I've been getting a free subscription to Better Homes and Gardens magazine and also Southern Living. I love getting magazines. It's just something nice to break up the never ending cycle of junk and bills (blech!). My problem with these particular magazines is that they feature absolutely gorgeous gardens. And that makes me hate my yard.
Well, hate is a pretty strong word. After all, I have great space for my girls and my husband is king of the mower so it's always trim, but it needs . . . something. Something to replace these terrible boxy bushes that add no whimsy or color.
So sad. Notice too my little attempt at sprucing things up. Yup. Those are little piles of grass and weeds from underneath. That's a big deal for me by the way . . .
My girls of course are typical children who love to dig in the dirt and my 3-year old in particular LOVES LOVES LOVES flowers. We spend a great deal of time smelling flowers wherever we find them -- yards, Walmart, doctor's offices. You name it, fake or real -- they must be sniffed!
Since I think it will be NEXT YEAR that will be the year of the garden, in the meantime, we enjoy some delightful gardening books:
Karma Wilson is the same author of the Bear books -- Bear Snores On, Bear Feels Scared, etc. Love them. A lot. This is her 2nd Mortimer book (or maybe her first, I'm not sure), but the other one is about Christmas. In Mortimer's First Garden, Mortimer watches as the people he lives "with" plant a garden. He is so impressed by the yield of it that he decides to plant his last sunflower seed and wait for the miracle.
One thing I love about these books, they are religious. Mortimer prays and attributes the miracle to God. It's so sweet -- and inspiring. Although I'll tell ya, our little sunflower miracle isn't doing so well right now. Probably because I don't water it . . .
The other one I just love is Ehlert's Planting a Rainbow. I love the bright, vibrant illustrations. I love the simple story of a mom and a child working together to grow a garden and that it is tradition to do it every year. This is the kind of book that I want to tear up and frame in a child's room -- it's that pretty.
And these books make me want to garden as well. If you need to verify the power of that inspiration, please talk to my mother who can tell you every instance, IN DETAIL, of my attempts to escape from gardening my whole life.
It's true. So they must be good books.
