earthbound acorn dreams the light seeker's journey  Recently, I entered the above poem in a haiku poetry contest. No, I was not among the winners, but at least I can repeat it here as a tribute to the wondrous life cycle of the OAK TREE. I've heard it said that trees serve as channels that reach upward, connecting us to the light of the sun, to the cosmos and ultimately to the heavens. And unless some hungry or acquisitive squirrel finds and needs it first, the

When you think about flowers, sensory qualities like fragile, soft or velvety petals that invite your touch come to mind. On the other hand, those in the thistle family such as the Milk Thistle bloom rather spiky and protective, you might even say...defensive. One look at the photo below says "you can't help but admire my beautiful purple color but hands off" !! This gives us a visual and tactile clue to one of its most popular actions. As a medicinal herb, Milk Thistle is

It's no wonder that the botanical name of this magnificent tree is Sequoiadendron giganteum . Anyone who has been in the presence of one...