Ben Franklin would have had a good chance to test his theory of electricity this morning. It was on June 10, 1752, when he experimented with electricity and lightning by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. His aim was to collect an ambient charge of electricity in a leyden jar. Mr. Franklin was curious about […]

Summer Nights
There’s a mystery about the soft, summer night, just after the sun goes down, before full darkness tiptoes through. Leaves stir with a passing breeze and flowers lift their heads to feel one last ray of the sun’s warmth. The rabbit who lives under my storage building gives last minute instructions to her nest of […]

Murder or No Murder?
So, did I see a squirrel murder a baby robin yesterday, or did I not? I glanced out of my window and saw a squirrel running erratically across my neighbor’s lawn, sort of zig-zagging. I could see the grass move in front of him, so it looked like the squirrel was chasing something on the […]

Plants With a Past
A couple of days ago, I planted a fern and a red shamrock in the back yard. There’s nothing unusual about that, except that these plants are a connection. The fern is descended from a fern in my mother’s yard. My sister-in-law Linda took a start from it and planted it in her yard. The […]

Remembering the Sacrifice
This is D-Day. It happened in 1944, a lot of years ago, a hellish time for the men who landed on the beaches of Normandy. Thousands died, many miles from home; young men who stood between us and tyranny. Because of them, I am able to enjoy watching my grandchildren grow up in a free […]


