My first haiku

wisps of pure white
track the infinite blue
early morning sky

Bernheim keeps us in our salad days

"Salad days' is used in modern times to refer to the days of carefree innocence and pleasure of our youth. It has also been used to refer to the time of material affluence in our more mature years, when the pressures of life have begun to ease - something akin to 'the golden years'. Source: The Phrasemaker.
Last Saturday, April 12, 2008, Wren's ITO 202 opportunity was making our own salad
from nature's wild bounty. Picking redbuds, dandelion heads, violets, chickweed, and more was such a delight. The taste was far more sensually enriching that I had even imagined. "Carefree innocence and pleasure" are two states that
the NIT program often delivers. As for the "pressures of life beginning to ease", what a blessing Bernheim is in that area as well. Writer's privilege- a special note of thanks to Susan Baker, who passed up Wren's stellar opportunity in order to volunteer at Bernheijm's least-known jewel. That jewel is the aresearch library located in the horticultural building.
Dick Dennis

With much thanks to Bernheim

Today I took a nature walk that I probably would not even have thought about before Bernheim heightened all of my senses. I'm still dealing with the aftereffects of four inches of rain in the basement, including no functioning clothes dryer. This morning I took a lot of items to the commercial laundromat for drying. Nearby is a suburban office park that emphasizes its green space. At a two-acre lake I saw killdeer, red-winged blackbirds, geese, ducks, peewees, mockingbirds, and more. The red deadnettle was everywhere, as were catkins on many blossoming trees. The smells of lightly falling rain and the sounds of wildlife complimented each other very well. Two and 1/2 years ago, I would probably have stayed in the laundromat with my nose buried in a book. Thanks for keying me in to what's really fulfilling.


Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart; influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence. ~Alfred Billings Street
Dick Dennis