Little Star Homeschool

Spotted a wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) flitting about on the garden yesterday. This is the first time we have seen one on our patch. Our conifers do attract the birds because they harbour many different kinds of insect. We have seen plenty of sparrows and blackbirds this year and Robert was hoping to see a robin on the garden but no luck so far.

One of the things we like to do when we are not in the garden is to trawl round the net for any freebies we can find. Looking through the exhibitors for the Chelsea Flower Show this year we came a cross a charity courtyard garden. They are trying to encourage gardeners, especially children by giving away a free pack of pumpkin seeds.

The garden is based on a children's book called Where The Wild Things Are. This is one of those truly rare books that can be enjoyed equally by a child and a grown-up. If you disagree, then it's been too long since you've attended a wild rumpus. Max dons his wolf suit in pursuit of some mischief and gets sent to bed without supper. Fortuitously, a forest grows in his room, allowing his wild rampage to continue unimpaired. Sendak's colour illustrations (perhaps his finest) are beautiful, and each turn of the page brings the discovery of a new wonder.

The wild things - with their mismatched parts and giant eyes - manage somehow to be scary- looking without ever really being scary; at times they're downright hilarious. Sendak's defiantly run-on sentences - one of his trademarks - lend the perfect touch of stream of consciousness to the tale, which floats between the land of dreams and a child's imagination.

John has started a separate gardening blog on Wordpress. Hopefully it will make things less complicated to have all the gardening stuff in a new blog plus we can see if we like Wordpress. You can take a look here: John the Gardener Its a bit plain at the moment until we get the hang of the style sheets, widgets, etc. so bear with us and keep checking back for improvements!

The gladioli Robert helped plant earlier in the year are stunning! Later this year we will put in some spring bulbs for next year, daffodils, tulips, etc.

Everything in the garden is coming up...er...irises.

Robert planted some bulbs with John back in May and he's very pleased with the results. He calls them 'nana's flowers' because in March I cross stitched a floral mother's day card with Robert for her and said "nana likes flowers", so all flowers belong to her.