Just Add Water

From outside, his voice slips through the open door and hums in my ear. Contentment has a sound. When you are a mother, the voice of your child playing punctuates the air with peace. When he is silent, you worry. Water gurgles over rocks and spatters on dirt. My youngest grips a green writhing hose between earnest hands and creates

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Country or Outdoorsy: What’s the Dif?

Saxifrage aka Rockbreaker Delicate flower with a tough name This flower is a Saxifrage. Here is another. And another. And another. These plants have similar names but are different in essential ways. In the same way a county person or an outdoorsy person are types of folks often confused for each other—people often think these words describe the same type

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New Year's Resolutions: Why I Keep on Trying

The bottom shelf on my refrigerator exploded. From my oldest son’s explanation, I gathered not much damage happened and, certainly, none of it was his fault–the words “broke without any discernable reason” were repeated more than once. He made sure I knew he hadn’t done anything. “I just opened the door and, phhht, a small piece broke off the shelf.”

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