Defeating the green-eyed monster

I promised in last week’s post to talk with you about jealousy today. But first, would you mind a quick update? Both twigs of the baby elm tree have already sprouted new leaves, and I’m hopeful the wire cage and the Irish Spring soap, along with the beginnings of some lovely fall weather, will all keep that little tree thriving.

Let’s take a look at where that little tree is growing:

^ The little tree is growing right there …
in the shadow of its much larger parent tree.

You really can’t even see the little tree, can you? It’s so small and easy to miss. If you get down to the tree’s level, here’s what you’ll see:  Continue reading

Time for Irish Spring

No … Ireland hasn’t relocated to the southern hemisphere. It’s just entering autumn at this time of year. But this week, I realized it was time …

What do you remember most about this soap’s commercials?

Now, before you get really worried, I do shower regularly, and I use a less pungent soap than Irish Spring. But do you know where Irish Spring can be quite useful? In the garden.  Continue reading

The blazing in of autumn

For those of you who have followed me through the change of seasons, you may remember that I don’t totally love summer, despite its gardening wonders, bountiful fruit and golden lining. But autumn? Quite simply … I love it.

Here’s just one of the reasons why:

A favorite tree at one of my favorite spots in the whole world.
Do you know where this is?

All of summer’s lovely flowers can’t come close to the stirring of my soul when I look on this tree in fall. It’s as if I’ve held my breath to survive the heat and humidity and mosquitoes of summer and, when I see the promise of this tree, I can finally let the breath go.  Continue reading

Isn’t there an app for that?

Confession time, again: I’m addicted to my iPhone. But I don’t have a ton of apps. I have exactly 26 apps on my phone, including three game apps (no, Angry Birds isn’t one of them), a dictionary app and all of the apps that come preset on the phone.

Apple’s web site touts 425,000 apps for iPhone. So no wonder they’ve trademarked the phrase, “There’s an app for that.”

I got really excited about one of those 425,000 apps the other day. My Real Simple magazine this month told of a free app called Leafsnap that could help me identify trees using pictures of their leaves. Knowing how I love trees, are you surprised that I’d be happy to download that app?  Continue reading

Worries on the road less traveled

Do you worry a lot? I do. I know, I know – God tells us over and over again in the Bible not to worry, but I think I was born worried, so worried, in fact, that I came out six weeks early to fit in more worrying.

This past weekend, I had a lot of worries to face on what should have been a blissful outing. My husband, dog and I went for a hike to measure a trail for my husband’s web site. My husband has a passion for running and numbers and helping others and sharing his story of faith, and he has combined all of that into a great site with maps and accurate wheel measurements of runnable trails in the northwestern North Carolina mountains.

I’ve taken wheel in hand to measure a couple of trails for him. And I’ve accompanied him on other trails as he did the measuring. Until this weekend, the trails were easy ones. Wide, well-maintained, steep at times, but still easy to walk.  Continue reading