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Pup Walks and Illuminated Leaves
On our autumn morning walks, the pup chases animals while I ponder sunlight and leaves. Continue reading
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Old Photos
What activities do you lose yourself in? Why do people sigh when they say, “I really need to go through my photos?” Because there are so many. Two recent incidents have sent me weeding through old photos. I’m talking about hard copy photos. The digital cloud is an entirely different problem. The boxes, drawers, and Continue reading
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Hedge of Thorns
When I was a little kid, I used to wonder about the magical hedge of thorns that protected Sleeping Beauty for a hundred years. Now that I am a grownup, it doesn’t seem so magical. In fact, I wonder how, after an entire century, the thorny hedge hadn’t taken over the entire castle and Sleeping Continue reading
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Your Package Has Been Delivered
When FedEx started including photos of delivered packages with notification of delivery, I think we all had high hopes that photos upon delivery would become standard and that delivery woes would be a thing of the past. (Forgive my optimism.) Not living in the city or even suburbs, theft of my packages is not an Continue reading
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To Do or Not To Do
Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done. Something on my to-do list that never gets done…that is a tough one to answer. Which to-do list should I consider? There are so many. There’s the daily list of things that I need to do to feel like I’ve earned the air I sucked up Continue reading
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The Thrill, the Agony—Mostly Agony
What are your favorite sports to watch and play? Competitive sport stresses me out. The Ravens, in particular, stress me out. When the Ravens play well and take a commanding lead in a game, I enjoy watching them. I appreciate well-executed plays, although it requires all my concentration to follow the ball, even on a Continue reading
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Clutter
Where can you reduce clutter in your life? My daughter just moved into a new house. Empty kitchen drawers await spoons and spatulas and plastic wrap. There is no junk in any junk drawer. Her bedroom closet has an organizer system so massively amazing that even the painter stopped to gape at it. It seems Continue reading
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Ruins—Irish and Homegrown
How old does something have to be to qualify as a ruin? I’m wondering because on a recent trip to Ireland I saw buildings in various states of ruination. When I came home, I realized that Maywood has its own collection of things that could be considered ruins. What makes something a ruin, as opposed Continue reading
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Irish Inspiration to Tame My Jungle
Irish third cousins are on my mind as I grab my little hedge-trimmer and venture out into the yard. Newly retired and fresh from a trip to County Donegal, I face the neglect of my little version of Wild America. It is daunting. Saplings push their way where they do not belong—popping up in flower Continue reading
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See-ums and No-see-ums
What you don’t see will bite you. What you do see bites you in a different way. I wore white slacks and a three-quarter sleeve blouse to a bridal shower. I wanted to hide my polka-dotted age spots on my legs and the bug bites that appear after every ever-so-brief foray outside. Yes, I have Continue reading
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Another Tale of Wild Food
There is a reason why humans began to cultivate food. Cultivated food is within human reach. It comes at predictable times. And you know exactly where it will be—right where you planted it. Foraging for food requires eyes constantly alert because you can never be sure when or where you will find an edible treasure. Continue reading
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The Lure of the Porch
How am I supposed to get anything done today if it is going to be such a glorious sit-on-the-porch rainy day? I can count on one hand the number of days before I report back for the new school year. I have a to-do list of to-do lists and I have been dutifully checking my Continue reading
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It’s Not Chokecherry
There is a tree overhanging the parking area of our driveway at an awkward, ugly angle, and it really looks like it should be cut down. Except… Every once in a random year it blesses us with enough fruit to make a most scrumptious jam. For years I have called it chokecherry jam because my Continue reading
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Sloth Week
It’s the end of July and–right on schedule–I have hit Sloth Week. Sloth Week is when I do absolutely nothing but lie around and read books. It usually coincides with hot, humid weather that, all by itself, induces lethargy. I believe it is part of my circadian rhythm. Brood X cicadas emerge every seventeen years, Continue reading
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Violet Unicorn Jelly
The best way to pick wild violets is sitting in the grass with a granddaughter on a sunny Sunday morning. The best reason to pick wild violets is to make violet jelly. And the best thing to do with violet jelly is to have a fairy tea party with lady finger sandwiches. So far, I Continue reading
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The Devil with Deviled Eggs
