Yesterday, I learned from a fellow blogger and Wisconsin educator, Tammy at Tammy’s Reading Life blog that today is Pocket Poem Day! According to Tammy’s blog, the Pocket Poem was started in New York and meant to spread cheer. A poem, written or copied (with acknowledgment, of course), is shared and passed to those one…
observations
Learning to Forage
I love to learn new things. I think it makes me a better and certainly, more interesting, person. Earlier this spring, we got a course flyer from an organization offering a variety classes in sustainable living. My husband was interested in the DIY dehydrator class and I was interested in the Spring Foraging class. By…
Slice of Life Tuesday: The Prospect of Planting
I’ve got the itch! Each day when it seems a little warmer than the last, I think to myself – soon I can plant! The seeds I started at the end of March have done better than ever before. I’ve had nearly 100% germination rate (my basil and lavender have only partially germinated). But, all…
Filling Your Tank
In the late sixties and early seventies, one could pull into a gas station and have a person run out and say, “Can I fill her up for ya?” Her, of course meant the car’s gas tank. These days we have to fill the tank ourselves when we pull into the gas station. Likewise, we…
Food, Fun, and Friends at the Cabin
Today, we enjoyed spending time at our cabin with friends. We ate well. We hiked. Some of us did some fishing, despite our dock not being in yet. We ordered a new one that will be in at the beginning of June. We walked in the woods – without the hinderance of snow or insects….
Earth Day: Past and Present
What have I done to celebrate the earth, I ask myself? Mostly, it’s involved informing others of the precious resources the earth provides. In the past, for celebrations of Earth Day I’ve presented to whole schools on topics such as the forest and monarch conservation. I’ve presented on the prairie as an ecosystem, and helped…
In Search of Fake Owls
Yesterday afternoon, I ran around town to four different stores, including Walmart, Home Depot, Farm and Fleet, and Rudy’s – a small farm and feed store about a mile from my house. I was on the hunt (excuse the pun) for one of those “ugly fake owls” that are used to deter birds and other…
Slice of LifeTuesday: Fruit Trees in Bloom & Phenology
This spring has been one that I’ve really stopped to observe the changes in our environment. Part of this has been due to being asked to make a video for a local school’s environmental day and part is my own interest in phenology – or signs of the change of seasons. As I’ve aged, these…
Monday Foodie: Maryland Crab Cakes
My husband and I moved to Maryland early in our marriage. He had obtained a research job at a Delaware hospital and I just finished my child health – pediatric nurse practitioner degree and was working at the esteemed Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. It was 1990. We enjoyed living outside one of the major…









