When Ella was five, she found a teeny-tiny caterpillar in our backyard. It was orange with a green head. She loved it and declared it was her very best friend forever. She named the caterpillar Carrot. She kept Carrot in small jar with a cotton ball...
While making spaghetti last week, I noticed that our bulb of garlic was beginning to sprout a tiny, green stem. I decided to drop a single clove into a cup of water, just to see what would happen. The next morning, there was a two-inch green...
A little girl with pigtails was watching the zookeeper carefully. I watched as her wide eyes carefully tracked the snake moving through the zookeeper’s hands. The zookeeper talked about the snake and wondered if anyone would like a chance to hold it. A boy’s hand...
Emma is very interested in TV shows that feature baking competitions. Last Saturday, we watched a new show that combines the talents of engineers and bakers. In pairs, the competitors had several hours to make a boat out of cake that could motor 20 feet...
While driving down a busy street in Phoenix, I was playing that maddening game we sometimes play with a car next to us where we slow down and speed up, attempting to move into the lane the other car is in. Today’s game was particularly frustrating....
Every day this school year, I have written short notes to include in the girls’ lunch boxes, zipped up next to crackers and ready for them to find during their lunch breaks. In each day’s note, I try to notice and appreciate something I value in each of them. Things like:You...
I can think of very few times when I’ve been delighted to call a number and hear a recorded voice saying, “Thank you for calling. Press 1 if you…” …but there’s a first for everything. I recently heard about a free hotline that offers sage advice...
A woman in New South Wales, Australia, had a number appear on her phone that she didn’t recognize. She did what we all do – hit ignore. Day after day, she dodged phone calls from a number she was convinced belonged to a scammer. Ring. Ignore....
It was just a few years ago that scientists discovered the answer to the mystery of why sunflower plants move their blooms to face the sun over the course of a day. Known as heliotropism or “sun turn” in Greek, sunflowers, like humans, have behavioral changes that...
The photograph paused my scrolling through the news. A magnificent lion was on its back, its golden mane catching the light of the setting sun. The lion’s feet were up in the air. Its tongue was sticking out and its body was slack. Standing to...