Gardens are our human oases to relax and enjoy nature. That doesn’t mean one has to do all the work that comes along with a plot of land, no matter the size, it can be a public park! When we visit cities, at some point, we’re all ready to walk

Martha Ressler 5-3 There are so many possibilities for Urban nature. Community gardens, roof gardens, parks, green spaces, and back yards are all dear to my heart. I’ve been influenced by Doug Tallamy’s work promoting the benefit of people’s  individual yards when planted with native plants as an invitation to

From October 9th to 12th, the International Quilt Festival was held at the Huston convention, and I went to see it. Huston is easy to get to and from Japan because it has direct flights from Japan, so many Japanese people also participate in this event. During the event, I

Its Springtime in New Zealand and the blossom is in full flight everywhere. Its so pretty! The juxtaposition of the beautiful blossom against hard architecture of buildings tends to soften the view and make it more pleasing to the eye. However, after our major earthquakes in Christchurch in 2010/2011, I

In 2023 I walked a pilgrimage route. It was a journey of 300 kilometers and I took 18 days for it. The route started in Porto (Portugal) and ended in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). During this route, I walked past an abandoned house one morning. The blue flowers I saw

Urban Nature is a terrific prompt It recalls a story of resilience We used to walk every morning along the boundary fence of the Emirates Palace hotel. The Emirates Palace is a lavish and iconic hotel, set on a stunning site on the shores of the Arabian Gulf. It took

I have lived on a rural property since 1981 but I have many relatives living in the city.  I am always grateful to come home after a visit to “the big smoke”.  No traffic, no smog, no noise; we haven’t heard a siren out here since the last time there

Urban Nature is our prompt for our next round of art. It was inspired by my new urban environment. After 19 years of living rurally we are now city dwellers. We live in a busy area of Vancouver surrounded by houses although we feel somewhat secluded because of the trees