A Good Day to Hibernate

Animals who hibernate have the right idea about how to pass cold, cloudy, blah days of winter. A toad once lived in the terrarium in my kindergarten room. Someone found this particular toad one fall, captured the hapless little fellow and brought him to me. The children and I put dirt in a large glass […]

Ring Out, Wild Bells!

Ring Out, Wild Bells!

Ring Out, Wild Bells Alfred, Lord Tennyson Ring out the old, ring in the new,    Ring, happy bells, across the snow:    The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Happy New Year! And, happy birth month to all you wonderful people who were born in January. Your birthstone […]

The Tail of Buz the Fox

Buz the Fox by Blanche Manos You see, it might have happened this way: once upon a time, about two thousand years ago, some foxes dwelt in the hill country and plains around Bethlehem. I hate to tell you this, but it was their custom to follow, at a discreet distance, the flocks of sheep […]

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 […]

The Canebrake

Canebrake ABC’s Red ants, black ants marching all together, through a canebrake by the river in the lovely summer weather. Many-colored butterflies drift or dream or flit among tall stalks for the very fun of it. A caterpillar wriggles and a cricket creaks a song, surrounded by the river cane, thick and green and long. Dragonflies a-dazzle with […]

‘Possums and Rain

‘Possums and Rain

Wonderful rain this morning! So far, two inches. We had 3/4 of an inch yesterday, so this is great! Trees, houses, yards are all a soggy gray, but that’s a good color. Something else soggy and gray was a big ‘possum I saw this morning–I’m glad he escaped Nemo’s notice. He was moving at a […]