After our trip to Kenya we worked our way back to Beijing. Things were quiet and seemed normal despite the soldiers on every corner. So we were ready to get back to work. But we were given a seaside vacation before we set to work. These are friends who also had done quite a bit of travelling.
Our daughter Betsy attended Clark University in Worcester, MA, and joined the Peace Corp. Her interest and concern about water began very early on. We had the opportunity to join her in Kenya where she was working in a village to build a very large tank and enabled the villagers to get the water near by and not have to haul it. (more…)
After Tiananmen, we left Beijing and landed in Hong Kong. We didn’t want to go home. We wanted our China year. Others also chose to land in Hong Kong. We had a chance to visit and talk with others from Beijing. We were all a little worried/interested/fascinated – and ready to see what happens next.
In 1989, thirty-five years ago, I was working at Greenfield Community College. I was chatting with a friend in my office who said another friend was looking for someone who wanted to go to Beijing, but then said no. After conversations Henry and I thought a year of Bejing would be fascinating. We finally got the go ahead. I resigned from my job and Henry took a leave of absence from UMass. (more…)
There has been snow and wind and annoyance, but since Christmas there have been interesting plants to give cheer.
I finally told my husband, Henry, that I was willing to test pruning the big yellow twigs in our garden . He said he was more than willing. He got out his saw and other equipment to cut down the thick brown branches of these yellow twigs. You can see the difference between these thick branches as opposed to the beautiful fine yellow twigs.
In the fall I dug up some of the daffodils in my Flower Garden. I was surprised how many bulbs were increasing. I have chosen white daffodils with just a little yellow. I’ve grown them for 4 or 5 years and now they are really growing in clumps – and they are getting crowded. (more…)
We were told to prepare for a snowstorm. It did snow with large flakes, and then very finely. There was not much to see. I went to bed. I was surprised when I woke up very early in the morning. As the sun began to offer light I saw our backyard garden – and we were delighted.
My very skilled daughter, Betsy, Director of Environmental Quality, Water and Wastewater at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, has worked for the MWRA for many years. Recently she sent us photos of the beauty on the water. She spends a lot of time out on the water.
As a gardener who has Milkweeds (of a sort) I was fascinated by this new book, The Milkweed Lands, written by Eric Lee-Mader, and Illustrated by Beverly Duncan. There are many types of milkweed and I was amazed by how many types exist. (more…)