Author: Mary Soderstrom

 Spring arrives next week, but the snow is receding and the first snowdrops (called perce-neige in French) have come up.  A sure sign of spring…

Beautiful sunshine today, with temperature below freezing. Things are melting in the sun, nevertheless, and the days of sledding are numbered.  Winter is drawing to a close.

 Actually the photo was taken a couple of years ago, but I’m pleased to report that this March 1 also saw the first forray of the sun into our upstairs back bedroom. By the solstice there will be several hours of sunshine in this room, but during the winter there

 Outside snow still covers the ground, although the days are getting longer.  Inside that translates into several house plants taking a cue from lengthening daylight and setting forth blooms. An anthurium that had been in a north window has taken the plunge and sent out blossoms.  Nice to see this

  Summer evening at Sept Iles, sunshine and sunburned knees for the old guy.  A nice memory of a good trip, something to think about as the days begin to grow longer.

  People don’t walk in straight lines, even though sidewalks and roads may try to make them.  Uneven ground, small obstacles and even the vagaries on one’s gait mean that the paths we take wobble a bit at the best of times.  When getting from here to there is the

 After a winter that so far has been warmer than usual, we are in the deep freeze.  Windows were frosted over this morning.  Glad I was inside and not out…

  Neighborhood park are great things, and we are lucky to have three nearby.  They’re used by local daycares and schools too–and not just in the summer time. This group of kids (from the daycare which our children attended decades ago) were doing all the kinds of things they’d do

 The photo’s not the best, but it makes me smile anyway.  After a spell of terrible warm weather, winter has returned, and while it’s not really cold, it’s cold enough to go skating outside.  There are year’s when this pond is not cleared for skating, but this year the powers

 Wednesday the first copies of my new book, Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters arrived.  Most appropriate as storms batter California, destroying beaches and bridges and badly-sited houses.   We are going to have to learn to live with rising waters.  Doing so will require some changes in the

 The view at the Lachine Rapids on the morning of January 1, 2023.  Going for a walk was a good thing to do, but it was cold and wet and gray, so we didn’t go far.  Nevertheless it was a good way to start the new year. Best wishes for

 Confession: the photo was taken some time ago when we actually had some sunny weather.  It’s been gray and rainy for the last couple of days and all the snow is melting.  Would love to have the sun greet the new year, but the forecast says no. Whatever, best wishes

Here’s the tree.  Don’t know who will be around to celebrate tonight and tomorrow, given the weather conditions and Covid amongst us.  But it looks pretty good, none the less.   Here’s the link to our holiday blog, too, in case you’re interested.

 Lots of fluffy white stuff has been falling since the middle of the night.  Maybe we’ll have a white Christmas… But I’m not going out until the sidewalk tractors come by.  Snowy sidewalks are a good excuse to stay inside and read.

 Always nice to see my big jade plant bloom.  It spends the summer in the sun outside, and then comes in as soon as it begins to get really cool.  After a month or so in a sunny window the little white, star-like flowers burst out.  A nice thing for

 In recent years I’ve had trouble finding salt herring to make sil, Swedish pickled herring.  But this year I hit the jackpot: nice firm, fat herring from Marché Epicure Spent a good part of the morning filleting and cleaning them, and now I have four large jars of sil in

 We all know that milkweed plants are what Monarch butterflies need to breed, aand I’ve been pleased to see that several folks around here have been planting them.  They’re not particularly attractive for much of the season, but come fall when the seed pods burst, they are truly fantastically lovely. 

This photo was taken about two weeks ago, but I hadn’t posted it because I couldn’t get near my computer for long enough to play around. Nov. 4 I had hip replacement surgery which seems to have gone wonderfully well, and for quite a few days I was not doing

The photo was taken by friends in Jakarta.  It shows part of the remaining mangrove forest that once protected much of the coastline.  Replanting and safe-guarding these wonderful trees that thrive in brackish water sill be a key part of any battle on the effects of climate change.   I talk