Nature’s Calendar

  The meadow at Manos Meadows, my home in Oklahoma for nearly forty years, was nature’s calendar, marking the changes from one season to the next. In the spring, daisies danced in the sun and wind carried the freshness of damp earth and renewed life. Hidden in tall grass, a quail called and another answered. […]

The Good Deed

Sometimes good deeds have unintended consequences. Years ago, at our Manos Meadows home in Oklahoma, I found that out the hard way. It was spring and I was wandering around in the yard, enjoying the sound of birds singing and the feel of warm sunshine when I found a hapless little creature who had fallen […]

What a Nice Surprise!

The herbs I planted in the container garden last year have all come back. They are green and minty smelling, just as healthy looking as they were last year. What a nice surprise!  Last spring, I got some heirloom seeds from the museum downtown. The idea was that these would make plants that bees and […]

Hummingbirds

Has a family of hummingbirds decided my back yard maple would be a good place for a nest? I’ve never seen a cat in that maple, but I’ve seen lots of squirrels. Maybe the tiny birds have attached their nest to a limb that’s too fragile for the weight of a squirrel. One can only […]

A Winter Morning

It’s cold this morning, but not as cold as one year ago when the temperature was a shivery two degrees! The winter birds are enjoying the squirrel-proof feeder and I enjoy watching them enjoy it! Juncos, chickadees, finches, and cardinals–they need the oil in the black sunflower seeds, especially in this weather. Last night, the […]

What a Short Day!

Happy first day of winter and the shortest day of the year! For those of you who are counting (and I know you are out there) the days will very slowly begin to lengthen now until around March 21, they’ll be equal in length to the nights again. Isn’t that great? My mother didn’t like […]