Training dogs that rescue … trees?

Posted on by
1

Spring is in the air, and for my part of the world, that means pine pollen is, too, turning the air and everything else a dusty yellow.

I can always gauge the level of spring fever by the number of tree and flower photos in Facebook status updates I see in a given day. Yesterday’s beginning of spring brought a profusion of blooms online. One friend posted a photo of a gorgeous bonsai tree blazing with fuchsia-colored blooms. Another posted a picture of Monet’s beautiful painting Spring (Fruit Trees in Bloom).

A third friend posted a link to a story about a pear tree blooming at the site of the 9/11 memorial. The tree had been found severely damaged among the rubble after the attacks, was relocated and nursed back to health, and then replanted at the memorial site. Isn’t it amazing that someone thought to bother saving that tree and now visitors to the site can see it as an offering of beauty and hope and nature’s resilience?

Let’s turn back to that pine pollen, for a moment, and some amazing dogs who are being trained to make sure pine trees stick around and keep on giving us their tangible, hopeful announcement of spring every year.

Auburn University is doing some really cool work in a project called EcoDogs that trains dogs to detect certain items of ecological interest: animal droppings, baby fawns, boa constrictors and even tree fungi. That’s right: tree fungi. Continue reading →

Springing into a good book

Posted on by
9

I’ve mentioned before that this first week after the time change isn’t my most favorite one of the year. Maybe you feel it, too? The body’s confusion about why all of a sudden we have to get up even earlier than usual. Even my dog isn’t ready to get up first thing, but she has enjoyed getting dinner earlier than usual.

The weather is gorgeous, though, and Spring is definitely here, making it practically impossible to sit inside for long lengths of time. And the light lasting longer in the evening means I can sit outside and read. Here’s a list of some of my favorite reads from the last few months that might inspire you to grab a cold Izze and head outside to read.

A few of the books I've been reading, along with my favorite soft drink: grapefruit Izze!

Continue reading →

When it’s time to repot

Posted on by
11

You’ve heard the expression, “Bloom where you’re planted.” While I believe it’s a good saying to encourage us to make the best of our circumstances, I also think it’s true that sometimes we simply need to move out of particular situations to improve our lives.

If you’re like me, you’re already looking around your garden preparing for Spring and planning what plants you might need to repot or move to a different part of the garden. Repotting or transplanting plants can be essential to those plants’ survival. Maybe the pots are too small for their roots to thrive. Maybe their spot in the garden has become too shady for them to grow and bloom and flourish the way they should.

The same may be true of your own life. Sometimes staying put and making the best of a situation is simply not the best strategy. Maybe it’s a destructive relationship that we need to leave behind. Or an untenable work environment. Or an addiction to something unhealthy. Or simply a lazy habit.  Continue reading →

29 reasons to make the leap

Posted on by
3

Unless you’ve spent today under a rock, you probably know it’s leap day. You’ve probably heard people urging you to “Seize the day,” or do something different today.

If only we treated every day as leap day, a day to break out of our comfortable routine and shake things up a bit. No matter what day you actually get around to reading this, I’ve made a list of reasons to make the leap – into whatever you’ve been putting off, whatever you have wanted to do but lacked the courage to complete.

My reason is simple and selfish: I’ve been putting off migrating this blog over to WordPress, and I figured if I told you, my dear readers, about the move then I’d actually follow through with it. So next week (at least, I hope it’ll be ready by next week), visit my blog here to see news about the move and to find the new link. In the meantime, here’s the list of 29 reasons to leap.  Continue reading →

The ashes of our celebrations

Posted on by
Reply

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent that will be a time of penitence and preparation for Easter.

As you know from last week’s post on obedience, I’m struggling to obey God’s call. Being sorry for that struggle comes easily to me. Being ashamed of it does, too. However, Lent isn’t about shame. It’s about repenting – turning back around toward God. And that’s exactly what I intend to do during this Lenten season: turn to face God and to learn to hear His voice and obey His call in my life.

To mark that intention, I’ll go to my church’s Ash Wednesday service tonight and have a minister place ashes on my forehead as a reminder of my desire to repent and of the promise of God’s gracious forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice for us.

Even as far back as the old testament, people repented by wearing sackcloth and covering themselves in ashes. While I’m glad the church doesn’t require us to wear sackcloth until Easter, I’m also glad for the blessing of wearing ashes, even for such a short time, as a reminder to focus on God’s work in this season.

May I tell you a bit about the ashes at my church?  Continue reading →