By Julia Purdy Book-burning is always an interesting subject to anyone with any curiosity about history. Hints have filtered down to us about book-burning under Germany’s Third Reich and the destruction of the ancient library at  Alexandria, Egypt. Sometimes pop culture deals with the topic, as in Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel, “Fahrenheit 451,” which posits…

By Julia Purdy Sleepy Whipple Hollow Road in Pittsford was reduced to one lane as a crowd gathered for the rededication of a roadside monument on Sunday May 7, marking the place where the Crown Point military road of 1759 passed along a small valley on the way to Lake Champlain.  Speakers included Barry Griffith,…

  We shuffle across the top, avoiding the crux of the mound. Instead, we slide around. Looking down at the luscious field below, still we slide around. Not for any particular reason, but perhaps merely to avoid beginning rather than simply diving right in. It’s too awesome to be there, at the start, looking down…

I got out of work the other night and had nothing to do, so I decided to walk nine holes. Luckily, it was the perfect scenario: spring was in full bloom, the temperature was stable, and the course appeared empty.  I walked up to the first tee and did a few stretches and then proceeded…

Hear ye, hear ye! The queens have emerged! We’re talking about bumble bees (genus Bombus). For several weeks each spring, any bumble bee you see is a queen – and very hard at work. She must construct her kingdom. Her mother (the previous queen), and most of her siblings will have perished. Unlike honey bees,…

Sugary water, Dripping, Dripping. Slowly filling up the buckets. Maple sap boiling, Until at last, Sugary syrup, Slowly moving. Delicious, Dripping on your pancakes. Maple sugar fills your mouth with joy. Pure Vermont, Pure love, Pure maple syrup. Maple is love because it’s made with teamwork, Everything’s better when you work as a team.

We all have our limits with certain things. Some people might call those boundaries. I like to call them non-negotiables. Try as we might to be fluid and flexible or in some instances, appear nonchalant, things can get under one’s skin. Something you once saw from a logical standpoint may now feel sensitive or emotional…

Rivers, Flowing, Gliding,  Hear the water peacefully flow over the rocks, Gliding down stream, Softly, Peacefully. If you listen close enough, you’ll hear a sound, like no other sound before: Kindness.  Keep in the hear of the river, kindness. It’s a sound that needs to be heard more.  Open your heart and deep inside you’ll…

When they say that life was slower “back in the day” they are probably right! It was slower because it took longer to do everything. I was thinking of that the other day when I warmed up lunch in the microwave. Back in the '50s my mother would put a casserole dish containing leftovers from…

I have always loved watching the first flowers of the year pop out of the ground and slowly, ever so slowly, make their way from infant hood into greenery, budding and then finally into the beauty that they have been concealing. My mom feels the same way about butterflies, but I love perennials. I get…

I’ve had countless friends in my life. Some have stuck around for decades, while others were gone in a matter of months. But what I’ve realized is that the length of time of any friendship is not indicative of the friendship’s worth. Take Danny, for example.  Danny and I met in kindergarten and were friends…

Why do ants suddenly appear every time spring is near? Just like bees, they long to be close to you – especially if your home is made of wood. Carpenter ants (genus Camponotus) and the eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) both nest in wood and are frequent visitors to my log home. The Northeast is…

I have a simple mind. Full of everything I need to be well. All I have to do is use it. Whenever my younger sister Marcelle wants to spur me to action, all she has to say is; “Well, I know you can’t do it, but. . .  " and with childlike enthusiasm, I spring…

It’s darkest before dawn. This week brings the crescendo of the current eclipse season with a Scorpio Full Moon or Lunar Eclipse. Not only does this eclipse round out the current season, it’s also the last Scorpio eclipse we’ll see in about a decade. In any form of healing, whether that be physical, emotional or…

Trees, they sway in the breeze, they have twigs, branching out on all sides.  Each branch,  sprouting leaves, leaves of kindness of love for the world, love for the earth, for Mother Nature. People need to give more. More love, especially for the earth. Don’t let things blow away in the wind, hold onto them,…