The last five years I spent a lot of time enjoying my Mom's company and helping her out. This March she passed away. Although she needed some practical help with day to day things, she was so wise and I miss her.

this past year, too, I have noticed a big change in two of my friends. I am reminded of the AA milne poem about the two bears where one got better and one got worse. One friend was always sharp and critial. Now she is in love and has really grown up. The other was a total Pollyanna, always seeing the bright side, and now she is bitter and critical. Either way, I always seem to be in the middle! Well, i guess that hasn't changed!!!!

Well, I have 13 Lucky stories at associated Content (The link is on my profile page) and I was hoping to make it 14...but they turned down this one. That's OK, because I haven't put anything here of any length for a while, so I can let all my friends at Gaia know what I have been thinking about lately...more later...

I wish it were spring. I am not usually like this, but rather enjoy each season as it comes for its normal duration. But this year I am ready for a change. When it was cloudy on Groundhog's day I declared it an early spring and started to where shorts and T-shirt - at least indoors. But, alas, it is not spring and there is nothing I can do about the falling snowy and icy winds except dream - and read. The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart hits just the right tone as a harbinger of warmer weather.

I found the slim volume at my local library. The cover shows a cross section of rich earth topped with green grass and a bit of blue sky. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina Hill published it in 2004. Subtitled " On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms," Stewart reintroduces the reader to the lowly, hardworking earthworm. Through the works of scientist as famous and as well known as Charles Darwin, to lesser known with unassuming names like Sam James, a whole new worm emerges. Worms are proven to be a giant within the soil community, intelligent, friendly, a world-traveler, ardent lover, and even a ruthless invader.

Throughout the book Stewart takes the reader to worm labs, field studies and even a worm-shaped worm museum. Poets and Philosophers are quoted as well as scientists, creating just the right blend of fact and fancy in each chapter. But to the gardener, or anyone who longs for spring, it is the author's own insight that keeps the text moving. A dedicated composter, she is able to describe their likes and dislikes. Each chapter begins with her personal observations of this creature she has become so fond of. Then she explores some larger scientific question on the role of the worm in the larger ecosystem. Throughout the book there are many practical tips for gardeners or farmers, whether large scale or small. She even investigates the "spiritual" worm. The worm, according to quote she uses of Thoreau, does not "forward to summer. We do not avoid evil by fleeing before it, but by rising above or diving below its plane; as the worm escapes drought or frost by boring a few inches deeper."

Yes, the worm certainly makes the groundhog fleeing from his shadow look pretty silly. And seen through a worm's eye, that cheery robin is a mortal enemy. Looking for signs of spring? After reading Amy Stewart's The Earth Moved, I know what I'll be looking for. "Ah, it must be spring! I've seen my first earthworm!"