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Resolutions for 2017 – Habitat for Birds
One of my favorite winter pastimes is backyard bird watching. We typically keep a steady supply of seed in the feeders, and occasionally put out a block of suet. Last week my youngest son and I made a fresh batch of peanut butter pine cone feeders, which the chickadees especially love. While I love putting out food for the birds, it doesn’t make me as giddy as seeing a bird land in a newly planted tree for the first time.…
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Resolutions for 2017 – Native Plants
This year I’m trying something a little different for making a New Year’s resolution. I don’t want to have just one semi-ambiguous goal of bettering myself. I want to have a set of attainable, clearly defined goals to better the world around me. These should be a mix of fun, challenging, and maybe even uncomfortable goals. The first goal involves native plants. “Biologists and other scientists consider invasion by exotic plants to be one of the most serious problems facing…
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Fall Garden Inspiration
Frost hasn’t hit us yet, so we are enjoying some of the final blooms of the season. Yesterday I was at Lowes, where all fruiting, flowering and shade trees were on sale. I suppose they are past their visual prime, but it is the perfect time here to plant them. We’ve been building a shed in the back yard, and the site selection required that we move a blue cedar, camellia and redbud (well, cut down and left for dead).…
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The Annual Pumpkin Pics
Each year we get our Halloween pumpkins from the NC State Farmers Market and have the boys sit for a picture with their pumpkins. This may be the first year there was no drama at all. I suppose we are at that magic age now (6 and 8) where sitting for a picture can be painless. It’s a far cry from the several years ago where only the baby made it in the picture because big brother was wailing. I…
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The Twelfth Fourth
Joe and I have now been married 12 years. That’s quite a chunk of time. We still like each other, we still laugh together, and we are still each other’s favorite. We’ve also now had kids for 75% of our marriage, so it’s no wonder the image of “us” gets overshadowed by the loudness of, struggle in parenting, and exhaustion from “them”. We love and enjoy our kids, but let’s face it — kids are constantly trying to be their…
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Holy Name Cathedral Dome Rising
I’ve felt wide open this week with the sunshine and warmer weather. My own students are on spring break, so there isn’t as much online activity, and I’ve been busy in the garden trying to encourage little sprouts with just enough moisture to help them sink in their roots. While driving to the Farmer’s Market on Wednesday, something bright and shiny caught my eye. I did a u-turn and made my way over to site of a new cathedral in…
