A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life. ~ Isadora James Today I give thanks to all the Divine Ones for my sister, Carrie. She was born on this day in 1961, while we were stationed on Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands … Read more
Coffee, the finest organic suspension ever devised. ~ Star Trek, Voyager Today, I give thanks for a simple pleasure that I love. It is a bit of an indulgence, but I love my Cafe du Monde chicory coffee from New Orleans. The Cafe du Monde coffee stand has been serving coffee and beignets in New Orleans … Read more
Today, for Day 15 of my month-long gratitude practice, I give thanks for Triangle Tarot and Friends (the Raleigh-Durham Tarot Meetup). When I whine to my friends about being too busy, or stretched thin, invariably, someone suggests that I give up being the organizer of the Meetup. I know that someday I will have to. But even … Read more
Today, I am grateful for the new beginnings inherent in New Moons. Especially today, since it’s doubly powerful, with this New Moon in Scorpio, plus the first Solar Eclipse in the sign of Scorpio since 1995. So I am offering two outstanding astrological views. First, from Lance Ferguson at Skywatch Astrology: Tuesday, November 13 Bad Moon … Read more
I was going to give thanks today to all the veterans, especially my Dad the colonel. And I absolutely am grateful for their sacrifice and dedication. But, alas, I am posting something else today instead. THINGS TO BELIEVE IN from grace of ancient land, by Patricia Monaghan trees, in general; oaks, especially; burr oaks that survive … Read more
The North Carolina Conservation Network is a statewide network of over 100 environmental, community and environmental justice organizations focused on protecting North Carolina’s environment and public health. NCCN is an important watchdog pushing back against the huge interests that fund the coal power plants that disregard the EPA’s clean air standards, the logging and destruction … Read more
How we eat determines to a considerable extent how the world is used…land that is in human use must be lovingly used; it requires intimate knowledge, attention and care. ~ Wendell Berry (quoted on the Maple Spring Gardens home page) Today is Saturday, and that means it’s time to get down to the Durham Farmers’ … Read more
One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One month to the day after our last hummingbird sighting, John saw the first dark-eyed junco of the season. Often called “snowbirds,” this member of the sparrow family ranges throughout North America. But here in North Carolina, we only … Read more
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~ Albert Camus In the blink of an eye, it seems, most of the crimsons and sulphur yellows of Autumn have faded into tan, auburn, bronze, khaki, and rust. Soon enough, they, too, will fade and by January, the prevailing color in our woods … Read more