On a short vacation with some family, I woke up to a full moon over the ocean At 4 a.m.. Kids went to explore the tide pools before breakfast. The backyard view... Off to the little town of Mendocino. Found a cove for some sunset fishing. Got back in time for the sunset. Finally, roasting [...]

After we built our first fruit lug, one of the grandchildren decided to build his own. It came out really good. That is his father watching over the shoulder. Now a few days off from work and we've rented a place in Fort Bragg, California. This is the backyard! How beautiful is our Earth.

As long as I can remember I have loved barns and what is inside of them. The older, the better. And, often inside those barns of my childhood, I would see stacks of wooden fruit lugs, sometimes empty and sometimes full of apples, or peaches, or pears, or tomatoes. On the side of the fruit [...]

This is an excellent video about the Camp Fire. I had to make myself finish watching as the images brought back fresh memories of that day. Still there are many lessons to be learned and very few are safe from these environmental threats. So thankful for our "comeback" as my friend Felipe Alou would say! [...]

This year, on the 4th of July-an American holiday- we had 24 family members and friends over at the new place. It was a warm day. The children all jumped into the pool. I chose a place to sit under some shade trees, out by the barn, and I turned on a nearby sprinkler so [...]

I don't totally understand it, but nothing brings me quite the happiness than receiving a photo with a text from a granddaughter - who just walked through our garden this morning while I am at work - saying "I just picked squash and flowers from the garden!" My life is complete. It seems vitally important [...]

When I was a little kid, maybe about 4 years old, we moved to a new neighborhood in a new town. Ah, a fresh start. I needed one because I was developing a bit of a criminal reputation in the old hood. You see, every afternoon my 18 year old step mother - that's another [...]

Every morning during the summer, myself, along with my colleagues, speak to a group of strangers. They are the students beginning their orientation to college life and their parents sit at tables behind their offspring.  I have been doing this for a long time now and this year looks like it will be my last [...]

For 7 months I have been walking...more like shuffling...in a lot of pain. Now I am not the smartest guy when it comes to taking care of my health issues. Some might even say I am rather stupid. My love ones just sort of shake their heads as I keep trying to ignore my obvious [...]