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Today, I was looking around for a word that began with the letter X.  One of the words that I found was xanthopetal. That seemed like an odd word. Whatever could it mean? I looked for a definition, and I found that xanthopetal is a noun that means flower with yellow petals. Xantho means yellow […]

Some of the things that I have been seeing since I’ve arrived in California have been wacky or they’ve been wonderful or they have been a combination of the two. I have not been able to photograph the great beauty of wacky and wonderful, but it’s been a real treat to see it. One of

Today, I took a walk and found beauty in a likely place, a place full of warmth, color, and sunlight. San Diego county boasts a wide variety of ecosystems, from low desert to coastal wetlands. The USDA zone, where I am staying with my beautiful family, is 9a, which means that there is a very

Yesterday, as I was traveling to San Diego, I was thinking about the letter “U.” What U word would I use for a blog post? I was thinking about that while I was traveling on a cross-country flight, from Atlanta to San Diego. Maybe I wasn’t thinking too hard on that flight. I didn’t just

Today, I am sharing a teacher story. Frances Reid teaches at Huth Road Elementary School. In this conversation, we talk about learning and about what it’s like to be a teacher. She talks about the beauty of connecting with young students, who are enthusiastic to learn new things. First of all, you teach at Huth

Today, Lee Tetkowski and I went to an Earth Day celebration that was held at Congregation Shir Shalom, in Williamsville. The earth day celebration involved food trucks, musical entertainment, and story. It was a happy event. Here are some of the images of the people at the event, along with a story that professional storyteller

Happy Earth Day! Today, I found beauty in the most unlikely place… a piece of land that is full of brush and plants with sharp spines. I found the beauty when I decided to pick up trash with a group that had been organized by Neil Gallagher, who has organized litter pickup parties in the

Yesterday Linda Cascio Critelli came to the Grand Island Memorial Library to do a cooking demonstration and to tell stories about her experiences in France, as well as her knowledge of Italian cooking. She was selling a little cookbook, titled Sicilian with a French Accent. It features “deliciously simple cuisine.” She turned the library meeting

Today, I am writing about the fun of preparing food and not necessarily following the recipe. I didn’t have pine nuts or basil… but I still wanted to make pesto. I had started experimenting with replacing basil with other greens some time ago. I first started with spinach, which was fun because it made the

For the last month, I have been taking a tree steward class, which was organized by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County and funded by the Buffalo Green Fund. We are being trained to plant and care for young trees. We can do our volunteer work in Buffalo, as well as organize tree projects