Larisa A. White

@larisa-a-white.com

6320 Followers 1325 Following

M.S.Ed., Ph.D. • Indie scholar • Author • Teaching the power & joy of learning • Ecosystem restorationist (California) • /|\ Offering books & courses on the Art & Science of Human Learning at: https://larisa-a-white.com

Book cover for "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning" by Larisa A. White
Author reading from her new book, "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning." She sits on a high stool, on a Persian carpet, with a small lectern off to one side. In the background: a window looking out on an oak tree.
Three stacks of crisp new books, hot off the presses. One, facing forward, shows the book cover of "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning" by Larisa A. White, M.S.Ed., Ph.D.
One giant, ripe yellow lemon fills the hands of an adult woman.
A hardcover edition of the new book, "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning," on an oak table. An open notebook, pen, and colored pencils surround the book, ready for note-taking. Cover image is of a great, fruiting tree of knowledge, with roots reaching deep into a word-art "soil" of all the fields of human knowledge. A child reads a giant book, while sitting at the foot of the tree. A young woman climbs the hill, reaching for the fruit of wisdom.
A hardcover edition of the new book, "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning," on an oak table. An open notebook, pen, and colored pencils surround the book, ready for note-taking. Cover image is of a great, fruiting tree of knowledge, with roots reaching deep into a word-art "soil" of all the fields of human knowledge. A child reads a giant book, while sitting at the foot of the tree. A young woman climbs the hill, reaching for the fruit of wisdom.
Ripe, sun-warmed blueberries on a bush, ready for plucking.
Book cover for "Understanding Matters: A Guide to Human Learning," by Larisa A White. Cover image shows a great fruit-bearing tree, rooted in a hill if 'soil' composed of all the fields of human knowledge. A child sits at the foot of the tree, reading a large book. A woman climbs the hill of knowledge, reaching for the fruit of wisdom, and encouraging the child to join her in the quest for understanding.
Two quart-sized stainless steel bowls on an oak table. One is brimming with ripe, Santa Rosa plums, the other with fresh-picked blueberries.
A stream flows along the bottom of a driftwood & boulder-strewn ravine, next to a sandstone cliff. Chaparral plants, and a few trees and houses line the cliff top.
Blueberries starting to ripen on a rain-drenched bush.
Along the edge of a sidewalk, a field of green dotted with yellow-centered, white-tipped Tidy Tips wildflowers.
View over the waters of the Belmont Slough, from a grassy hill shaded by coast live oaks. Seabirds nesting in the distance.
A procession of modern Druids, in the Humboldt Redwoods.
AI slop design evident in stitched corner of a supposedly Celtic knot-work pattern of a tree if life.
The first of our California poppies, just unfurling its lemon-yellow joy-bomb.
A thorny, overgrown, green thicket of Rosa californica, about to be cut back.
9-count white Aida fabric stitched with the lower right corner of the Celtic Tree of Life.
A freshly baked, pineapple upside-down cake cools on a foil-wrapped cutting board.
One more image of the slowly growing patch of multi-colored cross stitch, which will one day illustrate the tree of life. Can just begin to make out the twining, Celtic roots that will form the outer circle of the image, with patches of what look to be blue water.
First block of stitching showing one tiny corner of a cross-stitched Tree of Life pattern.
A brightly colored lawn ornament in the shape of a bird, having its back-end cleaned with a jet of water.
Pretty little yellow flowers growing in a bed of oxalis.
Close up of an orange tree, heavy with ripe fruit awaiting harvest.
One tiny corner of a giant cross-stitch pattern for a stained glass Tree of Life, stitched on 9-ct Aida fabric.
A hardcover edition of the book, World Druidry, sits on an oak table, surrounded by dried flowers and a dish of candy.
A joyful spray of pink magnolias brighten a deep blue, January sky.
First blossoms to open on a pink-flowering currant bush, hanging like a pendant under a tiny new leaf.
A brightly colored rainbow arcs across grey skies, between two wet, green trees.
A single row of 80 half cross-stitches worked in bright yellow on black 22-count Aida fabric. The stitches are worked in groups of ten, with ten empty stitches between each group, to serve as a measuring/counting guide for a counted cross-stitch pattern.
A rubber duck in the shape of "Bob" the Minion sits on a wooden desk next to a computer keyboard and mouse. A book manuscript is shown on a computer screen in the background.
A girl and her father holding orphaned goslings, on a Canadian farm. A pair of ultralight planes lead a string of geese south across a deeply colored autumn sunset.
A birch wood, floor stand with an embroidery frame, and a blank piece of muslin await the artist, next to a bentwood rocking chair, on a Persian carpet.
A Yule tree, decorated with acorns, mushrooms, birch logs, butterflies, and birds, shines in the night, with a reflection in the windowpane behind it.
