Beginning with The Secret Garden

“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.” 
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees:

           Many of our elementary teachers chose books that would awaken our conscience. One such book was The Secret Garden. It became one of my favorites because of the miracle of healing found within the people and the walls of the secret garden.

            I’ve always been touched by the beauty in gardens, but I’m not a gardener.  I marvel at the beauty from the shaded sidelines.  I have tended tomatoes and pulled some weeds, planted wave petunias and pansies, but I wear gloves and avoid getting dirt under my fingernails. I slap bugs, gnats, and any other flying pests.

            It’s the beauty and fantasy in garden stories that appeal to me. 

            

            I loved Kate Morton’s book The Forgotten Garden and found fascinating the nocturnal garden depicted by Cassandra King in Moonrise. Gazing at a well-tended garden swells my heart with appreciation for God’s handiwork and man’s ability to work well with Mother Nature. 

             

        Flowers from bulbs are some of my favorites:  iris, daffodils, hyacinths. Hydrangeas, azaleas and beautiful dogwoods, forsythia and knock-out roses sing beautiful garden songs. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is as beautifully written as the depiction of her garden and the magic within it.

              

If you love gardens and/or gardening, these novels should be on your list of Must Reads for 2014.

Outdoor Living: Arkansas Style

       

Living Areas with gorgeous Ken Rash sofas, tables, cushions, and rugs. Outdoor Kitchens. Stainless steel grills positioned with regal counter tops, side burners, and small sinks. Lovely ladies and gentlemen dine alfresco.

        Magazine layouts depict idyllic lakeside scenes. Full-course meals resplendent with watermelon, Shasta daisies, and strawberry lemonade served on color coordinated tableware spread upon red and white tablecloth-covered picnic tables. 

       Images of Cook-out Paradise.

       The ONLY way to have paradise in an Arkansas summer is to enjoy the expansive views of the Great Outdoors from the Air-Conditioned, varmint-free inside.

        Photoshop fools us. The crafty technique has eliminated biting flies and mosquitoes from the gorgeous images that encourage us to live and play outdoors.

        To get the full value of our summers in Arkansas, we strategically position box and telescoping fans around the patio and deck areas. Citronella Candle becomes a signature fragrance emitting from tiki-wiki torches. Cute mesh tee-pees cover food. Ever-present sunglasses under visors are must-haves for summer. On the hip is a little OFF fan that promises to keep insects away.

      Give me 4PM somewhere with a breeze.

Like the serenity and pleasantness on my Upper Deck.  Poolside lower deck with ceiling fans completes a tiny bit of paradise with a Coca-Cola cooler.


Each venue with complimentary strategic equipment: fly-strips, fly-swatter, flying insect and wasp sprays.

(To appreciate the statement about enjoying the Great Outdoors from INSIDE, you might enjoy "Brownie Drops Out" under JOURNEYS - Pages of Interesting Journeys - right column of this Blog.)

Snackin' on a Doughnut

       

Snack: minuscule morsel designed to curtail hunger between meals.  Added benefit: no need for prescription drugs.  Example: small apple. 

           To add temptation where none is needed, Dunkin’Donuts has joined Taco Bell and McDonalds along with Hersheys to issue an invitation to “snack.”

           Snickers, Snack-size.  Oh, yeah.  One (?) of those babies and I can forego the hormone patch and the mood enhancer.  Calories?  Who cares.  Sugar free – I doubt it.  Fat-free:  Forget about it. The price of sanity.

            McDonald’s snack wrap:  add ranch dressing or honey mustard to crispy (fried) chicken on a little-bitty flour tortilla with a tiny bit of shredded cheese and a sprinkling of rabbit food. Roll it up, very small.  Not on a bun. 

            Taco Bell’s Fourthmeal: anytime – open late. Crunchwrap Supreme during fourthmeal morphs into "just a snack."  This logic allows calories to be balanced at zero when a 3-meat pizza is consumed with a diet soda.

             In addition to doughnuts, now Dunkin is offering a snack:  chicken snack (chicken is healthy) with some added flavor components such as bacon (!) with ranch dressing (!!) drizzled onto the bacon(!). On a bun. Tiny bun. OK, small bun.

            The temptation to snack is out there, but if you are calorie conscious, forego the snack. Just go ahead and enjoy a doughnut.

The Learning Place

It’s as if he’s moving back to the neighborhood.

After 2 years in Charleston, SC, Richard is returning to Tennessee the end of June.

While Nashville is still a bit of a drive from Rector (Hwy 412 to Jackson, then on I-40 to Nashville), Richard is closer to my driveway.It'll be like your basic "road trip."

