Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show- Decorative Animals

 
Since most of the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show was more about selling things than wowing people with displays, one had to look for little gems hidden among the vendors. However, I think this first one, the primary colored bull, was just a display. He's cute. He'd go well in my kitchen (except I do not need any more stuff).



I'm not exactly sure what you are supposed to do with these little heads on sticks, but they are happy. Maybe you just stick them in the garden so there is a smiling face poking through the blossoms.



The laid-back frog is for my buddy Lin.



The most amazing art was being sold by a lady who makes these from leather. Each is unique. She sculpts the form for the animal head, then molds and arranges the leather over it. Eventually, when the leather is dry, she breaks the form out. She had horses and wolves.



But her most impressive was this bison.



Today, Ester and I just chilled and fixed a nice meal at her house. I took a couple of walks and finished The ABZ Affair.

	See Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show intro
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Fort Wayne Home & Garden Show

 
So, once again this year, I didn't feel that I could take the time or money to go to the Philadelphia Flower Show. But March and I have a very touchy relationship. I want green and color the scent of flowers. It gives me gray, brown and the scent of mud.

I have to also say that someone has decided- not without merit- the Philadelphia Flower Show is the "Event of the Universe," so it's not like anything one can do "locally" is going to be anywhere in the same class. But, armed with this knowledge, one can make choices. Ester and I followed the instruction of the day (March 4th) and chose the Fort Wayne Home and Garden Show.



It was held at the War Memorial Coliseum, and with senior discount was only $6 each. That price seemed reasonable to us, given how much (little?) plant material we figured would be there. We read the exhibitor list and knew that it was primarily deck/patio/lawn/decor/remodel stuff. But we thought there was a reasonable number of groups that would be likely to have plants.



We also knew that one should not expect too much. We'd both been to the Chicago Flower Show (different years) and had been highly disappointed. I'd been to the Grand Rapids one once and double ditto. One problem of expectations is that both of us have helped with the Ann Arbor Flower Show (no longer being held), and that was a good one.

But, for $6 and gas, it was a fun trip. I'll show you some pictures over the next few days.

The entrance display was created by Arbor Farms





A few plants posed for some nice closeups- rose



and bromeliad



There was one special treat (I'll show you another day), that tickled me to see. Altogether a good day (even though it gave us pause when we stopped at Meijer on the way home and they had only slightly less live plant material than the show!)

Next stop? A smoothie shop. Ester had a peach-mango-papaya one and I had peach-green tea. Both were excellent. The book? Well, the Acres Land Trust which operates in southern Michigan, NE Indiana and NW Ohio was selling a very nice trail book that covers all their preserves in that area. Had to get that. Most of the trails are short, but one could put together a nice weekend or several-day trip with outings.



We had a grand day! I just needed something different, colorful and somewhat green that wasn't going to cost WAY too much, and this filled the bill.

	See Philadelphia Flower Show 2009- V
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or Make Your Own Gift

 
So yesterday I had to content myself with the gift of local blue skies. Today I have fled south to have make my own gift of fun with a friend (and pie)




We took a joyride along the Fawn River on the way home from the pie.





Stay tuned for fun tomorrow.

	See Saved by the Clouds and Ester
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Accept the Gift that is Given

 
Today gave me blue sky. Just because the sky is always up there, and is often blue should not detract from the value of the gift. And in fact, in Michigan from November through March, blue sky isn't all that common. So I will not only accept the gift, but I will cheer for it!



The landscape does still look a bit desolate, however.

The cemetery pond is still frozen.



In other news: Work today, work tonight. I may have an idea for the weekend...

	See Green Herons on the Cemetery Pond
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Newbery Medal through the Years

 
You've probably heard of the Newbery Medal. I've realized since I was a kid that it was a prestigious award for children's books. Today, on World Book Day, I went hunting for a list of winners.


"The most distinguished contribution to American literature for children" United States, Presented by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association

Now I'm feeling quite sheepish. It has been awarded since 1922, with one winner per year, and several honored books- like runners-up.

How many total books? I quit counting at 300, and I was only up to 1991. But here's the deal. The number of these books I've heard of is ridiculously small. The list of those I've read is even shorter. Here it is:

On the Banks of Plum Creek, 1938, Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Long Winter, 1941, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Town on the Prairie, 1942, Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Story of Mary Jemison, 1942, Lois Lenski
Johnny Tremain, 1944, Esther Forbes
Those Happy Golden Years, 1944, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Misty of Chincoteague, 1948, Marguerite Henry
King of the Wind, 1949, Marguerite Henry
Charlotte's Web, 1953, E.B. White
Men, Microscopes and Living Things, 1956, Katherine Shippen
Old Yeller, 1957, Fred Gipson
My Side of the Mountain, 1960, Jean Craighead George
A Wrinkle in Time, 1963, Madeline L'Engle
Sounder, 1970, William H. Armstrong
Frog and Toad Together, 1973, Arnold Lobel
A Ring of Endless Light, 1981, Madeline L'Engle
Because of Winn-Dixie, 2001, Kate DiCamillo

Reading through a list of adult literary classics can be really daunting. But how hard could it be to read a pile of great children's books? My guess is the hardest part might be to find some of them.

I may have a new personal library goal. Uh oh.

In other news: I worked, came home with a good energy level (couldn't stay awake yesterday) and have written chapters 18 and 19 in The ABZ Affair. May actually finish that book tonight. Then it will be on to editing, formatting, illustrations, etc.

	See Wikipedia list of Newbery Medal winners and honorees
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