My sister Catherine plants a garden at our family cabin in northern Minnesota. This year we shopped for the essentials at Swanson’s Greenhouse outside of Eveleth during the Saturday morning rush. On the first sunny day in weeks, everyone is a gardener, including the guy…
I’m having a Carl Spackler moment. Carl had his gopher. I have a chipmunk burrowing in my garden. Yesterday Mr. Chipmunk had three tunnel entrances: one under the yellow primrose and two under the large stepping stone, and a main entrance — or maybe it’s…
I want to be a flower farmer. In my dreams I grow fields of flowers that sway in the breeze like a fragrant river of colors. This lovely vision is a complete disconnect from my actual gardening results which have been spotty at best. Every…
As far as birthday parties go, it was pretty awesome. There were games, treats, good friends, and a swamp full of rainwater and sludgy mud. And of course there was action — sloppy wet stinky swamp action, a blur of fur and spit. Happy birthday,…
Back in 2000 my then-fiancé-now-husband moved into this house two months before I did, with all his stuff. And he had a lot of stuff, much of it valuable treasures, including a vast assortment of kitchen equipment, odd for a man who doesn’t cook. At all.…
Beyond the sculpted hedges and enormous Gulfshore mansions of Naples, there’s a less orderly life in southwest Florida. It’s a little bit wild and sometimes it’s even secluded. Almost. The almost-seclusion and wildlife of the barrier and interior islands are what I love about his…
I like mine with lettuce and tomato Heinz 57 and French-fried potatoes A big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer Well good God Almighty which way do I steer? This is it. This is the Cheeseburger in Paradise. The burgers at the Cabbage Key…
You know how back in the day we played vinyl records on a turntable? You put a needle down on the record and the turntable turned and beautiful music came out of a piece of plastic. Remember how your little brother would grab the needle…
Last night my husband reminded me that back in 2008 we had heavy snow in April. I know better than to doubt him when he says stuff like this. He keeps a daily journal and the man has weather data–charts, graphs, trends, histories. Data. But…
