Welcome to Litsy!

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii

1. Spending the morning reading in our local botanic garden 🪴
2. Giving a new favorite book to a former student/now friend 📖💛
3. Having fun writing haiku for #haikuhive @dabbe #haikuaday 🐝💛
4. Finding that my friend had the author sign a book to me before giving it to me 😊
5. Watching our backyard bloom. 🌸🌹🌺

This was a quiet short story told from the viewpoint of a snail. Admittedly, I read it to bump up my “books read“ count for the year. But I enjoyed it. And it makes me to want to pick up another of hers. I've been contemplating a re-read of Mrs. Dalloway. Perhaps now is the time.

📸 I've never been to Kew Gardens but it looks inviting.

https://youtu.be/B-91K2RYOYM?si=5SnBKdHJsJbs1oML

Introduction
A special offer from last week's mystery guest
Shawn has bookmarks for sale
Congrats, Michael Crummey
Mystery guest
Weekly Highlights
An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
Where I Live Now: A Journey through Love and Loss to Healing and Hope by Sharon Butala
Small Reckonings by Karin Melberg Schwier
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase

Waiting to meet a friend for dinner & coffee at a coffee shop that is new to me. Only 12 minutes from work, by the airport. A little further for him, but he doesn‘t mind. He was my mentor- I student taught with him. ❤️ Delicious looking croissants for tomorrow‘s breakfast are in the white boxes.🥐

Early morning read & coffee.
It‘s a cold 45 degrees, pouring rain. Reading about a garden & love in midst of war makes me feel hope for sunshine.
booksandcoffee #shelfsweeper ##4Elizabeth

My intro to Helen Humphrey. She was recommended by my cousin (more specifically Followed by the Lark, but this was the first book of hers I could get my hands on). I loved this so much! surprisingly so! It gave me an entirely new (more intriguing) direction for my own gardens 🌷🪻 and for such a short book I cried several times 😢
I‘ve since picked up more of her work. And bonus that she‘s a 🇨🇦 author from a town near by.

Random book from our home library:

📖 Panoramas of English Gardens by David Wheeler and Nick Meers

Classic Martha vs New Martha. Martha Stewart's Gardening Month by Month is old favorite of mine. Yes it's a bit dated, but I'm always inspired by it. I usually flip through whatever month we are in. Plus it has seasonal recipes.

I was excited to get my hands the first new Martha gardening book in 30 years - Martha Stewart's Gardening Handbook. ⬇️