Musings on horticultural therapy and the soothing effects of plants and nature
Another cool and cloudy day greets us as we start our ride toward Nominingue forcing us to layer up with windbreakers to thwart the chill. It’s an easy coast downhill toward Mont-Tremblant. Few other cyclists are on the trail and we appear to be passing through an alpine-like forest populated mostly with conifers separated by […]
It’s a cool, cloudy day for Ted and me as we start our 8-day ride in the Laurentians. The trail officially starts in St. Jerome and we will bike to a B&B in Mont Blanc, nearly 50 miles away, today. A giant arch signifies the start and we stretch our bicycle legs as we make […]
The winds have changed this past week from north to south. And with this change comes new visitors to the beach. The most obvious are the lines of sea detritus washing up with each successive tide. A mash up of grasses and seaweed lines the beach as would an intricate necklace around the neck of […]
Late in the day, we see osprey and pelicans dive in the ocean looking for their last catch of the day. They are rarely close or still enough to get a good shot. On my bike ride yesterday afternoon, I noticed this osprey perched on a high branch next to the ocean. I backed up […]
The days in the Keys are blissfully the same. We awake at first light as the sun streams through our bedroom window. Initially it is a bit nippy with a touch of wind but the outside soon warms and we head out to the beach for our morning walk. Flocks of birds beat us to […]
Coming to the Florida Keys, I always feel as if we are entering a foreign place with strange and wonderful sights. My years of being a bit of a plant nut and Master Gardener are thrown to the winds as I spot plant after exotic plant that I cannot even begin to identify. This diversity […]
We had an opportunity to visit a local prairie, a special and vanishing ecosystem. They differ from meadows in that they don’t favor the growth of trees and have many more wildflowers and grasses. We have see a few monarch butterflies making their migration toward Mexico, but it is late in the season given the […]
Dodging the rain in the Northeast, we find ourselves in hot and steamy Des Moines for the Iowa Quilt Show. One of Juana’s bucket list items is to attend this exhibition of hundreds of quilts, and the fact that our niece, Lucy, lives nearby makes it so much easier to make the journey. Entering the […]
It’s a bright chilly morning in Augusta. A perfect day to finish our trip to St. Charles. After an excellent breakfast at our B&B and with a couple of trail pastries in my saddlebag, we are ready for our short 27-mile ride to St. Charles. The sun is beaming down warming us as we make […]
Crossing Big Muddy on our bikes for the last time, it is a bright, hazy, temperate morning: perfect weather for the 37-mile ride into Augusta. After an uneventful pedal along the highway, we are back on the trail shaded by a tunnel of trees. A cool, stiff breeze is attempting to thwart our forward progress, […]