You know you had a good walk when you arrive home with your pockets full of treasure but without your keys!
Nature Writing
Winter Walk with Ancient Alders
Walking in a wooded area in the middle of winter is such an enriching experience. There aren’t any wildflowers stealing the show, except for a lonely herb robert, but there are so many other wonderful things to see. Ferns, lichens, fungi, and tiny new plants poking through the thick carpet of alder leaves. This new … Continue reading Winter Walk with Ancient Alders
Gift From a Stranger
There were six rose bushes in the garden when we moved into our new rental house in December. This is unusual. Rental gardens are often bare and low maintenance. The roses were pruned back for the winter so I had no idea what to expect. As spring turned into summer they surprised and delighted me … Continue reading Gift From a Stranger
The Gull House – Suburban Seagulls and Life in Dublin
One morning I opened the patio curtains and there, in the centre of the small patch of frozen grass and weeds that is our lawn, was a slice of bread. It seemed unnaturally large and white lying there under the late winter sky. I was puzzled. Surely the cats wouldn’t bother stealing bread. Or would … Continue reading The Gull House – Suburban Seagulls and Life in Dublin
Finding Wildflowers the Old Fashioned Way
After ten months of identifying wildflowers in Ireland, I think it’s time to give a brief overview of how I go about this process. The first question most people ask me is, ‘Do you use an app?’ No, I haven’t used an app. Yet…
Enchanted by Trees – Finding Wildflowers in September and October
I’m fascinated by trees, like many other humans. For many years their charisma and mystery, their relatively long lives and comparatively sheer size have enchanted and inspired the human imagination. Fred Hageneder writes of this relationship in The Living Wisdom of Trees: “The entire spectrum of human existence is reflected in tree lore through the ages: from birth, death and rebirth to the age-old struggle between good and evil, and the quest for beauty, truth and enlightenment.”
5 Things I Needed After Lockdown: Finding Wildflowers in August
A change of scenery. Headspace. Being reminded of the bigger picture. Friends. Family. These are the things that restored my energy in August. Work, childcare, studying, laundry, meals… the cyclic routine of our everyday lives, good and normal things, started feeling exhausting after the lockdown...
The Hidden World of the Fox by Adele Brand – Book Review
I’ve been intrigued by foxes for many years, my interest and imagination kindled by the mysterious and often mystical representation of foxes in literature. But I wanted to become better acquainted with the animals themselves and Brand’s book, packed with her knowledge and research, was an accessible read. The Hidden World of the Fox briefly … Continue reading The Hidden World of the Fox by Adele Brand – Book Review
Wildflowers in June and July – The Garden as Teacher
Gardens are teachers. The joy and satisfaction I experience when I spend time in my garden come from a deeply rooted relationship. As I tend my garden, it tends me and my need to nurture, create, and build a relationship with nature, or the non-human world. I tend sick plants, plant seedlings, water pots, add compost. I decide where to create borders, which plants to thin, how to prune shrubs and trees, how often to deadhead flowers. But the garden has a life and agency of its own...
Days like Cracked Tiles – poem
June and July are a blur in my mind. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way...
Wild Library 