Category: Things I love

Mother and Reading

~ Joy O'Toole ~ Leave a comment
Mother reading to my oldest son

I talk a lot about books on this blog because I have been reading and loving books since I was a tiny girl. That love did not grow in a vacuum, however. One of the biggest reasons I love to read is because of my mother. Since today is her birthday, it seemed appropriate to share a bit about how Mother shared what a reading life could look like.

When she was in elementary school, her grandfather bought her beautiful books about nature that she read to my children when they were young. I have her set of Grimm’s and Andersen’s fairy tales, picture books, and several other titles. Although her family did not have a lot of extra money, books were important to her. She treasured each title and shared them with me once I was old enough to care for them. Her father’s sister loved to read and gave Mother many books over the years as well.

Mother instilled the importance of reading into my brother’s and my lives, too. My earliest memories include reading and books in our home, some belonging to us, and many borrowed from the library. Mother used to joke that I had been going to the library since before I was born since she regularly borrowed books from the local library while expecting me.

When I was in fourth grade, we moved to a new house and she gave me a bookcase that her grandfather had made for my books. I had numerous books at this point, and Mother made sure that I was able to collect more to read by spending allowance money for the latest Nancy Drew or receiving books as gifts. I could always count on at least one book every Christmas from my mother and usually one for my birthday as well. Even as an adult, I looked forward to my “Christmas book” that Mother would choose for me.

As I grew up, Mother and I often read the same books, and she introduced me to books she had loved as a teen, such as Anne of Green Gables, the Girl of the Limberlost, and Mrs. Mike. In high school, we read popular authors like Leon Uris together and she wholeheartedly supported my project of reading classic novels that I borrowed from the library, starting in the A’s with Jane Austen. She lent me her copy of Gone with the Wind and shared her love of Thomas Costain and Anya Seton.

After I grew up and moved out, books were still a subject of many of our conversations. Mother would ask what I was reading, share her recent finds, and we would promise to try something new that the other loved. We also shared when a book didn’t work for us. Since we enjoyed the same sorts of books, usually if one of us didn’t like it, the other probably wouldn’t either. After her death, my father gave me many of Mother’s books, including her collection of autographed Rosamund Pilcher books, one of our favorite English authors.

Having a mother who always had a book going was probably the key to my lifelong devotion to reading. I am thankful to my mother, who led by example and taught me that an afternoon spent with a book is never wasted.

Reading Life 2021 and 2022

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 3 Comments
2021 Books Read

My reading life in 2021 ended up being better than I had anticipated although I didn’t read as intentionally as I had hoped. However, I did end up reading 24% nonfiction, of which one title was a poetry book and eleven were devotional or theological. As usual, the bulk of my reading (almost half) was mystery fiction.

I read a good number of older books this year—17 titles were written before 1960, not counting my Agatha Christie rereads.

I never did get to a Russian novel or Shakespeare last year, but I did read a few books of essays and discovered a new-to-me mystery series written in the 1960s and ’70s as well as a new-to-me middlebrow novel author whose books were delightful English country village stories.

Top ten books from 2021:

Nonfiction:

  • The Dawn of Redeeming Grace by Sinclair Ferguson – a Christmas devotional that I listened to in the weeks leading up to the holiday
  • Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund – if you haven’t read this book by Dane Ortlund, don’t let 2022 go by without picking it up. It is one of the best books on the love of Christ for us that I have read. Unsurprisingly, he relies on many of the Puritan writings and this is also a great introduction to several of the best of the Puritans.
  • This Beautiful Truth by Sarah Clarkson – a helpful, thoughtful memoir on Christianity and mental illness
  • Union with Christ by Rankin Wilbourne – an excellent book on this important, often neglected, aspect of the Christian life
  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – a heartbreaking memoir on a doctor’s last days but so beautifully written that it was worth the tears

Fiction:

  • Business as Usual by Jane Oliver – a delightful epistolary novel about a young woman who decides to fill in the year before her wedding by working in a large department store in London.
  • The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave – a thriller that I couldn’t put down and haven’t quite been able to forget since finishing
  • O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith – a bittersweet coming-of-age novel
  • The Snow Woman by Stella Gibbons – the story of an old woman who stopped trying to live decades before but when she receives a visit from an old friend, suddenly her life takes a new turn.
  • West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge – a coming-of-age story about a teen boy, an older man, a girl with a mission, and two giraffes as they travel across the United States in the 1930’s.

