David's Blog

David , im lovin this and already looking forward to your next blog ! Happy Gardening

Can't wait to read the next bit, I must be ancient compared to you, 'cos I read the old cjhildrens classics before they became films!

Thank you very much, wemamabell, I see you are not very far from me. I really admire your "About Me" profile and love the garden pics (Isaved the colourful border pic in My favourites) Wish I could have same in my garden! Am about to write my next blog entry, which is where I can at last write about how we translated the Wizard of Oz into a garden. - david

thanx Tussie1 I doubt if anyone, least of all you, could remember reading the Wizard of Oz book b4 it was a film. I am 46 yrs old, with a 4- and 6-yr-old (boy and girl), and consider myself an elderly parent (the kids tell me I'm anceint, but I believe this is normal).I am so glad I did most of the things I wanted to do b4 I settled down. I believe that experience makes me a better parent. Because of the children, I feel like a 26- rather than a 46-yr old, and find myself doing things with them almost subconsciously, with a sense of deja-vous, and realising that this is what my parents did with us at that age (weird?) My gardening hobby can certainly be traced back to pre-school age, because I remember it so well, but the strange thing is, I had to mow the lawn for pocket money, and hated it, and still do! In adulthood, I removed all the grass from every garden I had and replaced it with beds. In our present garden, I removed about 3/4 of it, but decided to leave a lawn area for our children (but I still hate mowing it!) Also, as a late parent, I am often conscious of mortality and responsibility (is this strange) and believe that I have to help teach my children as much as poss., and, as in my own case, leave them with as many great memories and skills as I can. By gardening with them, we can talk about so many relevant topics, at their level, and I find that it works very well. I have had people say to me that they wonder why i spend so much energy and time on the garden for the children, because they'll be grown-up as soon as you can blink, That is exactly why I do it, while I can! Also, I secretly enjoy the opportunity to be bold, brash and adventurous in the garden! - david

Perhaps they made a book after the film, I'm pretty sure i read that to my children years ago, we watched the film together too of course, time spent with your children is irreplaceable and don't le anyone persuade you otherwise. I taught all my children to garden and cook and may other skills which stood them in good stead. My son is a single parent and has a degree, teaches computing at the local college, the other day he made a childs birthday cake in the shape of a horses head - one any woman would have been proud of!

Your son is a superhero! Yes, there are loads of modern reprints of the Oz story. I got the Usborne Young Readers version and our son read it out to his class at the beginning of our project.