roots and wings

Mother Nature doesn't mess around. She takes no chances when it comes to propagation. Our two acres are covered with sprouting oak trees. A gentle pull and up comes the tell tale acorn; burst open now and sending roots down and leaves up. It's a tiny miracle that I marvel at every year. So many potential trees spawned and so few take hold. My wheelbarrow is full of them.

Bird parents put us all to shame. They work with intense determination and chastise us if we even consider walking into the barn. We found a nest with three speckled eggs expertly constructed atop a can of nails and carefully lined with a few pieces of plastic for the eggs to lie on. There's a nest in the canoe, one on top of the front porch light and one behind a shovel.

Eliza, David and I helped Carrie dismantle her nest in New York City this week. We watched her graduate from Columbia University's School of International Public Administration at Riverside Church, celebrated in a park with her friends and their parents and the next day, loaded a truck and headed for home. She will work for Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, Maine this summer then take some well earned time off before starting school in Cambridge in the fall.

Eliza is headed to Europe in June, hired by Overland to lead hiking trips in the Alps and Pyrenees. For more detail, see the Overland web site. Here is the link to Overland. Then she is off to the High Mountain Institute in Leadville, Colorado where she will be an intern at the Rocky Mountain School for the fall term.

David and I have been creating a new garden in the front yard. With the tall pines gone, we now have plenty of sun (if it ever stops raining.) Now we just need the time and impetus to plant it and build a fence to keep out predators. More on that project in future posts!