I Will Take the Little Victories

A few weeks ago, while searching the flowers I’d planted for buds, I heard a little helpless chirp coming from the basement-level 6-7 foot deep window well. I stepped over and around the cosmos seedlings and peered over to find a juvenile robin sitting below on a stick blinking up at me. It didn’t look […]

Creative Ideas Begin as Seeds

Nature has a metaphor that perfectly illustrates what it means to live creatively. Friends, I present to you the humble seed: offspring of flowers and pollen, a hard little mote that can survive millennia in a frozen tundra or a hot summer in the back garden, add specks of flavor and texture to your muffin […]

Living Things

My apartment is the perfect writer’s nook. 100 years old. Exactly the right size for one person and a cat. Windows on three sides, natural light. Vintage charm. Excellent landlords. Awesome view of the state capitol. There is only one downside: no balcony or garden space. Almost six years ago, I moved from a house […]

photo of the day: warblers

It’s the first day of autumn. Birds are beginning their southward migration. Their passage usually goes unnoticed unless the birds in question are geese or ducks flying in classic v-formation, honking in camaraderie. Especially in a city, it’s rare to notice something smaller… unless it’s right in front of us. Today, I found two orange-crowned […]

Birds in Memoriam

Black and White Warbler, 09.18.2018 She was bright yellow and grey and lying on the sidewalk outside my front door. I’d never seen a bird like that before – I was struck by the delicate beauty of this little creature and the fact that she was dead. Traveling south for the winter, she’d had a […]