Category Archives: Nature

Creativity Burst: Sunflower Seeds

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Sunflower seeds – not that exciting by themselves, as are most seeds. However, think of this creative idea as planting sunshine.

We are limited in what we can do these days, but here is a quick and fun idea to do with your family. Head to your local nursery and purchase some packets of sunflower seeds.

From there, take a drive and sprinkle the seeds as you drive along. This would be best to do on a rural or country road near to where you live. Sprinkle away. If you have kids this could be quite entertaining.

That’s all! Now you have to wait for your sunshine to grow. Whether it be later in the season or next year, take a drive and take in the view of the sunshine you planted long ago. The seeds will take hold and grow. Almost a miracle.

You could also do this in your own back yard or neighborhood if you want to see your results closer to home, but I think a refreshing drive out to the country where you scatter sunflower seeds and then get to see them later is such a quaint idea. It’s one that takes both hope and patience. Whenever we plant, it is an act of not knowing if something will bloom – or not.

Just like in our lives we plant many seeds, but then we often don’t know what is going to take hold and bloom. But we plant and scatter seeds and live in hope that what we put our attention to will bloom. It’s all an act of faith.

Plant some sunshine this summer and wait. What bloomed? Perhaps you.

The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady

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The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady

Do you love nature? How about sketch drawings? One more question — do you appreciate each month and the beauty it offers to you all the year through?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions, but particularly if you replied yes to all three then this little book gem is for you. This is another old book that I have dusted off my shelf and found recent enjoyment in as it truly does follow The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady, Edith Holden.

Edith takes a year in her life and documents all of the natural moments she finds both in seemingly perfect quotes — even grounding us in the meaning of the months’ names – and drawing images that she finds in nature, much like the cover of the book. All throughout the books sketch drawings capture one’s eye as it takes in the birds, bees, and other critters and flora she finds on her way.

She breaks the year down by month and takes us through how the animals and plant life change as the months on the calendar turn. I was always drawn to her timeline of dates during each month. It won’t be every day of the month listed, but a splattering of dates where she does something or happens upon some unique aspect of nature. So charming!

It’s only a little slice of Edith’s life that we get to see, but it’s so full of charm. I believe it would be a perennial favorite — a book that can be pulled out again and again to become grounded in nature and even imagine your own year full of natural glory.

It’s summer – a perfect season to be outdoors and take in your own nature notes. Perhaps you will be sketching them, or recording your days in a journal, or just inspired by your own natural muses. It’s fun to pull out the books on your shelves that you’ve had forever and reread them to find meaning anew.

Welcome Summer

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Welcome Summer
Raspberries on the Vine

The summer solstice occurred little over a week ago — does that mean we are already losing light each day?

I suppose it does, and given how short this season always feels, it is wonderful to get outside and enjoy each moment this summer. We have been cooped up in quarantine for months across the nation. There is still every reason to be cautious, but being able to get outdoors and enjoy this beautiful season — with a mask on and social distance in place — feels particularly special this year.

Even when I walk around my own neighborhood, I see the wonderful summer flowers in bloom and many raspberries on the vine ripening as well. Oh, is there anything that says summer like berries on the vine? In the Pacific NW, it is one of the many marvels we have each summer season. And I don’t even need to go anywhere special to find them. Just walk out my door and notice.

There is much upset and unrest in our lives and communities right now. This is why it is even more important to notice summer. To take time to breathe in her beauty and be present to all that is being offered to all of us at this moment. If we don’t notice, we miss it.

Be Present and Welcome Summer.

Creativity Burst: Forest Walk

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Forest Walk
Time for a Forest Walk

A forest walk. For me, this conjures up the lovely surroundings around the Emerald City, the very one I live in these days, Seattle. In the Pacific Northwest in America, we are fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful forests of evergreen trees that seem to breathe in and out their beauty throughout the entire year. They never lose their leaves but seem to form an eternal canopy that visitors to our nearby forests can enjoy year-round.

It was Memorial Day weekend – the unofficial kick-off to the summer season. It has not been much of a spring with pretty strict shelter in place orders in place this spring, but a few weeks ago our Governor opened up the trails and parks for all of us to get out and explore once again. Although it felt like a very long time since I had been out there, it was still all there waiting for me when I returned.

I want to encourage you to take your own forest walk in the woods that surround you sometime soon. And when you do take that walk, get creative and be there in that moment. Really see the green on the trees, the moss too, and the leaves. Have your kids count as many leaves as they can.

Breathe in green. That’s right — once you are on your forest walk, shut your eyes and call to mind the glorious color of green and mark in your mind all the green you have taken in so far on your walk. Breathe in and out slow and deep as you recall the green living energy that surrounds you. The trees are living, breathing creatures. Seek to attune to their breath in their space. My guess is a sense of expansiveness will fill you.

It is a wonderful time to get back to the forest, to nature, to spend these long days, which still feel somewhat curtailed, in their beauty. Allow nature to give you her own creative burst of energy to charge your day and self to a place of calm but also growth like the green forests surrounding yourself.

