I woke up with a sore throat. When I tried to talk, no words came out. I had taken some cold medicine, but it made my symptoms worse. I decided to rest more during the weekend. After a month of nearly nonstop travel by plane, bus and car, along with numerous interactions with people in ...
I like to grow annual and perennial plants for their appearance, but more importantly, to help pollinators. This year, after a slow start, I had more pollinators — flies, bees and wasps — than I could identify. Two of my favorite pollinators to watch this summer were the Hunt’s ...
Have you ever eaten a Juneberry? They are absolutely delicious. Imagine a blueberry that is sweet and mild, not tangy, with rich undertones of cherries, apples and almonds. The fruits are soft, and their juices explode in your mouth when bitten. Yummy! A slice of Juneberry pie is a treasure. ...
“Where do you live?” the tall gentleman asked me. “I am here from North Dakota,” I replied. He looked as though he had never heard of such a place. I was having breakfast with Abe Lincoln that morning at a conference near his presidential library in Springfield, Illinois. I am not a time traveler. He was a convincing actor who closely resembled Lincoln. In the 1860s, North Dakota was not a state, which explains his perplexity. Before being admitted to the Union in 1889, North Dakota was part of Dakota Territory, along with South Dakota and part of Montana and Wyoming. As I ...
A few weeks ago, I blinked, and a lot of trees changed color. I blinked again last week and found out it was time to rake leaves. Fall seemed to come on pretty quickly this year. Maybe it was because I was busy doing other things. The trees knew it was coming, though, and they ...
The beautiful foliage of fall inspires long walks and drives to admire the changing colors. In fact, some of my friends make trips to northeastern states to see nature’s paintings featuring red, orange, yellow and even purple hues. The pigments in leaves are the same ones found naturally in ...