Be on the lookout for television’s “Treehouse Master;” an episode will be filmed in October at Rich’s new employment company, Andersen Tree. It’s a small company, but has a remarkable reputation in the Nashville area. Rich is excited. He thinks it's a good fit for him.

The fit for me is that he is not in a place that seems a world away. Charleston, SC, was a learning place. It was not a foreign military deployment, but it was too far for me.

Twenty minutes at The Old Mill

 

 Cascading from an elevated pool, water turns the mill's wheel, then falls into the lower basin with a familiar ripple, like rainfall. Not quite as dramatic as the ebb and flow of tides upon a shore, night music that is a lullaby, but the sound of moving water offers a peaceful moment of retreat. The lush garden plants bordered with North Little Rock stone give this park a calm freshness. A man-made stone replica of an old grist mill, The Old Mill in Park Hill Historic District has been on my list for a while, as it is one of the beautiful areas of Arkansas I had not visited. I made good on the opportunity during the return trip from Hot Springs. Beside a nice lake the well-maintained park is for all ages.

I'm a Little Minnow, and It Sure Is Fun

HP Writers Retreat friends

          So, I think I’m a writer. I do write. In the local newspaper and a regional magazine, I’m published. I once enjoyed good grades in my small high school but I got my comeuppance within a few weeks in college English. Asking the professor, “Why did I get a C on this paper?  There’s not a mark on it!”  Her reply, “Though your paper is grammatically correct, it is barely worth the paper it’s written on. You did not say anything.” Maybe then, I had nothing to say. Times change.

           

I’m a little bitty fish swimming in a pond, thinking I’m fabulously crafty Nemo or even Dory whose claim to fame is short term memory loss. Accolades are much appreciated and they affirm what I love to do: write. 

Emily Hill

    Today, though, I heard a young woman named Emily Hill read her award-winning short story at the Hemingway Writers’ Retreat and I’m blown away. She has talent, the mental wherewithal, skill in expression. She confessed the story had been under workshop in class. Her word choice, sentence variety, plot and back-story are terrific. She’s a sophomore psychology major, English minor at Hendrix College.The contest was judged by Naomi Wood, author of the newly released novel Mrs. Hemingway. 

         

 What on earth do I think I’m doing? I'm not writing the great American novel and I'm not part of the Fitzgeralds and Hemingways in Paris. Frankly, My Dear, I’m enjoying friends and taking pleasure in writing, telling stories and sharing insights with a craft that has become an enjoyable hobby. And, I'm laughing.

           The day I take myself too seriously is the day I see myself for the minnow I am.

It's up to me, Jane

Jane Eyre’s protagonist is referred to as “plain-faced,” intelligent, and passionate, refusing to allow elements of her life to keep her from freedom and love. The classic novel by Charlotte Bronte published in 1847 celebrates Jane’s indomitable strength. Miss Bronte named her heroine “Jane” to encourage and celebrate such spirit.

She is keeping me from sleep, though. Since 1815, six generations suggest there’s more to Jane than plainness. “Gift from God” in Hebrew, the name honors the women who possessed courage, strength, and giftedness.

Each story begs to be shared which is up to me, Jane.

Beneath the Pines

       A timeline orders scrambled pieces into perspective. The memories and scrapbook scribbles suggest a lively saga, blending morsels without a recipe. Fascinating when placed in historic backdrop, a chronology: whispers become louder. An oil boom and the Great Depression add dimension.

                   No fictionalized drama can equal that which erupts from family strife and struggles.

                                                       It's a tale that no one has told, yet.

Dateline: New York, AR Dem-Gaz, Section E

A fresh take on closure: “freedom-fests.”

Couples hosting a Divorce Party are like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ex who “consciously uncouple.” Pattern life after a mama who names her baby “Apple.” Case closed.

Divorce is not an event to celebrate. It happens, like sh--. A party suggests the marriage represented ten minutes before a minister and hours partying like Prince. Until the party stopped.

Twined life does not end with a Solomon split. Life is forever altered, rebuilt into something good, but not without great price. 

 A divorce party’s cost with a blood-themed cake can’t come close.

"Yes, she can, Charming Billy"

Rich red orbs dangle loose on the stem, ready for harvest. Touch and feel their release, falling into the basket as fingers grasp the cluster. Cherry-picking, it's called. Choice berries selected at first pass leave promise of reward for tomorrow lingering on the bough.  Careful watch, though, as competition with the birds comes soon enough.

Late by several weeks, the cherry tree production is more prolific than last year; pounds of fruit bathe in cool water. The need to pit slows the pie making process, but the wait is worth the chore.