chronicles the life of a nature lover who enjoyed connecting with loved ones and strangers. Author Martha Crowe spent much of her childhood in Oakland, California during the Great Depression, and later raised five children in Berkeley as a single mother. Adventurous in spirit, she was one of a handful of girls who took woodshop instead of cooking class in junior high school, and later built herself a cabin in the woods. Martha explored Bay Area trails, grew colorful flowers in her garden, and learned to kayak in her seventies. She expressed her vitality through various art forms; some of her beautiful artwork graces the cover of this memoir.