My intentions for 2022 are a bit scaled back, considering the fact that I didn’t hold to my goals very well last year. A few things I’d like to do:

  • Read all the categories in the 2022 Literary Life Reading Challenge
  • Read a Russian Novel – Inspired by Laura Vanderkam’s reading of War and Peace last year, I decided to read one chapter a day of War and Peace in 2022. So far I’m enjoying it although I’m struggling to keep all of the characters straight. I may need to create a cheat sheet.
  • Read at least three theology books. I will be reading Genesis commentaries for the Bible class I’m leading, but I want to also read some theology this year. At least one of them needs to be an older title (pre 1900).
  • Read at least 25% nonfiction again this year.

While I set a Goodreads goal for 2022, I’m not as concerned with how many books I read this year as what I read. I want to leave lots of time for rereading and for serendipity. Plus I do some reading for my job and am part of a book club with a book to read every month.

Were you satisfied with your 2021 reading? Do you have any intentions for 2022? Please share them in the comments.

Autumn Senses

~ Joy O'Toole ~ Leave a comment

Image by Rebekka D from Pixabay

Ah, September! The month that starts my favorite season. I know most people prefer spring for its new beginnings or summer for its heat and vacations, but I love autumn the best. My senses are filled with autumn things:

  • The smell of wood smoke, apples, and fallen leaves
  • The sight of pumpkins piled high, the bluest of skies, the changing colors of the trees and chrysanthemums everywhere I look.
  • The sounds of raking and honks of geese as they fly over my head towards warmer climes.
  • The taste of homemade applesauce, the special ginger cookies I make every fall, and the first beef stew of the season.
  • The feel of a wool sweater embracing my shoulders, the crisp mornings, and the knitting beneath my fingers as I pick it back up after a break during summer’s heat.

Best of all, autumn is a time of reflection, a time to assess how the year has gone so far and decide what I’d like to wrap up by year’s end. I actually love that the days are growing shorter as I find it easier to reflect in the darkness of early mornings and evenings that increases throughout the season. I’m more content to sit inside with a hot cup of coffee or tea and gather my thoughts when there is no lovely sunshine beckoning to me to go outside.

What season do you love best and why? Please share your favorite in the comments below.

Autumn Reading

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 2 Comments

We are at the start of my favorite season. I love the golden light, the crisp evenings and mornings, the bright blue sky, the sounds of birds flying south, and the smells of bonfires and falling leaves.

My reading in the fall tends to be focused on reflective novels and books that warm my heart and soul. I’m always seeking new titles to read, but in autumn, I do a lot more rereading. Here are some of my favorite books to read this time of year.

Persuasion by Jane Austen – My favorite Austen novel, Persuasion is perfect for reading in the autumn as it talks about second chances later in life. I like to reread this one every few years and always in October.

September by Rosamund Pilcher – The title speaks for itself as it is set in September, but I love that most of the characters are in middle life, thinking about their lives, their choices, and where to go from here.

Possession by A.S. Byatt – An intellectual mystery, this novel follows a set of scholars as they seek the truth of the relationship between two Victorian poets – for those who enjoy an academic puzzle and unraveling historical mysteries

Anne of the Island or Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery – School stories always seem appropriate to read at the start of a school year and either of these work for that although Anne of Windy Poplars seems a bit more “fallish”.

Autumn Story by Jill Barklem – If you have not yet read any of Jill Barklem’s stories about the mice in the hedgerow over the various seasons, go immediately to your library and pick one up. The drawings are enchanting and the stories sweet without being cloying. The tale reads quickly but you will want to pour over the illustrations to look at all of the details of country English life.

Vittoria Cottage by D.E. Stevenson – This title by Stevenson is another book about second chances, this time for a woman in middle life with grown children.

Fresh From the Country by Miss Read – Another school story, this one describes the life of a brand new teacher. Miss Read’s Fairacre Series is also great for school-story lovers.

Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge – Many of Elizabeth Goudge’s books are thoughtful and reflective, but this one is a favorite of mine with many descriptions of cozy home scenes.

Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struthers – Always good for a reread but especially great in fall and winter, each essay covers a small portion of Mrs. Miniver’s life in a way that can lead you to think more closely about the ordinary things in yours.

Books I’ve read that would make perfect fall reads:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield – This gothic tale about an old woman who wants to tell the truth of her life after many years of hiding it away is perfect for fall reading.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – Austen pokes fun at gothic tales while telling one of her own. Delightful.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving – The classic story of Ichabod Crane and his night ride is spooky without being horror.

Early Days by Miss Read – Miss Read recounts her early childhood in this lovely memoir.

Books that are on my to-read list that would fit into fall reading:

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope – I’m slowly reading through Trollope’s Barchestershire series, and anything by him has one thinking about the human condition and the choices we make.

September Moon by John Moore – I found a copy of this after reading about it at a bookish Instagram account I follow. It’s set in hops-picking time in England, a time I’ve always been intrigued by after reading about it other books. I’m looking forward to picking this up soon.

The Headmistress by Angela Thirkell – Anything by Angela Thirkell is good cozy reading and being about a school is an added bonus.

The Last Bookshop in London by Madeleine Martin – This book about a bookshop in World War II may not appear cozy at first glance, but I find any book set in London involving books takes me away to another world so it qualifies for me.

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee – Memoirs about childhood memories are always good for fall, and this one has long been on my to-read list so I’m hoping to finally get to it this year.

The Cottage Kitchen: Cozy Cooking in the English Countryside by Marte Marie Forsberg – Cool nights and earlier evenings call out for spending time in the kitchen. I love to read cookbooks and this one just seems perfect for this time of year. I have certain things I always make in autumn and am hoping to find another favorite.

Autumn from the Heart of the Home by Susan Branch – I loved her memoir about her trip to England and hope to find an affordable copy of this book for the drawings and recipes.

Do you have a favorite book to read this time of year? Please share it in the comments. I love to add books to my autumn reading list.

Signposts of God’s Faithfulness

~ Joy O'Toole ~ Leave a comment
My rogue daffodils

Have I ever mentioned my rogue daffodils? They are God’s reminder to me each spring that

no matter the trials in my life,
in whatever circumstances I’m living,
wherever He is calling me to live by faith and not by sight,
I can grow and thrive and bloom because I abide in Christ and bear fruit in Him.

Years ago, daffodils grew along the path from our driveway to our front porch. Most of them had been covered over with so much soil that the only thing that grew were the green leaves. So my husband decided to dig them up and get rid of them. He threw them in a large heap of dirt and debris leftover from some construction work in our backyard. Later that summer, we had the mound of trash hauled away, forgetting about those daffodils.

The next March I looked out of the back window in my bookroom and to my delight, a stand of daffodils were popping up in the grass where that hill of dirt had been. They apparently had worked their way down into the soil and waited for their time to shine.

Every day, I peered out the window to enjoy the sight of these glorious daffodils in the middle of our lawn. Eventually, the flowers withered and my husband declared that they couldn’t stay there in the middle of the lawn. So he dug them up again and threw them in the back corner of our yard. An easement runs there and because we can’t do much with that spot, it has turned into a catch-all for gardening stuff, old Christmas trees, and piles of wood and sticks. Again, we forgot about the daffodils in a back corner we rarely entered.

Lo and behold, the next year those daffodils popped up again in the middle of debris and weeds and sticks!. This time I told my husband that they obviously belonged in our yard if they were that determined to bloom no matter how many times he threw them away. They stayed, and each year, when they bloom, I am reminded that God takes our circumstances—the garbage, the piles of sticks, the cracked wheelbarrows, the weeds—and He strengths and nourishes us so that we bloom right in that spot. Rogue means something or someone that doesn’t behave in an expected way, which describes the little flowers that were determined to grow no matter how many times they were discarded.

