“Ralph and I simply stood in awe. It was as though someone had just opened his lunchbox and exposed the Hope Diamond. The word ‘priceless’ was invented for objects such as this ancient…

“‘It has to go all the way to the beginning!’ Holding her hand, I asked (carefully, because questions would arouse consternation) if she wanted me to tell her who she is and how…

“The Cerberus always had an unusual film showing, so it was almost every week that we’d go see something there. A couple of times a year, they would mount a week-long film festival,…

“Thousands . . . . There was a time when my obsessive-compulsive impulses had me determined to get one of every kind; fortunately, my obsession expired before my financial resources.”—William A. Balk, Jr.…

  “Summer’s heat brings changes. The exuberant flush of wild growth and mad flowering, the unstoppable compulsion to reproduce that defines callow springtime, gives way to a slower-paced savoring of the gifts of…

“In modern times, the work of plant explorers has not disappeared. In the last century, over a thousand previously unknown species of orchid have been found in Ecuador alone! Great plant hunters like…

“Paisley became the center for the largest production of these fancy Victorian manufactured shawls, lending its name to the pattern motif so strongly identified with the shawls woven there. That ‘Paisley’ pattern immediately…

“I would often be left under the watchful care of the young dog, by now an adult but still unbred, while my parents and grandparents busied themselves with their responsibilities. Still unable to…

  “Once again, I was without heroes, and I was becoming quite cynical about the entire idea of heroism. As I became increasingly involved in civil rights work and in the anti-war movement,…

“The gardener’s role is never completed: there is always something needing attention and, at every turn, there are rewards—joys, gifts—for the gardener that make it easier to get off one’s lazy behind.”—William A.…