Alice Gerard

This morning found me at Cornerstone Church in Grand Island. I looked out the window and saw the stark landscape of late winter. The bare trees and the old, dried leaves by the tree trunks felt like desolation. The scene outside had been like that for months. But there was change in the air. It […]

While I wait for spring to unfold, with colorful flowers and buds on the trees, I may as well take the opportunity to talk to you about something that you can do to help your garden grow better. Well, actually two somethings: composting and vermiculture. The purpose is the same, to produce a healthy soil

This morning, I noticed a crocus growing in my garden area. It was open and I could see the lavender petals and the bright yellow center of the plant. It was delightful to see. After a winter that felt as if it would never end, anything growing from the ground felt like a miracle. A

For me, April Fools Day started early. Yesterday morning, to be exact. After I woke up and stuck my glasses on my face, I looked out the window. The sight shocked me. It looked like… um… Christmas??? All right, so March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb.

On Monday, I traveled by bus to downtown Buffalo. I was headed to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center to donate an afghan. It was the first afghan of my 365-day crocheting project. It was made mostly of donated yarn, and so, there is a wide variety of colors. It is a modern art afghan. My

Another year, another A to Z blogging challenge for the month of April! I’m signed up and ready to go! Each blog post has to start with a letter of the alphabet, in order, from A through Z. This is a lot of fun for me but a bit brain breaking when I hit certain

Yesterday was a warm winter day that felt like spring. It felt like a day to get out and move around. I had been inside for long enough. It seemed this winter as if there had been one storm after another. And one little disaster after another. Massive snow pileup on mailbox, causing it to

On Saturday, I went to Niagara Falls to see it covered in ice. My friend Eric joined me. We walked along the falls and saw the ice near the water that was falling over the edge. Then we went to Three Sisters Island, where the river and the wetlands were filled with ice. The water

The Niagara River never freezes over. It gets full of ice, which flow down the river or hug the shoreline, but the river itself never freezes over. Today, I went out in search of ice in the river and I found it close to shore. It looked fairly solid although I don’t know if I’d

Is winter a season? Or a state of being? Does the coldness last forever? How do you bring warmth to winter, when, outside, everything looks white and barren and lonely. Fortunately, there are ways to add color to the season. With color, there is warmth. With imagination, there is color. Therefore, imagination is the tool