Root out of Jesse. Root cause. Root position of a chord on a piano. Root of all evil. Root ball. Root like an armadillo. Root canal…. So much we can do with the word “root.” How about “root crown”? Or “crown of roots”? I have never heard of it either, but I saw one. It was, in fact, a root ball. Or had been. The tree it once anchored had long fallen and yielded its foundation to the sea. And the sun had bleached and the waves had tumbled and polished and returned this thing of the land to the…

Hypselonotus punctiventris. But surely you have a more graceful name than this clunky scientific one given you by humans. Look at you! Who put that pinkish, coralish blush on your wings? Those rings around your legs and bands around your antennae? That elegant cascade of stripes from your shoulder blades? But of course we know, #worthy creature of divine love. It is you who teaches us whose handiwork you are.

Remember that riddle that so delighted you as a child? “What’s black and white and red all over?” A newspaper, of course! Thank goodness for homonyms. (But how many kids today have even seen a newspaper?!) Here’s a new one for you: What’s human made and nature made and permeated by a single principle? Answer: just about everything. The principle I have in mind shows up over and over again in our mathematics, our art and architecture, as a research tool.., and not only that but creation itself. The Fibonacci theory is a life-inspired creation of mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci in…

Hey, little crab, do you know…? Do you know that you are an artist tracing intricate patterns as you scuttle to and fro your little #house in the black sand? Do you see with your tiny black eyes on stalks a fellow creature towering over you? Did I earn your trust that you have held your ground to gaze back at me? Do you know the divine love that created you and me? And that knows us intimately? Not to mention every grain of sand where we stand!