Nature

Cradled: Creating a Safe Spot in Times of Crisis

On July 7, 2020 / Nature, Psychology and Mythology / 13 Comments

55 It’s my safe spot now. I don’t love the dark walnut wood, but I love memories of climbing in bed between my grandparents as a child. After grandpa died, Mom slept in this bed with Grandma

Praise in Disheartening Days

On April 28, 2020 / Nature, Spirituality / 34 Comments

195 During this quarantine without life’s usual distractions, anxiety follows me like my puppy. I’m safe, but the Earth trembles. I smother one flaming fear by reminding myself I’m OK. Then another flares. When my husband was

The Greek God Pan, Pandemic, & Nature’s Healing Balm

On April 14, 2020 / Health, Nature / 21 Comments

206 My email feed and Facebook page burn with coronavirus news and magic ways to avoid the covid-19 pandemic. I remind myself to breathe. Our house is on fire. And still, the moon makes her nightly rounds

When Joy Breaks Through Grief

On February 4, 2020 / Bereavement and End of Life, Family and Friends, Nature / 9 Comments

In 2010, eighteen months after my husband died, I longed for relief from constant sorrow, so joined three friends for an adventure to Gasparilla Island, Florida. Instead of sunshine and warmth, we faced unusually cold, cloudy weather,

Here Comes the Sun

On December 24, 2019 / Nature, Psychology and Mythology / 17 Comments

It won’t be long before the Earth is tinged with color in the snowy land where I live. In these cold dark days, it helps to remember Nature is preparing for a new season. Through the winter,

Grief, Hope, and Climate Change

On October 1, 2019 / Nature, Political Action / 15 Comments

Two boys walked on the other side of Seneca Street. We were leaving the Climate Strike gathering on the Ithaca Commons. I watched these teenagers, one dark skinned with a snug T shirt showing his taut belly

Elaine Mansfield’s Evil Plan to Control My Life & Inner Monologue by Melody Smith

On August 20, 2019 / Family and Friends, Nature / 23 Comments

I’m excited about the spark in this week’s writing class! A food spark gives me delicious ideas. But first, I have to take out these ten monarch caterpillar babies from the large box Elaine gave me. I’ll

Monarch Medicine: A Meditation on Transformation

On August 6, 2019 / Health, Nature / 34 Comments

481 With morning dew on the grass and the sun rising over the hill, I wander through the milkweed patch choosing the healthiest young plants to feed the Monarch caterpillars. I find Monarch eggs and tiny caterpillars

Witnessing: Life, Death, and the Wisdom of the Crone

On June 11, 2019 / Nature, Psychology and Mythology / 19 Comments

I love the promise of eggs laid by songbirds in nesting boxes on my land. I should have learned by now that it’s foolish to get attached. Life is fragile and precarious, especially this cool wet spring.

12 Monarch Miracles of 2018

On December 25, 2018 / Nature, Spirituality / 23 Comments

127 Monarch butterflies arrived in the Finger Lakes in mid June to sip thistle and milkweed nectar, mate, and lay eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. As I