Summer Apples
This is the time of year when I used to go apple picking with my kids. Alas, they've all flown the nest, and the one day my daughter and I [...]
This is the time of year when I used to go apple picking with my kids. Alas, they've all flown the nest, and the one day my daughter and I [...]
My favorite place in Ireland is the Giant's Causeway on the coast of Antrim in Northern Ireland. I love the mystery of it, i.e. the fact that even geologists are [...]
Father's Day is coming and so it is fitting that my essay about my grandpa, titled The Tractor, should be published this month on Thread, a literary magazine. Writing about [...]
The cold is getting to me (Chicago's high is 17F today), so it's time for memories of warmer days and an entirely different landscape than winter's bleak outside. I haven't [...]
I have returned to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), where I'm trying to be immensely productive during my two-week residency. When I get tired, or need to rev [...]
In between attending two World Cup games in Manaus, the capital city of the Amazon, we had time to explore the river and the rain forest. When we were visiting [...]
Our country property in Indiana is finally, gloriously saturated with green. I've never been so hungry and so thirsty for green! After this long hard winter and all its [...]
Before winter became heavy, it came softly. Before we had 3+ feet of snow on the ground, there were just tracks of snow swinging through the woods. I really [...]
I can hardly believe my good fortune to have been granted another residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), and so, when I arrived and temperatures were [...]
Osage oranges are one autumn's delights for me. I never knew about them until my first residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts a few autumns ago. There, [...]
My son and I had the most thrilling adventure on Sunday: After shopping at Bass Pro Shop for his upcoming science fair project, we stopped by a park down the [...]
Last week I treated myself to what Julia Cameron calls an Artist's Date, time spent by yourself in an interesting location to replenish the soul and gather images for the creative [...]
Oh how I feel like myself again this morning, readying photos for this post! Feels good. Finally, I am blogging again. And blogging, despite its airy quality, is amazingly [...]
LaSalle Canyon Wall, photo taken by my friend Barbara Schlund Starved Rock is one of my favorite places to hike, and when my friend Barbara was visiting, we stopped by [...]
It seems to me that in March, right before spring, when everything is especially barren, nature invites contemplation. On my recent walk through our property in northwest Indiana, I had to [...]
Assembling a photo essay from one of my outings is one of my happiest pursuits, and so over this long weekend (In the U.S. it's Presidents Day today, which means the [...]
Hello winter, where are you? There is no sight of snow in Chicago, so on a recent trip to the Indiana country side I went in search of winter, looking [...]
Mono Lake, California, August 2012 In following Rebecca Murphy's Relish12 challenge, the 12.14 prompt asked about my favorite view of 2012. I instantly knew which picture I would choose. Even though [...]
About every six months, I get the urge to change my blog banner. I grow tired of the old one, and I feel it doesn't represent me anymore. Thanks to [...]
Walkway along the canal outside of the Garden, as seen from The Fish Watching Spot For a long time I have been meaning to share pictures from my visit to [...]
...hot chocolate in the grass in November. ...kicking off the hiking boots. ...lying on the autumn ground. ...studying the leaves. [...]
Cypress trees dripping with moisture on the way to the lighthouse at Point Reyes. Since today is November 1, and I have so far been celebrating fall with roaring colors, I'm [...]
I am immensely grateful to our friend who sowed sunflower seeds on an empty spot on our property in Indiana, because the dry sunflowers now make great models for my [...]
I am absolutely in love with fall, particularly this year when the summer's heat kept me indoors so much. I've promised myself to be outside as much as possible to savor fall, [...]
Our asparagus fern rules the sunporch The other day I was reading E.B. White's One Man's Meat again, and in the particular essay I happened upon, he was talking about [...]
Our property out in the country of northwestern Indiana got hit by a tornado last weekend. Thankfully, none of the buildings were damaged, but as we walked around earlier this [...]