Seedy Characters Contest: update

A quick update on the Seedy Characters Contest: for those of you who entered by midnight on Friday--and what wonderful souls you are!-- I'll announce the winner on my blog [and email you personally] later tonight. Don't mean to string you along--heh heh-- but the person who is choosing the name from the hat is not available until later today.

After Mother's Day dinner, I'll have the important, impartial name-picker--my Mom! Of course!-- delve into the big 'ol straw garden hat and choose the winner.

Meanwhile, Otto has taken his duties seriously, and guarded the names in the hat as they've grown into quite a pile.
Stay tuned!

Green Thoughts: These Deaths are Stingless

Advice from The Bard, himself, on my rain-soaked, weed happy patch of front yard:

Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted;
Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden,
And choke the herbs for want of husbandry.
--2nd Henry VI, II(3)31

Well, but first there's writing to do. Not to mention blogging. And reading. The NYT obituary section remains a favorite of mine. Weird, maybe, but packed with the most fascinating tales. Ah, the arc of the well-lived life! Take today's notice about Eleanor Perenyi, baroness, gardener, who never finished high school, lived in Connecticut, and left behind a treasure: Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden, "widely considered a classic in garden writing."
An excerpt:

“When will the final curtain fall?” she wrote in an essay on autumn in “Green Thoughts.” “Heavier dews presage the morning when the moisture will have turned to ice, glazing the shriveled dahlias and lima beans, and the annuals will be blasted beyond recall. These deaths are stingless. I wouldn’t want it otherwise. I gardened one year in a tropical country and found that eternal bloom led to ennui.” [my emphasis]

Reminder: As if you needed it. The "Seedy Characters" Contest ends tomorrow at midnight. Scroll down to see you can enter. Good Luck!

Seedy Characters Contest: four more days

If you'd like a chance for a free signed hardback copy of Secret Keepers, along with a "seedy character" package of seeds from my own garden--including Amaranthus, Moon Flower Vine (pictured here), and Hyacynth Bean Vine (and if you don't plant, you can always give them away...and Mother's Day is imminent you know)-- email me: 1) your name 2) your mailing address and 3) in the subject line of the email write "Good Blog Contest." Email me at mindyfriddleATgmailDOTcom by midnight on Friday, May 8.

I'll have a disinterested party choose a name out of a big ol' floppy straw hat and that name could be yours. I'll post the winner's name on my blog. Good luck!