Tag: writing
member name: Mary H.
|
December 14, 2008 09:09 PM EST --
My second favorite place on the farm is the piney woods. It’s such a sheltered and orderly little forest. It is a Christmas tree lot my great grandfather planted with the help of his grandchildren, and . . .
more
|
|
February 20, 2009 09:57 AM EST --
In Birdland Spring teases us with the bright blue skies and occasional warmish breeze. Last week I saw a robin as I carried seed out to the aviary, and my daffodils are sending up green shoots, almost . . .
more
|
|
September 07, 2008 11:46 PM EDT --
It's dark out and the chickens are in bed. The ducks go in on their own now, and sleep in the chicken coop, but they intimidate the chickens, who roost up on the roof, and I have to go out and catch . . .
more
|
|
September 21, 2008 10:20 PM EDT --
I always feel romantic at the corners of the year. I think it is something about standing on the threshold--any threshold. Here we are at the edge of autumn. It's not here yet, but we know it's . . .
more
|
|
September 29, 2008 12:31 AM EDT --
It is the season of the yellow butterflies and the tiny, biting gnats. I don't know if they are really gnats, but they are the size of a large fleck of pepper and have a silver triangle on their heads. . . .
more
|
|
January 10, 2009 11:20 AM EST --
It is 2,181 miles from Birdland to Seattle. Today it's 42 degrees there, and cloudy, with showers in the forecast. I have to think about these things, when I imagine my boy, who just said goodbye . . .
more
|
|
August 21, 2009 01:22 PM EDT --
School has started, bringing a whole new set of rhythms that reminds us that Fall is on its way. Bedtimes and breakfast are earlier, and we settle into a schedule of making lunches, doing homework, and . . .
more
|
|
November 01, 2008 10:12 PM EDT --
Time seems to speed up for me on the edge of any season. So much going on! Halloween came so fast that L.S. and I made his costume the night before. It was a good thing that this year's costume didn't . . .
more
|
|
June 14, 2009 11:22 AM EDT --
This column was born of letters to friends. In correspondence, I found myself describing in detail the microcosm of my yard. It seemed like I just had to look out the window or walk out to the bean field . . .
more
|
|
October 22, 2009 12:52 PM EDT --
It has warmed up some in Birdland, and dried out enough for the harvest to begin. The corn is the color of my dog, Isis, but it's the beans they're cutting now, all day and into the evening, the headlights . . .
more
|
|
April 05, 2008 03:41 PM EDT --
It finally feels like spring in Birdland: warm, sunny weekend, golden crocuses blooming, intensely red buds on the maple trees. The wind is beginnng to shred the plastic sheets on the aviary and chicken . . .
more
|
|
September 01, 2008 10:44 PM EDT --
This week I wanted to send a card to my sister who will be home soon from driving her oldest out to the East Coast for school. I know this is hard for her, and I want to write and tell her what a good . . .
more
|
|
December 14, 2008 01:14 PM EST --
An ice storm will slow you down and make you humble. This week the school busses were delayed for an hour one morning because the meteorologist promised that the ice would melt soon if we just wait it . . .
more
|
|
December 30, 2008 12:36 PM EST --
From the vantage point of a scrappy hotel outside of Dallas, I have to say that the Winter Solstice is my favorite holiday. We’ve been driving toward the end of our trip around the sun, only to turn the . . .
more
|
|
February 09, 2009 03:04 PM EST --
I guess I'm a cheap date. I love the excitement of eating out (and the relaxation of not having to cook or clean the kitchen afterwards) but even more than eating out in a restaurant, I love a community . . .
more
|
|
November 28, 2008 10:47 PM EST --
We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, and not just because of the kids' visits--Chandra for dinner, Dylan for most of a week; the weather was also lovely. It has warmed up and the little pond has . . .
more
|
|
February 13, 2009 10:05 AM EST --
We've had such extreme weather in Birdland, as if February were running through several months in one week, giving us a preview of April. Just when I began to think we were digging into another ice . . .
more
|
|
June 11, 2009 01:35 PM EDT --
Fireflies have returned to Birdland, adding a busy starlight to my evening chores: watering the garden, closing up the chicken coop against night-time predators, thinking about tomorrow’s tasks. . . .
more
|
|
November 09, 2008 09:44 AM EST --
There is a chill in the morning air, and the sky is just light enough that I can see the hunter's truck parked on the edge of the yard. Sometimes he parks there to let us know not to walk in the woods . . .
more
|
|
May 05, 2008 08:40 AM EDT --
May 5, 2008
This week I've been thinking about community, so I'll write to Nancy, my oldest friend (since first grade--longer than I've known some of my sisters!) out by Indianapolis. . . .
more
|
|
|
|
