Find your place at Spring Bird
Fall is the season in which we “let go” so that we may receive. This illustration is from the cover of the Fall Issue of “Woolgathering”, my quarterly magazine about the seasons, seasonal mindfulness, and our interconnectivity to nature. For this cover illustration, I was …
In the past two months, artist Diana Sudyka spent a few weekends at Spring Bird’s Cottage as the 2020 Artist In Residence. Not only did Diana work on completing an author/illustrator project, which I eagerly await seeing in print, but she also painted the nature …
After watching Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” in the theater last December, I came home inspired not only by the color schemes, costumes, performances, and quaint house decor, but also by the little wooden mailbox in the woods, through which the March sisters and Laurie passed …
The trees are sending us a message: Let Go! This year’s Fall Issue of Woolgathering came with a magnet of the above image/message – Let Go! I didn’t intend for the irony of making a magnet – something that sticks around – something that is …
Happy Harvest Moon! Grab your bushels, your baskets, your pecks, your aprons, and your scythes! It’s time to reap what we have sown. Now that might be a grim thought experiment, but try to focus on the bounty that surrounds, the fullness of the moon, …
Last week, Pat and I slopped through 5 inches of sediment (pine needles, leaves, twigs, and raccoon bones) sitting on the bottom of our defunct pool. In the days before, Pat pumped out the stagnant water, which was coated in a green skin of algae. …
Happy Fall Equinox! This is one of my favorite times of the year! Fall offers us a paradox: We receive the fullness of the harvest just as we begin to let go of growth in preparation for Winter. Both offerings are to be relished and …
So, we’ve had a recurring problem in our defunct swimming pool. Each Spring, we inadvertently catch raccoons, who enter to catch frogs or to wash their hands, and then they become unable to get out of the pool. I suppose that’s the nicest way to …
We welcome September’s Full Moon, which is often referred to as the Corn Moon or the Fruit Moon. It is also known as the Barley Moon, which I illustrated here. In any event, this month’s moon means harvesting. For me Barley evokes my Lithuanian heritage, …
I made these illustrations for the Summer Issue of Woolgathering, my adfree, quarterly magazine about the seasons. I wrote a piece about my experience caring for monarch caterpillars and releasing them into the wind. As many of you know, the whole process of transformation is …
This is the cover of the Summer Issue of Woolgathering, my ad-free magazine about the seasons. Summer is all about the Sun, and we, like the sunflowers, turn towards the Sun to soak it up and drink it into our bodies. On a sciencey note, …
Happy Green Corn Moon! During the Augusts of my childhood, we picnicked at a farm west of Aurora. At some point during the picnic, I’d find myself wandering through a cornfield – looking for lost baseballs, hoping to find arrowheads, and locating only a strange …
This illustration comes from the Summer 2020 Issue of Woolgathering, my ad-free magazine about the seasons. I wrote about our patio life and the flow of indoor/outdoor living – a practice that reaches its peak in Summer. A few years ago, we were given two …
I have never seen a salamander at Spring Bird, but on particularly hot, muggy days, I become one. I slink in the coolness of the creek and slather myself on the backs of cool and clammy rocks. This image is from the Summer Issue of …
Happy Buck Moon! This is the month that our dear bucks regrow their antlers. One of our dear bucks has been taking down large boughs of my elderberry bush. In fact, we spend a lot of energy trying to keep bucks out of our gardens. …