These daffodils are a witness, a signpost to God’s faithfulness and lovingkindness that I look forward to every year. It seems appropriate that they bloom every year right around Good Friday, when He took the darkest day in the history of the world and turned it into a glorious victory over sin and death. Even so, He will take our sins, our trials, our sufferings, and our pains and turn them into golden daffodils for His glory.

What signposts of God’s faithfulness do you have in your life today?

Reflecting on My 2020 Reading

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My reading journal

Now that 2020 is behind us and I’ve caught my reading journal up, I’m ready to reflect on what my reading life looked like last year. As with most other people, I have been at home a lot more than normal. While I continued to work from home for most of my regular hours, my commute shrunk to nothing for half the year and is still only a couple of times a week vs. every weekday.

Back in August, I did a reading goals check in on how my reading was going. At that point, I was reading almost 78% fiction and hoping to get to about 30%-70% nonfiction books to fiction books. I ended up reading 106 fiction and 30 nonfiction by the end of 2020. That’s 72% fiction and 28% nonfiction, which isn’t quite 30% but still the highest percentage I’ve read in recent years.

I did manage to squeeze another poetry book in, but because it was one that followed the Christmas calendar and didn’t end until Epiphany, I can’t count it for 2020. I’d like to bump the number of poetry books up to at least one a quarter or, even better, one every other month in 2021.

Audiobooks were so low–only five for the year. Losing my commute did a lot for my exercising and cooking, but killed my listening time. I ended up listening mostly to sermons and podcasts during my walks each day and dropped audiobooks altogether from March on. However, I have hopes for a better listening year in 2021. I’ve already downloaded Hilary Mantel’s third Cromwell book. I loved listening to Bring Up the Bodies on audio so I have high hopes for finishing The Mirror and the Light, too.

The biggest jump was in rereads: 64 of the 139 books I read were ones I had read before. That’s almost 50%! I put that down completely to compulsive comfort reading during the lockdown, pandemic, and political shenanigans throughout the year. I reread several mystery series, including Deborah Crombie’s Kincaid-James series and much of Charles Todd’s Ian Rutledge series. At the end of the year, I gulped down many of Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Here are the books I appreciated or enjoyed this most. Many of them were nonfiction.

Voices from the Past, Volume 2: Puritan Devotional Readings, edited by Richard Rushing – The deep devotion and theology of the Puritan theologians kept me grounded during this difficult year.

Life Path: Personal and Spiritual Growth Through Journal Writing by Luci Shaw and Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton – I read both of these with a group of women and the discussions made the reading so much richer.

Beholding and Becoming: The Art of Everyday Worship by Ruth Chou Simons – The combination of the gorgeous artwork and theological truth made this a great book to read this autumn.

What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport – Both of these books on living a productive life were helpful although from completely different places theologically.

Jenny Walton’s Packing for a Woman’s Journey by Nancy Lindemeyer – I had forgotten how much I loved this book. This is one of two rereads that made my best of 2020 list. It’s filled with beauty–both in writing and subject matter–and I enjoyed every essay.

My fiction reading wasn’t nearly as rich, probably because I did so much rereading for comfort. However there were a few that rose to the top:

Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede – For sheer fun, this was a winner. It’s an epistolary novel (my favorite kind!) and clever, witty, and full of the best kind of magic.

The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett – This mystery set in Windsor Castle and involving Queen Elizabeth II and her secretary won’t be out until March 2021, but when it comes out, read it if you love mysteries and/or the royal family. It was a fun, fun book. I sped through it in two days and wasn’t sorry at all. I’m already looking forward to the sequel.

The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin – I read the first two of The Broken Earth Trilogy last winter. They are filled with amazing world-building and an intricate plot. Now that things are settling down again, I’m ready to pick up the final book in the trilogy to see how Jemisin ties it all up. She’s inventive and clever, and I recommend these to anyone who likes science fiction/fantasy.

The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge – A reread but a very special one. This story about mental illness and new beginnings is healing and beautiful.

Last, but definitely not least was Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – I don’t know if I have the words, with which to praise this book. The plot was simple–a story about a wife of a famous man and their relationship before and after the loss of a child. It was how O’Farrell wrote it–the descriptions were lush, the characters were so well-drawn that you felt that you knew them personally, the plot of tight and held together, and the emotional punch was gut-wrenching and tear-inducing but yet I couldn’t put it down. There is a bit of magical realism and the Black Death, and Shakespeare. If you love any of those things or if you just want a “Thumping Good Read”, pick this one up.

