I have no memory of planting these gorgeous garden queens. In fact, the colors are so brilliant the flowers seem artificial. But they are real, bugs and all. And apparently, prolific seeds and all, because these returned from last summer, and the summer before that. My best guess is there must have been some seeds in the packets of wildflowers I once spread hither and yon. They grow crazy all summer, and then by late summer, bam, crowds of beauty.
Joy. My word of the year. I’ve been finding joy, conversations about joy, unexpected joy, memes and verses about joy, joyful thoughts, actual joy, songs about joy, poems, faces that express joy! What a joy!
I took this photo at night with my phone camera. The stars were so brilliant, but it was quite breezy and the sunflowers danced to the rhythm of the wind gusts. Still. The stars were gorgeous pinpricks of light, and the movement of the sunflowers so graceful. I love this photo.
Photo by Angie Quantrell, Yakima Valley, summer night
Wow! Thanks to Aimee Isaac and Susanna Hill, I was gifted a copy of The Planet We Call Home. Just in time for the birthday of my youngest grand who will turn 7 very soon. She will love opening her very own autographed copy! Thank you, Aimee and Susanna!
The Planet We Call Home is beautiful! Written in a cumulative style, each phrase is added to the next, so by the end of the story, lines have been repeated and the story internalized. I love this format! The lyrical text is hope-filled and based on nature and conversation of our precious planet Earth. Lovely illustrations complement and extend the story. Back matter provides resources for further reading and ways to help our planet. Well done, Aimee and Jaime!
With Earth Day coming up soon, The Planet We Call Home is just right! It’s also the birthday party day, so I know one 7-year-old who will be reading it on Earth Day.
