Gardener Unawares

I seem to have become a novice gardener in a short space of time.

It started about a month ago when my cousins in Missouri sent plants to me for starting a butterfly & hummingbird garden as a memorial to my mother who passed away last November. It is a lovely thought and gesture. It is something I've long thought would be fun to have, seeing as I love both species.

I just . . . never got around to doing it.

Now I will, though it is being an interesting process as I don't have anywhere already established to put such a garden - or any garden really - other than the beds in front of my house which 1) have horrible soil and 2) are both part to mostly shade type areas not part to full sun as a couple of the plants require.


But that's not all! By getting plants now, you'll double this new hobby! That's right, you'll win a herb garden in a box! Lovely, fresh herbs all planted and ready for your yard in an old ammunitions box with easy to use rope handles!


And, I did.

A friend of mine is apprenticing with her grandmother to take over the business her grandparents have run for around 30+ years - Green Acres Herb Farm in Lowpoint, IL. They have built a new shop building on their farm, they now have a website, http://www.greenacresherbfarm.com/ and they are ramping up their visibility. To celebrate these changes, especially the new shop, they had a grand opening open house.

And I won the door prize!

The large box sitting in front of the Green Acres Herb Farm shop is my door prize.

Until I figure out where to put some gardens, my butterfly & humming bird garden plants are being well cared for by Ray Saul who has a garden with room for some short term plant-visitors. My box garden is here:

Herb garden in a box at the southern edge of our backyard.

I'm enlisting the help of several friends, including Rebecca Van Nydeggen, writer of the Courier "ReClaim, ReCycle, ReConstruct" blog. http://www.lincolncourier.com/community/blogs/reclaim_recycle_reconstruct_blog  to help create my new garden beds in the best locations for both the plants and my yard.

I'll keep you all posted on my progress in becoming a gardener. :-)

Do you garden? Flower? Veggies? Herbs? All of that?  Share your helpful hints and encouragement with me here at Bits, Bobs & Burblings!

Books I've Really Loved

Books I've Really Loved

I came across a blog post by a Tolkien fanfiction friend of mine, Barb, that had a banner at the top saying: "100 Things Blog Challenge". I asked her about it and she sent me to the Live Journal page that explains it - http://100things-index.livejournal.com/. You are supposed to choose one subject and do 100 blogs about that one subject. She is doing "Creativity".

Well, I couldn't subject you to that.

Barb also told me that many people will divide their 100 posts amoung four, five, or ten different subjects.

I may do that.

For now, I'm using the idea lists others have posted to spur my thinking for this blog. I'm starting with Books I've Loved.

Oddly enough, I'm not starting with what many who know me would think is the obvious choice, something by J.R.R.Tolkien. I'm starting with a book written by the famous science fiction author, Isaac Asimov - "Pebble In The Sky." It was his first novel, published in 1950, four years before I was born.

It was one of the first scifi novels I read and it is still my favorite. "Pebble In The Sky" is a time travel story involving an Earth that has been ravaged by a nuclear holocost, which was a huge concern back in the Cold War era. The main character isn't young, isn't sexy, isn't your typical hero. He's Joseph Schwartz, a stout, gray-haired retired tailor living in Chicago. For me that was, and still is, part of the charm of the book. The person you come to care the most about is just an average guy. There is a young, good looking couple as well who provide romantic interest, but they are secondary to Joseph.

The story has a lot of depth and will get you thinking without being preachy or feeling like an academic lecture.

Somewhere in all the moves we've made over the years, I've lost my paperback copy of "Pebble In The Sky". Today, when I'm done writing this, I'm buying it for my kindle.

I hope you'll get it and take a trip both backward and forward in time.

Do you like science fiction? Have you read scifi or only watched movies and TV shows? What's your favorite scifi story?

A public domain image of the cover of the book.

Random Acts Of Kindness BLITZ

Kindness ROCKS!

 To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse  are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too! 

I am BLITZing Mary Rosenblum.

Mary is a gem. A treasure. She has been an encourager to every writer she comes in contact with. She puts out the LRWG newsletter, manages this forum, teaches, gives talks at conferences, works with private clients, wrote the manual for the LRWG novel course, has raised two children and worked a farm. And I’m sure there’s loads more I don’t know about.

She has helped me over and over again. Helped me to laugh at myself and put up with me when I’m frustrated with myself. Because of her, I’m still working on my novel.

MARY, YOU ROCK! :-D

Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way.

Kindness makes the world go round. :) Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness?  Let me know in the comments!