THIS MORNING at the Church O’ The pines, the 7-year-old granddaughter sat upon the cabin deck with her Grandma Kathy. And they used a modern cell phone app to help them enjoy one of the oldest of human joys. They listened to and identified the birds. ‘Merlin’ is the app. And it ‘hears’ the birds and tells you what they
ON THIS BLUE-SKY, warm-wind Earth day, I wish you beauty. I wish you the secret space between two pines, there to wander through and discover a new world. Perhaps to discover the very first bloodroot blossom of spring, or the very last scarlet cup of late winter. The shiny rabbit-ear leaves of the early wild leeks, or the tender, spotted
AT THE OLD CABIN in the Church O The Pines by the Mississippi, an April breeze tosses the pine tops. But not enough to deter an eager paddler from slipping the Bluebird II into the water, for the first Spring outing. It was a long, hard winter in Minnesota. And it is always a thrill to feel the first pull
HERE AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES, it is a mild morning with a breeze out of the south. Such breezes are helpful this time of year in bringing some of our wandering members, whose wandering may have carried them very far to the south, back home and into the fold. It’s a wonderful time, and the church choir seems
FROM THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES: A Little Peace…. It is not always a peaceful world. In fact, it seems it seldom is. And sometimes it gets worse. Sometimes, a force comes along, a storm, a movement, a person, that upsets the delicate equilibrium needed for peace to thrive–the delicate equilibrium required for even life itself to exist, on a
IT IS A BEAUTIFUL winter morning at the Church O’ The Pines. Usually I post morning pictures, and today is a fine one, but this photo is from last night at sunset over the Mississippi. Out walking on the river. The Great Horned Owls were hooting, their deep, chesty challenge echoing through the woods. The sky seemed to signal clearing,
HERE AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES, we have an idea. It kind of permeates the whole place. The idea is that we all belong. Despite any differences. The red squirrel belongs and the gray squirrel belongs. The great horned owl belongs and the bald eagle belongs. The white tail deer belongs and the red fox belongs. The chickadee belongs
AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES, today–the Winter Solstice–is the shortest day of the year. This is true in all the neighboring fields and woods and rivers as well. And all over the Northern Hemisphere. So one could say the phenomenon is rather widespread. But do you know what that means? That means that tomorrow isn’t. The shortest day. Not
THE TEMPERATURE AT The Church O’ The Pines this morning is 147 degrees below zero. Which is cold, but of course we’ve seen colder. The birds and squirrels and deer are fed, the river is booming, the trees are cracking, and a few snow bombs still falling. It is winter, and a different world in the woods from summer. We
THE RESULTS OF last night’s snow and ice storm at the Church O’ The Pines. Some huge limbs fell on the roof and the deck, shaking the whole cabin, and causing the inhabitants a fair amount of anxiety. No heat or power for nine hours. Cold kitties. Now, as the northwest wind blows and the temps drop there are still