I’m not feeling very well this week… so what do you read when you are under-the-weather? My quiet reading/recovery time is spent with a little book that I downloaded onto my Kindle, but I’m going to order a hardback copy because it’s a little treasure with illustrations by a favorite artist: Childe Hassam. The book is An Island Garden, by Celia Thaxter, who wrote it in 1894 at the urging of friends who loved her flower garden. She was a wonderful gardener, so I am loving reading about it and learning from her. But she was also a poet and writer of stories. I’d never heard of her before, so she’s a wonderful find for me. And this is a very nice book for someone “under the weather” in the middle of January…someone who is dreaming and planning her own garden, and longing for Spring to come!
Often I hear people say, “How do you make your plants flourish like this?” as they admire the little flower patch I cultivate in summer, or the window gardens that bloom for me in the winter; “I can never make my plants blossom like this! What is your secret?” And I answer with one word, “Love.” For that includes all,–the patience that endures continual trial, the constancy that makes perseverance possible, the power of foregoing ease of mind and body to minister to the necessities of the thing beloved, and the subtle bond of sympathy which is as important, if not more so, than all the rest.
Oh…I and DO wish I could somehow work it out to go to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, before March 8th to see an exhibit called “Flowers in Winter: Celia Thaxter’s Island Garden.”
A Fondness For Reading 
I hope you feel better soon! And that really does sound like such a wonderful book Robin 🙂
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I hope you feel better soon! (I find e-books are wasted on me. If I really love the book I end up buying it in paperback anyway…)
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She is one of my favorite people, and he one of my fave artists!! I don’t think I’ve read the book though I’ve looked through it. I was on Appledore years and years ago. Wonderful link here to a project in the making:
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Thanks for your feel better wishes, Chris and Kelly. I’m feeling better after a tough week. It helps that there’s been a few days of sunshine and warmth. This is January?
Thanks for the link, Nan! This is all such a fun discovery for me, and I’m enjoying her little gardening book. I love the work of Childe Hassam, too! His connection to Celia Thaxton has me intrigued. I’ve ordered the little book, Sandpiper: The Life and Letters of Celia Thaxter. Looking forward to learning more about her.
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I love this artist! I have The South Ledges, Appledore hanging in our stairwell and look at every single day, at least once or twice. It reminds me a little bit of the Oregon coast.
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