THE ROCK-SOLID TRUTH OF HOLY WEEK Since their discovery by a mining prospector in the early 1900s, visitors to Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, have been fascinated by what…

GOLDFINCH FEATHERS AND EASTER JOY I read in the news that a bird watcher named Peter Kaestner has recently achieved the nearly impossible task of having identified 10,000 of the…

SNAKES ON A POLE Southeast of the ancient Greek city of Corinth is a large archeological site at Epidaurus: The great Temple of Asclepius, the god of healing. As early…

LEEKS, DAFFODILS, AND THE CROSS This Friday, March 1, has particular significance if you are Welsh - March 1 is St. David’s Day; and St. David, who died sometime between…

‘What Shall I DO For Lent’ Or ‘Who Shall I BE For Lent? Easter comes very early this year. It is the last Sunday of March. We’ll be waving palm…

Love as a Way of Being – Thoughts on Valentine’s Day Back in 1847, Boston pharmacist Oliver Chase invented a machine that made apothecary lozenges. He sold these lozenges for…

SEEING THE LIGHT WITH UNVEILED FACES Lenticular printing. It's also called a "flicker picture" or a "wiggle picture." I saw it recently on a cookie box in the grocery store.…

OF GROUNDHOGS AND SAINTS This Friday an annual ritual will unfold in northwest Pennsylvania. Crowds will assemble in the Punxsutawney to consult a large rodent who will determine if we…

WHAT'S IN A NAME In mid-November, Jan and I filled our birdfeeders and carefully positioned them outside the double-window near our kitchen table. We enjoy watching chickadees, juncos, woodpeckers and…

WINTER REMINDS US OF THE RISKS OF SLIPPING AND TRIPPING Our weather forecasters have added to their recent forecasts words like “polar vortex” and “snowquake” alongside their usual references to…