New Growth
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Hello friends, There’s a lot of new growth to see on my walks around the city. Tiny green needles at the tips of the Douglas firs. Sprouting grasses. New hops clambering over fences. Tiny figs and unfurling leaves on an equally tiny sidewalk fig tree… There’s planning happening, too. Finches scouting nest sites. Crows gathering twigs. All of this new growth and planning fills my heart with joy. So does what feels like celebration in the riot of flowers, the squirrels chasing each other, and children shrieking in a springtime frenzy. It’s good to remember that, no matter how disturbing the news, good things are happening, too. Hoping you are finding time to enjoy some of life’s small pleasures this week. Thanks for being here — Thorn ps: The newsletter musing was a short one this week because the Shingles vax is kicking my ass! :-)
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T. Thorn Coyle
Hello friends, It’s a rainy summer solstice here in beautiful Portland, Oregon. The sun is hiding, but, as I move my way around the city, I still see all the ways in which things shine. There are roses in full bloom everywhere. People don’t call this Rose City for nothing. Some roses are fragrant, others, not so much. But each flower is gorgeous in its own way, whether pink, red, yellow, or white. What else is shining? The glint on a crow’s beak. Rain on the sidewalks. People. Yeah. People....
Hello friends, These are tough days, aren’t they? At least, they are for anyone paying attention to the world. In Portland Oregon where I live, a dedicated group of activists have been holding it down outside the ICE facility. This is a privately owned building, and another group of activists is pressuring our city council to revoke the lease, so ICE does not have a holding and staging area in our sanctuary city. Especially not next to a school and apartment buildings. Last night, the...
Hello friends, Last week, I talked about encountering foxglove on a city sidewalk, and asked how your heart was. But the foxglove also got me thinking: Who first figured out it could be used to help with heart disease? I’m always amazed at the ancestors who figured these medicines out. Who would think that these lovely pink bells would be useful for more than their beauty? Who first figured out we could cure olives and eat them? Who was it that experimented enough to know that the bark of a...