As I reflect on my reading year in 2020, I can see gaps, but overall I’m happy with what I read last year, even if a lot of it was rereading. What was your favorite book from 2020 and what do you hope to read next?

Reading and Listening – October Edition

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 2 Comments

Here is just a sampling of what I’ve been reading and listening to this past month.

Reading

I love the idea of a bullet journal, and I do use the method for my book journal. However, I like having a planner with all of my goals built in, a journal for books and reading, a notebook for notes, and a journal for quotes, prayers, thoughts, processing, etc. It works better for me. So many people love the bullet journal method that I may try again one of these years. Here are two articles on Bullet Journaling that came up in my reading this month for those of you who want to give it a try. If you do, I’d love to hear how it goes.

Can Bullet Journaling Save You

Anne Bogel’s experience with her bullet journal

I enjoy reading Cal Newport’s work, and this is his take on how to carve out time for creative work:

Getting Creative Things Done: How to Fit Hard Thinking into a Busy Schedule

I love Agatha Christie’s novels and thought I had read them all until I found this list recently. If I had ever read The Mystery of the Blue Train, I didn’t remember it at all. Are there any titles on the list that you want to try?

Agatha Christie’s Top 20 Novels

This article reminded me of the discussions I used to have with my children about the importance of what they read and watched. The things we take in eventually come out in our living, our words, and our actions as well as in our writing and artistic pursuits. What are you taking into your mind and heart these days?

Shoveling Mulch onto the Leaf Mold of the Mind

Listening:

I love mysteries and some of my favorite titles are in the Inspector Gamanche series by Louise Penny. It was a joy to hear some of my favorite podcasters talk about how much they love them, too.

Episode 96 of Out of the Ordinary

Rarely does a week go by when I don’t listen to a podcast or lecture on theology or the Bible. One of my favorites apps is from Ligonier.org because of all of the great content. Recently, I’ve been listening to Dr. Derek Thomas’s series on Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s not my first time listening to it and it won’t be my last, but every time I listen, I learn something new about Scripture, about Bunyan, and about our God. It’s a bit pricy, but you can watch the first lecture for free on the site and then wait for the series to go on sale. I always get the audio download so I can listen on my app on the go, but there is also a CD and DVD.

The Pilgrim’s Progress: A Guided Tour

I appreciate Karen Swallow Prior’s books and after reading On Reading Well, I sometimes wished I could take a literature class with her. While that’s not a possibility, I found a way to listen to her wise insights when she was a guest host on a literature podcast I enjoy, Close Reads. She and two other literature lovers and teachers walked through Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. If you don’t like Jane Austen, try one of the other books they’ve read through together. I’ve discovered some new favorites, and I bet you will, too. Here’s a link to the first episode:

Please share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments, if you found any of these links interesting or helpful.

A Satisfying Reading Life

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 4 Comments
Image by Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay

When you consider your reading life, it’s not the number of books that counts but the satisfaction you have in the books that you are reading. For instance, if you read 50 books in a year, but you didn’t like 90% of them, then your reading life isn’t going to make you happy even if you did read a book a week. On the other hand, if you read only 20 books, but they are books you’ve been longing to read, you delighted in each one, and you thought long and hard about them days after finishing, then you have a rich reading life.

This year, I have been fortunate to have a satisfying reading life. Since I’ve mostly been working from home and so have no commute, I achieved my 2020 Goodreads goal of 75 books with three months to spare. Of the 16 books I read since my last check-in, six were nonfiction and ten were fiction. Thus, over a third of books I’ve read this year has been nonfiction, which is a great improvement over last year. The memoirs I read this past month were memorable—Maya Angelou, Ruth Reichl, and Anthony Doerr all had interesting tales to tell in very different ways. Reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings made me simultaneously sad and angry for the child Maya was. Living in Rome for a year with Anthony Doerr was a delight to the senses. My mother and I always loved reading Gourmet magazines, and my mother introduced me to the joys of reading about food. I still love to cook and to read about cooking so Reichl’s memoir of her years at Gourmet was a treat to lose myself in, especially since Reichl included a recipe for a chocolate cake that I must make one of these days.

