Why The Story Garden?

I am a writer, poet, essayist, journalist, and author. To me, stories are as essential as breathing. If you look at the picture on my blog you will see me sitting, Buddha-like, in my garden. To the left you will see a garden area with some statuary. This is my "pond." Being that I do not have a great place to have an actual water feature, I have created a representative one in the form of a garden bed. There you will see Huck Finn fishing and the Frog Prince just hanging out. In other areas of my garden you will find Aslan, the lion, and his lamppost, the tortoise and the hare, Peter Rabbit, and others. Thus, I have a "story garden."

My sister-in-law, Nancy, was thrilled at the sight of a sun dial in a bed of golden thyme. She is the only person I know, besides myself, who had read "The Thyme Garden" by Edward Eager. A lovely book about children who manage to travel through time by using the many types of thyme growing in a garden.

There is also a gazing ball to represent the book Jane-Emily by Patricia Clapp. A second gazing ball is in the paws of a cat, to represent the cat books I have read. There is a tree with a face on it with several yellow bricks lined up beneath to represent that wonderful place called Oz. I have a mushroom statue that I would one day like to find just the right caterpillar to go with for Alice in Wonderland.

At the back of the garden on a bench is a statue of a little girl reading a book. To my mind, all of what is happening in my garden is what this girl is reading.

Turning a portion of my garden into my "urban farm" is an homage to Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House books.This is my "Little House in the Valley."

One day someone stopped by to admire my garden and I explained the theme to him. Thinking he would catch me off guard, he asked, "What about Walt Whitman?" I grinned and pulled up a small handful of lawn, "Leaves of Grass!" I replied.

Just to be contrary, there is the statue of a crane. I have named him Frasier After all, I do like well-written television too.