From The Garden

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

I have vegetables! This is the first year I’ve gardened outdoors in raised beds.

I’m very excited.

Domesticity…Who Me?

I love to peruse bookshelves at used book shops, thrift stores, libraries, indie sellers, even big box stores. Most times I am looking for nothing in particular. Sometimes it’s the title that will catch me or the color of the spine. So when my eyes jumped across The Gentle Art of Domesticity, I almost skipped it – hot pink spine and flowery lettering…what does that mean anyway (?) But a few minutes later my eyes flitted past it again, so I gave up plucked it from the shelf and sat in a big comfy couch.

Jane Brocket writes about the things that make life enjoyable -knitting, reading, baking, quilting, gardening, parenting really just living. Her photos are gorgeous. This really isn’t a how-to book though there are a few recipes. Inspiration is what I think of as I flip through the pages – namely ‘oh! I want to try that’ or ‘I should really pick up my camera right now and get outside. And that’s what I did. And then I came back and flipped through the pages again, not really reading much or looking at every page because I wanted to save it.

The Persephone Forum

An email just popped into my inbox announcing the launch of The Persephone Forum.

In blog format Persephone will highlight their books and open the floor for discussion. The first book to be discussed is William – an Englishman, the first book published. To facilitate discussion the blog post includes a thoughtful summary of the book, an extract from the preface, and information about the author.

Book discussions will follow the sequence of publication.

Love this idea! I haven’t read William but this evening I will surely sit down and browse the site.

The email also has some news about an eco-friendly offer.