AE Inspirations | Early February 2011

I can relate to most of your items here and am loving them too. Now that we have a puppy who loves to be outside running I'm right along with him soaking in the few sunny days and all the pretty white snow and even the bare trees still seem magical. My husband is a huge huge fan of birds, the one reason he'd retire now is to just sit and watch the birds all day and night. He has said this many times, he only has Sundays off and you can find him up early by our back window watching them and bringing him joy. His other passion is his garden and you will have so much fun with yours especially with the kids. Just a tip is that every year your garden gets better once you understand the soil, the sun, etc. sometimes the first couple crops aren't as successful as you hope. Just keep trying and you will get it. I enjoyed reading what your enjoying now thanks for sharing.

Oh, what an exiting time you will have exploring your new garden as spring and summer comes! Lucky you!! Good luck on growing vegetables, that is so much fun, but not necesseraly easy.. But it is a wonderful feeling when you see that you can do it. I sure hope you will show us how it goes.

Love your post....one of my goals last year was to start a veggie garden (here in Brisbane, Australia). It was the best thing I did. My garden was small but manageable 2 wooden boxes with no bases 1.2 mt x 1.2 mt in length. I put weed matt down first to stop the grass growing and filled it with organic matter layered to have my "no dig garden". We grew lettuce, cucumber, chinese cabbage, corriander, schalotts,basil, thai basil, it was just fantastic. Because it was contained in the boxes so to speak there was no weeding required. It is fantastic for the kids to grow stuff. Look forward to reading some of the other articles you mentioned. Might even send you a photo of my little veggie garden by email. It makes me so happy my little veggie garden. Regards Kathy, Brisbane, Australia

so jealous of the view of your backyard. Mine won't look like that til April or gah! May...
So cold here right now.
Thanks for your inspiration, as always.

My husband is an aspiring writing and I purchased the King book for him for Christmas. Then before Christmas we were with friends discussing books and he was talking about how he wasn't really a King fan. Inside I was thinking oh great. There goes that gift! Well, he loves it!! I think it has really changed his opinion of Stephen King and I think he has just enjoyed it overall. I liked reading that you've had a similar experience.

THe birdfeeder is fun! If you learn what birds you can get what type of seeds they like the most. This helps attract more. I think they tell the others where the good food is :) I love ours.

Thanks for sharing these books! I always forget about "scrappy" books, and I've never really read one. I hope your backyard transformation goes well. We have a lot to do on ours too, as we just moved in last May.

On Writing is one of my top five books of all time. I'm not a big Stephen King fan either but some of his short stories are exceptional. Different Seasons is a good book to try as it has the novella on which the movie Stand By Me was based.

Oregon looks so wet and green and expectant in your photo. Spring seems a million miles away where I am but it looks like it's just around the corner for you.

It's funny how we assume a book by Steven King will be scary -- he has earned that reputation for sure... but so many of my favorite movies and books are by Steven King... I will pick this one up for sure. Thanks for the recommendation... ~ kim

don't ask me why, but I was tickled to see you mention the dog. :) Also, since you are doing a veggie garden, you should get some chickens. They make great pets. Feed them flax seeds, and they will give you Omega-3 eggs. :)

You have a DOG??? How did I miss that? :D

I too love the winter garden and the anticipation of Spring. In San Diego, winter is SHORT, but I like the look of everything asleep and waiting for spring. I can see from your photo that whatever that is draped over the fence, it's going to be vigorous. Do you know what it is? I just bought a bunch of seeds at the local nursery...that's fun to see what pops up, what works and what doesn't.

Good luck with your garden! And dog!

Hey HI --did I ever mention that my hubs calls you "my enabler"!!! LOL

I'm a huge SK fan and I just read a few editorials on the book you mentioned...umm. I'll have to go off and get it.

I heard birds today..which was odd since we are freezing over here today. So much so that we knew since yesterday that getting to work was not going to be fun. I'm fortunate enough to get to telework today!! Shhh..on that I took a break to sneak over to read your blog!!! LOL

Okay--you have a dog? I don't quite recall that either...lol

Hope you have a nice day.

PS..evertime. I say--oh well Ali said...so and so...and she suggests.....

He just chuckles!!

I listened to On Writing a few years back in the car, so heard it in Stephen King's voice too - fabulous! I've never read a single thing he has written :D but I love his writing *style* and the way he talks about writing. Thanks for reminding me what a great book that is!

I've read and re-read both of Noelle Hyman's articles and enjoy them as well.

Hey Ali - my hubby and I were also thinking of starting a veggie garden in our backyard - will you be sharing about your garden more on here? I hope so! I also loved those articles by Noelle Hyman ~ agree very much with them be inspiring!

Just have to add to the Stephen King discussion. Like you, I am not a fan of horror, so tended to shy away from Stephen King. Then somehow I heard about his book, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, about a 9-year old girl described as "his strongest kid character yet, wholly believable and achingly empathetic in her vulnerability and resourcefulness." It is fantastic, and I highly recommend it. I will never be a fan of horror, but since reading this book I am definitely a Stephen King fan.

Thank you for talking about my articles, Ali! I'm so happy you got something out of them.

Izzy and I read On Writing when it came out and loved it! I've been meaning to re-read it over the past month or two since I've been working a lot on my writing over the past couple of years. We have the hard back so I just need to grab it off my shelf. Now that I think about it, it's a good time right now since I just finished a novel and hadn't chosen the next book to start.

Again, much appreciation for talking about my articles. This subject is really important to me.

ali, this is an excellent bird book: http://www.amazon.com/Birds-Willamette-Valley-Region-Regional/dp/0964081040 they also have one for our whole state. both are awesome and so easy to use.

Love "On Writing." What a great book. I'm getting ready to read "Bird By Bird" by Anne Lamott, another great book my writer friends recommend!

I so want to grow my own veggies. Something about it terrifies me! :) Can't wait to see how yours turn out!