Blog-Hop Into My Garden: Thanks for Coming

WELCOME TO MY GARDEN                    

Thanks for hopping in. Unlike many of you, I have not yet had a children’s book published. My blog is about the process of moving stories from my mind to a manuscript. I am a writer and illustrator, and I invite you to my garden of growth: growing my skills, growing my experience, growing my audience. 

 As you will see, if you check out my website (Pi-SunyerNaturally.com), my work is informed by nature. So on this blog hop I’m happy to share some gardening tips. They will be highlighted in red.

My yard is a registered Backyard Wildlife Habitat, through The National Wildlife Federation and is also certified as an official butterfly garden with the North American Butterfly Association. Both of these programs encourage me to provide for all the needs of wildlife: food, water shelter and nesting and breeding space. The yard is the setting for my first children’s book, which is currently being reviewed by a publisher.   Keep your fingers crossed for me, please. I'd love it if you would read some of my other posts and comment there.  My first rejection letter was awesome. You can read about it in one of my earlier posts. Those of you who are published, might have a fun flashback to that moment in YOUR career. 

If I were to win Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes, the first thing I would do is hire a gardener. I would love to get the yard back to where it was when I was a child, growing up in it. In those days, my grandmother had a gardener several days each week. She had my parents, my siblings and me to help keep our acre trimmed, weeded and filled with flowers, fruit and vegetables, as well as specimens of many trees and flowering shrubs. During World War II our place was home to a blue ribbon Victory Garden. 'Wishing I could get it under control again. Three hours in the garden today, made a miniscule dent in what could be a full time job. 

 One of the best things I have done in the yard is to build stone walls. It is a fun, but strenuous activity, but very worthwhile. My stonewalls not only outline gardens and provide the country feeling in our suburban setting, but if you build stone walls - at least here in New Jersey - chipmunks will come. They are a delight to watch and their cheery chittering is a happy addition to the bird songs which abound here.

I have also created one area of the yard which is a specific butterfly garden, though the entire property provides good habitat for these colorful charmers. In the butterfly garden I  plant many perennials, such as butterfly bush, lilies, echinacea, and milkweed. These are inter-planted with colorful annuals which also attract hummingbirds. I also put in a shallow pan filled with pebbles and sand, that I keep watered, so there is always a shallow source of water for the butterflies. 

 All of these aspects of the garden are elements that are part of my book. The plants and animals are also part of another project of mine: Copy-cology©. You can find out more about my Copy-cology© products on my website, Pi-SunyerNaturally.com.   My favorite item is the

memory card game. This is my GIVE AWAY. I will be happy to send a set of the Memory Card game of your choice to five people who leave comments on my blog. I'll put all your names in a garden pot, and pull out five names. SO please be sure to leave your name and email address on your comment so I can contact winners for their mailing addresses and their choice of sets. 

 SO head on to the next blog on the hop. It's been nice having you for a visit.  Please come visit again and see how my journey toward a published book is going. I can use your encouragement!! Please "Like" me on FaceBook (Nancy Arny Pi-Sunyer) and think about following my Lenten Journey (LentenJourney2014.com).

                    

                        Now it's time to hop on to another website. Have fun.
 

1.	Dianne Venetta ~ Cozy Mystery/Romance (US)	37.	Stacey Joy Netzel
2.	Rose Anderson	38.	Deb Sanders
3.	Alexa Grace	39.	Janette Harjo
4.	Katharina Gerlach, YA Fantasy author	40.	Lorraine Paton (INTL)
5.	Jennifer Lowery	41.	Amy Saunders, Chick-Lit Mysteries (US)
6.	Catheirne Chant (US)	42.	Jencey Gortney
7.	J.D. Faver ~ Bad Girls Need Love Too...(Intl)	43.	Sandra Cox
8.	Tara Manderino (Intl)	44.	Alisia Compton
9.	Judy Baker, Cowboys and Indian Romances	45.	Cate Dean
10.	Sharon Kleve	46.	Lisa Lickel
11.	Sara Walter Ellwood (US)	47.	Iyana Jenna
12.	Anna Patterson	48.	Jesse Kimmel-Freeman (INT)
13.	Karl Fields (Intl)	49.	Sheila Seabrook
14.	LENA HART	50.	Grace Peterson
15.	Janice Seagraves, author	51.	Nancy Pi-Sunyer
16.	Gemma Juliana	52.	Elena Williams
17.	Victoria Adams	53.	Scandalous Stories
18.	Daryl Devore	54.	L.A. Sartor
19.	Jeana E. Mann, New Adult Romance	55.	BloominThyme
20.	Not Neccesarily In That Order	56.	Margarita Matos (UF & Romance)
21.	Brenda Maxfield's Smart and Sassy Teen Reads (INT)	57.	Lisa Chalmers
22.	Elizabeth McKenna	58.	Diane Burton
23.	H. A. Somerled	59.	Rebecca J. Clark
24.	Susana Ellis	60.	Victoria Pinder
25.	Aileen Fish	61.	Zelda Benjamin
26.	Cheryl Bolen	62.	Liz Allen (US)
27.	Elizabeth Rose	63.	Stacy Juba's Characters at a Crossroads
28.	L. Alison Heller	64.	Jennifer Conner Romance Author
29.	Eleanor Moran	65.	I Am A Reader
30.	K C Maguire	66.	Darcy Flynn (US)
31.	Mindy Hardwick, Author	67.	Cassandra L Shaw
32.	Karen McCullough	68.	Janette Harjo
33.	Michelle Abbott	69.	Louisa Mack
34.	Mary Laudien	70.	Melanie Macek
35.	Aubrey Wynne	71.	Tiffany Schlarman
36.	Kimberly K. Comeau