Here are some plant things that I am loving these days! TV Plants Behaving Badly on PBS – You need PBS Passport. I highly recommend the first episode, “Murder and Mayhem”. The up close graphics of the way carnivorous plants work is phenomenal. Games Verdant – A game about house plants. Play the trial version here.Continue reading “All Things Plants”
Category Archives: blog
February Flowers
A party had been thrown for us. Yellow confetti covered the branches. Red streamers decorated a shrub. Pearls had been placed delicately on the willows. Copper tissue paper encircled a maple trunk. Executive Director Ned Friedman knew we were visiting the Arnold Arboretum and had thrown us a welcome party! At least, that is whatContinue reading “February Flowers”
Carnivorous Plants: Trumpet Pitcher
I am excited to share with you one of my new loves: carnivorous plants! Carnivorous plants rivet me. They eat insects, yes, but these plants are considered carnivorous rather than insectivorous because they have also been known to eat a stray tree frog or two! In the book Carnivorous Plants, Adrian Slack hypothesizes that carnivorousContinue reading “Carnivorous Plants: Trumpet Pitcher”
Six Questions for the New Year
What has been the biggest change in your life in 2021? The biggest change in my life in 2021 was receiving my vaccine. This enabled me to hug my family and friends and be indoors with them for the first time since the pandemic began. What has been your biggest challenge in the last year?Continue reading “Six Questions for the New Year”
Mistakes Are a Gift / Times I Have Failed Horribly
Dear lovely ones, Sometimes, we desperately want to do something well and we fail horribly. Has that ever happened to you? I began thinking of my own stories of failure as I listened to the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast on my morning walk. In the episode “Unexpected Joy: How do we redefine success so we canContinue reading “Mistakes Are a Gift / Times I Have Failed Horribly”
I Want to Change My Life
I want to change my life, I think this December. Each Sunday this month, as I prepare to preach, the Christian lectionary* has given me a scripture reading about change. The message that it drives home is this: Prepare for Christmas by changing your life. Yet, I am still stuck on this question:How do weContinue reading “I Want to Change My Life”
The Art and Athleticism of Preaching
When I was six years old, I drew a picture of a painter and a painting. On it I wrote, “I wot to be a artist.” A few years ago, when my parents moved out of their house, they gave me all my childhood papers. I threw many straight into the recycling bin, but IContinue reading “The Art and Athleticism of Preaching”
November Roses
This Friday, I drove to the Arnold Arboretum to see their roses. As I travel, I vividly imagine the encounter: the smell of the ‘Ausblush’ rose, the neon pink of the ‘Chuckles’ rose, the delicate yellow petals of the ‘Julia Child’ rose. I have followed these flower friends since their first bloom in June. (SeeContinue reading “November Roses”
Simplicity
How do we get to the joy of the journey? Sometimes, it feels like joy is covered over by so much stuff. This week I have been listening to the song “Greed” by Sweet Honey in the Rock. (Listen here.) They sing, “Greed is sneaky / Hard to detect in myself / I see it so clearly in everybody else.” Greed is sneaky.Continue reading “Simplicity”
My 36th Birthday
For my 36th birthday, my friend wrote me a song to celebrate the Arnold Arboretum. The song captures for me the stirrings that happened within me as I walked the arboretum this year. To see those stirrings in pictures, check out my Flickr account (here). Heart and Soul (Tune: Fields of Gold) Take a walkContinue reading “My 36th Birthday”
Joy of the Journey 