Dear Reader:
I am becoming pretty adept at telling time by the shadows on the driveway outside my “Happy Place” computer office/room. By just looking at the shadows in the photo…I would guess it is mid-afternoon. *(Just checked the bottom right hand corner of the screen and it is 2:49. Not bad!)
I really let my imagination go wild some afternoons, while working on the blog, by creating images from the shadows. You might notice in the right hand corner (in a clearing I worked on) my ginger shell plant is happy and growing…its fronds’ shadows stretching out towards me and the window as if wanting to slide in and hold hands.
Some days the collective shadows look like a pergola with vines of moon flowers falling down around it. On other days the shadows seem to form a bridge from the other side of the driveway to my window.
The “bridge” of shadows beckon to me to come cross the divide and come into the floral foliage of life just feet from my window.
In the sweet little story of Grandpa Green, a little boy, Grandpa’s first great-grandchild shares the secrets of family memory in Grandpa’s garden.
He learns about the full and varied life of his Grandpa Green by strolling through his grandfather’s garden, which is full of topiary trees that have been carved to represent a lifetime of memories and remembrances.
Grandpa has even made a topiary for every child, grandchild, and now great-grandchild.
(I have my four Japanese Maples for each of my grandchildren and Grandpa his lifetime full of family topiaries.)
Early mornings have gotten to be my favorite time for reverie in my garden. With this seemingly endless hot wave we are experiencing, there is no “dew on the roses” (or anywhere else for that matter) but, surprisingly, some of the coolest, most refreshing breezes appear at that time of day.
The story begins with the acknowledgement that Grandpa Green was born a really long time ago…before computers, or Iphones, or television
He grew up on a farm raising vegetables. In the fourth grade he got chicken pox, but not from chickens. He wasn’t allowed to attend school so he soon began reading about wizards, tin men, lions, tigers, 
bears, and “a little engine that could.”
Grandpa stole his first kiss from a girl in middle school, and planned to go on to horticulture school after high school. But a war came along and he was needed to go fight so he never attended horticulture school.
After the war he met a beautiful girl who would become his wife. They were very happy together for a long time before she died and he was left alone.
These days Grandpa is having a hard time remembering things. like his floppy straw hat. (Sitting on the elephant topiary.)
…But the important stuff….
………………The Garden Remembers for Him…………….
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This is a wonderful children’s book and I highly recommend it. One day, hopefully years from now, I want to be able to see tall, tall, Japanese maples providing luscious shade over the garden and large flowering bushes hiding all the secrets within….the stories of the joy and fun the garden has provided for the family.
So until tomorrow….memories take all kinds of shapes, even that of a topiary…or a Japanese maple. Let us all find a secret place we can go to remember how it was when and how it will look in the future.
“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh
*Some little boy had the vacation of his life….ending in a fire station. It was “Rut, Rut, Firetruck!”
(If you can strut standing up, I think Rutledge pulled it off!)
Anne’s moon flower blooms are popping like popcorn….but we have made one (scientific) observation. Instead of popping wide open like Anne has videoed earlier of her moon flower blooms….the blooms, now, just slowly open and then only partially. We decided that it is just “too darn hot…to pop!”
My first moon flower bud bloomed Sunday might in the magical moon gate garden. There are a lot more buds….so I think we are both going to be busy enjoying the blooms.
Moonflower in the Pale Moon Light
Gently Unfurling
Willing to Nights Delight
⊙
Cloistered under the Bright
Clear Sun.. Shutting Herself
Till the Day is Done
* I heard from Ambika yesterday….it had been a long time and I miss her comments and ideas. Somewhere in the blog I mentioned that I didn’t know if “I had an angel by my side” but definitely had one hanging from the front door.
Ambika sent me this song which I played over several times and really like….”Angel at my Side.”
ichaseferalcats
John Turner
Legally Ohm
Becky Dingle
Enjoyed your stories today. (The word blog just doesn’t seem to fit great stories and beautiful thoughts.) I hope children today will put those hand-held devices down long enough to use their imaginations and enjoy stories and things one can see in shadows and clouds. You are a master at this. I loved “Grandpa Green” (don’t know how to underline). One place I hope to visit soon is Pearl Fryar”s Topiary Garden in Bishopville. Have you ever been?
I have not and would love to go. I remember staying in a Scottish B&B one time on main street when I am was doing some work for those state evaluations on failing schools. The proprietor was so nice and took me to see the mystery of the “lizard Man.” in the cotton fields. But I didn’t hear about the topiary gardens….would love to see them.