Place: A Review of Home Ground, edited by Barry Lopes

Here’s one of the reviews I wrote for Suite101.com. The copyright recently passed to me, so I can share it with you here. It’s of Home Ground, a book that deals with the concept that is most on my mind these days: place. The more I think about place, the more it amazes me that …

We’re a Go: Germination!

Just two days after I wrote about sowing my first seeds, and being so nervous about it, I went down into the basement to check on the seeds and there it was! Ah, a sight for sore eyes! I love it! In 50 days or so we’ll be eating lettuce: our very own, with a …

Winter Wednesday/Outdoor Hour: Beech Bark in Winter

I decided to combine this week’s Outdoor Hour and Winter Wednesday challenges. For the first we observe a tree throughout the seasons. Those who have followed the challenges from the beginning have done this three times already and will be completing the year. But as Amie and I have just joined the Outdoor Hour, this …

I have Faith in a Seed

I think of the seeds every day. They’re locked away in their envelopes, in Ziploc bags, in a large cookie tin, in the cold basement. Held within these many layers, deprived of light, water and warmth and temperature fluctuations, they are kept suspended. I am rereading Thoreau’s Dispersion of Seeds. It was published for the …

A Drawing of My Own

{This was written yesterday but I had already posed two entries so kept it for today} I slept badly last night, or rather not at all (this cold is getting the better of me). Ever since having Amie I can function pretty well on very little sleep, on a certain level. But this morning I …

Nature Study for a Three-Year-Old

Though I am still feeling sick, we went outside. It was a good day for it  and Amie really wanted to.  It was bright, with some clouds moving in, a few gusts of wind but otherwise not too blustery, and unseasonably mild (mid 40s). We bundled up and went for a long walk around the …

Nature Study and Library Books

I am thinking of participating in Barb-Harmony Art Mom’s weekly “Outdoor Hour” challenges, which follows Anna Botsford Comstock’s book Handbook of Nature Study. Gotta get hold of the book first, though. I’m waiting to get it through the inter-library loan. This, by the way, is why they call him the Red-Bellied Woodpecker (click on image …

Sewing for Beginners

Amie has taken up sewing. So far we’ve kept it simple: I  fold a piece of thick paper several times across and along the folds I cut some holes. Then I put some colorful yarn in a huge plastic needle, tie a knot at both ends and off she goes.  She’s not always sure where …