INSPIRED by mary anne radmacher

Dispatch from a Dolphin:  The Friendly Factor I’m told that understanding the nature of friendliness is important to humans. Apparently there are two creatures on the planet that are considered friendlier than me: Capybara and Dog. Humans absolutely delight me - their many contradictions are absolutely fascinating. Capybara. A rodent that can grow to nearly 200 pounds and eat oh, around 8 pounds of food. A day! Rodents such as mice and rats don’t eat nearly that amount and are much smaller and more manageable to have around and yet humans don’t seem nearly as fond of rats as they are of Capybara. Dog. Although I’ve heard tell of a Chihuahua or two that didn’t seem especially friendly, I agree that Dog, generally, is really one of the friendliest creatures that comes to mind. Apparently Dolphin comes in third. I am more playful than I am competitive, so I am perfectly content with third place. I wouldn’t want to be land bound anyway so I’ve never wished much to be able to walk. If y...

  mary anne radmacher   < maryanneradmacher7@gmail.com > 12:12 PM (1 hour ago) to  me Lemon grass has gone global. You will find our origins in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand evidenced by being intrinsic to their cuisines. You may mistake me for an ordinary sort of grass, but don’t let what looks like one thing dissuade you from the possibility of something else being true. At the risk of sounding like I’m bragging,  I am not only not ordinary I am rather extraordinary. I am not content just to look and smell pretty, I am nutritional, medicinal and antibacterial. Just my presence near human habitation dissuades mosquitoes from coming around. I am aromatic. I’m used in soaps, perfumes, cosmetics, teas, cleaning products and astringents. I’m tasty, too.  People around around the world use me in delicious dishes. Numerous traditional teas include lemongrass and insist that my anti-inflammatory and immune supporting benefits are measurable. I even play a par...

 Synopsis From Sand Oh my, there are so many things that I could summarize about the role that sand plays  in the universe. I will keep this letter as brief as I can. Let me first start with some foundational sand foot prints! I know beach sand and river sand just looks like a gazillion particles that are all the same. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Did you know that in spite of it looking like it’s all the same sand is made up of, among many other things, quartz crystal, shells, see urchin spines, coral and all kinds of hard bits from creature bodies? Here’s some other interesting bits - • Sand is a non-renewable resource. The only way to get more sand is time. Lots of time. Some speculate that it will take about 80 million years to get more sand. That’s why technically it’s called nonrenewable… Who can wait around 80 million years for more sand to show up? • Beach and fossil sand is used in concrete to the measure of approximately between 30 and 50,000,000,000 (that’...

A Helpful Hello from Hibiscus Hello on behalf of hibiscus. We are a hearty and perseverant family of plants. We try diligently to return to our beautiful blooms every spring after our winter sabbatical. We thrive in warm environments so those of you who shelter us indoors for the winter… Thank you for your hospitality. There are over 200 members of this Malvaceae family (did you know okra has a spot on my family tree?). We grow globally in tropical and subtropical climate. We’ve influenced some artists and even fashion designers with our beauty. Don’t let our outward appearance fool you, we are not just another pretty face. Humans have used our blooms, in fact all of us, to sustain and improve their health and environment for a very long time, longer than my memory is rooted. We are fortunate to not have issues with over exposure to the sun as humans do. The more sun for us the better. Wind is another matter and we appreciate being kept from it as much as possible. We get our commo...