This Week In the Garden

The final bloomers show their petals…and I begin to harvest tomatoes…a few each day.  It has been a most beautiful summer in the garden and I have really enjoyed the time spent outdoors, watching things grow.  White lilies and a final poppy showed themselves this morning.

A Late Walk

When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.

And when I come to the garden ground,
The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
Is sadder than any words

A tree beside the wall stands bare,
But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
Comes softly rattling down.

I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you.

Robert Frost

Thank You for Your Class: Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Student Art Work

A favourite poem of mine at this time of year is Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.  A few weeks ago, I invited one grade six class to create these amazing multi-media winter landscapes based on the master’s poem.  They explored the vocabulary: foreground, middleground and background…learning the concepts transparency and opacity.  They practised filigree mark-making and thought about the structures of both deciduous and evergreen trees and finally, embellished their work with footprints from nature.  At this point, the students shared stories of various sets of footprints that they have discovered over time.  I used this beautifully illustrated picture book by Susan Jeffers as my motivating literary source.

Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Student Art Work

 The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe. — Gustave Flaubert