Girls in Trouble is my favorite band today. “Girls” is actually one woman, Alicia Jo Rabins, whose self-titled first album is, according to blogger Largehearted Boy, “filled with stories of women from Jewish history that resonate strongly in today’s world.” Jewish history has never been so entertaining. “But I have a hundred invisible doors of [...]

North of Boston, the January thaw has come and now seems to be going, and I can think of no one better to usher it out than Aldo Leopold, who followed the tracks of a skunk that’d awakened during a January thaw many years ago. The skunk track leads on, showing no interest in possible [...]

ATTN: landscape designers and architects who don’t so much care for plants: hi! I’m a landscape designer too, and I love nothing more than a fat, juicy plant list, chock full of sophisticated flora, many natives, most low-care and all low-water. May I help with yours? Just say the word. Lists are one way I [...]

Laura Veirs has a new album out, but so far all I’ve done about it is be reminded to revisit The Triumphs and Travails of Orphan Mae. “She was everywhere, rising higher… She set the jailhouse on fire.” Seu browser não suporta iframes. Buy this album on Amazon* → *Amazon Associates link. If you buy, [...]

If you’ve ever gotten into plants at all, there are a few things you probably know about the pea family, Fabaceae. One is that most have a distinct type of flower. It’s pretty easily distinguished as a pea family flower, that typically turns into a fruit we call a legume, aka a pea pod.

Today, I’m thinking about warmer climes. Specifically, the Big Easy. Specifically this one jazz club in the Marigny called the Spotted Cat, where I heard this band play this one song. Specifically, especially, the clarinet solo at 2:40. Seu browser não suporta iframes. Buy this album on Amazon* → *Amazon Associates link. If you buy, [...]

It’s officially the dead of winter here in the Northeast, and what’s more, there’s a snowstorm capping off the end of our January thaw. Now’s the time all good Yankees hunker down for the worst of it. These photos were just lying around, collecting digital dust, so I figured why not take you on an [...]

Pronunciation for this entry provided by Christina Salwitz of Personal Garden Coach. Christina and I are pals on Twitter, and wouldn’t you know our first conversation there was about this plant. Pronunciation // Cast iron plant, as Aspidistra elatior is commonly known, was EVERYWHERE when I was growing up in the South. My mother and [...]

Locavores, listen up: these guys are the feelgood band of 2009, straight out of Boston. Play it LOUD. If this doesn’t make you want to dance, I’m not sure I can help you. Seu browser não suporta iframes. Buy this album on Amazon* → *Amazon Associates link. If you buy, you support the artist, and [...]

Since I was but a wee growing thing (see photo), I’ve been enamored of everything that grows. Fronded, furred, feathered, if it was alive, it had me at hello. As a child my affections skewed Animal –- their activeness, their personality, their easy anthropomorphism –- but as I grew, I couldn’t help but notice plants. [...]