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I'm Okay - You're Okay

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What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?

– WH Davies, 1871-1940

I will admit it. It is difficult, if well nigh impossible, to think of something profound to write about January’s garden.  I simply cannot stand upon my ivory tower and proclaim to the masses the [...]

Face It and Embrace It

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If you ask the average person bent double under the burden of yet another winter, there can be little beauty found in a season characterized by bitterly cold winds, lifeless gardens and roads speckled with the ashy white of salt residue. There is no doubt that winter toughens us and makes us stronger; but [...]

Raking Leaves: A Child's Primer

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We’ve been gone some time visiting family in warmer climes.  While we were chasing the last of the summer sun in California, back home in Maryland fall turned into winter, Halloween turned into Christmas, and my garden turned into a sea of browning, crumbling leaves.

I have two children and I know how to use [...]

Hope Springs Eternal

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Yesterday I went outside in an attempt to initiate the production of Vitamin D by a body wearied with four walls and space heaters. And not a moment too soon. Coleridge’s “Dejection: An Ode” sat open upon my desk, and I was starting to bypass Christopher Lloyd and a glass of red in [...]

Orchis Enchantis

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Just over a year ago at the end of a particularly brutal winter, I made a Scandinurbian sojourn to the holy halls of IKEA to buy some bookcases to line an office wall.  On my way out, weakened by meatballs and lignonberry juice, I fell prey to one of the dirtiest Swedish marketing tricks [...]

What Shall I Do With All My Books

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The winds have been unmercifully harsh this winter. Many nights I have lain in bed wondering how long my maple tree can withstand the onslaught of bitter two AM winds, only to find by morning she is still standing, sometimes her long fingers dipped in layers of brilliant ice. The garden is paralyzed right [...]