Bethel United Methodist Church
Eulogy for Bethel: Light That Endures Two weeks ago I received a letter from the district superintendent of Bethel United Methodist Church, in whose congregation I grew up. The country church is being closed January 1, 2017, and I was asked where I would move my membership. I was given a few choices. My Irish great grandfather Richard Damery was… Read more »
Fern Creek Trail, Little River, California. The path of man; the path of coho salmon.
Path of Man and Path of Salmon Fern Creek rose in the night with the punishing rain. The log jams are now dams pouring water, bruising, but still navigable— for a coho salmon. Walking along the trail that traces Fern Creek, I watch for the iron fish, each with a number. I have seen as… Read more »
There's gold in them thar' hills, and its not in a "great cab"! December 7 sunrise.
Deforestation Storm in Napa County: Denied Appeal of Walt Ranch. We are in a deforestation storm in Napa County, and it has only begun. And yet, the sun rose at 7:15 this morning, the trees in the west glowing orange against the storm clouds moving in. It was one of those moments of grace when… Read more »
Sage burning at November 18 Rally for Protection of the Watershed at Walt ranch.
The Sacred and Land Use Issues:Remembering The Whole When we exited the Napa County Administration Building for the noon break of the Walt Ranch appeal hearings, I was surprised. Upwards of a hundred people rallied on the lawns holding signs of protest. Walt Ranch is an ambitious project seeking to cut almost 15,000 mature trees for 35 lifestyle… Read more »
Tall stump of ancient redwood, Van Damme State Park.
Water, Trees, Mistakes: Watershed Health Napping was not only from exhaustion; it was also defense to the weight of what I was reading, Alice Outwater’s Water: A Natural History, not nap time reading! I knew discrete facts of the history. How early 18th century explorers skilled off many fur-bearing animals, especially the beaver, important to watershed health throughout our country…. Read more »
How an Oak Helped Me into the World When I was six, I met my first oak. I was a shy child, having grown up on a small farm in central Illinois. When I entered first grade, I had little experience being away from my mother, grandmothers, and little sister Judy. I was not used to the… Read more »
Walking with these lively beauties takes attention!
Lessons from Serpents and Goats Life’s stories, heeded, have their lessons. Writing this next manuscript educates me about my own stories, yet another zen whack! Most accounts of the Garden of Eden creation story leave out the details of the Serpent. The Old Testament tells how the Serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit from the one… Read more »
Lavender Harvest is over. Now We Collect for Acorns to Oaks Program. Wesley, Sabien and I collect valley oak acorns from the oak savanna by our home for the Acorn to Oaks program in Napa County. School children will plant them in a program to re-oak the Napa Valley. We collect perfect acorns, count them and put them in… Read more »
Nasa Photo of Earth, July 6, 2015
How Napa County Mirrors World Concerns:United Nations Dialogue Our land use issues in Napa County are those addressed in the 2016 United Nations Harmony with Nature virtual dialogue. The purpose of the dialogue was “to inspire citizens and societies to reconsider how they interact with the natural world in order to implement the Sustainable Development Goals in harmony… Read more »
Two of my favorite fellow protesters, grandsons Wesley and Sabien
Finding Conscious Activism I go back and forth about the working title for my current manuscript. At first I called it Fire and the New Consciousness: Finding a Path to a Conscious Activism. It morphed into The Uninvited Guest: Finding a Path to a Conscious Activism. The first had an introverted tone to it; the… Read more »
© 2025 Patricia Damery.
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