The Balcony Gardener: Heat, Blueberries and the Vapors
Photo by Mike Perry By the first week of August, the balcony had forgotten what coolness felt like. The morning sun arrived far too early and settled itself among…
Poetry: Letter to a Younger Self
Photo by Safa Float back in time, fifty years or so, to a morning when you were just opening your eyes at first light. A suitable number of summers to…
Poetry: The Backward Glance
Photo by Sean Quillen I look back at myself climbing the nine mile Bright Angel trail of the Grand Canyon: halfway, she runs out of water, and must panhandle…
Reflections: Don’t Hurt the Horses—OR David Niven
You would think that since Casablanca is my favorite film, I would give its director, the Hungarian expatriate Michael Curtiz, the praise he deserves. Nope. That’s because I watched The…
A Lenten Lesson: Who Is My Neighbor?
Photo by John B. Ashbaugh “Why did they crucify Jesus?” The question came from a boy, probably nine years old, one of the fourth grade students in the group…
The Balcony Gardener: The Sunflower Fusion
Photo by Sonia June had entered its unreasonable phase. The jasmine no longer climbed so much as advanced. During the night, it appeared to make private decisions of its…
Poetry: There, There
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST The devastation was clear I saw behind your mask To the broken heart beneath You knew how to keep going And to do it over and over…
The Balcony Gardener: A Question of Depth
Photo by Amin Safaripour The Balcony Gardener and Madame Dupont sat side by side on the balcony in the clear light of a Paris spring morning. It was close…
Poetry: Childhood’s Garden
Photo by John Cardamone Back when a star was something to wish on, all I knew was family, friends, home, street, and the-corner-grocer Mr. Wolf. Dogs were dogs and…
Poetry: Introduction to Shorebirds
"Shorebirds" by Juliane McAdam For Norma, my birding guru I arrive in the early morning at The Cloisters, a beach just north of Morro Rock, binoculars and notebook in…