A Running Collection

We met our neighbor, Byrd when we first moved into the neighborhood. She was quite friendly and eagerly invited us into her home. Not everyone’s house has a name, but Byrd's does. The Lewis Spring House — built by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s just around the corner. For years, we hollered "Hellos!" and popped in a time or two to see the home and chat, always delighted by Byrd’s stories and constant joy for life and people and her community. George Wilder, especially, was enamored by the architecture and he grew quite interested in Wright's work. Her parents built the house in 1954 - when Byrd was nine. She’s moved back there to live and she, along with hundreds of volunteers are thoughtfully working towards the restoration of the home. Both the house and the grounds have experienced Florida’s tropical push against the orderly. It prefers wild vines, briars, climbing ivy, rot, algae, and decay. Byrd and the Spring House Institute have gently given space t...

When the air cools every so slightly. When it is Friday and littles wiggle after a math lesson, we take a nature walk. Our driveway is long from house to road, long enough, I say, to start spotting season changes. I hope it’s true.  If we look. If we are aware enough and keen enough to see, there is plenty of life and change happening right at the edge of the driveway. A bumble bee collects pollen deep in the pumpkin bloom, ants carry away a dead bee to their home. The bees start dying now. Their honey work is done and all that is left to do is to become an ant feast. We watch a dung beetle eat the last of a cow pie that is now a pile of dirt. A giant garbage truck rumbles by to collect our trash, while this humble beetle silently and perfectly composts. No waste, just beautiful, fertile soil ready to begin the cycle all over again. And just after we observe the beetle, we watch ants feast on an old cicada. Once again, a silent composting taking place right in the midd...