Places That Refresh Our Souls

Is there a place that refreshes your soul, simply by being there? If so, please let me know where it is. I’m making up a plan for the next 100 places I want to travel to! In the  photos, you can see a few favorite places of mine. Can you identify any?

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The Quilt of Life

“I’m so sorry, Grandma,” the young man said. “My dog climbed on my bed, and chewed the quilt you made for me. Can you replace the damaged squares?” His grandmother took the quilt in her hands, studied it, and then said, “I’ll repair the damaged squares, but I won’t replace them. Part of what’s special about quilts is their history.” 

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A Lesson in the Treetops

Like another world…it was surreal. We were in the towering treetops of a rainforest, gliding slowly through the canopy, a drenching rain running off our water-repellant ponchos and off our rainhats down into our faces.

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Grow It, Pick It, Enjoy!

I always had a lot of respect for Rhonda’s horns, but my friend Carol would just laugh and say, “Isn’t she cute?”

When I was a kid, my friends and I went to the state fair each year. We’d go on rides that made our heads swim and our stomachs sick. We threw dimes that never landed in the fish bowls. We smacked our lips, gobbling hot pronto pups dripping with fat. And we went to the animal buildings.

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Giants on the Earth

There’s a fold-out in a recent magazine, but this is a fold-out with a difference. Most fold-outs are one…maybe two…extra widths of paper. This fold-out is the longest fold-out I’ve ever seen.

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A Riddle for You... It's All About Passion

A riddle for you: What has the aroma of an expensive perfume, the beauty of a flower, the properties of a medicine, a mouth-watering taste, and is fun to use in decorating?

Give up? OK. Here’s a hint. It’s an herb. But which one?

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Help! They're Gobbling My Garden!

The fawn tentatively stepped out of the rhododendron bushes and began to cross the street in front of our rent-a-car. Larry slammed on the brakes. We were visiting in the quaint, picturesque town of Silverton, Oregon where Larry and I grew up as children. Driving down a town street where we had walked as children, we were surprised to see the deer.

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Cooking with Never-ending Energy
 
A riddle for you: What endless source of totally free energy do millions of people on our planet use to cook their food? (I should add...it's a kind of cooking I had amazingly never heard of until recently.)
 

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Becoming a "Wild Thing"

Allowing ourselves to become “Wild Things” was something I wrote about last week. When you put it that way, it sounds kind of adventurous…maybe even fun.

Hope it’s not disappointing to learn that I mean “Wild Thing” in the sense of someone who looks in nature for things to eat. For instance, berries…all kinds of wild berries. Thanks to all who posted comments and messages!

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You Want Us to Do What?! Forage?

I held out what I thought was a great hiking treat, but Luke backed away from me… skepticism in his face. “They’re good! “Have some!” I urged, stuffing some in my mouth.

We were in the Pocono Mountains, where Larry and I had taken our great nephew, Luke Springer, who was visiting from Australia. We wanted him to experience the amazing Appalachian Trail as it connects with the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey.

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