Watercolor Memories

Yesterday, Joey, our lawn guy, dug a hole and planted the gardenia bush the family sent to honor Paul’s memory. There are some blooms on it already and, combined with the jasmine growing nearby, it distributes a heavenly scent along one end of the lanai.  

Later on, I puttered in the garden, attempting with all my mind and all my senses to pull memories of Paul close to me. Somehow, although I knew there was beauty and color all around me, everything seemed pale and incomplete without Paul to share it. It reminded me of an unfinished watercolor painting that the artist has set on a shelf and never returned to finish. One has to strain to visualize how the finished painting would have looked.

Paul used to love to watch me deadheading, pruning, and weeding among the flowers and shrubs. “You belong in a garden,” he would say. I would agree.  I began gardening, after a fashion, when I was two years old. That is when my daddy marked off a small plot just for me in the flower garden that bordered our front lawn. Daddy used to love to tell the story of how I would discover snails on the undersides of the leaves and quickly pop them in my mouth before he could stop me. Fortunately, I eventually learned not to eat the snails and developed a love of gardening that has endured to this day.

I imagine one day I will see my garden in full color again, as it was when Paul was around to share the experience. For now, I reach out and pull the memories close, sensing his presence with me.

                              ©2013 Laura Allen Nonemaker All Rights Reserved

WHAT IS CATIE'S SECRET ???

I shared in a previous post how Fred D's Amazing Escape, the second children's book in my God's Secret Garden Adventures series, came to be. At that time, I promised to be back to tell you about the third book, Catie's Secret. Unfortunately, health issues with my husband and me kept me from staying current with my blog. I thank God that we are both doing well and resuming normal life (if our busy lives can be called normal for two retirees).

I love all the characters in my books, but especially Catie Caterpillar. She entered my imagination following a bug (pun intended) that my daughter, Lisa, put in my ear one day. "Mom, why don't you do a story about a butterfly?" were her words, as we talked about possible future topics for God's Secret Garden Adventures. She remembered my first encounter with raising butterflies not long before.  I had chronicled my experiences, some of them challenging, in a series of blog posts. Accompanied by photos, these earlier posts can be found in my blog archives.

When the nephew and niece of Mayor Benny (remember him from Benny's Angel?) come to Peaceful Meadow to eat clover and play, they find Catie crawling on a milkweed plant. She is eating voraciously and getting fatter and fatter. Then Catie is faced with a challenge and she must make a decision on how to react. She is a soft-spoken little thing, a bug of few words you might say. She decides to focus on the thing she knows best - eating.

I won't spoil the rest of the story by revealing it here, but suffice it to say that by the end of the book, the bunnies have experienced some valuable teaching moments. Both Fred D's Amazing Escape and Catie's Secret will be available by Summer 2013, when it can be purchased a number of ways, including Tate Publishing's online bookstore, my author website, Amazon.Com, and Barnes & Noble.Com.  

                                                                                              ©2013 Laura Allen Nonemaker

Benny’s Angel Sequels Coming

As I return to my social media activities with this, my first post in several months, I ask myself, “Where did the summer go?” No doubt, others wonder the same thing, especially youngsters heading back to school.

Time has a way of sliding on past us while we are “doing life”. It began to get away from me way back in the spring, when a couple of unexpected hospitalizations and subsequent doctor visits derailed me. Thank God, the outcome was positive and later on, we traveled up north to visit family and friends. We also enjoyed bringing two granddaughters back to Florida for a couple of weeks.

In spite of all this, my creative juices continued to flow in at least one important area of my writing. I am excited to announce that, with God’s help, I completed two more children’s books in my series, God’s Secret Garden Adventures. The first book, Benny’s Angel, released from Tate Publishing in 2011. Book two, Fred D’s Amazing Escape, will launch in April of 2012. The third book, Catie’s Secret, releases shortly after that.

Children, parents, and grandparents alike have delighted in Benny’s Angel and its charming animal characters. In the weeks ahead, I look forward to introducing you to some new animal personalities that will join existing ones in books two and three of God’s Secret Garden Adventures.

                                                                                                     Laura Allen Nonemaker

Book Launch Contest - Win a Limited Edition Print

OLD TIMER

Visit my author website at http://godsgarden.tateauthor.com/ and e-mail me your comment about my new children's book, Benny's Angel. Your name will be entered in a drawing for my limited edition, signed and numbered print titled, "Old Timer." The original artwork for this print won first place in the Fine Arts portrait division of the 2006 Kentucky State Fair.


Note: Last date to leave a comment is December 10, 2011.