Hearts is a classic trick-taking card game that is easy to learn but surprisingly strategic. Unlike many card games where players try to win as many tricks as possible, in Hearts the goal is usually to avoid taking certain cards that score penalty points. The standard game is best with four players, but there are … Continue reading Playing Hearts
creativity and development
Pressing flowers
Pressing flowers is a simple, satisfying way to preserve the color, shape, and memory of a garden, bouquet, or wildflower walk. The process removes moisture slowly so petals dry flat and delicate rather than shriveling or molding. Pressed flowers can be used in framed art, bookmarks, cards, journals, candles, and handmade gifts. Choosing fresh blooms … Continue reading Pressing flowers
Making a brown paper bag book cover
Covering a book with a brown paper bag is a simple, practical project that helps protect books from scuffs, bent corners, and everyday wear. It also eliminates people from seeing the title of the book we are reading if we so desire. It can also make it easy to label the ownership of a book … Continue reading Making a brown paper bag book cover
What we love
Love is not merely an emotion. It may just be the origin of knowledge. A way of knowing. The human experience forces each of us to grapple with the labels wisdom and knowledge in so many areas of teaching including philosophical, spiritual, scientific, and artistic. Eventually these all arrive at some version of this same … Continue reading What we love
Just ask
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Keystone Becoming more confident, proactive, and open to collaboration. It's difficult to admit when we don't have all the answers or when we need assistance. Fear of rejection or … Continue reading Just ask
Herb cultivation through history
In every age and in every land, the garden has been both pharmacy and prayer, a place where human hands and the earth's own intelligence have met in quiet collaboration. Herbs have been humanity's oldest and most enduring medicine, food, and ritual offering. Long before the first physician wrote a prescription or the first pharmacist … Continue reading Herb cultivation through history
Meant to bes & have to dos
“Somewhere there is an ancient enmity between our daily lives and the great work. Help me in saying it, to understand it.”– Rainer Maria Rilke There is a profound tension between the mundane and chaotic aspects of daily life and the pursuit of significant, transformative work in each day of our lives. This "ancient enmity" … Continue reading Meant to bes & have to dos
Chooser
"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."Theodore Roosevelt Analysis Paralysis or Limitless Choices I truly value my freedom to choose my path because I think it empowers me to shape … Continue reading Chooser
Mightier still
"Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power."- Lao Tzu, Chapter 33 of the Tao Te Ching Living a life that requires an enormous amount of sustained inner resources can create the temptations to focus entirely outward, on managing circumstances and other people's needs, while … Continue reading Mightier still
Guide to safe use of herbs
A practical, reference to commonly used herbs, their safety considerations, and potential side effects. Herbs have been used for centuries across cultures as food, medicine, and ritual. Today, they remain a cornerstone of natural wellness, culinary tradition, and holistic health practices. While many herbs are gentle and widely considered safe, it is important to remember … Continue reading Guide to safe use of herbs