Heavy fog obliterates the view of nearby hills, and adorns the trees with dripping mist.
A burial niche at Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens, NYC. Displayed behind a crystal pane of glass: a burial urn made of finely crafted natural wood, a portrait of Ernest J. Naples, a crystal sailboat, architect's slide-rule, and brass plane for fine woodworking.
My DaD.
Golden afternoon sunlight filters down through the canopy of a redwood forest.
A giant, dark metal, deep-dish-pizza pan filled with water and a few flat rocks sits atop a terra-cotta planter, creating a bird bath nestled among blueberry bushes.
A hardbound copy of "World Druidry: A Globalizing Path of Nature Spirituality" by Larisa A. White, on an oak coffee table, surrounded by flowers and a dish of candy.
Copper rain chain of beaten cups, flowing with rainwater. A delicate-leaved pink peppercorn tree glistens in the background.
Four jars of fresh-made firethorn jelly cooling on a cookie rack. Two of the jars are back-lit by a flashlight, to show off the ruby- red color.
10 cups of firethorn tea, stored in two half-gallon mason jars.
Giant pot of pyracantha berries, washed and ready for jelly-making.
Photo of the NYC 5th Ave Public Library exhibit of the stuffed animals that inspired the original tales of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh.
Sunrise seen through towering pines, growing on the mountain slopes above Lake Tahoe
A golden sun sinks into the Pacific Ocean, seen from a cliff top path overlooking the sandy beach. Backlit seed heads glow white in the foreground.
A hardbound copy of the book, "World Druidry: A Globalizing Path of Nature Spirituality" by Larisa A. White, M.S.Ed., Ph.D., sits on an oak table surrounded by dried lavender flowers and a dish of candy.
Close-up of a real Elegant Clarkia blossom
A birch leaf, back-lit and haloed by the sun, showing details of leaf veining in sharp contrast to blurred branches, twigs, and distant foliage.
A crochet lace rendering of a blue flax flower.
A lace crochet rendition of the native California wildflower known as Tidy Tips.
A crochet hook with colorful embroidery floss and a half-finished Tidy Tips flower, and a mug with the phrase "Be a goldfish/Ted Lasso" sit on a wooden table. In the background: a computer screen showing ocean waves.
One copy of the hard-bound book, "World Druidry: A Globalizing Path of Nature Spirituality," sits on an oak table, surrounded by dried flowers and a dish of hard candy. The book cover contains photographs of modern Druids of various persuasions, and the landscapes in which they live and practice.
Tidy Tips Crochet Pattern (version 2.0) Worked in DMC Embroidery Floss, using a #4 sized crochet hook. Colors used: #741 (center); #742 (petals); BLANC (tips) Flower Center: ch4, sl st to close ring. 1st rnd: 8 sc in ring. 2nd rnd: 2sc in each sc. Tie off. Flower Petals: 3rd rnd: (begin petals): Work around the center, in back loops: (ch3, 3dc in same stitch, sl st down side of petal to its base, sl st in next 4 sc); repeat 3X to make 4 petals in back loops); sl st into front loop of same sc. Work around the center again, in front loops: (sl st in next 4 sc to reach center of gap between two back-loop petals; ch3, 3dc in same stitch, sl st down side of petal to its base); repeat 3X to make 4 petals in front loops; sl st into back loop of same sc. 4th rnd: (2nd row on petals) Work around the center, in back loops: (sl st up side of petal, ch3, 1dc in each of next 3 dc, sl st down side of petal, sl st in base; sl st in 4 back loops to reach next back-loop petal); repeat 3X to add 2nd row to 4 back-loop petals; sl st into front loop. Work around center again, in front loops: (sl st in 4 front loops to reach next front-loop petal. sl st up side of petal, ch3, 1dc in each of next 3 dc, sl st down side of petal, sl st in base); repeat 3X to add 2nd row to 4 front-loop petals. Tie off. White Tips: [Join White to top of petal. (sc, ch, dc, ch, sc) in each dc of petal, to make 3 lobed tips. Tie off.] Repeat 7X to add white tips to 8 petals.
A lace crochet rendering of the Tidy Tips flower.
Image of a sepia parchment with the following instructions: Tidy Tips Crochet Pattern (version 1.0) Worked in Aunt Lydia’s Cotton Crochet Thread, Fashion 3, in Maize, White, Copper Mist, and Coffee, using a “B” sized crochet hook. In Maize: ch4, sl st to close ring. 1st rnd: 8 sc in ring. 2nd rnd: 2sc in each sc. 3rd rnd: (begin petals): (ch3, 3dc in same stitch, sl st down side of petal to its base, sl st in next 2 sc) repeat 7X to make 8 petals. 4th rnd: (2nd row of petals) (sl st up side of petal, ch3, 1dc in each of next 3 dc, sl st down side of petal, sl st in base) repeat 7X to add 2nd row to all 8 petals. Tie off Maize. Weave in ends. (Join White to top of 1st petal. sc, hdc, sc in each dc of petal to make 3 lobed tips Tie off White. Weave in ends.) Repeat 8X to add white lobed tips to each petal. With tapestry needle, sew random “brown flecks” in flower center, using Copper Mist and Coffee colored crochet thread.
Photo of a lace-crochet approximation of a Tidy Tips flower.
The great fog bank of summer pours over the ridge line of mountains blanketed in conifers, into the blue water of a reservoir. Mixed evergreen broad-leafed trees in the foreground.
A shark swims across the blue-ocean spines of a 22-volume set of World Book Encyclopedias.