Muriel Vasconcellos's Blog

Eric, my companion of eight years and good friend for 18 years, died on June 14, 2015, of pneumonia and complications from stage IV non-Hodgkin’s disease. He died peacefully, full of gratitude for a life richly lived. His ashes were buried with military honors at the Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego on Friday, August 21st.

People who knew Eric will remember him for the love he showed to those he held dear, for his determination and independence, and for his wry sense of humor. He was al...

Many pundits agree that if we don’t heed the warnings all around us, the barriers we put up to protect ourselves against nature may well turn out to be our self-inflicted weapons of mass destruction.

I have long believed that these bastions we erect will be our undoing. Like the hapless people inside a besieged fortress in the Dark Ages, we are gradually walling ourselves off from the sources that sustain us. Eventually our supplies will run out. Since we can’t see the walls that we build, we...

Many pundits agree that if we don’t heed the warnings all around us, the barriers we put up to protect ourselves against nature may well turn out to be our self-inflicted weapons of mass destruction.

I have long believed that these bastions we erect will be our undoing. Like the hapless people inside a besieged fortress in the Dark Ages, we are gradually walling ourselves off from the sources that sustain us. Eventually our supplies will run out. Since we can’t see the walls that we build, we...

Márcio

I received a phone call from Brazil late last night with the news I had been dreading. My very dear friend Márcio, nephew of my late husband, is no longer with us. He had been struggling with heart disease for a long time and was once again being treated in the cardiac intensive care unit in a Belo Horizonte hospital. His family was with him in the afternoon and they had been able to communicate, but later in the night his heart gave out once and for all. He was 82. I have known him fo...

The fall weather and changing leaves reminds me of a ginkgo tree that was very special to me.

In my book Finding My Invincible Summer I write about the towering ginkgo trees on Corcoran Street where I lived in Washington, D.C. They lined both sides of the street for five blocks, casting cool shade in summer on narrow turn-of-the-century homes and cheering us in autumn with their bright yellow leaves. I’m guessing they were at least 60 feet tall and some of their trunks were nearly 3 feet acro...

The fall weather and changing leaves reminds me of a ginkgo tree that was very special to me.

In my book Finding My Invincible Summer I write about the towering ginkgo trees on Corcoran Street where I lived in Washington, D.C. They lined both sides of the street for five blocks, casting cool shade in summer on narrow turn-of-the-century homes and cheering us in autumn with their bright yellow leaves. I’m guessing they were at least 60 feet tall and some of their trunks were nearly 3 feet acros...

Yesterday my neighbors John and Liz Baker came by to tell me that our friend Douglas Holbrook had died. I couldn’t believe it. Douglas, such a force of nature, isn’t the kind of person who dies. I had talked with him for over an hour several days earlier and he seemed to be in perfect health with big plans for the future, excited about the success of his radio show, and overjoyed that his little granddaughter was going to be in San Diego. His mother was about to celebrate her 92nd birthday. H...

Wood anemone

I was struck first by the natural beauty of Jomfruland, with its views of water and impressive variety of plant life. Fresh green leaves of young and old trees contrasted brightly against the rocky terrain and wild flowers everywhere were pushing up their little faces between the stones. The island is especially known for the blankets of wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) that cover the landscape in early spring—a gift of nature that persuaded Liv Ullmann to direct the film Kristin...

Wood anemone

I was struck first by the natural beauty of Jomfruland, with its views of water and impressive variety of plant life. Fresh green leaves of young and old trees contrasted brightly against the rocky terrain and wild flowers everywhere were pushing up their little faces between the stones. The island is especially known for the blankets of wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) that cover the landscape in early spring—a gift of nature that persuaded Liv Ullmann to direct the film Kristin L...

I couldn’t have visited Norway at a better time to satisfy my horticultural addiction. Lilacs were coming into bloom and Jomfruland’s famous wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa) had not yet faded entirely. There’s a wonderful panoramic (360-degree) view of Jomfruland’s spectacular blanket of wood anemones at http://www.360cities.net/image/wood-a....

I loved the random mix of wild and cultivated flowers on the island—white, yellow, pink, and every shade of blue, lav...