The Moment I Knew

Well, dear friends, The Moment I Knew is now a reality!

I received an email earlier in the week from my editor, Terri announcing that the books were in the mail. With so many other things going on, I put it out of my mind and sallied forth. Yesterday, when it became too hot to garden and the seemingly endless watering was sufficiently conquered, I retreated indoors to my laptop and Facebook. Donna, on the east coast, announced that she had in her hands the real McCoy. I got excited. Maybe my book would be in today's mail. Well, after what felt like an endless wait, sure enough, "patience" paid off. It was here.

My essay is in the chapter titled, "Loss," right after Donna's sweet, heartfelt poems. It chronicles meeting and getting to know my dear friend Valerie and the moments that lead up to her suicide ten years later. Then the painful aftermath, concluding with the epiphany--the moment I knew all is okay, that somehow, in the midst of tragedy, in a realm we mere humans are not privy to, love has prevailed. 

This book is all about epiphanies. The "ah-ha" moment, as Oprah would say. That glimpse into deeper understanding that breaks through the chaos, confusion and emotional unrest and sheds the light of hope and peace. We all have those moments. We can all relate. 

I'll have my nose buried for the next little while. I need to hurry because Ricki's new book, BeBop Garden is coming soon and I'm equally psyched about it. 

For more information you can visit the website. 

Keeping with the garden theme...

This isn't a very good photo, obviously, but I wanted to show you the

Seven-Son Flower in full, late-summer bloom. 

You wouldn't believe the bees! They love this (now) tree as much as I do. 

Summer Reading

When I saw Sandra Knauf’s “status” on the Facebook “gardenchat” page, I was intrigued. Sandra was announcing her labor of love. Publication of her brainchild Greenwoman magazine was forthcoming and she was inviting publicity. Read the magazine and write a review.

When the magazine arrived I was torn. It was peak gardening time and I was in the throes of obsession. Garden chores were scrambling my gray matter and now I had this additional obligation. Luckily Sandra understood. This is the very thing, the real life that is captured so well within the pages of her magazine.

Greenwoman is not written strictly by women, nor is it strictly written for women. This is the first thing I noticed. As I began reading Dan Murphy’s invitational essay titled, “Informed Simplicity,” followed by Bruce Holland Rogers’ relatable fiction, “A Human Birth,” I realized this wasn’t going to be a gardening how-to. In fact, neither piece was specifically about gardening at all.

Ah but a look at the following drawing by Rachel Kloster, titled “Worm” made me smile and I was back on customary ground. It was followed by Sandra’s own inspiring chronicle of community gardening. But then the magazine veered off again and I realized that this was a periodical loathe to box itself in or stoop to cliché. The topics would be familiar but the twists and turns would be unique because the human experience is unique. Garden thievery would be confessed along with a voyeuristic take on the praying mantis. We’d get a chance to hover over the history of seed saving; delve into the workings of a mysterious marijuana dispensary and peak over the fence of a backyard full of chickens and children. And much more.

To finish it off, “Top Dressing” vied to invite us into Sandra’s world and heart. “Like flowers and pollinators, gardening and community go together. It matters not whether you are fortunate enough to have a vacant plot to donate for a community garden or just an extra pass-along plant to give to a friend. Sharing is what it’s about, making those connections that feed us all.”  This is the impetus for Sandra’s endeavor. If you are of a similar mind, Greenwoman is for you. You can learn more by going to:

www.greenwomanmagazine.com.

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I learned this week that there has been a delay in the release date for The Moment I Knew. [See sidebar.] Ah, welcome to the world of publishing. In the meantime, my heart and prayers go out to all of you east coasters living along Irene's path. 

The Middle of August

I guess it's time for another post. Sheesh. It's been almost a week. The time just flies by anymore, doesn't it? We've continued to have superb summer weather here in western Oregon. I think it's hit 90 degrees twice all summer, here in my neck of the woods; even cooler up north in Portland and in Washington. You got to love that.

I took a few photos yesterday and this morning that I thought I'd boast about for a minute, if you'll indulge me.

 My Clemmy 'Polish Spirit' is more purple than is depicted in this rather blue rendition. Funny, two years ago, I dug this plant up and moved it to the other side of the garden but apparently there was just enough root left behind and now this one is just as big as the moved one. Anyway, it has tangling itself around my deck railing and into containers and a nearby rosebush and Rose of Sharon and... you get the idea.

