What Moms Need

Today I blogged over at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian. Go there to read my post, What Moms Need.

While you’re there, read posts by other Canadian Christian writers.

And for all the mothers reading my post, may you be blessed with love and time with your family, yes, even with long-distance calls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mother on her wedding day

Book Signing this Saturday, May 4th for Once Upon a Sandbox

I am excited about my book signing at Waterloo Chapters this Saturday, May 4th from 11 am–1 pm, in Waterloo, Ontario. Come and get your copy of Once Upon a Sandbox and get it signed. The book makes a great gift for Mother’s Day for a mother, sister, aunt or grandmother as well.

Waterloo Chapters, King Street North, Waterloo, Ontario.

Go here to listen to my interview with Robert White at  Faith FM’s Art Connections

From my publisher’s website:

A marvellous family friendly book that will lift your spirits. Once Upon a Sandbox, by C. R. Wilker, is a warm and gentle memoir about family life on a farm. It is about the farm and the individuals, the personalities, and the ties that bind them to each other.

Whether it’s helping to whitewash a barn, hoeing endless rows of vegetable plants, or driving a tractor to prepare for spring seeding, there’s plenty of work to be done. Through this collection of prose and poetry, reflect on the realities of farm families, their connection with community, weather and economy, as well as being stewards of the land from which they make a living. This is a fine story to which anyone will relate. Read more here.

speaking at Kitchener Kiwanis Club, November 2012

Once Upon a Sandbox was a finalist in the 2012 Word Guild contest

Thank you again, Deborah Pryce, for your delightful art on the cover of my book.

Is it spring yet?

Yesterday we had rain, snow, sleet, thunder and lightning all within a few moments of each other and some at the same time. Odd, but I guess it’s spring.

Photos by L and C Wilker

Teachable Moment

The daily prompt from WordPress: You have to learn a new skill.Do you prefer to read about it, watch someone else do it, hear someone else describe it, or try it yourself.

As much as I enjoy reading about something of interest, I’d still rather do it myself. It reminds me of a lecture about sewing household decorator items that I attended years ago. While the woman was demonstrating, I  was wishing that I had my sewing machine and fabric there to create something while she was teaching. That`s where I like the interactive options.

I could read books galore on sewing, writing, gardening or even learning a language, but then I want to try it while the information is fresh in my mind. I think so many things are learned best through one’s own efforts. Some teaching may be needed first, whether it’s hearing, seeing or reading, but then get to the part where the person tries the skill.

No language is ever learned without speaking it, no piano skills made by just listening, and no seamstress ever becomes proficient until she has learned the qualities of fabric, the way a bias works, or by testing out patterns to see what fits best. Also gardeners developed knowledge by growing things herself and reinventing her garden time after time.

That`s the way a child learns, by trying new things, and I think many adults learn by trying things out themselves as well.

Saturday Snapshot–Gathering Good Things from the Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have  several pumpkins growing courtesy of seeds in the compost, instead of the cucumber seeds I planted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still some tomatoes ripening. You can see some leaves have started to turn brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results of my preserving efforts: relish, peaches, jam and pickled beets. I think of  the peaches as “bottled sunshine” when I open them in the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve picked more than a basket of tomatoes from our own plants. These and more went into the fruit relish. And we’ve enjoyed eating them as well. Yumm!

Saturday Snapshots hosted by At Home With Books. Go and see what other pictures are there and link up.

 

Photos by C. Wilker

All Things Bright and Beautiful– Canadian Writers Who Are Christian

It’s that gardening time of year when the markets are filled with fresh fruits and vegetables from people’s gardens and orchards. I love to go to market at this time of year and also pick produce from my own garden.

Today I posted over at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian about this very topic. Go and read my post there and also the posts of other Canadian writers. My title today is All Things Bright and Beautful.

http://twgauthors.blogspot.ca/2012/08/all-things-bright-and-beautifulcarolyn.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fruits of my garden

Five Flowers for Your Summer Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daisies, the kind you see in fields and lanes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gaillardia, bloom from June until first frost in October

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lance-leaf coreopsis, a small delicate flower, one of my favourites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lily, resembling a Tiger Lily, but without the black spots on petals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another lily, new to my garden

 

All of these flowers except the daisies are hardy plants that handle drought well. The daisies I keep anyway, despite their rather short blooming time, because I like them so much.

 

Consider the lilies, how they grow…even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.  Luke 12:27

Saturday Snapshots– How often does a Yucca plant bloom?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our yucca plant sent up a spike about a week ago. This week the blossoms opened a little at a time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A close-up shot of the blooms

This plant is one of 49 species and 24 subspecies that grow in North America to South America. Ours appears to be yucca filamentosa.  Our yucca blooms once every few years and so we wait for it to bloom and watch its progress.

But how often it blooms  may depend on the species of this slow-growing plant, as noted on ehow site:

Not all species of yucca bloom with similar regularity or visual prominence. As these plants are slow-growing, some take considerable time to mature to an age that produces flowers. Once a plant does bloom, expect blooms to return again the subsequent years at the same time of year.

 I’ll make a note on the calendar this year so the next time it blooms I’ll know just how often we can expect this plant to bloom. It just may be time to start a gardening notebook. Has anyone else kept one?

Saturday Snapshots hosted by At Home With Books. Go on over and post a photo you or a family member has taken. Remember to keep it respectable.

Saturday Snapshot–Spring Flowers

My flowerbeds have been bursting in colour the past few weeks. Here are a few snaps I’ve taken recently:

Yellow-tipped red tulips. Alas when I went out this morning, the colourful petals had mostly dropped or were blown away in the wind.

Pasque Flowers–started blooming at Easter and still looking beautiful

White bleeding hearts (taken this morning)

and the pink bleeding hearts (also today’s photo)

and one more, a flower so strong in scent that it stays in the garden- the purple hyacinth (finished blooming now)

I’d love to see your flowers too.

 

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Saturday Snapshots

Photo from a recent garden tour.

Saturday Snapshots, from Alyce At Home With Books