During COVID, I shied away from people. I knew what to do, but just didn't get that nudge.
Nudge Me Back to Center
Coming Up Flowers
My esoteric ticks that take me into the woods in winter.
The Raggedy Months of the Year–and Joy beyond Grief
Last weekend at the cabin, everything was raggedy: trees were down, nothing was blooming, appliances were acting up, and roads, boots, ditches, and even our faces were running with cold rain. But, or, as Butt the Hoopoe says in Salman Rushdie’s playful Haroun and the Sea of Stories, “but but but.” But but but for... Continue Reading →
Weeds Happen, Part 2
I like our little tractor, a lot, although I like what it does more than I like operating it. All the bits about pre-warming the coils and managing controls in the right order unnerve me. There are clutches, hand-levers, and foot pedals for going forward or backward, going fast or slow, lifting (or dropping) the... Continue Reading →
Who Goes There? Reflections on What We Don’t Know and Therefore Miss
Who goes there? I am usually too ignorant to even know someone is passing by. And when I do pay attention, I am astonished to learn the extent of transit, variety of travelers, and breadth of cargo that moves in my neighborhood. I live near a residential home for women in rehabilitation, and I see... Continue Reading →
End of the Line: Pulling the Phone Line, Once and For All
Our weekend cabin is about a mile off the paved road. It has sunlight and wind, the music of two creeks, and a wood-fired hot-tub. It has indoor water and electric wiring. But it’s off-grid. Off-grid means complications for keeping a refrigerator cold (and I have sagas about our propane fridge.) Off-grid means a diesel... Continue Reading →
What She Isn’t (Fiction Out-Take from My Novel, Nettle Soup)
“Why do you have to step in the mud?” Sharon complained over the drone of the generator. She had come to the door to greet Delmita, but now glared at the imprint of Delmita’s boot in the February mud. “Because I kind of like walking through it,” Delmita said. “Course, not that I want... Continue Reading →
Us vs. Woodrats: Pests and Poison (Not) Again
So many things were astonishing this past week, including a brilliant rainbow on our drive home from the cabin that was so close it was in front of the trees, but the Most Astonishing Award goes to a bushy-tailed woodrat. Bushy-taileds are incredibly cute. They have soft-looking fur that folds and parts like a chinchilla’s.... Continue Reading →
My Burn Pile Released Energy Stored the Days My Grandparents Were Born
We’re back from vacation, and as I’d hoped, my dog and I are overjoyed to be together again. The salmon are spawning in the creek, the chestnuts are falling in the driveway, the jays are emptying them, and the dog is growling, pawing, and barking at their spiny casings. But the topic of this week’s... Continue Reading →
From Stinging Nettles to Cloth–Well, to a Few Inches of Rope
I’ve made soup with them, abused them with the weed-whacker, tiptoed through them in shorts, taught their anatomy to renewable materials students, photographed their male and female flowers, and watched their cycle of growth from the tender re-sprouts in the spring to the silvery senescence over winter. But I’ve never made yarn from them, until... Continue Reading →
Barb Lachenbruch 