Butterflies, Flowers, and Disillusionment

Last Saturday afternoon, on my way down the mountain to fetch the mail, I noticed a black swallowtail (Papilionidae) sipping nectar from cardinal flowers blooming on the slope beside the upper driveway. The bright red trumpet-shaped blossoms of lobelia cardinalis,...

Today’s Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition: the placement of two or more things side by side.   This morning, along the meadow edge, I noticed a lone daylily in bloom, its buds somehow missed by the deer. What a blessing, I said to myself, and perhaps more blossoms to come if the deer don’t...

Win, Lose, TBD

Yesterday late in the afternoon, I heard another of those sickening thumps on one of the greenhouse windows in our dining room. After days of rain, the sun had come out, making it harder for birds to distinguish windows from forest. I looked on the deck near the dog...

Making Home

“Housekeeping is home’s daily chores of faith, hope, and love. It doesn’t hold out for what might never be. Instead, it wrings good from what is.”  -Jen Pollock Michel   I reach for a book, wipe dust off the top, pile it on the previous one, and reach for...