My friend, Staci, died on Sunday at approximately 1:00 p.m.  At forty, she was beautiful and died too young.  She was married to Rob and had two daughters.  Two of my children, ASW and Bear, were their classmates. She died of breast cancer, and although I know pink is traditional, Staci was definitely not a pink kind of girl.  She was fiery and feisty, and she deserves every bright and shining color in the crayon box. When people die of cancer or some other debilitating disease, we read in their obituaries that they fought the good fight, were brave, but that they were eventually defeated.  We also read about their families left behind. My friend was so much more than her disease, and I don't want her defined by it.   She was a wonderful mother, who loved her children as fiercely as a mother bear.  Even when she was confined...

I saw this tiny viola while I was out, and it occurred to me that we could learn a thing or two from it and its larger cousin, the pansy.  Only two days ago, it appeared crushed by the biting wind, precipitation and cold.  In fact, I was dismayed when I saw all of my pansies and violas lying prone, their leaves upon the ground as if in surrender.  What I didn't realize until today was that they were simply holding themselves together and saving their energy for the first warm day. This is that day.  It's the first we've had in awhile, and I went outside to see what might be surviving our crazy up and down weather.   Surprised that so much was available, I nearly threw myself upon the ground in gratitude.  However, it was damp and squishy underfoot so I didn't. I am in awe of my...

"It's Bloom Day," the Amaryllis say, "so come inside to play." We weren't ready for Christmas, but then, you had so many other pretty things to look upon.  We chose to wait until your entire focus could be on us. Truly, would you appreciate the deep, dark red of our petals if you had Santa Claus's velvet coat to compete? However, some of us are still shy and like the maidens of a Regency novel, we'll only display a little of our show. With a cold front barreling south, and 14F temperatures, we know you're grateful for our company. I don't know the names of these Amaryllis because I purchased them as Smith & Hawken kits, once they were on sale.  Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is brought to the blogosphere every month by our fair Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  This past month, Carol received some wonderful press from Renee...

For Christmas, HH gave me a macro lens for my Nikon D40X camera.  I have been playing around with it since with mixed results.  He bought it so I could take extreme bug closeups.  I often write articles about insects:  the good, the bad and the ugly, and many publications want photos with the articles. I'd zoomed in with my other camera lens, but when you must get so close to the insect to almost touch it, well . . . it flies away, or may even sting you.  Insects are cranky that way. While at the GWA Symposium in Portland last fall, I went to a great session by David Perry and Mark Turner.  They shared shots they took during the convention with their small point and shoot cameras and explained how they did it.  The pictures were amazing, and the photographers humble, but I suspect talent and expertise...