of DC are in full bloom, which they are this week. Just as in winter, when my world is covered in powdery, white, fresh snow,
This past week has been full of wonderfull-ness and crazy weather. I came home to find this beautiful babe hanging out on my fence. There was a harem of females he was chasing, and a
I’m so glad I live in a world where snowflakes drop from the sky, sometimes each flake so fat you can catch them on your tongue, and sometimes, so small and fine it looks like
I’ve heard, lately, that blogs are dead. Ah, my usual timeliness. Always on the downhill slope of a trend, or so it feels. So why write this at all? For a number of reasons –
The last weeks of September saw summer crumbling apart with a few days of cool weather; I was ready to make a good batch of chili. We decorated, opened the windows, and let the breeze
In Sitio de Mata, Costa Rica, sitting in a valley full of sugar cane and coffee beans and plant life as abundant as ants in their nest, is a home – 3 small bedrooms, a
Summertime is always the best of what might be. – Charles Bowden This year, winter didn’t come until Spring had officially begun, going out with a roar of 10 inches of snow. Spring crept in
If I could order up the perfect days, like we do our coffees and our lunches at local cafes, mine would have thin layers of laughter amidst chunks of peaceful moments, bits of sweetness surrounded
I saw time in Scotland, watched it wash over the hills around me, and pass by, as if a stranger on a sidewalk moving faster than me. Here – in the frantic United States, within
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Living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Hans Christian Anderson
“ Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul & sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all. ”
Emily Dickinson
I take my kids outdoors because that is where I find inspiration and my soul finds peace. My parents did the same, driving us nine hours north of our home to a cabin on Deere
There is an entire city of birds which live in a nondescript tree over the line of my property. Actually, it’s my neighbors tree but it sits right on the edge so I can see
When I was 23 I moved to California, working a job as a science teacher at a summer camp. The only time I went indoors was to sleep, and sometimes even that didn’t happen. With
Sometimes, we have to go home, don’t we? It’s just necessary, to taste the roasted chicken with creamy potatoes, to smell the lilac bushes which marked the dividing line between our house and our neighbors,
I love fall, the leaves turning colors and the smell of ’em burning. Hot chocolate and hot apple cider, pumpkins and crisp air. And winter, gosh, it’s so beautiful too. A cleansed palette of white,
We woke up, surprised. Yesterday the sun melted all of the snow, revealing the new green shoots underfoot and today, nature was white again. We knew it wouldn’t last and felt called to explore. The
In the darkness, in the hard parts of life, in the moments where our anger or doubt boil over and erupt, it is hard to see the good, it is hard to want to see
Oh, my writing. How I’ve missed you, the act of sitting down and crafting sentences, putting specific words in order hoping to make something magical. It’s been three weeks and it feels like years. But
This is my path right now. Hazy at the edges, an unsure future beyond the few feet in front of me, and no concrete idea where it will lead or end. But from what I can
“ Just living is not enough; one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ”