Monthly Archives: August 2016
A Moment of Equine Equanimity
I’ve always loved my neighbors’ horses; no matter how scorching the heat or brutal the storm, they remain stolidly grazing, heads down and serenely unperturbed. I take comfort in their tranquility. The arrival of new foals also reminds me of beauty’s ephemeral permanence. The eagle soars away, the startled deer bounds across the field, and […]
Kuan Yin’s Evolving Garden
My beloved stargazer lilies, the spectacular white bells of the yucca, and the fragrant Madonna lilies are all faded away now; only the statue of Kuan Yin remains constant in my circle garden. But she reminds me that each loss brings a renewal, and each faded flower drops to make way for a new blossom. […]
In Memory of Minerva
I thought Minerva was the Eternal Chicken. Older than my eight-year-old son, she strutted proudly through yard and garden year after year, her black, bronze, and gold feathers glistening in the sun. She could outwit predators and escape any enclosure, no matter how much my husband tried to heighten the fence and (literally) clip her […]
I recently learned the word “entelechy” from reading The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd. As I understand it, it’s the force that drives things to become what they were meant to be, the spirit that makes the acorn into the oak–or, more relevantly to my case, a tiny handful of seeds […]
Moments of Unexpected Beauty 