Another thought is to revisit this same spot over the next few months. Do you notice any changes in the surroundings? How about in yourself? Is it easier to breathe green? Marking time by returning to the same forest spot a few times can not only track time, but also yourself in nature and its time and rhythm.

In the Pacific Northwest, most of our emerald gems will not shed their leaves, but if I attune myself to my forest, I believe I will find subtle shifts as time moves forward from here. A wonderful way to welcome summer and keep track of her passing by during this fleeting season.

Book Review: A Weed By Any Other Name

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A Weed By Any Other Name Book
Learn to Love the Weeds!

I love the name of this book: A Weed By Any Other Name; The Virtues of a Messy Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants We Don’t Plant. The whole title seems to embrace the imperfections we find in our yards this time of year and all through the summer. We set out to plant beautiful bulbs, trees, bushes, and more to make our yards beautiful and with that come the weeds. Those plants that we don’t plant, but are there and often everywhere. Glaringly in our face, making us realize that gardens and yards, like life, are imperfect.

If you are looking for a book on weed ecology or a scientific books on where they come from, how to care for them, and more, this is NOT the book for you. Instead, this book is about the author’s journey in her own backyard as both a suburban mother and a weed ecologist as she discovers weeds and how she interacts with them.

How do you interact with the weeds that pop up on your yard each year? Do you take pleasure in pulling them each day? Would you rather spray them with chemicals to kill them? Or do you tolerate them and take a natural approach, welcoming them in to your yard alongside all of your other plantings?

My guess is how we tolerate and interact with the weeds in our yards reflects how we interact with the imperfections in our lives. For me, I don’t see many weeds in my yard, more due to the fact that there is very little grass and more mulch on the slopes, but I do buy Petunias each year and love to spend my morning time picking off the dead heads of these flowers each day. This obviously says something about me and my personality. However, the flowers really seem to appreciate it by growing in even fuller each day. Flowers love being tended to!

A gardening book that pays attention to the weeds is admirable. The author, Nancy Gift, shares her own little stories in an inviting narrative on how her life is weaved with imperfection — yes, it extends beyond her yard. Her ability to be curious about the “weeds” is an admirable quality. How we understand the weeds and grow tolerance for them is a good sign.

What do you do with the weeds you find — in your yard and in your life?

Book Review: The Photo Ark

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The Photo Ark Book

Joel Sartore’s idea in his book The Photo Ark is to document all of the species in the world so that we have them in photographic print to see them, appreciate them, perhaps be moved to save them, and recognize a respect for the natural world. These species are a part of our world and Sartore states, “When we save species, we save ourselves.”

If you love animals and have respect for the natural world, this is a beautiful coffee table book to display. Yet, it is not one that you will just leave there and that you never open, but one that is worth opening each day to take a gander at another beautiful animal — most you will have never seen, or, if you have, you did not know the species proper name.

Here they are on explosive, full color display to appreciate and “ooh and aah” over. During these days of being at home, especially for children, this is a wonderful book to use as a teaching tool. Looking for an easy, creative, imaginative activity for these days with your children at home?

The Photo Ark Animals

Pull this book out and let your children look through it at their leisure. When they find a species that they are curious about, have them pull out some paper and pencils and write down the name of the species on the paper and then all of the words, thoughts, images that come to their minds. Once this first step is done, the children will be ready to write a creative story about this species, or perhaps do some research on the species and learn even more, or create a little play about the species (perhaps more than one) that they can act out, or take inspiration to make a visual arts piece.

This book is so full of educational inspiration for children.

And what about for the adults in the room? In times like these, when disease is rising and threatening the human population, I am reminded how Sartore brings our attention to many of these species who may already be extinct or are going to be extinct soon. It provides me with new inspiration to not only care for man, but also the species we share our world with each day. Raising our attention to the threats we all face together connects me to these species in a way that is new and deserves true appreciation.

I cannot recommend this book enough to you. It is gorgeous, educational, inspirational – what more do we need from a book?

Creativity Burst: A Four Leaf Clover Walk

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A Four Leaf Clover Walk for St. Patrick's Day
May the Luck O’ the Irish Be With You

May the luck o’ the Irish be with you today! Celebrate with a Four Leaf Clover Walk.

Even if you aren’t Irish, this is the one day that we all feel a little Irish as we celebrate the day together. Traditionally, I think of this day as one where people gather in pubs for a green beer, kids eat green cupcakes, gold chocolate coins jingle in pockets, and we lookout for little leprechauns of luck. OK, maybe that last one is only in our dreams. Yet, it is a day to remember the Irish and to bring a little luck into one’s life.

Today’s holiday is a bit different given we are asked to not gather together. No school, no work, no meeting at the pub — however, we are encouraged to get out into nature, as long as we keep our distance from one another. In that light, today is a perfect day for a four leaf clover walk.

It takes us out into nature. If you have children at home, what better way to spend part of the school day with them today? Bundle up and head to a park. When you arrive, give them the guideline that you are the hunt for four leaf clovers. If they have not seen them before, show them a few examples on line before you head out.

