Muses I Have Had, Coffee I Have Drunk

The Trail Since 2006

It began with a spark of inspiration from a few kindred spirits scattered along the Appalachian ridges, mostly in North Carolina and Virginia. Back then, we were virtual friends who—for the most part—never shared a physical porch, but we built a digital one together. Some were writers, some were poets, and some were photographers, each of us finding our way through those early “virtual woods” on the internets.

What follows is a collection of my latest musings (and perhaps a bit of blathering), a trail of thoughts that winds all the way back to those first steps in 2006.

Or just meander through my past muses… Just hope the coffee isn’t stale!


Twitter Updates for 2009-03-30

Watching birds fly about the tree limbs reflected in my laptops screen. Life reversed and internalized rather than right side right and out. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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Play…Do You? I Know, I Don’t…Enough.

Another in the TedTalks Series of videos I try to visit on a weekly basis as a method of personal continuing education…Have a look at what a “play expert” has to say about the importance…

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Saturday Morning News Reader Muse…

You never know where you will stumble upon a word, a phrase, a few paragraphs that paint a picture in your mind so vivid you would swear you were there… I made my getaway. This…

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Sissy Farmer? I don’t think so…

Stumbling through my news reader I came across a reference and a video of Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I have been aware of the work Joel is doing…

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Why Is My Traffic Up?

Sometimes you are amazed at the serendipity of life…I discovered Felder Rushing a few years back while wandering the web. I started listening to the podcast of his weekly public radio program, The Gestalt Gardener,…

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What, exactly, is a healthful food?

I have a confession to make…I just discovered Marion Nestle and her blog Food Politics. I know, I’m slow on the uptake sometimes. I find that my feelings about food are becoming somewhat activistic…I am…

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A Slow Road Reader

From his vantage point in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, the author elevates the simple and local in a way that will bring a smile, a raised eyebrow, or nod of affirmation. This unique…
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Five Days Gone…Happy Spring!

We cruised through East Columbia on the way home. East Columbia is one of the earliest settlements in this part of the state. It was founded in 1823 as Bell’s Landing.
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Twitter Updates for 2009-03-15

@GStephanopoulos Why isn’t anyone commenting on the fact that these bonuses are just a way to sidestep tax liability on salaries? # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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Weekend Weather Muse

This is the closest we have been to winter in a month or more. We woke up to the low 40’s with light rain…brrr.

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Best Cities for Coffee Drinkers?

Check out this World Hum article on the seven best cities in the world for all you latte-drinkers, java-sippers, and espresso-lovers. Here’s the rundown: via Best Cities for Coffee Drinkers? – Slashfood.

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Perry says no to $555 Million

When I read this yesterday I wasn’t surprised. Gov. Rick Perry today told the federal government that Texas doesn’t want $555 million to expand benefits for the unemployed in exchange for widening the program to…

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Morning Light

As the sunlight begins to show the scene outside my kitchen door, the spring weeds wildflowers look like misty ponds scattered over my back yard. Mounds and mounds of purple vetch (Vicia americana) with their…

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Twitter Updates for 2009-03-10

Daily through the screen door, the Pileated Woodpecker that we see occasionally, can be heard greeting the day in the woods along the bayou. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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Weather Musing…

Ten days into March and the weather feels more like late spring or early summer from my childhood. This week we have seen 80’s over and over again. So far the March winds (which began…

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The Great Disruption

In the meantime, says Gilding, take notes: “When we look back, 2008 will be a momentous year in human history. Our children and grandchildren will ask us, ‘What was it like? What were you doing…

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Twitter Updates for 2009-03-05

@BlueRidgeblog I bought , read , and wore out these books back in the ’70’s dreaming myself back to the land. Bought new copies last year. in reply to BlueRidgeblog # Spring returned. Summer is…

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The Politics of Food = Food, Inc.

Reading the news this morning, I saw this short spot: Marion Nestle went to see Food, Inc and she gives it two thumbs up. I’ve only seen clips and heard a talk by the director…

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California Drought Continues…

Parched winter months this year have put California agriculture into a tailspin. With a third dry year in a row, the state has been forced to deeply examine its strategies for coping with dry times….