Happy Hollyhocks.

Now I've seen some of your butterfly photographs so I know my photo is far from being award-worthy but I thought I'd post it anyway. You see it's a miracle I got it at all, considering my impatience coupled with the fact that there are so few butterflies in my neck of the woods to begin with. Well, when I saw this guy and just happened to have my camera, I homed in on it and voila. It's a miracle especially since the little guy kept flapping his wings like he was on a serious sap-gathering mission, which I'm sure he was and wasn't at all interested in modeling or becoming famous.

It's time for one of my favorite plants to strut his stuff. Say hello to Joe...Pye that is.

I'm laughing because this is supposed to be the cultivar, 'LITTLE Joe' but, somebody forgot to tell him.

This is Verbena hastata a less-popular cousin of the famed Verbena bonariensis or "Verbena-on-a-stick."

Mid-August is also time for the Sedums to start blushing.  I've got bunches of them but I don't know all of their names because I mix them up and move them and forget who I put where.

My Phlox paniculata are happy. This one is 'Starfire.' I like it juxtaposed with the spiky Persicaria 'Firetail' and foliage from Thalictrum delaveyi.

And speaking of which, this is my Thalictrum d. in flower. Such a sweet little thang... 

And speaking of sweet little thangs, here is my youngest daughter's kitten who came to visit us last weekend. Don't you just love kittens?

By the way, if you're interested you can see a short, YouTube promo video for the book, The Moment I Knew, of which I am proud to say I'm a part of, due out on August 26th. (See sidebar for more information.)

The Tiniest Flower On the Internet

This post is for everyone who uses Blogger and especially those indoor-bound gardeners still suffering from extreme heat who might need something to do. Take a seat by the AC and read on...

I wonder, have you clicked on your blog's Design tab lately? Recently I did because I wanted to add something to my sidebar. I was pleasantly surprised to see a new feature. Right at the top of the page is an option to add your own Favicon. What's a Favicon, you might ask. Well it's that little icon next to your blog title. All Internet sites have them. For Blogger it's that rather ugly looking orange B. Know what I'm talking about? But now, thanks to the intrepid programmers at Blogger, you can say goodbye to that orange blob and make your own unique Favicon. Why would I want to do that, you're probably asking. No reason. It's just fun and a great waste time, a way to learn a little more about the workings of the Internet and maybe, here's the best part:  allow your blog to stand out in the crowd. The Favicon, albeit a tiny thing, shows up nicely, among other places, on blog rolls around the Internet and I'm so proud of mine it makes me giddy! [Thank you to all of you who have me on your blog roll!]

So, I'll try to make the instructions as easy as possible to understand given that I'm not good with all the Internet lingo and procedures and all that. Okay? First, you need to choose a photo. Here is the one I chose.

Once I decided this was the photo I wanted, I went into my photo editing software [I use Microsoft] and cropped it so it would be basically a square. It's best to have a close up of an object [or face] and to make it square. You'll see why when it's done. Then I moved the photo to an easily accessible folder in my computer for easy upload retrieval, if that makes sense. Okay, with me so far? Then I found a site that formats this photo into a Favicon file. There are hundreds of these sites on the Internet. All you have to do is Google "Favicon Generator Free". Here is one such site. On the site it will instruct you to upload the image/photo you want to format into a Favicon. Click on that, find your photo and upload it. Allow the site to make the Favicon then download and save it on your computer. Again save it in an easily retrievable folder because then you'll want to go into Blogger and click on the Design tab. At the top of the page where it shows the Favicon option, click on that and upload your finished Favicon. Voila! You may have to restart your computer or close all your Blogger tabs first but it works. The reason I'm so thrilled with this is because a year ago I was fooling with HTML and all kinds of weird coding to get a unique Favicon for my blog. Now it's easy as pie.

If you do this, let me know. I'd love to hear from you. If you have questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. Wouldn't it be fun if we all had our own unique Favicon?

Since this is a garden blog, I'll confess that my Oriental lilies are beginning to bloom in the garden. I just swoon over the luscious scent.

One more thing before I go. I wanted to direct you to my sidebar where it shows the book, The Moment I Knew. I'm proud to announce that a short story I wrote about my best friend's suicide in 2005 has been chosen for inclusion. The book is slated for release on August 26th. You can read more about the book by going to the Reflections for Women Facebook page. I'm psyched!