photo courtesy Amazon.com Last evening, I listened with interest to an interview with the author Cynthia Barnett about her new book Rain, on On Point on NPR.  The interview wound around a variety of issues concerning rain as a phenomenon to be considered on practical as well as more oblique points.  I became more intrigued as the conversation turned to Emily Dickinson, the prolific poet, who, Ms. Barnett claims was much more productive when … [Read more...]

   Montecito 9/2011 Artists of all modes and materials as well as botanists, naturalists, and anthropologists have long been fascinated with various stages of the life cycle of plants.  We are so lucky to have the renderings spawned by the type of people who are able to sit still for hours at a time and depict a specimen once, let alone through its stages of development and then decay.  Their work flows through history like the story … [Read more...]

 favorite, only Today was a day for rising early.  I got up at 5:30.  Something called me.   a quarter moon in the eastern sky Yesterday I did some planting and wondered, as I wandered around, if I was still mourning my Dad.  A short while later, my cousin Carol and I exchanged sentiments about our Dads who loved their gardens so.  Whenever I work outside, I feel a closeness to him that leaves me to wonder if I'd be enjoying any of … [Read more...]

   Giddy as a Fool Day (13 days after the other Fools' Day)  I'm not ashamed to be included in Fools' Days…... After spending the better part of the last 4 weeks nursing my daughter through her ankle debacle and taking that opportunity to test a myriad of scone recipes on her, I have happily switched gears to the outside……... I just have to say that over the past couple of days, I have found myself saying to Kit, "phew, we made it through … [Read more...]