Now, these are not always the easiest to find. So, expand the hunt and let them find any items in nature that look like a four leaf clover, are just green, or any other item that remind them of Ireland. Afterwards, when you gather together, it will be a great opportunity to share what was found and why they picked up the items they chose. It is an opportunity to get creative and use one’s imagination in nature using this lucky Irish day as inspiration.

When you arrive home, pull out heavy card stock, glue, and any other art supplies you may have on hand and let your children create a lucky collage for the day. Not only will you have gotten out on an excursion for the day, but also had a chance to be creative on this special day.

Even without kids, take your own lucky break in nature and let your mind wander as to what reminds you of the Irish on this day. Pick up a few things and place them on your desk – or anywhere else in your home – to remind you of the beauty of nature and your own imagination to connect a holiday to the natural world.

It’s a lucky day! Get out into nature and find some four leaf clovers today!

On the Brink of the Spring Season

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Cherry Blossom Blooms about to burst in the spring season
Cherry Blossoms about to Burst Forth!

We are on the brink of the spring season. Or so I keep reminding myself!

I don’t know about you, but it has felt like a very long winter to me. Even February, which usually slips away before I even had time to appreciate her. Ugh! This year is different. I feel like winter has lasted forever and I am ready to see small hints that spring is on its way.

My mind is already drifting to tiny ways that I can bring Spring into my days — even three weeks before she actually arrives. How about you? Are you ready for the change of seasons? For longer days at night? For warmer temperatures? Have you noticed the birds are chirping once again in the early morning hours. Nature is cyclical and if we just take care of our Earth, she will reward us with magic as the seasons change.

Here are a few ideas as we all wait together for Spring to burst forth in full bloom:

  • Flowers! Purchase some and bring a burst of color forth in your home
  • Notice the blooms outside. Snap a picture. Some of these flowers are just so darn courageous!
  • Head to a baseball game.
  • Walk through some cool, crisp grass with your barefoot.
  • Listen to your favorite beach tunes – getting in the mood for summer.
  • Take a walk and observe yourself noticing nature coming alive.
  • Purchase a vegetable like asparagus, which is coming into season, and cook seasonally with your fresh produce
  • How about a spring sponge cake with homemade lemon whipped cream?
  • Go bird watching! They are back, mine as well watch them up close.
  • Light a candle that smells like spring to you.

Now is the time to get ready for the spring season All of these activities can help ease the transition from one season to another and ground yourself in nature. Do alone or share with some others. Whatever you choose, know that spring is about to burst forth and so are you!

Book Review: How to Go Plastic Free

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Woman picks up plastic litter off beach
Just say no to plastic!

This past holiday season, I received a book titled, How to Go Plastic Free by Caroline Jones. The book’s tag line is Eco Tips for Busy People. In fact, the author spotlights 100 easy ideas. Well, not every one of these ideas is easy, but bringing our attention to the many ways plastic is a part of each day and the amount of plastic we are using and then providing ways to reduce our dependence on plastic is an admirable effort.

Just like the picture in this post, I am saddened when I walk on many beaches these days and see the mounds of plastic everywhere — and I do mean everywhere. It is particularly disheartening when I see plastic wrapped around the head of a fish, who has washed up on the shore choked to death by the plastic wrap. How to go plastic free is on my mind!

How to Go Plastic Free book

Anything that can help me reduce my plastic use and footprint is something I am interested in today. Some of Jones’ ideas include:

  • Using loose tea
  • Bringing your own container
  • Swap shower gel for soap
  • Buy toilet paper without plastic packaging
  • Say no to plastic bags when you purchase produce

Just these few suggestions can really make a difference in one’s use of plastic. Other ideas may take more time:

  • Make your own condiments
  • Make your own soda water
  • Go green with toys
  • Batch-cook baby food
  • Buy milk from the milk man

Some of these ideas require more time and money and these are often the barriers to ditching plastic.

The point isn’t to completely never use plastic again — although my personal opinion is the world would be a better place if we did so – but to raise our awareness and seek to reduce our reliance on plastic. All of this can help reduce our eco-anxiety too!

How to go plastic free or bust? Not quite, but this little book is a quick and handy resource to help get us started.

Puppy Love

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Puppy Love

We can learn so much from our pets, particularly if you have dogs. I have nothing against cats – I even have one of my own – but there is something about how a dog, one’s loyal companion, interacts with you that can heal a broken heart, extend love, provide companionship when we are lonely, witness all of ourselves, protect fiercely, and love honestly.

Dogs are authentically themselves. You really don’t have to think too much about what they are thinking, will they or will they not be there for you, harsh judgment, a snippy reply and many other human foibles we all make each every day.

The beauty of being with our dogs can teach us how to be better for ourselves and for one another. I often think if I just took a page from my dog’s book, I would find my days easy to walk through and I would constantly be bringing good to others and our world.

This week, as we celebrate love, don’t forget your pets. Embrace them and be curious as to how much your pooch can teach you as you relate to the others in your life.