Spring alway calls for changes in the garden. I guess, as everything unfolds and fills with color and bloom, we want to participate in some way.
Aside from running in the garden with the usual spring-induced enthusiasm and curiosity, I look at the plants, bugs, and birds as wonderful reference material for my stories. You never know on which leaf your thoughts will get entangled, and start to unwind out as a new story!
Just turn the soil somewhere, plant seeds from just eaten tomatoes, or find a surprise plant. Last year we had several wild orchids – will they come back this year? For now the garden has an overpopulation of forget-me-nots and violets, they seed themselves everywhere. I’m moving the plants from places where they will definitely be stomped on.
While digging one of the weeds, I found a huge earthworm, probably 10” long. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating. But it looked and felt like a snake in my hand, strong, slippery and very alive. It was so alien, the tube inside the tube, divided in circles. For some time earthworms were considered a very good part of the ecosystems, but recently they are getting some bad reviews. As usual, everything depends on context. It’s only some parts of the worm’s life that we are aware about, and some features of the habitat we care about.
I put the worm into the soft soil of the garden, and covered it with more soft soil, to save it from the residential robins. Out of sight, only his liveliness remained in my hand.
The robin came soon, he looked around, and turned his head to listen. Probably, the gigantic worm moving underground sounds like a subway train for the bird. Anyway, now it’s out of my hands.
The worm, robin and replanting of forget-me-nots inspired a new coloring page.
Download the full size image using the link below.
While not digging, I work on two books at the same time. Will I end up mixing up the contents?! Both book’s main characters are boys, one book has three yellow socks as a centrepiece. In another book all the events are developing around the crater of the volcano. I rewrote each book several times, and so far everything is going in the right direction. Next will come many rounds of editing, and then the most delightful part – illustrating.
The volcano book is a surprise (hopefully she will not see this post) present for my youngest daughter. I have to meet the deadline! And most importantly, will she like it and read it?