“These aren’t marijuana plants,” the policeman said to his partner.  He bent down to inspect a second tray of tomato seedlings I was growing outside and frowned. “These aren’t marijuana plants either.” He slowly shook his head with disappointment. They searched the outside of our home on Cayuga Lake, gave us a warning, and left, but a warning about what? Growing garden seedlings? […]

The earth moans. Do you hear it? Plants wither. Birds neglect their morning songs. I miss the scent of warm rain. Yesterday’s clouds held promises. Storms blew through with scattered thunder and a whisper of a rainbow. There wasn’t enough moisture to matter. In the Finger Lakes, we love to complain about low clouds, cool humidity, and […]

“In Minoan Crete, the Goddess and her Priestesses, dressed as bees, are shown dancing together on a golden seal found buried with the dead.  …the bee signified the life that comes from death…. “Bee Goddess,” Temple of Theola On my last day in North Carolina, my son David and his wife Liz built a new […]

“I don’t see honeybees in the Shirley Poppies this year,” I said to my son David last summer. “Bees usually love them.” “Now that you mention it, I don’t have honeybees in my garden either,” he said. “I see bumblebees everywhere, but no honeybees.” The next day, David contacted an old North Carolina beekeeper who sold him […]

I drove eleven hours in one day to spend a few days with my son David and his wife Liz. My hearing is too damaged to enjoy music or books on CD, so driving has become visual and cinematic, a meditation on the changing world. In dreams, I’m often behind the wheel of my Subaru. Sometimes there’s a problem. […]

I wore a paper crown. Thick glasses concealed crossed eyes. My head tipped away from my mother, she who pretended everything was fine. Just five, I felt cornered by a dark threat I couldn’t see or name. My parents didn’t discuss what we all felt. I didn’t know how to say, “I’m afraid.” When I was ten, I […]