Love Notes

Autumn arrives with shorter days and brisker nights, and suddenly the comforts of home feel like treasures to be gathered close.   Perhaps it's our response to the return of a regular (perhaps even bustling) routine - following on the heels of August's dreamy la la land of seemingly endless daylight and loosened schedules.  Or maybe it's just our primordial call to bake.  Whatever the reason, fall seems to call us back to our nests.     Here are a few little indulgences to just sprinkle a little fall stardust into your world:  READ MORE

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I've learned a lot about native plants and pollinators through my 29 years in the Garden Club of Virginia and the Garden Club of America.  Perhaps most importantly, I've learned how much I don't know.  

Pollinators are essential for maintaining vibrant ecosystems, and for the health of many of our food crops.   Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats and other insects visit flowers in search of food, found in nectar and pollen.  While these small creatures feed, they transfer pollen from one plant to another.  From this, *cue the fireworks*, comes fertilization, leading to the formation of fruit and seeds.   As much as three fourths of the world's flowering plants and 35 percent of our food supply depend on pollinators.  READ MORE

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This weekend, I am thinking of some of my favorite people in life, and I've noticed they share a few traits:

warmth
wit
a spirit of giving
a zest for life

Having already started on an ornithological theme for this morning's note, I got to considering the expression "a rare bird", turning it over in my mind like a pebble in my hand.   READ MORE

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Welcome to a lot of new Love Note readers!    How to best describe what goes on here each Monday?   Eighteen months ago,  I began penning these weekly missives.   It was the first autumn of Covid and my brain was besieged with crazy lockdown fairies swarming about inside my head.   I also had a lot of pent up creative energy, and craved a feeling of connectedness with people outside our little world.    It was therapy for me, essentially.

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