Writer Gary Czerwinski has created a small inspirational gem with an artist's eye for the unique and a teacher's gift to share.

From the first yellow buds of spring forsythia to the last snowflakes of winter, "Appreciating the Simple" celebrates the often-overlooked common occurrences of everyday life.

These short reflections, rich in poetic prose and rooted in the American tradition of Thoreau, provide just the right amount of pause in our hectic lives to reacquaint us with a sense of hope and solitude in nature, home, garden and family.

In his second volume of short essays, Gary Czerwinski continues to delight his growing audience of readers with wit and a keen sense of understanding and reverence for both Nature and Human Nature.

With his usual gift of the "heart felt," and language that is often "vivid and poetic," Czerwinski celebrates the simple virtues of the seasons, reminds us what politics and America should be about, and makes us laugh at our own foibles as he talks about his own.

Here we are introduced to the on-going character of Edna Hill who, in her 70's, loses her husband. Faced with the confusion of...