Old Valley Oak in Pioneer Cemetery
The beloved valley oak in the historic pioneer cemetery, whose generous boughs have graced our lavender field for many years, is not leafing out. We feared her demise. Last year, when a branch died abruptly, an arborist diagnosed Mediterranean Oak Borer (MOB). We cut the infected bough, irrigated the top six inches in the heat… Read more »
Since the beginning of last year, it’s as if our nation has received a strong, constitutional homeopathic remedy for the worst in ourselves. Issues of racism, greed, and narcissism, now so flagrantly in evidence, have been here from the beginning of our country and far before: the belief that some are more equal than others,… Read more »
Hungarian Parliament Building on the Danube River.
The lights on the Danube enchant, ripples of light dancing as if no dark history has ever touched this place. Yesterday, we boarded the river cruise boat, our room facing the waters of the Danube and Buda Hill. Filled with joy from the lights and the joy of gathering with my sister and her husband,… Read more »
Photo by Casey Pizzitola
What do we truly understand about falling in love? Some say it’s like a lightning strike, but to me, it feels less sharp. It’s as if everything melts into a warm, radiant sphere of presence that expands our hearts beyond what we knew. Suddenly, reason, if it remains at all, is infused with an essence… Read more »
Judy trying the front door.
Judy couldn’t remember where the key was—or wouldn’t. She claimed that the leaking roof made the house unsafe. Our second cousin now owns the family farm, which has belonged to us since the early to mid-1800s. Our great-grandfather, Thomas Pope, built the house in the 1890s after a good corn crop. His wife, Matilda, and… Read more »
Nasa Photo of Earth, July 6, 2015
“If human life is unsustainable as we have become accustomed to living it, it is likely up to survivors—people who have stared into the abyss of catastrophe—to imagine and enact new ways of living.” ..Robert Jay Lipton, author whose subject has been holocaust, mass violence, and renewal in the 20th and 21st century. How do… Read more »
Easter Sunday 2024
Norma Jean Churchill, a cherished member of our family for the past three decades, departed from this world in the early hours of April 10, 2024. At the age of 92, she passed away in the comfort of her own bed, in her home by her beloved Las Gallinas tidal creek, just as she had… Read more »
Grace and the Trillium
This Spring’s beauty has never been greater. I know, for some of us elders, this is how it feels every spring—a green fuse filled with fire of blooming: California buttercup and shooting star and purple cups of Douglas Iris and now spires of lupin, tiny whispers of trillium, and blue-eyed grass. Such delicate, sturdy presences… Read more »
Wild Parrots cruising the Rhine at dusk. Photo: Shelly Lewis
While visiting Cologne, Germany, this month, I was surprised to see flocks of wild parrots skimming low over the waters of the Rhine before roosting in the large trees along the river’s edge. Parrots are not native to Germany but are probably descendants of pets that have escaped or been deliberately released, naturalizing in this… Read more »
My grandmother Florence and mother Lois
I am reprinting one of my favorite Mother’s Day posts. More and more I realize how much my mother’s and my grandmothers’ influences reach my own grandchildren today and perhaps, one day, their own. Mother’s Day Memories: Sweet, Bittersweet Every year Mother’s Day brings two big memories, both when I was a preteen, one sweet, one bittersweet…. Read more »
© 2026 Patricia Damery.
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