Saturday Photo: Cars…
Woke up about 2 a.m. to the sound of cars racing. This is Grand Prix weekend and the town is full of wannabes who are driving muscle cars too fast.…
Mary Soderstrom
Saturday Photo: Reading Lists….
Well, it really isn’t a photo, but a painting done by the Hungarian painter Mihály Munkácsy in the 1890s. Called “Paris Interior” in some places, it captures an era, as…
Saturday Photo: Not Just Maples and Oaks and etc.
Everything starts growing this time of year. Here is a photo of the brilliant new growth on a deciduous tree. Don’t know the name–I’m not good with those of plants–but…
Saturday Photo: Bumper Crop of Violets, the Other Side of Invasive
I love invasive plants. Or Darwinian gardening, if you prefer. In my book, an attractive plant that has expansive tendencies is wonderful, because it will push out less attractive plants…
Saturday Photo: To Ope’ Their Trunks the Trees Are Never Seen…
…How Then Do They Put on Their Robes of Green? “ Good question! I always think of that song we sang in my Southern California childhood this time of year…
Saturday Photo: Years of Contestation…
There’s been a lot in the press here about the fiftieth anniversary of the uprising in Paris. Certainly 1968 was a year of unrest, particularly among the young there and…
Before Its Time? Manifest Destiny, a Short Story
The story below appeared in my short story collection, Finding the Enemy, published in 1999 by Oberon Press. Given the news today of a caravan of refugees at the US/Mexico…
Saturday Photo: Blue Grass, Sort of, on a Foggy Mountain…
The photo actually is one I took several years ago in Chicago of scylla blooming in a park. But my front yard looks similar right now as the lovely little…
Saturday Photo: Two Takes on a Pepper
I’ve always admired the sensual photographs of fruit and vegetables by Edward Weston. He did a number of lovely photos of nudes and rocks, but nothing quite beats his peppers…
Saturday Photo: Trying to Get a Jade Plant to Bloom in a Difficult World
There are some plants I can get to bloom year after year. The various sorts of Christmas cactus are one, and recently I’ve been having pretty good luck with hibiscus.…
Saturday Photo: Brasília….
Sad news from Brazil about the right wing campaign to stamp out any politician to the right of centre. Lula (former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) this morning still…
Saturday Photo: Marmalade from Ornamental Oranges!
Last Sunday Jeanne, Thomas and I harvested the bumper crop of little oranges that our ornamental orange tree had this year. There must have been 40-50 (I forgot to count.)…
Road through Time is an Indies Prize Finalist!
Great way to start a Saturday: An email announcing that Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move (University of Regina Press) has been short-listed for the 2017…
Saturday Photo: When Will the Winter End?
The little deer have been out in the cold all winter, part of a Christmas installation, I think. But right now even they must be wondering when the winter will…
Saturday Photo: March Sun..
Spring doesn’t come until the end of next week, but the sun is already quite high in the sky. We’re back in the deep freeze for a few days, with…
Saturday Photo: Drowning in Concrete
There are days when I feel like I’m trapped in concrete. This book about the marvelous material is taking up more and more of my head space… Goal: get a…
Saturday Photo: Borderline Behaviour, Why Places That Should Be Alike Aren’t.
It looks like we’ve got a title for my book about pairs of places that have much in common, but diverge in significant ways: Borderline Behaviour, Why Places That Should…
Saturday Photo: Pot Hole Season…
Actually the ones this year are worse. The photo was taken a couple of years ago after some of the pot holes were filled. This year, though, we’ve had rock…
Saturday Photo: Good Luck in Bad Luck or It Wasn’t Raindrops Falling on My Head
Report from an optimist. Last Saturday evening I was sitting in the living room when I began to hear drip! drip! drip! A little investigation found water dripping from the…
Saturday Photo: Oranges Inside, and Out
At some point I acquired an ornamental orange tree. It was probably 20 or more years ago, and each year I put it outside for the summer and brought it…