November 19, 2014 / My Water-Meadow
If you have read novels set in England maybe you have read the lovely word Water-Meadow. “Meadow” is one of my favorite words, and when I first read about water-meadows I saw a wonderful image in my mind’s-eye. A green meadow, sparkling with rivulets of water that glittered in… Read More
November 18, 2014 / Cheer at the Dog Park
Often I walk down the street to the park near our house (http://hilarysplaces.com/blog/entry/what-can-you-do-with-a-dump). Not only is it a lovely place, with fine vistas, playing fields, a track where sometimes I walk a speedy mile, a playground, and lots of young trees, and a wetland, but it… Read More
October 30, 2014 / Grief in the Funhouse
Yeah. Do you remember as a kid, at your local amusement park, doing the ride where you all got into a little car, which rode on a track into a dark tunnel, and the track and you in the car on it rode around in the stuffy blackness smelling a little of oil, around curves and maybe up and down… Read More
October 30, 2014 / At The Circus
Every year my younger daughter and I go to The Circus. The big one, I mean, the one of my childhood and hers and her sister’s, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey. I’ve gone to other circuses, and they are fun or intriguing, but this, as far as I am concerned, is The Circus. Now… Read More
October 20, 2014 / Squirrel 1, Human 0
Oh this is not what you think—the squirrels getting into my bird feeder or even my attic. Nope, this is about the STRENGTH of SQUIRRELS. Walking along yesterday, I noticed some fruits—nuts--strewn about the sidewalk. Some were still in their big round green or browning husks, others… Read More
October 02, 2014 / It’s All In Our Heads
For a while now I have been going to a little meditation group once a week. It is good to sit in focused silence for half an hour, letting go of things if possible. After our daughter died, I felt the surrounding comfort of the group, and that was good, too. Then we went to Cape Cod for a month,… Read More
September 25, 2014 / All Change
So, about twenty thousand years ago, Cape Cod, where I am sitting in Cottage #5 right now, was covered by ice. A mile or so thick, it flowed and ground along imperceptibly, grabbing anything at all loose and hauling it at least for short distances. Anything that had been growing and living in its… Read More
September 16, 2014 / Seen at Cottage 5, Cape Cod
We have been coming here for over forty years. For some years now I have kept a little record of my favorite natural history sighting or experience of each day. I allow myself only one short line for each entry. See if you can see my sightings in your own mind's eye, and travel to Cape Cod as… Read More
September 09, 2014 / The World As Flea Market
When down here on Cape Cod for our September vacation, we usually go to the local flea market. When I was a kid my parents always visited whatever the local junk store was, wherever we were on our driving trips. That’s what they called them, junk stores. They would wander around looking and… Read More
September 05, 2014 / Fruits of Their Labors
If you didn’t know, you might think that this time of year—just before the Fall Equinox—is a time of death in the plant world. I mean, leaves are curling up and some have fallen already, or are turning red or yellow, and only the flowers of fall, the asters and the hothouse… Read More