If I can finish two theology books and fit in a book of poetry before the end of December, I will be pleased with this year’s reading , even if I finish nothing else. Add in a book by one of the Puritan theologians though, and my pleasure will turn to delight.

Currently, I am still reading Union with Christ by Rankin Wilbourne and have Gospel & Kingdom by Graeme Goldsworthy, a Biblical Theology book recommended by Nancy Guthrie, to start next. I’m two thirds through a reread of September by Rosamund Pilcher. I’ve always loved her long novels and have never reread this one. Since she has a long novel that seems to fit each season—September for fall, Winter Solstice for winter, Coming Home for spring, and The Shell Seekers for summer—I’m toying with the idea of reading one each season over the next year. Even if I don’t, I am still enjoying the foray into Scotland this month. October is a month for rereading Persuasion, which I will probably bring with me when travel to my son’s wedding. There’s something autumn-like and reflective about Austen’s novel of second chances.

A hold from the library just came in for me this week: The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma. I’m an early riser myself so am looking forward to any new tips she may have on how to make the best use of my mornings. I’m I’m about halfway through Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on audio for my October book group. It has been good to view my country and culture through the eyes of someone so different from me in every way.

Overall, my reading life is just grand. How satisfied are you with your reading life?

Just around the corner

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 3 Comments

March is here along with the birds and the budding trees and flowers. Bulbs I planted last autumn are pushing up out of the ground. I can hardly wait to see what colors they will be!

Little birds twitter from the trees and hop along the ground in search of food while the geese are flying home. I see them resting in a nearby field as they stop on their long journey north. The air may be chilly yet, but the sun is warm, and the whole world is waking up.

A favorite book of mine is The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, one of the loveliest nature journals ever created. Each month has it’s own watercolor drawings and poems and notes on what is growing. I read this bit of verse this morning and thought it apt for the day: 

Now the North wind ceases;
The warm South-west awakes;
The heavens are out in fleeces
And earth's green banner shakes. 
--Geo. Meredith

Spring is just around the corner. What harbingers of the new season do you see today? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Gardens and Plans

~ Joy O'Toole ~ 1 Comment

 

March came in like a lion this year. The weather was cold and rain poured down all night. I sat inside my cozy little book room and chose to focus on the spring that is just around the corner. I ordered flowers in purple, red, yellow, and bright pink and then chose seeds–zinnias, hollyhocks, poppies, and Johnny Jump Ups–to fill the blank spaces in my perennial garden with splashes of color. The Johnny Jump Ups are in memory of my father’s mother, who always had them in her yard. I still remember her stooping down to point them out, telling me what those tiny little purple and yellow flowers were called.

Every year all those who know me learn how much I enjoy my garden. My husband digs holes and lugs big bags of compost around for me. My children patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) listen as I tell them the latest thing I’ve planted, how my rose bush is doing, and what’s blooming today. My rose bush is a continual source of amusement to my family as it causes me the most delight and angst every year.

I have had many gardens over the years. Presently I grow mostly flowers and herbs. In the past, I’ve had a large vegetable garden and potted plants on a fire escape, raised beds with herbs, and a tiny patch with a lavender bush and some annuals. Each garden has taught me lessons about patience, failure, hard work, and delight.

I consider myself blessed to have a lot of room at my house for growing things. I had never attempted a perennial border before, and the learning process has been steep and long. I’ve had spectacular successes and enormous failures. Even after carefully choosing plants and shrubs according to the amount of sunlight and type of soil, I didn’t always account for the variables to found within even a hundred feet of garden beds.

The joy of growing things, of watching seeds and tiny plants shoot up and flourish, of smelling the sweetness of flowers and herbs, and of feeding birds, butterflies, and bees more than makes up for the dead plants and difficulties involved.

Do you have a potted plant, an herb bed, a vegetable garden, or any other growing things at your home? If you do, please share with us what you grow. If you don’t, is a garden something you’ve dreamed of planting? I’d love to hear about your dreams and your plants.