Patti Wahlberg

The other morning Eric rose at about 5:30 to take the poodles out to “do business.” The day before, he had been working on digging out a stump in the front yard above the garden wall, over-looking the pond. Planning to work on it more the next day, he left the dirt piled around the … Read more

Yesterday afternoon, as we made our way back down the driveway from an errand run, and turned the final corner that approaches the Clearing, we startled a moose feeding on aquatic vegetation from the pond bottom. For a split second, as she rose from the pond, we didn’t comprehend what we were seeing. A moose! I … Read more

I know…what on earth is she talking about?? (Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.) We’ve all heard  the term, and have surely experienced the phenomenon, “bed head.”  (I have bed head at least every other day now, as shampooing and blow drying every day just takes too much time away from BEING AT … Read more

Waiting for one of these little buggers to hold still for a photo is no small exercise in patience. This swallowtail is much more cooperative.     Irises everywhere. So much beautiful color. Love this pretty flower, but I have no idea what it is called. Anyone? We were making our way down the driveway … Read more

Jack peeking out of the Pulpit.   Beautiful, deep purple lilacs.   Pretty little garter snake, out to soak up some photons after the cold rain.   Eastern newts basking in the pond.   Momma robin’s pride and joy.   As yet unidentified flying object at the Clearing…  

It has been five days since the Fateful Tick Bite, and Eric does not have an inkling of a target on his back (unless there is a figurative one for some undisclosed criminal activity I don’t know about), so we held a trial, and Betty, still having the damning evidence of Eric’s DNA hanging out … Read more

We have acquired our first tick. He (or she?) is in a plastic cup with a trivet on top. (This is in case an infection ensues—we can have the tick examined for whatever disease it might carry.) I found her (let’s assign a gender) sucking blood from Eric’s back the other sunny afternoon during “tick … Read more

It’s hard to know where to begin. First off, let me say I had planned on at least one more post before reaching our destination — something along the lines of “Keep on Trekkin’, Baby!” — with humorous stories about our adventures and poodle foibles along the way, through the Great Plains, the Mid-West, Upper … Read more

So, I guess, in a way, I’ve been “trekking towards the Clearing” since I came into the world just after midnight, during a thunderstorm, on July 30th, 1954.  During the “baby boom.” It’s rather surreal to reach the tender age of sixty, and feel you have finally found the place where you belong. I suppose everything … Read more