Deep into August, it is HOT everywhere and gardens are exploding with produce!

On August 6, 1938, the world became a brighter place, for that was the day Christopher Lord Salter (Kit as his mother called him) was born.

July holds deeply rooted memories that link me to Grant Wood prairie landscapes, Prairie Lights  Bookstore and Summer Writers Festivals in Iowa City, and as it happened one summer, to an apple pie I made in the farmhouse kitchen of author Beth M. Howard many moons ago.

It’s late July and has been exhaustingly hot like much of the world these days.

These hot mid-July days, I find myself up before dawn, eager to open the screen doors and capture any early morning coolness that I can.

Eudora Welty, Grande Dame of American letters, loved gardens.

As so often happens, my writing journeys begin with a book.

When June and July rolled around this year, it was time to take care of essential appointments that come due periodically regarding the body as well as car care.

Before the invention of paper, the thin inner bark of certain trees was used for writing on;  this was in Latin called liber, which came in time to signify also a “book.” 

I was not going to have another cat.

Last November, I received a gift from Susan Fifer-Canby—a dear friend and fellow book lover.

For almost thirty years, Kit and I have shared many memorable adventures across a wide range of geographies with our grandson Nico. 

When irises were flowering across the Midwest a decade ago, I received a note from my friend, poet Ted Kooser.

On Earth Day (April 22, 2026), American comedian Zach Galifianakis was on a mission to teach children and adults alike something about gardening.

In case you are one of the few people on the planet who has not read Remarkably Bright Creatures, Marcellus is a giant Pacific octopus living at the Sowell Bay Aquarium in Puget Sound.

When I was a child, my father planted a small vegetable garden in our backyard in New Mexico.

Five years ago, Kit and I began a new chapter in our lives. 

As a follow up to last week’s blog “Octopus Tales,” I wanted to share a few responses on the subject from dear friends with whom I correspond.

On this rainy April morning, a giant octopus that is part of my cat Peekay’s collection of stuffed animal pals rests on a bench in my studio, her curious turquoise blue marble eyes alive with tales past and present about the secrets of octopuses great and small. 

In April 2025, National Geographic presented its inaugural collection of 33 visionary changemakers who are striving to make the world a better place.