Since early spring, I’ve been wanting to show you this. How the wild violas have found a place between the flagstones on the terrace.

Seldom in life is everything in our homes, our gardens, our property, our environment perfect or exactly how we wish it to be.

I couldn’t let this Earth Day go by without sharing a fun interlude with you

It’s just beginning to lighten into a cloud-covered, gently snowing day. I’m watching a small bunch of deer playfully skitter

In keeping house. It might not be where you’d think to find it, but there’s simplicity there, too. A stack of white cotton cloths, a sponge, an assortment of natural bristle brushes

You can learn a lot by looking back. Two years ago, as part of my Small Ways series, I wrote about my morning and evening routines

I’ve found I do better with a clean slate. With blank pages. With a planner unhemmed by pre-printed calendars, lists, guides, and forms

It was a quiet Thanksgiving, two week early

A rinse-off under hot running water, a squirt of dish soap on the sponge, a rub-down of the dinner plate front and back, another hot rinse, and into the clean sink to drain and dry.

Go ahead and begin with the rug.

I’ve got my eye on the tall cottonwood in the middle of the shelter belt on the far side of the pasture. It tells me things I’m curious to know.

I reach for the maple cutting board that leans against the wall, set it on the counter, and draw a scoopful of flour from the bin in the cabinet below