a story for the nature lovers.

Tomorrow I leave for San Diego with the manfriend. Five glorious days, and our very first vacation. Fricken romantic shit going on here people. Really, I invited myself (and my free airline miles from maxing out my credit card) to his friends wedding. Same difference. Needless to say, there will be little time for reading and reviewing while I'm gone.

Since I am going to the land of granola heads, I thought I'd leave you with an appropriate read for the occasion. Let me start by saying that I am not some tree hugging nature lover. Especially after I was forced to kill a huge spider in my room the other day, and I’m pretty sure he had a gun. I enjoy the outdoors well enough. I am all for patio drinking, camp fires, and getting a tan. I like to hike on occasion, but I am more beach (tomorrow!!) than forest, and I typically don’t volunteer to sleep outside. I don’t think the manfriend has ever been camping in his life, but he has a green thumb. Or he would if he didn’t live in Queens. He grows herbs on the windowsill at his office. That is how desperate he is for a garden. Alright, enough boring you with the silly aspects of my completely adorable relationship, I will cut to the chase.

Last summer, communing with nature and apparently not wearing pants.

Where Lilacs Still Bloom is the almost true story of Hulda Klager and the fifty years she spent living on a farm in the Northwest. It’s actually the perfect read for this time of year. I suggest that you read it outside, on a nice sunny day, sipping on a mimosa. But that’s just me. Author Jane Kirkpatrick writes of Hulda’s life from youth to death. Hulda lived in a time when a woman’s role was clearly defined, but she wanted more. She became fascinated with the hybridizing of fruit as a young woman and throughout her life created hundreds of hybrid fruit and flower varieties, particularly lilacs. This is much more than a story of apples and lilacs. It is about a woman who loved her life yet still strove to make it better, not just for herself, but for everyone who crossed her path.You can still visit Hulda’s lilac gardens in Woodland, Washington. Check out their website at www.lilacgardens.com.

 

**For a chance to win a free copy of this book email your name, address and this book title to jenileerose@yahoo.com!