July 2008

Growing where I’m planted

My friend Jennifer told me recently that she has been gardening in the same spot for 17 years.

“And I think,” she said dreamily, “that a garden isn’t really mature until about 17 years. Really.”

She laughed, and I laughed. This is a gardener’s idea of a good joke.

read more...

June 2008

On becoming a garden cartoon character

The last two years I have sounded a lot like Yosemite Sam when I’m in the garden.

Rahbbits. I hate rahbbits. They are eating everything in site and reproducing like, well, rabbits. They are driving me crazy and feasting lots of things I try to plant, including the vegetables I started growing last year.

read more...

May 2008

An “in tents” encounter with nature

I was in the grocery store looking for cereal when a little boy in a neighboring shopping cart waved to me. “See my bug?” he said, beaming. Inside his glass jar was one tiny occupant: a black caterpillar with blondish hairs along its sides and a long, blue stripe down its back. I admired his new little pet, then exchanged smiles with his mom before moving on to find my groceries.

read more...

April 2008

An ephemeral experience

When I look at Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), I don’t see the bells. They look more like flashlights to me, or showerheads. Or, at their peak, like dancing ladies in antebellum ball gowns. But bells? Only vaguely.

I’m not sure what this reveals about my mental state. If wildflowers can be used as a kind of Rorschach test then I’m sure it means something. In the meantime, I find I’m just happy to see these flowers whenever and wherever I find them.

read more...

March 2008

Duck walking weather

We went for a walk in the rain, just the two of us, dressed in plastic slickers and boots. There was no thunder, just the steady downpour of warm droplets all around and a sky that was flat and gray like the skin of an elephant’s underbelly over our heads. Good duck-walking weather.

read more...

February 2008

What difference does darkness make?

Darkness is a thing we humans often find a bit daunting. We aren’t well equipped for it. Our eyes take time to adjust, and we can’t see as well in the nighttime. To venture into the night always takes a bit of courage.

read more...

January 2008

Sneaking around in the gutter...or the attic as the case may be

It was late when I came out of the meeting that night. I was tired and ready for sleep and I quickly made my way from the cold into the front seat of my car but, as I took off slowly down East-West Highway, I came upon a sight that made me suddenly sit bolt upright and hit the brakes. There, crawling and wiggling its way up out of the storm drain was a huge raccoon. Its yellow eyes became glowing orbs as they flatly reflected my headlights.

read more...