Jackie Leishman (Featured Artist)
Her work reads from across the room and rewards sustained looking.
Polly Castor
New Blog Design is Now in Operation
This blog has now switched over to its updated design that will support it going forward.
Corn Risotto (Recipe)
This is super yummy and not hard to do. You can use frozen corn off season with equal results.
Renovating our Side Porch (Before and After Photos)
I’m so grateful to have this humble space back in operation, and it is an especially lovely time of year to be out there right now.
Days are Getting Shorter (New Poem by Polly Castor with Photos)
Let’s relish this turning inward, this harvest time of hope, by being outside to marvel at it all.
Cornell 7 and Rape Culture (Bits and Clips)
A week ago I posted a sad poem about so many Jane Does as a response to the appalling news of the Cornell 7 gang rape of an unconscious girl. All week I have thought it was an insufficient response. Since then, I’ve seen more useful content that is worth sharing, and I didn’t want … Read more
Vegetable Curry with Cod (Recipe)
This is nourishing. It is not hard to make and comes together quickly.
Shady Hollow Series (Book Review)
These are the epitome of a “cosy mystery.” I found them delightfully entertaining. You follow Vera Vixen, who is a fox, and the town’s journalist, as she solves local murders.
Into the Autumn Field (New Landscape Painting in Oil)
I love painting outside in the fall, and it is so fun to get to use my cadmiums! They’ve just done the haying the hill, so the field is bare. It’s the place to be but getting there is gorgeous too.
Sunset Quote by Elizabeth Strout (with Sunset Photos)
At times these days I think of the way the sun would set on the farmland around our small house in the autumn.
Holy Peace (Poem by Danna Faulds)
Nothing to run from or run toward. Just this breath, awareness knowing itself as embodiment. Just this breath, awareness waking up to truth.
Dolly All the Time (Book Review)
This is what my book friends call a “palette cleanser” and sometimes you need an easy read with a happy ending.
For all the Jane Does (Poem by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)
Walking through the rain-damp grass, cool morning air startles me into being, and I realize how the news of violence against women has numbed me.
Growth Changes (New Poem by Polly Castor)
Growth Changes Our ancestors lived organically, freely sprawling out of the fertile soil. My generation exists hydroponically, efficiently enclosed, with our feet in water. The next generation are air plants, trying to thrive on mere mist and humidity. How and on what will their children live? We all need the sun, and to photosynthesize, but … Read more
Bits and Clips for September 2026
I hope you find something among all this artwork, photography, memes, links, and quotes that spurs you on, informs, inspires, supports, educates, encourages or motivates you.