Tidying Up

Tidying Up

“We abuse land because we view it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”  –  Aldo Leopold The late afternoon light did nothing to lift our spirits. Our first glimpse of the land in early […]

Learning New Skills

Learning New Skills

“Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one’s liberty.”    – Henri Frederic Amiel The time, energy and effort it takes to learn something new can be so overwhelming or intimidating that we simply shy away from it, even when it is something we are […]

The Big Bang

The Big Bang

“Faca.”I frowned.“Faca.” She repeated, this time adding a hand gesture.It took me another split second before it dawned on me that she was asking for a knife. A big one. I nodded and walked inside. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This story, although it ended last week Saturday, started at the beginning of the […]

Pruning the Olive Trees

“In many ways, the word “creativity” has been in a cultural pigeonhole; its association with the fine arts has led people to believe they are not creative if they are not involved in painting, music, dance, poetry, or the visual arts. This categorization has undermined the brilliance of a large portion of the population. It […]

Deadlines & Pandemics

Deadlines & Pandemics

“The course of life depends on how you react to opportunities and challenges that randomness presents to you.” – Leonard Mlodinow When Michael returned from his trip to the land at the end of January he was adament that I should join him on the next one, as working alone is always harder and more […]