Here’s to smallnessSmall townsOr small neighborhoods in big townsSmall businessesSmall organizations that have not yetGrown faceless & unaccountable Small streetsSmall enough to welcome• gardens & trees• strollers & bikes• food stands & little librariesToo small on whichTo drive so damned fast Small homesCheaper to heatEasier to cleanWhere the house works for the ownerNot the other … More Here’s to Smallness
dancing, flowing lightmagical, ethereal, wiseor playful and silly on againoff againI didn’t always know where you were, exactlyyou seemed to light up when you were on the risehe’s right hereno, I must have dreamt thathow did he get way over there? I tried to gently capture youbut you didn’t make it easyyour patterns changedthe trees … More Firefly
we dance with our given spaceand its rhythmswe swim with itroll with itnegotiate—if not argue—with itwe harmonize with it (well, we try, anyway) we sing itpaint itwrite mediocre poems about itquantifyclassifyover-analyze it we change directions when we need tospeed it up or slow it downtruncateelongatesyncopatewe pause and rest when we need to we want more … More The Dance of Rhythm & Space
In our current society of fear, anger and disrespect, everybody seems more sensitive and quick to take offense at comments and actions of others. Maybe we need to treat people more like animals! No, no… not in a dehumanizing, “livestock-in-cages” way. We are already guilty of that, and are reckoning with some darker parts of … More Let’s Treat People Like Animals
(originally posted 7/23/2014 on Digging Deeper, Swansons Nursery’s blog) Your Attention Please: The Puget Sound Region Has Shady Areas. And we Northwesterners intend to garden, shade or no shade. We try to garden under lots of really big trees, on the north sides of the ever-increasing quantities of tall buildings, and in the shadows of … More Fifty Shades of… Well, Shade
Throughout high school and college, and for a few years afterward, I was a distance runner, competing in track, cross country and road races. It was my primary label in that earlier life. In outlook, temperament, health habits, and many other ways, I am still a runner and will always be. But outside of an … More The Rhythm & Space of Running
[An original version I wrote was posted February 2020, on Digging Deeper, Swansons Nursery’s blog] In the coastal Northwest, our climate and position on the Pacific Rim give us a natural affinity with Asian design philosophy and lifestyles, which can also apply to our gardens. Japanese culture, in particular, has lent us its mastery of … More The Wabi-sabi Garden
the waves ebb and flowthe waves enter and return to whence they camethey wash and cleansebaptize and clarifyscoursmoothen, calmsometimes tickle, sometimes poundsometimes move mountainswhether we pay attention or not the waves bring gifts from afarfood and stories and transcendent spheres of glassthey bring garbage and griefexpose our weaknesses, our ignoranceerodedestroywe pay to have them as … More The Waves
Thoughts exposed by — but not unique to — this year, 2020. If you’re looking for a failing society…Tragic incidents of injustice,Acts of evil, sometimes in the name of God,Human trafficking,Exploitive, profit-obsessed corporations,Lying, greedy politicians (imagine that),Looming environmental catastrophe,Reasons to not go downtown anymore,Parents teaching their children to cheat,Disrespect and oppression of specific groups of … More What Are You Looking For?
This is part of a series in the exploration of spaces, rhythms and layers in our physical world, and other areas of our lives. How we tend to fill, exploit, abuse and pollute our open spaces, as well as ignore and neglect many rhythms and layers of life as we dwell and move about. How … More Rhythms
Rhythm & Space 