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Ten years ago when we bought this house I loved this Norway Spruce with its arms out with joy for the garden we were planting. But alas, the tree began to bend. (more…)

I picked up the newspaper which was thrown on the front porch. It was getting lighter, and raining gently. I was hoping the rain would stop soon.

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I was was preparing to get in our car when I saw this beautiful hellebore beginning to bloom. I was a little worried about continuing to shelter these flowers, but I have not cleared away all the leaves because the weather is very rainy. I will be able to clear out those leaves soon!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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