Author Archives: Kim & Jim

October 19, 2015. I recently spent a tawny fall weekend on Minnesota’s North Shore.  It was the last possible weekend to see any color—already many of the trees were bare, and the birch leaves had achieved that sere, deep yellow-gold … Continue reading →

September 28, 2015.  Today was a big day for us: my daughter Pippa released the two Spring Peepers she has raised from tadpoles.  It was a beautiful fall day, warm and sunny.  We took them to a patch of woods … Continue reading →

I was sure I could boil 40,000 words down to 1600…but, alas, I couldn’t do it.  So here’s the third installment of my musings on the Pope’s Encyclical, “On Care for our Common World.” What is it, then, that will … Continue reading →

Everybody loves Pope Francis it seems.  His defense of the least defended of humanity’s billions, his scolding of those who pursue wealth and power for its own sake, his surprising tolerance of the human condition despite his own Church’s tradition … Continue reading →

July 9, 2015.  Staying on the seventh floor of Chicago’s Water Tower Place Hilton, I found a printed note on the desk: We request that you do not open your windows in your suite during this time to avoid the … Continue reading →

June 27, 2015.  I just got back from a family vacation to the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park—a perfect example of the interconnections between nature and culture.  The park is at one and the same time a shrine to the … Continue reading →

June 30, 2015.  This is a blowfly on my milkweed plant in front of my house.  Culturally, we associate milkweed with the regal Monarch butterfly, whose story fascinates us:  the beautiful orange butterfly makes a heroic journey every fall, travelling … Continue reading →

May 29, 2015.  Reading in today’s Detroit News that the food industry—comprised in growing part of growers who deliver not just fruits and vegetables for which Michigan has always been famous—but also meats, salsas and sauces, pickles and breads, honey … Continue reading →