By Cynthia Brian “The beauty of the season will grow wherever seeds of love are planted. “ ~ Euripides February derives from the Latin word februa, which means “to cleanse”. The Romans fêted Februalia, a month-long purification and atonement festival, annually occurring during the wettest and dreariest of days of the year. In California, February opens the floodgates of rain with weather that is overcast and cold. Thankfully, not everything is dreary and gray. We attribute lo

“A dreamer dreams that everyone else in his dream must awaken before he can awaken.” ~ Ramana Maharshi After my column, the Power of RE was published, I received numerous positive comments about how readers were implementing RE into their lives. It is gratifying to know that people read my articles, but I’ve always wondered what people do with the information they receive. Orinda resident, Kathy Boyle, showed me. She wrote: “I was intrigued by your ideas in your Lamorinda Wee

The Power of RE By Cynthia Brian Take a deep breath of life and consider how it should be lived. ~Miguel de Cervantes A new year, great cheer, time to eliminate the fear of getting dirty and starting a garden. So many people confide to me that they have “brown thumbs”. I don’t believe it is possible. There are only those who have not tried, tried again. There is no failure in the garden. Failure is fertilizer. Every time I have a plant that does not do well, I send it to the

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.” Charles Dickens It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Every December I utter these same words and each Christmas seems to come earlier than the previous year. Where do the seconds, minutes, hours, days, years go? When I was a child doing my best to be nice instead of naughty, Christmas took forever to arrive. Today, Rudolph and his sleigh are on fast forward. We have officially entered the season of winter.

https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1321/Digging-Deep-with-Cynthia-Brian-Tis-the-Season.html By Cynthia Brian “Down came the rain and washed the spider out!” Toddler song Halleluiah! It is raining…and raining, and raining. It was indeed a blessed Thanksgiving weekend as the heavens finally opened and life-giving tears spilled from the sky. Our grounds have been so parched that even the amended clay soil is as hard as cement. The start of the rainy season means it is

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 With the power disruptions and fire fears of October in our rearview mirrors, we welcome November with open arms and grateful hearts. It won’t be long before the rains arrive. Driving or walking throughout the region, we witness a marvelous display of fall foliage as leaves on many deciduous trees turn from green to saffron to tangerine to crimson before dropping to the ground. Time

by Cynthia Brian “Starry, starry night Flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze.” Don McLean In 1889, post-impressionist, Vincent Van Gogh, painted one of his most memorable paintings, The Starry Night, as he looked out of his asylum east window. On October 10, 2019, when I looked out our east window, the starry night was aglow with flames and they were not the brightly blaze of flaming flowers. Normally, I look forward to the month October because o

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” F. Scott Fitzgerald P.G.E. has informed the community that the power may be shut off for 48 hours at a time due to high gusty winds and dry conditions. Obviously, this doesn’t make me happy because if there is no electricity, there is no internet connection on my computer. Without an internet connection, I can’t submit my articles and photographs to the newspaper. I’m not one to use my cell phone for my writing or p

Cynthia Brian’s Gardening Guide for October https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1316/Cynthia-Brians-Gardening-Guide-for-October-Benvenuto-to-Butchart-Gardens.html by Cynthia Brian “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables O Canada! After a hot summer of weeding, pruning, mowing, cleaning, composting, and tidying my plots, traveling to Victoria in British Columbia was a welcome respite. Despite the cold and incleme

https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1315/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Fall-forward-and-waste-not.html by Cynthia Brian “And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” Oscar Wilde In the fall of my freshman year at UCLA, I began working at one of the very first health food stores ever created in California. It was called Nature’s Health Cove and all the offerings were organic: pesticide, insecticide, and colorant-free. The fruits and vegetables were

by Cynthia Brian “Digging the garden, tending the weeds. Who could ask for more?” John Lennon and Paul McCartney Because I enjoy consuming copious amounts of greens, I have been called a rabbit. When I prepare meals, I use large quantities of herbs, leaves, and juices that emanate freshly harvested from my garden. Long ago my son deemed that I added “weeds” to my menus because basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, parsley, cilantro, oregano, fennel, mint, lovage, and, yes, the occasi

https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1313/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Controlled-chaos.html Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian by Cynthia Brian “When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”~ Buddha There is only one certainty in the garden: it is never finished. Gardens evolve, change, mutate, and metamorphose. A landscape that was once very ordered and manicured quickly turns into a

by Cynthia Brian “…many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth.” Charles Darwin Twenty-three honeybees, ten lady beetles, five lizards, three frogs, and several spiders. Within two hours on a very hot day this past week, the rescue count from the swimming pool kept mounting. I was afraid to leave the water lest more of my garden friends would drown. It’s summer and the flying

by Cynthia Brian “There are few things so pleasant as a picnic eaten in perfect comfort.” W. Somerset Maugham Perhaps because I practiced interior design as a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers (A.S.I.D.) for twenty-five years, or perhaps because my gardener mother always created gorgeous, casual, and delicious summer gatherings, my style of summer outdoor entertaining has always included color, surprises, and fun. With the lovely warm weather,

By Cynthia Brian “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul” John Muir How often are you outdoors? Are you spending most of your time sitting in a chair staring at your computer screen? Do you feel lethargic, tired, and anxious? You are not alone and help could be right outside your door. In today’s technological world, many people, including children, are increasingly living their lives in

“As the scent to the rose, are those memories to me." Amelia C. Welby Cooler weather has bidden a sweet goodbye, and warmer days beckon us to linger outdoors. My garden is ablaze with blooms and the aromas of scrumptious scents. My daughter Heather Brittany, also an avid gardener, is visiting and wants to learn more by walking through the landscape with me. However, on this occasion, I am the student and she is the teacher as we stroll through the perfumed botanicals. Heather

“Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.” Juvenal Excited about the glorious weather at the beginning of May, I spent two days getting out the patio furniture from storage, washing it thoroughly, and adding fresh, comfy pads to the chaises and chairs. My husband power-washed the patio on Mother’s Day as I hung the double hammocks and finished the outdoor decorating in preparation for family barbecues and garden gatherings. My entire landscape had exploded with mag

“Do what you can for as long as you can and when you can’t, do the next best thing.” Chuck Yeager Back in 1999 when I was co-authoring what became a New York Times bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul with Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and my new writer colleagues, besides the chapters that we penned, over five thousand submissions were mailed to us from around the world as possible story inclusions. Five of us diligently read every contribution judging the c

We’re all animals who are interdependent on each other. When we work to protect wildlife, we are fighting for the protection of the environments in which they live. When we protect those environments, we’re protecting them for the survival of the human (homo sapien) species as well. Journalist and author of Rescuing Ladybugs, Jennifer Skiff talks with Cynthia Brian about her book showcasing people who have shown extraordinary compassion for other animals. What’s the differenc