While reading Pema Chödrön’s Another Kind of Freedom this morning, I smiled when I read, “Don’t believe everything you think.” What a good way to make light of the thoughts that pop in and out of our mind. It’s the longest day of the year. The chicks are growing up fast. On their way to [ ]
Five or six winters ago, a long cold spell killed our large California Lilac. In the summer bees by the thousands used to buzz around the bush, feasting on the flowers which bloomed all summer long. We waited two years in vain for any growth to appear on the bare stems. It was a sad [ ]
A family member needed a home for a small rose plant years ago. We planted it in a spot tucked away. Last year I pruned it heavily. I just happened to look its way yesterday and went running to get a scissors to bring these massive, pink, sweet-scented flowers indoors to enjoy. It’s time to [ ]
It is mid-May. Spring is in full force. Buttercup, thimble berry, herb robert bloom. This is a cloudy, drizzly week, with intermittent sunshine. Perfect for working the garden. Potatoes and onions grow vigorously. I’m clearing a patch for American Giant sunflowers and corn. However, the packet of American Giant sunflower seeds warms me that they [ ]
You wouldn’t know it was the very end of November from the verdant hydrangea leaves. History is about to be made. The latest recorded first frost I could find for our area ranges from November 23 in Bellingham, 15 miles north, to November 29 in Everett, 40 miles south of us. Today is November 27, [ ]
The swans have returned to the valley. It’s always comforting to see them back for the winter and to watch them fly by when I’m out running errands. It’s unusual now not to see them fly overhead in twos, threes, and more. Though never in the vast quantities like the snow geese. Fresh snow covered [ ]
This was a good spring for cherry blossoms. We had many sunny days when the trees were in bloom in April. On a day like that it’s easy to think the meaning of life is beauty and calm and love and peace. Yes, that is nice. The same when the white lilacs are in bloom. [ ]
The sun is out today. The daffodils are in bloom. Spring is here. It’s been an odd winter, very warm until a hard freeze in January where it got down to 6ºF, -14ºC. It was a dry freeze, followed by a week of very cold weather.And yet we had just a single snow until the [ ]
January’s warm spell came to an abrupt end with a week of sub freezing weather. Then it started to snow Tuesday evening, January 16. By Wednesday morning we were blanketed with snow. So this winter will not be a snowless winter after all. An alien seeing a rabbit footprint in the snow is liable to [ ]
Until last Thursday, the 11th, winter seemed far away. Puffy, summery clouds floated above the valley. Spring seemed but a few days away. But winter stomped hard, Thursday night. By Friday morning, bitter cold sent frost heaving out of the ground. Muddy paths turned as hard as concrete. We saw temperatures as low as 6.8ºF [ ]