When I come downstairs in the morning I open the door for my two critters, who trot happily out the door. They always greet the day with tails held high, so delighted to greet the world. I sip my coffee and come to consciousness more slowly. In fact I'm cautious how I approach the day. Will I …
The Surprising Love Life of the Fig
This is a reblog from the NewYorker.com. Please follow the link to read the complete article. Who knew fig reproduction was so unusual? Bite a fig in half and you’ll discover a core of tiny blossoms. All kinds of critters, not only humans, frequent fig trees, but the plants owe their existence to what may …
Seeing More: A Scientist’s Field Journal
I'm linking to Isaac Yuen's piece at the Ekstories blog because it tells a wonderful tale of art and science, as inseparable as mind and body. Finding Place through Art and Science: The Field Journals of Lyn Baldwin Biologist Lyn Baldwin's field journals are full of beautiful watercolors from her travels as a biologist in British Columbia. Her careful …
Law of the Jungle
I saw Disney's new Jungle Book film, and it's a magnificent experience - a beautiful, heart-wringing adventure. As one of the millions of kids who were a captive audience for the 1967 animated version, I watched it in rapt delight and breathless anticipation. I'm more of an experiential viewer than a critic; thus I fell in …
Cherry Blossom Joy!
I try to get out and paint plein-aire from the Yoshino cherries during their brief and glorious blooming. It's always unpredictable! This year it seemed imminent, then a cold front delayed their progress, then BAM! an explosion of flowers. When I first came to Washington, I expected something gaudier. I was amazed by the subtle …
Even the Desert Blooms
The March Equinox Arrives At this moment of Equinox (latin 'equal night'), the Northern Hemisphere crosses out of winter. Preparations for Passover and Easter are underway. Dormant buds are preparing, or indeed bursting, into bloom. I'm poised for my annual cherry blossom painting frenzy. The ospreys returned last Thursday, immediately busying themselves with nest-building. All living …
The Earliest Frogs
I hear frogs. Yesterday a deluge. Wild storms ripped libs from the trees. Pounding rain left pools of cool spring water the vernal pools that invite the sleeping ones awaken. Imagine: your world is cold, solid, dark. You are one with the winter dream, until a trickle of liquid warmth reaches down, stirring something in your …
“Don’t You Wonder Sometimes?”
I heard poet Tracy K. Smith read her poem by this name on Studio 360's tribute to David Bowie. Tracy won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for her collection called "Life on Mars," inspired in part by the Starman in his many identities. She credits him with showing her “the imagination as something that is capable of creating a whole new …
We Can Be Heroes
Farewell to the musician who provided the playlist for my young life, and the artist who gave sound and vision to the androgynous, artistic, alien of my soul. In a world with no road map, as the traditional life of my parents and grandparents became quaint and irrelevant, Bowie blazed across the firmament, operatic troubadour of the next moment. He released …
The Last of the Granny Witches
I come from a long line of weather witches and empaths. My foremothers are czech farmers. Deep within, we know the ancient ways.