GIVE AWAY...A Sneak Peek!

Mary: "Can I have a bit of earth?"
Lord Craven: "A bit of earth?"

Mary: "To plant seeds in. To make things grow."

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

As promised in my last post I am offering you a sneak peek at the beginning decor stage of the book box that will contain the goodies in my Give Away. I am also offering a peek at the first item to be placed in the box. These peeks will extend over several posts.
The theme of the GIVE AWAY (sign up here under the comments section) is going to be based on my favorite children's literature. I am basing this Give Away on an idea birthed by my Mother Goose ATC swap participation (see previous post) and my love for books. I am an avid reader and learned to love books at a very early age. When other children were playing "house" and "school" I played "library". I would set up my "library" in our formal family dining room. I loved the big lace covered dinning table as my desk and my mother indulged my play time by letting me remove the items from her whatnot shelf and fill it with my books. I created library cards for the neighborhood children and our front door was my "library" entrance. I would sit on a stack of large books in my chair to make me appear "adult" and invite my patrons in to "check out" their books. I even earned a few extra pennies for overdue fines. I made the other children call me "Miss Sandy" and I also made them use quite voices.

My mother would often come in and read a story to the group. Now my mother was not nor is not an animated type person, but when she began to read a story a transformation took place. She would relax and the best part was that she did the "voices" of the characters! One of the neighborhood favorites was when she would read to us from Uncle Remus. Being from the South and growing up in a rural farm community, which has a twang and language all its own, mother can lapse back into her native dialect, she does this every time she goes home, and it is fascinating to hear.

Mother read to me every night. I often lay in bed staring at her lips as they formed the words and listened to her voice lift and lilt with expression and feeling. She never tired of reading and I could beg and beg for another book and she just kept going. I think she missed the times of reading aloud when I grew older, but we still read together, quietly and separately. She was the first one to foster my love of words and reading. She was the one who influenced me and introduced me to the magic of moving through worlds unknown, places of imagination, and she gave me the gift of having a place to which I could safely escape later on when great trouble came into our lives. Thanks Mom!

The first item I have chosen for the goodie box is a tiny vintage wooden hand painted trinket box. Notice that the lid is a tiny circle of green upon which little flowers bloom. This trinket box represents the book, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This book is generally viewed as one of the most influential books in children's literature.
Frances was born in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. Her father died when she was quite young leaving her mother to care for five young children. The family had to endure poverty and squalor in the Victorian slums of Manchester. In 1865 at an Uncle's urging the family emerged in Knoxville, TN, but this move made no difference in their poverty status. Two years later Frances' mother died leaving Frances at the age of 18 as the head of a family of four siblings. Frances was said to have had a vivid and fertile imagination and she wrote her first poem at the age of seven. She turned to the fertile field of words to support herself and her siblings. Her first novel was published in 1877. By the mid 1800's she lived mainly in England where she really did discover a secret garden.

You may well wonder what all this has to do with a little trinket box, well, let me explain:

In this book the main character, Mary, has been orphaned and sent to live with her Uncle, Lord Craven. At one point in the story Mary approaches Lord Craven and petitions, "Can I have a bit of earth?", to which Lord Craven replies, "A bit of earth? ". Mary explains, "To plant seeds in. To make things grow." I think this a desire every person has within their heart, a little place or space of their own where we can each plant our own personal "seeds" and make them grow. Maybe your "seed" is growing your children, sharing your words or your art, maybe your "seed " is spreading kindness and compassion, or just lending a helpful hand, whatever your " seed of desire" is, I encourage you to take it out and keep it a secret no more, plant it, nurture it, and watch it grow. Let loose that dream "seed" you have been harboring in your heart, let the dream awaken and live and breathe.

In the closing lines of the book, Mary says, "The secret garden is always open now. Open and awake, and alive. If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden." There is plenty of room for all of us to bloom!

Inside this tiny trinket box I have placed a few pink silk and organza rose petals upon which rest some strange round black seeds. They are in no way attractive or active at this point. You must plant them in fertile soil, nurture them, water them, and encourage them to grow. Frances Hodgson Burnett did not grow up in a fertile environment, nor were her circumstances made easier by changing geographical location, nor were they made better when she suffered two failed marriages, the loss of one of her beloved sons, and bouts of deep debilitating depression, these things did not hinder Frances. She forged ahead into the fertile field of words and left a legacy of one of the most enduring children's books in literature, The Secret Garden. The enclosed seeds are from a flowering plant that is four generations old in my family, my start of them came from my grandmother. Notice from the photo that there are not many seeds, this is because it does not take many of theses seeds to start a bountiful plant, you only really need one if you nurture it properly. These flowers flourish where others would languish, such as in hot or windy climates and they flower almost anywhere in the US. The lovely thing about them is that once they flower they reseed themselves and will grow into a thing of lush beauty. They are called 4 O'clocks because that is the time of day they bloom. A little late in the day for blooming you say, not really, this is just like God to give us another lesson in nature and I give you this little trinket box as a visual reminder, that "A bit of earth" is all we are given and it is never too late to bloom where you are planted! (Tune in after 4 O'clock today to see the above beauties in full bloom!) I watched this little beauty unfurl today at a little after 4 O'clock, amazing!

JUST A NOTE: Please note that I will no longer sign off as Sandy B. - Everyone calls me Miss Sandy and I have had several friends say that I should change it because it suits me better, so from here on in I will remain yours, Miss Sandy.

Photos: 1. Image of vintage book, The Secret Garden; 2-4 The undecorated book box for the Give Away; 4 -6 The first "goodie" for the box; 7. 4 O'clock's before 4 O'clock ; 8. 4 O'clock's unfuling a little after 4 O'clock!