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Hello and welcome to our Secret Garden! Every Wednesday you can drop by here and find new and special happenings in the Secret Garden. There will be crafts, great food, fun and laughter. So please be sure to come by and see us in our Secret Garden created just for you.
We took a little adventure a couple of days ago and discovered a Secret Garden right in the middle of the forest. We were hiking in the Smoky Mountains, everyone around here knows that the wildflowers bloom over a few weeks and many of us get out to see the forest and mountain sides bloom out in color.
We took a side path and walked ourselves into an ancient moss covered forest. Surrounded completely by mountains we walked deep into the enclosed valley to discover the most enchanted vision I’ve ever seen in nature.
The forest floor was completely covered in blooming phlox, may apples and another little tiny white flower I don’t know the name of. Moss one inch thick covered fallen trees and branches as well as the trunks of living trees.
We were all alone here in this ancient wood. The only sounds were that of a water fall off in the distance, the cacophony of birds and the buzzing of bees.
One of the most important things missing from these photos is the smell. I’ve never smelled anything as this blooming forest. It made us heady with delight. We spent over an hour in this forest soaking it all in. Soon other wildflower enthusiasts joined us and it was nice to meet people who shared in this moment of Secret Garden bliss.
I learned a big lesson on this hike, that a Secret Garden doesn’t have to be behind a wall locked away with a key but can be found in our daily wanderings.
This week I challenge you to find a secret garden near you. It might be behind a wall, it might be under a big tree, it might be in the forest near your home, or behind a log that’s drifted in from the ocean. Wherever it is, go and find it! Cherish those hidden moments in nature’s Secret Gardens!
Have you missed the last few Secret Garden Wednesdays? These are too much fun not to read!
Want to enjoy more month-by-month activities based on the classic children’s tale, The Secret Garden? A Year in the Secret Garden is over 120 pages, with 150 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together. A Year In the Secret Garden is our opportunity to introduce new generations of families to the magic of this classic tale in a modern and innovative way that creates special learning and play times outside in nature. This book encourages families to step away from technology and into the kitchen, garden, reading nook and craft room. Learn more, or grab your copy HERE.
The post Secret Garden Wednesday: Wildflowers appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
went on a wildflower walk the other day at Fort Ord. It’s so fun knowing the names of all the wildflowers in my yard! Click the photo to see more photos of the hike if you like.
I’m editing my first adult adventure/romance novel. It’s called The Storytellers and the first scene takes place in Athens, GA where four writers are about to share their first chapters with each other on a steamy August afternoon. The lemonade they drink is the Tasty Thursday recipe today. It’s my grandma & mom’s recipe. I have very fond memories of mom bringing out a cheerful pitcher of this lemonade. She and I would share precious time, just the two of us, sipping lemonade together on our screened porch in Chicago. She’d always have these beautiful silver straws to sip out of too. Mom’s birthday would usually find her drinking her lemonade and swinging in our hammock. I love the lazy days of summer.
Mom & Grandma’s Lemonade:
Scoop some Wylers or any other lemonade mix into a glass pitcher
Mound a lot of ice cubes on top of the mix
Boil a cup of sugar and a cup of water or so until sugar dissolves––pour over ice cubes in pitcher
Squeeze lemons and one orange & pour juice into pitcher. Cut slices of lemon peel and a little orange peel & put into pitcher
Stir very well with a long spoon
Add more ice cubes and chill in refrigerator until ready to use
Add whatever you want to make it good––maybe limes instead of oranges? Add what you wish
What recipe reminds of of lazy summer days?
By:
Dorothy Patent,
on 5/17/2012
Blog:
I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids
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Springtime is my favorite season, and wildflowers are a major attraction here in beautiful western Montana. The parade has begun, starting with buttercups in March and continuing through a roadside trio of larkspur, star flower, and biscuit root—purple, white, and yellow, a combo that would make a beautiful flag.
I’m celebrating the season by taking a class in wildflower journalling, both because I love the flowers and because I am not fundamentally a detail person. A class like this, where I’m sketching the plants to document them, forces me to switch into the often neglected detail mode. And I know, as a writer, that details are critical in bringing my writing to life. Details help the reader ‘see’ what you’re writing about and can jump start a movie in the brain that will carry your reader seamlessly through your work. This principle can be used to lead a reader through a sequence of ideas or information to a conclusion every bit as well as to carry the reader along through an exciting fiction story.
While pondering these thoughts as I climbed a trail up the mountain we live on, I noticed delicate yellow-flowered Arnica plants blooming in the dappled shade I leaned over and focused in on a single plant with my camera to document it for my wildflower project. Further up the slope, I saw an image that epitomized Arnica’s habitat preference—an oval of tall pines created a shady spot decorated by a patch of Arnica, its borders sketched by the shade of the trees. I suddenly realized that two kinds of detail exist, small detail and big detail. Small detail would encompass the minute features of each plant, while big detail consisted of larger but still specific features such as the way the plants are growing in the shady patch among the pines.
