Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, quoteandaprettypicture, Thoughts on August 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
I’m interpreting this in the best possible light, of course. I mean, I can be a bit of a procrastinator, but my goal is not to be the best procrastinator I possibly can. I try to choose my targets wisely!
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Posted in Food and..., Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Socrates, Thoughts on August 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
If you, like me, are the sort of person to go out on a summer’s day and admire the pretty, harmless-looking white flowers at the side of a path and think to yourself, “Didn’t my mom tell me that this was Queen Anne’s Lace, and that the roots are edible and taste a lot like carrots?” then this helpful and informative post may be for you.
Because some plants look harmless but are very much not. Poison hemlock is one such plant.
Beware Poison Hemlock, A Queen Anne’s Lace Look-Alike
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is an invasive, toxic plant. It is native to the United States but has naturalized in many places. Its flowers look strikingly like those of Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) because both are umbellifers belonging to the carrot family. However, the resemblances end right there.
I have a lot of fun identifying all of the edible plants around us, most of which have been categorized as weeds by Big Lawn™ but are fabulous in their own right. That said, it very much pays to know whether you’re looking at an underrated food source for pollinators and people, or the plant that killed Socrates.
Unsure? I recommend what I think of as my mushroom rule: If you aren’t 1000% certain, move on.
Just in case!
(Honestly, I never pick mushrooms. They’re both fascinating and scary, and 1000% is a lot of percents. And thanks to Nomadic Noesis for the idea!)
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, artists, quotes, Thoughts on August 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“The transformation of the heart is a wondrous thing, no matter how you land there.”
— Patti Smith
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, exercise, Thoughts, Writers on August 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »
We all know we should be exercising more, especially those of us whose work requires a lot of computer time. (Hello, fellow writers!)
This is a pretty fun way of thinking about it, though.
How exercise may be the ‘most potent medical intervention ever known’ | PBS News
One of the things I regularly tell my patients — I’m a cardiologist — is that one minute of exercise buys you five minutes of extra life, which means you definitely have time to exercise, because, even if you exercise even a little bit higher intensity, you get seven or eight minutes of extra life.
So you definitely have time to make in your day to exercise. — Euan Ashley, professor of cardiovascular medicine and genetics at Stanford University
It’s like compound interest but for health. Invest a little, get a lot.
I’ll remind myself of this the next time I’m tempted to sleep in instead of work out:)
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, kindness, quotes, Thoughts on August 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »
As far as quotes go, I’ve been on a kindness kick lately. That’s not a bad thing!
“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, astronauts, heroes, inspiration, NASA, Thoughts on August 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Astronaut James Lovell, Apollo 13 commander, dies at 97
“James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97.”
(If you’re curious, here’s a quick refresher on the Apollo program.)
And because so many of us know of Lovell from the excellent movie version of his most famous mission, here’s Tom Hanks’ appreciation:
Tom Hanks pays tribute to Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell
“There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own. Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy.”
Here’s to the brave, to the can-do, to the explorers among us. Humanity is the better for you.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, home, lawns, nature, Thoughts, wildlife on August 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Like many of you, we’re currently sitting in the middle of a days-long heat wave, and its effects are being felt. Not only is the air quality too soupy for much in the way of outdoor exercise, but everything is dry. Our issues are minor compared to the ones playing out in farmers’ fields all around us, and normally I wouldn’t worry about watering our lawn. I have little love for perfect lawns and mowing and all the other inputs the American lawn requires, including water. Lots and lots of water.
But it’s not just a lawn. Because we don’t work at having a perfect suburban lawn, because we don’t worry about volunteer flowers and the odd weed, our lawn is actually pretty popular with the local wildlife.
The roster includes birds, squirrels (grey, black and red), more birds, bees, butterflies, an occasional skunk (which I don’t love but what am I going to do, go out and shoo him away? no thanks!), chipmunks, groundhogs and rabbits.
It’s that last critter that’s on my mind today. An adorable little rabbit has moved in under a bush. I see the faint trail she leaves moving between the bush and the cedar hedges. I see the little circle of matted grass inside a fountain of daisies. And I see her out in the early mornings looking for breakfast, which she finds at the edge of the bush in our yard, or in the pocket of native plants we have in the planter bed. And so I’m watering, at least a little.
I’m not worried about the lawn. I’m thinking about the food sources that keep Ms Bun and the rest of our animal neighbors happy and healthy. And so I was out early this morning watering her front doorstep, helping to make our corner of the world a good place to be.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, fun, inspiration, Saturdays, Thoughts on August 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year but dramatically underestimate what they can do in a decade.”
— Maya Andrews, Olympic gold medalist
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, a bit of fun, creativity, fond memories, inspiration, Thoughts on August 5, 2025| 1 Comment »
Have a few minutes to let your inner child run free?
Perhaps you have fond memories of staring up at the sky during summer break, letting clouds drift across your subconscious until “Look! An elephant! An pterodactyl! Jabba the Hutt!”
If so, this site might be just the thing for you:
Cloud Drawing Gallery – Create & Share Cloud Art
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J.R. Johnson 
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