Monarch butterfly being released at Monarch Fest, Indian Creek Nature Center, July 13. As time goes on, life changes. And that darn plant has become more dangerous to me. On July 13, my wife and I, along with a grandson, attended the Monarch Festival at the Indian Creek Nature Center. You had to register in advance for a caterpillar to adopt, and both my wife and daughter had done so. So, now we have a caterpillar and they (my daughter and grandson) have a caterpillar, and that’s nice. I have not seen many Monarchs this summer, and it was thrilling to go to a place where so many of them took t ..read more

Summer in the gardens–Shasta Daisies. There is a time of minor decision-making breakdown in my gardening life—each year when the local HyVee Drugstore puts its perennial plants on sale. I went there earlier this week to pick up a prescription refill, and noted the plant sale sign. Like catnip to a feline, I found it irresistible. To mix the metaphor, I was like Pavlov’s dogs, salivating as the bell rang. That day, my wife and I were watching two grandsons, and I went home and told my wife the news. “Do you want to get some plants?” she asked. It was a silly question, because she is subject to ..read more

Peony in bloom May 25. May 26–Visit to family in Mahtomedi, MN. S’mores underway. The final summer—not forever, even for me, I hope, but 2024 is the last summer of its type, for me. The penultimate school year came to its close a few weeks ago. And now, for me, summer is starting So far, it’s been a pretty busy summer of family visits—but a pleasant kind of busy, very different from “school” busy. I usually feel I have to actively savor the few weeks of break summer represents between the intense school semesters. And yes, I had a working life before becoming a professor, so I understand that ..read more

Dandelion seed on May 4, before the first mow of the year, which was May 9. May 15—it’s not exactly halfway there, what with 31 days an all, but we’re about that far into May. And today feels a bit more like June than May. My phone says 73, but it’s a bit humid and mostly sunny, so it’s a warm 73. Usually, by June, I’m getting anxious to see the first Monarch Butterfly. Not this year. I turned in grades yesterday, so today felt a bit like the first day of summer break for me—and I was doing a summer thing, trimming some bushes and mowing the lawn. As I gathered debris from the lawn prior to mo ..read more

Dr. Joshua Hochschild, middle, speaks with Dr. Adam Myers, assistant professor of philosophy, and Dr. Todd Olson, president of MMU. Dr. Hoschschild let a workshop on liberal arts in education. Like many universities, the one that I teach at lists “critical thinking” as one of its core goals for educating students. That is, a student’s experience at Mount Mercy University is meant to help them think critically about their life and the world. It’s not the answer to life, the universe and everything (42); it’s more a way to approach the “big questions.” And I firmly buy into that idea—that the li ..read more

April 21–Song pauses as singer grabs some fuel. I went out to get my newspaper Sunday morning, and there was a nice chittering chatter, a busy, boisterous loud bird song that sounded familiar. There was no mystery. I’m not an expert in bird calls, but this is a tune I’ve heard many times before in exactly this place. About 15 years ago, my wife and I planted a Birch tree in our front yard. And, singing his heart out, was a male Goldfinch near the top of the tree. I know that the state bird of Iowa is a seed eater—it especially favors thistle seeds—but what I didn’t know is that it can enjoy a ..read more

April 15–Tulips have joined daffodils in my backyard gardens. There I was, between the heavens and the earth, perched and pulling on an object that looked like it could take me out. It was Saturday, the second Saturday of April, a spring day that was giving Iowa a taste of summer. Temperatures that seem normal in the first week of June, with the thermometer flirting with 80, bright sunshine—all in all, a pretty day. Almost four years ago, a derecho storm blew through Cedar Rapids, wreaking havoc with sustained winds over 100 mph. We lost a giant ash tree, a magnificent old maple and much of th ..read more

I was asked, for a general faculty meeting April 8, 2024 at Mount Mercy University, to do the “opening reflection.” The invite came the Thursday before, so I didn’t have a lot of time, but I immediately thought of a song that I have played in classes for students. So I wrote the following: You don’t need a journalist to like me to tell you the news: these are difficult times on The Hill. It’s easy to become discouraged—so, I wanted to play a song for you by one of my favorite contemporary bands, a song that I find full of hope; one that I often play for students during the first week of class ..read more

March 30–Dandelion in bloom on back wall, visited by small bee. Little call back to “Jesus Christ, Superstar,” which we used to watch every Easter season. What with one thing and another, we didn’t get the movie watched this year—but there was still some Easter buzzing. On Thursday, a daughter’s family made the drive down from the Twin Cities. The weekend was a bit of a pleasing whirlwind—family outings, two bike rides with a Tag-A-Long seat for a young grandson, an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. On Saturday morning, we went to Monticello to the Creative Adventure Lab–worth the drive if you ..read more

March 22–Snow falls on backyard bird feeders. Well, that was a surprise. They had forecast a winter storm would pass north of Cedar Rapids today, with several inches of snow in the northern tier of Iowa counties. In Cedar Rapids, we were to see some snow and rain. But the track of the snow, as it sometimes does, shifted at the last minute, and the temperature stayed just cold enough. The rain came last night, and then we got an unexpected generous serving of wet snow this morning. And as big as that surprise was, it was, for me, one of the minor surprises this week brought. The morning scene F ..read more