When we writers wish to create images for our readers, we may move from small detail to big detail, or vice versa, depending on where we’re going with our words. Here’s the masterful nonfiction introduction from my friend Jeanette Ingold’s Montana Book Award Honor Book novel, “The Big Burn” that moves through many small details, then widens to the big picture:
The wildfires had been burning for weeks.
The Eilen Riede (say “EYE-len REE-duh”), Hannover’s huge city forest, is one of the top ten things I’ll miss when we move back to the States over the summer. The Eilen Riede is twice as large as NYC’s Central Park and has 130 kilometers of walking and bike trails.
One of our favorite things to do as a family is to ride our bikes there. In fact, both of our kids learned to ride on the wide forest paths.
The little white flowers you see, according to German friends, are bärlauch, a wild garlic relative. I’m told people do collect and cook with it—you use the leaves, not the bulbs. Evidently there are several bärlauch items on restaurant menus right now, too.
Often we stop at one of the many playgrounds in the Eilen Riede, several of which have little snack bars—even decent cappucino in china cups! Last Saturday we found instead a few surprises in an unexpected spot.
This old stump was full of collected moss, perfect for a witchy potion.
And this tree fort seemed to have sprung up on its own:
I love the way the hideout is so simple, no fasteners, and it just blends into the landscape. I think we’re going to have to recreate this one in our American back yard.
And what would a forest trip be without yet another stick to take home? Ummm…yeah. Just what we need in our flat.
In other news, the weather is still quite chilly (by my Carolina spring standards) and I’m really hoping it will warm up soon. We’re still wearing insulated rain coats and scarves and hats.
Spain posts are still coming, I promise. Hope your week started out well!
*information about the Eilen Riede’s size and trails comes from wikipedia
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Further to inventions that imitate nature, here is one of a series of bumblebee-themed images I was asked to design some years ago. A "friendly bee" was asked for, one that was busy about a garden. It was a fun assignment and I eventually came up with several versions of BumbleBee, a family of them and their garden, including hollyhocks. I have been reviewing the images recently, going through the files, and this morning as I walked by the lake I came upon this:
an end-of-summer drowsy bee nestled in the hollyhocks that have naturalized along the unfinished harbour wall, among the small convolvulus and michaelmas daisies.
"And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease.. "
"To Autumn", John Keats
I feel like doing a quiet post today. I just came back from a walk to set my mood straight and here are a few of the things I saw. Even the simplest of things like weeds along a path can bring back distant memories.
Like Goldenrod gleaming in the sun,
and Queen Anne's Lace,
wild vines that look like grapes,
Milkweed pods, still green and not quite ready to burst open.
And the littlest hint that the Autumn I've been waiting for is around the corner.
And then I come home to these cuties who live in my yard.
Hi there!
Don't be shy!
All in all I'd say the walk helped lift my spirits. But sometimes change is just damn hard. Perhaps I'll do two walks today!
Day two began easy, with sauntering out to the backyard and drawing a few more of the flowers I saw out there. Later, when I was able to identify them, I was told that the small, fusia flower is not wild, though I still don’t know what it is.
I used the other side of this [...]
Terrific post, Dorothy. I like to think that I write about BIG ideas decorated with facts. The facts or "factoids" are details born of incredible intense observation and experimentation. In science, it is the cumulative observation of myriad details that lead to the great generalizations of science also known as "inductive reasoning" going from the specific to the general. In writing it is all about "show, don't tell."
So it is, Vicki. I read a wise phrase in a blog this week that says 'show don't tell' in different words, maybe not always applicable to science--"Write to express, not to impress." But it can certainly apply for writing such as my books, if I'm talking about traipsing through the rain forest or some such activity.
How nice of you, Dorothy, to quote from The Big Burn. I have an older copy of the book, and found it to be a fascinating story with an engaging style. It was my bedside book for a week. It didn't hurt that I wanted to be fire ranger when I was a kid. And I connected to your post because I'm
a former horticulturist. Every post is a gem.
MJ Wentz (lurker and fan)
Wonderful post, Dorothy - and you practiced what you preached! Love the arnica photos.
I loved hearing from you, Fortunate One; I feel fortunate to be in a critique group with Jeanette. She always has great comments on the work of others, and it's always a pleasure to help her hone her work as well. I'm going to copy your comment to her; she will surely appreciate it!
And Gretchen--I can't resist with the camera; it goes everywhere with me! Thanks for the comment.