I swore to my husband a couple of years ago that I would never again promise to make deviled eggs for Easter. I reminded him of that today as I swore over the hard-boiled eggs that refused to peel. Eggs that were destined for deviling for tomorrow’s Easter festivities. He reminded me that I swear Continue reading
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I Am an Expert—I Bet You Are, Too
I came across an article promising to make me an expert. According to a Tedx Talk expert on expertise, David Mitroff, I only have to do three things to be considered an expert: Spend three years learning about my area of expertise. Build my confidence. Take action. (This can be as simple as nominating yourself Continue reading
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The Vaccine Games
Who knew, in the spring of 2020, that the battle to find toilet paper was just training for getting a Covid vaccine? Who knew that our lives would begin to ressemble the Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies as we scrambled to get a vaccine appointment? Who could have imagined that we would even Continue reading
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Installing the New Bees
Our new honeybees arrived this week. We picked them up Monday evening, having made an appointment for pick-up and advised to arrive with protective gear—not to protect us from the bees, but to protect humans from each other. So, with our corona masks in place and our hands in thin vinyl gloves, we exited the Continue reading
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Teaching From Home: One Month In
Good news! A month of teaching from home has not killed me. It came close in Week Three, with my resting heart rate mounting from stress and an allergy medication contributing side effects of anxiety and depression. But the doc released me from the allergy med and we got –dramatic pause– Spring Break! I don’t Continue reading
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Teaching From Home: Setting the Pace in Week Two
There are a lot of runners in my family. You could say it runs in the family. Sorry. Not. I am not one of them. I walk. But I still know the difference between a sprint and a marathon. This COVID-19 teaching experience is a marathon like no other. And we don’t even know Continue reading
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Teaching from Home: We Survived Week One
We did it—my students and I got through our first week of school from home! The learning curve has been steep but, with the weekend’s respite from students, I may get beyond the feeling of treading water to actual swimming. THE KICK-OFF Half the stress of this week was due to the shock of Continue reading
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Propolis: Bane of the Beekeeper’s Wife
There are many things that set me off on a rant but the worst ones involve Any Other Person messing up My Stuff. It doesn’t have to technically be my stuff. If I use it and/or clean it, it counts as mine. Any beekeeper wife will agree that beekeeping presents some challenges with protecting stuff. Continue reading
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The First of This Year’s Honey: Beating the Bear
We pulled four frames of honey today. They were capped and we are so afraid that the local bear will defeat our electric fence and get to the hives again that we decided to pull some honey as soon as possible. Those of you familiar with our bear escapades will remember that last year the Continue reading
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Oops, No Queen: Recombining a Hive
A few weeks ago, in the midst of the spring nectar flow, with queen cells popping up everywhere, BeeMan decided to split a hive using some of the unwanted queen cells. The three other hives, with more room to grow and no longer honey-bound, resumed laying eggs and all is well. Honey-bound is when the Continue reading
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Swarm Season
Maywood is in its glory as the May woods blossom with tulip poplars, black locust, and wild roses. The bees have already had their fill of red maple and skunk cabbage and purple dead nettle, a pretty purple-flowering ground cover that brought in bright red pollen. Yesterday we went in to the bees for the Continue reading
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Where’s Mom?
When we were little, my siblings and I used to do hide-and-seek with my mother. It wasn’t a game. She was really hiding. And we were seeking. It was a big house–three floors plus a basement–and as we climbed the stairs calling, “Mom! Mooooooooooooommmmmmm!” we were sure that she must have gone down to one Continue reading
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Baby Blanket
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it? My baby blanket was hands-down the thing I was most attached to as a child. I can still feel the smooth satin binding against my cheek and the soft nubbiness of the blanket itself. It was a buttery off-white and Continue reading
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Lost in Space
What is your mission? What is my mission? These days my mission is figuring out what my mission is. Without the minute by minute structure of a teaching day, I am adrift with the unending possibilities before me. Kind of like an astronaut floating untethered in the vastness of space. The temptation is to create Continue reading
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Gifted
What is the greatest gift someone could give you? If someone wanted to gift me the best gift ever, a million dollars would be great. Make that two. A million doesn’t go as far as it used to and I have a lot of projects in mind. A lifetime of first class air travel would Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 