Of Apples and Obsessions

Of Apples and Obsessions

IT WAS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. I was riding my bicycle on one of those roads that crisscrosses Iowa with a checkerboard-like perpendicularity, cutting straight paths through the fields of corn. They have an almost tunnel-like feel to them at the...
A Yard Is Not a Yard

A Yard Is Not a Yard

“I DON’T WANT TO BREAK A NAIL” It was the second time she had said it. “I don’t want to break a nail”…a phobia that was going to keep her from having a garden. This fear, this “fear of gardening” has kept many human beings from enjoying the beauty of life...
A Most Amicable Transplant

A Most Amicable Transplant

FRENCH CARS. That’s right. Peugeots and Citroens and Renaults and Simcas. Cars that Americans have occasionally purchased and then had stories to pass on to succeeding generations. Names that live in American automotive infamy, these Gallic conveyances have more tales...
Seeds for Success

Seeds for Success

DON’T BUY THAT PLANT!  I see it in your shopping cart and I can foresee an unhappy ending. Just the way I feel when I see some college kids ordering another round of “Fireball” shots. It just doesn’t usually end well. Just why would it be a bad idea to buy a...