I Found an Old Friend!

I have recently discovered an "old friend" through blogging land.  Well she was not really an acquaintance, but after having read her first book, I knew this woman and I were kindred spirits.  Her book Sunflower Houses had such a huge impact on me as a young mom. Teaching me how to introduce the love of  gardening to my children.  Till this day my daughter and her friend cherish special memories of playing tea party in their sunflower play house that we grew for them out of sunflowers and morning glory in the garden. So when Sharon Lovejoy wrote her second book Hollyhocks Days that to quickly became a part of my garden library.

For years I have treasured these books and all the wonderful garden lore and children's activities and projects these treasures hold.  To my delight a couple of weeks ago I came across Sharon Lovejoy's name in one of Vee's comments.  I thought no it couldn't be. Sure enough I followed her back to her blog and discovered Sharon all over again.  Well since my earlier acquaintance with her books she has written several more.  I went on amazon and order three of them.  One she highly recommended to me was Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars.  The subtitle to this book is Grandma's Bag of Tricks. 

This book goes into much more than just gardening. The first chapter is called Preparing Camp Granny.  This is the grand parenting book I have been looking for. This book after just reading the first two chapters is everything I want to do with my grands.  Ideas for gardening, nature, crafts, games, art projects, and cooking with your grands...the whole shebang.

I know all you grandma's out there are going to love this.  I can't wait for Puddin Toes to come visit this week so we can start exploring some of Sharon's great ideas.  They are simple, practical and homey.

Please go check out her blog , she has a fun little clip from a show she did in Portland last week. It gives you a peek into some of the fun things she shares about in her book.

Oh did I mention she does her own sweet watercolor illustrations.  I love this woman!