summer reading

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a huge fan of reading. I love magazines. I love the way they create little scenes and little stories in all their pictures. Whether every detail has been carefully planned or if its a little haphazard...I find it inspiring! I suppose I'm a visual learner. I love seeing, doing, feeling and creating things. In school I was a horrible test taker. I couldn't stand the thought or the process of sitting down and reading a textbook and then taking 100 question test on what I read. I never scored well. Give me a project, something that I can create with my hands, something I can imagine, something that doesn't have an 'answer'...then I'll excel.

I've always loved books....not reading books...but having books or looking at books. (again with the picture thing) Sadly, I one of those people that judge a book by its cover. Some books covers are created with the most beautiful pictures or fonts and it draws me to it. Some would say I'm a sucker for good marketing. Anyway, after being inspired by some fellow bloggers, and realizing I haven't read a book in its entirety in over a year, I decided to craft myself a summer reading list.

In less than four days, I'm over half way through The Glass Castle (which says a lot for the book if I could read that much that quickly) Next I'm reading Little, Big then The Life of Pi and then I'm not sure. A couple suggestions include Man's Search for Meaning, The Alchemist, and Standing in the Rainbow.

I suppose I'll see if I can make it through the first three books and move on from there. If you have suggestions for a must read... please leave a comment below. I love books with 'heart' or some inspired meaning. Obviously.

miracle-gro monday

Looking through my last posts it seems that most are about plants or flowers... I apologize for that. I guess I'm just really enjoying the warm air and sunshine. I see why winter is so important...it certianly made me appreciate beautiful days of summer.

Over the past couple weeks I've been updating my landscaping in front of the Bed and Breakfast. After removing and replacing what seemed like 4 tons of stone (turns out it actually was 4 tons) I felt like a little ant. Back and forth. Back and forth. I'm finally 'finished'. I say 'finished' because I still need to add a couple more shrubs... but they will come in the fall. I will post some pictures later this week.

On Mondays I use miracle-gro on all my flowers, pots, hanging baskets and some of my perennials. I once heard that it's suggested to use fertilizer every forth watering. It takes me long enough to water without adding fertilizer to every watering can full of water, so I limit it to Mondays. It also helps me remember when a fertilized last. Genius.

As I watered I snapped some pictures of some flowers that have finally decided to open. Seems like the miracle-gro is working.