Category: Random

Me talkin to myself

  • Close observation: There’s a workshop for that

    I thought I knew this plant, the vine maple. It’s the great autumn showoff in the forest understory, bright yellow to orange to red. Because I learned its name early in my hiking days, I assumed it was an actual vine and when you see it all scraggly under towering spruce and fir in the…

  • Pause, turn around, be surprised

    Our last night in London, we had run out of steam. We’d packed in a full touristy day, then ridden the ferry by Westminster at dusk and walked the square. We were headed for the hotel and packing, and a big day of train travel to Paris the next morning. I don’t know what made…

  • Soft cuttings make new plants

    My mother-in-law, Helen Cherry, had a special love of roses. The family farm where she was born and raised west of Salem, continues to be alive with her roses many years after her passing. And now we have one of her roses in our yard, too, thanks to the simple technique of soft stem cuttings.…