In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden

Last night the apple trees shook and gave each lettuce a heart 

Six hard red apples broke through the greenhouse glass and 

Landed in the middle of those ever-so-slightly green leaves 

That seem no mix of seeds and soil but of pastels and light and 

Chalk x’s mark our oaks that are supposed to be cut down   

I’ve seen the neighbors frown when they look over the fence 

And see our espalier pear trees bowing out of shape I did like that 

They looked like candelabras against the wall but what’s the sense 

In swooning over pruning I said as much to Mrs. Jones and I swear 

She threw her cane at me and walked off down the street without 

It has always puzzled me that people coo over bonsai trees when 

You can squint your eyes and shrink anything without much of   

A struggle ensued with some starlings and the strawberry nets 

So after untangling the two I took the nets off and watched birds 

With red beaks fly by all morning at the window I reread your letter 

About how the castles you flew over made crenellated shadows on   

The water in the rainbarrel has overflowed and made a small swamp 

I think the potatoes might turn out slightly damp don’t worry 

If there is no fog on the day you come home I will build a bonfire 

So the smoke will make the cedars look the way you like them 

To close I’m sorry there won’t be any salad and I love you

~ Matthea Harvey

Summer at North Farm

Finnish rural life, ca. 1910

Fires, always fires after midnight, 

the sun depending in the purple birches 

and gleaming like a copper kettle. 

By the solstice they’d burned everything, 

the bad-luck sleigh, a twisted rocker, 

things “possessed” and not-quite-right. 

The bonfire coils and lurches, 

big as a house, and then it settles. 

The dancers come, dressed like rainbows 

(if rainbows could be spun), 

and linking hands they turn 

to the melancholy fiddles. 

A red bird spreads its wings now 

and in the darker days to come.

~ Stephen Kuusisto

Bed in Summer

In winter I get up at night 

And dress by yellow candle-light. 

In summer, quite the other way, 

I have to go to bed by day. 

I have to go to bed and see 

The birds still hopping on the tree, 

Or hear the grown-up people's feet 

Still going past me in the street. 

And does it not seem hard to you, 

When all the sky is clear and blue, 

And I should like so much to play, 

To have to go to bed by day?

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Beginner's Bible Carry Along Treasury Book Review

Title: The Beginner's Bible Carry-Along Treasury

Author: Beginner's Bible

Genre: Children, Christian, Bible, Carry-Along,

Plot: From Creation to the Fall, to Deborah, Samson, King David, the birth of Jesus, His ministry and His death and resurrection, this little treasury is perfect for beginners and for small hands to carry it along on adventures, to church or even just around the house. Filled with bright colors and the now classic Beginner's Bible artwork, this book is a must-have for anyone with toddlers and young children.

Likes/Dislikes: My three yr old loves this book! She carries it around everywhere and reads the stories to her stuffed animals. The ten month old enjoyed the bright colors and eagerly ripped a page so not for tiny hands that are better suited for board books. But they both listened as I read the stories and they enjoyed them. I personally liked how accurate they are to the actual Bible passages and that lesser known stories such as Deborah's were included.

Rating: G- all ages. Highly recommended.

Date Review Written: June 2nd, 2017

I received a copy of this book courtesy of BookLook Bloggers for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

Fireflies in The Garden

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, 

And here on earth come emulating flies, 

That though they never equal stars in size, 

(And they were never really stars at heart) 

Achieve at times a very star-like start. 

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.

~ Robert Frost

Wings of the Wind Book Review

Title: Wings of the Wind

Author: Connilyn Cossette

Genre: Fiction, Christian, Biblical Retelling, Romance, Adventure, Drama,

Plot: After wandering the desert for forty years, the Israelites are posed to sweep the land and claim their inheritance. There's just one small problem; the land is currently occupied by bloodthirsty tribes who are not about to give up their land so easily. But God is on the side of the Hebrews and destruction lies in their wake.

Alanah, a motherless warrior Canaanite woman, enters the battle disguised as a man and bent on dying while avenging her fallen father and brothers. But instead she is found wounded by a Hebrew and saved. With her death wish going out the window, Alanah is forced to survive and live among the enemy. While doing so, she learns that these bearded warriors are not as savage as they appear and one in particular takes her by surprise. But Alanah's fight for survival isn't over yet.

Tobiah, a compassionate Hebrew, is a soldier and gladly does his duty but finding a woman on the battlefield wasn't something he was expecting. And the only way to protect her is to marry her. He never intended to fall in love with her.

Likes/Dislikes: This is the third and final book in the Out From Egypt trilogy and concludes the series on the brink of entering the Promised Land. Kiya and Shira are briefly in the story but are not central to the plot so this book can very easily be read on its own. Parts of this book were fun to read, like Alanah and Tobiah trying to figure each other out {though the instant love on his part was a bit unreal}, but several chunks were difficult to read. Set in a brutal time and among very vicious people, the atrocities hinted at in the story were once horrible realities for so many people. Nothing is overly graphic but enough is implied to make this book more geared toward mature readers only. Cossette does a splendid job of painting a vivid picture without traumatizing her readers.

Rating: PG-18 and up, mainly for content {brutal battle, heavy suggestions/implications/threats of rape, murder and prostitution, non-detailed flashback of infant sacrifice, two characters are sold into sexual slavery but escape before anything happens, etc.}. Not for tender-hearted readers, mature readers only.

Date Review Written: June 2nd, 2017

I received a copy of this book courtesy of BethanyHouse Publishers for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions in the above review are my own.