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Kitchen Gardeners International

Dear Kitchen Gardener, What’s a home garden worth? With the global economy spiraling downward and Mother Nature preparing to reach upward, it’s a good question to ask and a good time to ask it. There…

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Texas Independence Day

Today is Texas Independence Day, when a group of men met in a tiny unfinished wooden building in the small town of Washington-On-The-Brazos to take the daring step of announcing to the world that they…

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More “Victory Garden” Talk…

The garden for recovery movement keeps gaining ground…Roger Doiron has an op-ed out this weekend… In Jerzy Kosinski’s novel and award-winning screenplay, “Being There,” the U.S. president turns to a plain-spoken gardener named Chance for…

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How does your garden grow?

It seems that every where you go online these days you read the same thing…At least from anyone of a certain age…People are thinking and planning to garden their way through the crisis. Leon Hale…

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Twitter Updates for 2009-02-27

Winds blow. Lakes of blue sky scud overhead in the pale gray bowl of sky. Leaves, nan-falling since autumn, fly by like sailboats in a race. # Overcast (mostly) and the temperature is at 80…

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Twitter Home

Twitter Updates for 2009-02-26

@bittman I had that prob a few years back…seemed to escalate as I kept taking them. Finally just quit and decided to tuff it out…worked. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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So Let Me Get This Straight…

Let’s talk pills. To treat everything from allergies to heart problems, half of Americans take a prescription medicine every day, and nearly all of us reach for the pill bottle on occasion. It’s perfectly safe,…

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Musing My Morning Out…

Life throws you that spitball. Your plans don’t count because your plans were based on being allowed to work out your career and end it when you planned.
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February Wanes…Summer Seems Near.

Looking on the weather wunderground, I see that Fred is still feeding the woodstove and wearing the multiple layers of clothes he was lamenting in his essay. While I am enjoying the open door and…
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Twitter Updates for 2009-02-23

Is it darker at night where you are? Am I seeing another byproduct of the economic crisis in that people are turning off the outside lights? # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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Spring…Already?

This past week the signs of the season’s change have sprung up all around…The oaks that were stripped of their leaves by Ike in September, now are leafing out with all of that bright, spring…

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Twitter Updates for 2009-02-18

On awakening our lady weather presented early summer. Light rain falls from a gray sky. Neither rising nor falling, the temperature ’tis 70. Twitter Tools Powered by Twitter Tools.

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“Dangerous Food”

While most successful food producers are far more diligent — big name-brand peanut butter is considered safe, for example — American consumers have faced far too many food-supply emergencies in the last few years. Congress…

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Is it really “Victory Garden” Time?

My reading on the web keeps coming across a common thread…It’s that over and over in blog posts and comments people are talking about buying seeds and starting to raise vegetables again. It looks like…

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Nature’s Cathedral

Reading Leon Hale’s column is an institution in Houston and the surrounding counties as well as my house. Mr. Hale has been published in a Houston Paper for most (if not all) of my life,…

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Twitter Updates for 2009-02-14

Winter thunderstorms…all thunder, no rain. The day really looks wintery, ‘tho the temperature belies the look…Shorts and flipflops rule. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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Peanuts…Get Your Peanuts Right Here!

It seems the story of the Peanut Corporation of America just keeps getting better and better as it shows just how poor America’s food safety system really is… Even amid a national salmonella outbreak linked…

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Twitter Updates for 2009-02-13

Another above 60 winter morn…The sun rides above low clouds full of misty rain. I find myself asking…What happened to winter this year? # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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Twitter Updates for 2009-02-12

First morning all week that’s not already in the 60’s. Pink clouds in a blue western sky with an almost full setting moon…Low morning fog. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

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Potatoes…Not As Bad As You Might Believe

I grew up reading  Jeff Cox in Organic Gardening & Farming (or vice versa depending on the year). I was happy to find him at the OrganicToBe.org blog. His article on potatoes not only fills…

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Peanut Company Shuts It’s Texas Plant

It just seems to me that when you have production of goods going into so many food products you would have controls in place to insure the safety of the public…Doesn’t it? Passing the responsibility…

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Agriculture in America…Looking better?

When I was born in 1952, there were 203,000 farms in Iowa, only 11,000 fewer than when my dad was born in 1926. By 2002, the number had dropped to about 90,000, with roughly the…

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Monday Morning Muse…What’s with this weather?

Currently (on Mon 6:02AM CST from Pearland Regional Airport) Light Rain Temp: 66° Dewpoint: 64° Wind: SE 9 MPH The weather here this winter has seemed to be more spring (or fall) like than any I…

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Road Trip Thoughts

Through this all, I couldn’t bring myself to document the damage with my camera…It was enough just to see what was what…So on I drove. All the way around the island…through the Strand…Along Broadway…And finally…
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