The vegetables

Amy was so proud of her garden this year! Well, actually Elwyn's vegetable garden. Here is a picture of some of the harvest.

If Elwyn were a gnome....

Solace for Amy

A lovely cup of tea. That was just what Amy needed. If only that song wasn't swirling around her head! After the tea, she would be calm enough to write to Mrs Smith and Mrs Solcomb about Syble and Martin's latest escapade! How could she ever break through to those two?

An English Country Garden, Amy's favorite poem

It is a dull, gray day and Elwyn and Amy are pouring over seed catalogs and looking forward to the spring. Elwyn is asking what Amy would like to have new in the garden this year and Amy begins to recite her favorite poem.....

How many gentle flowers grow

In an English country garden?

I'll tell you now of some I know

And those I'll miss I hope you'll pardon

Daffodils, heart's ease and flox

Meadowsweet and lilly stalks

Gentain, lupine and tall hollihocks

Roses, foxgloves, snowdrops, forget-me-nots

In an English country garden.

How many insects find their home

In an English country garden?

I'll tell you now of some I know

Those I miss I hope you'll pardon

Dragonflies, moths and bees

Spiders falling from the trees

Butterflies sway in the mild gentle breeze

There are hedgehogs that roam

And little gnomes

In an English country garden.

How many songbirds make their nests

In an English country garden?

I'll tell you now of some I know

Those I miss I hope you'll pardon

Bobolink, coo cooing doves

Robins and the whirlwind thrush

Bluebird, lark, pigeon, nightingale

We all smile in the spring

When the birds all start to sing

In an English country garden.

“Mr. Bellows", Amy said – "come right here and look at this! That Aurora person is out in the back garden cavorting, twirling and dancing as if she could hear some kind of music. Come here and make her stop that. Someone might see her, we can see her, anyone could see her out there in that full moon.” Amy was clearly distressed.

“Hush, love, said Mr Bellows, as he pulled her close.. .. he sighed wistfully, remembering his Amy before she wore orthopedic shoes.

Amy's Garden

At night as Amy Bellows lay sleeping her dreams carry her back into her garden, but it is different then. The plants, the animals, and the garden gnome all come alive to play out the drama contained within Amy Bellows’ constrained soul.

Elwyn and the Garden

Mr. Bellows is the strength of her life. He is a bit of a plodder, but he knows Amy well, and loves her devotedly. He is so patient with her, and all of this is not lost on Amy. Elwyn owns and runs the local garden center, The Garden Gnome. When he is at home he loves puttering around the garden, and often surprises Amy with a bouquet of fresh flowers on her night stand or in the classroom—just when she needs it, it seems. The little home garden that Mr. Bellows has so lovingly planted and cultivated has become a place of sanctuary for Amy. In this garden Amy whispers the things that are in her heart that she could never bring herself to say out loud in the outside world. She has even named her favorite garden gnome with the friendliest face Elwyn, and she tells him what she only wishes that she could say to him face to face. Even there in her sanctuary there are those interlopers who seem bent on making a mess of the perfect rows and hedges by their digging, gnawing, and even sometimes eating her favorite vines and blossoms. Mice, moles, the occasional fox, and the pesky rabbit who has become her garden nemesis.

About Amy #2

More than anything Amy just wants things to be right and respectable. Her house and garden are a tribute to that desire—not a thing out of place. She just wishes that she could bring in the rest of her surroundings up to the proper level of respectability, but, alas, people are not so easy to bring into conformity as are things. Certain of her students, Martin and Syble especially, tend to be a challenge, but she patiently tries to mold them into the responsible, respectable citizens that she knows they can be. She has written volumes of letters to their mothers full of both encouragement and suggestions for improvement, but she is not sure that they are as committed to their character development as she is.

More frustrating than her students is her neighbor, Aurora Moon. Aurora is a bit of a Bohemian free spirit, and her utter lack of proper self-restraint in her public displays of joy and zest for life tend to be a thorn in Amy’s side.

About Amy Bellows #1

Mrs Bellows is an elementary school teacher. She is a serious type. This is evident especially in her outward appearance. She wears only the most subdued styles and colors, and tightly pulled back hairstyles and hairnets. She always wears orthopedic shoes for all those hours standing at the blackboard, and she has just recently stopped wearing girdles, because they have just gotten so hard to find, though she still wears very serious tummy control tights. She has developed the habit of continuously wearing her reading half-glasses as she has often studied late into the night preparing for classes and then those papers, always those papers to correct. The glasses are secured around her neck by the silver-beaded chain that was worn so many years by her grandmother and childhood mentor, Nana Rose. Amy often sits and fingers the delicate beads and still faintly hears the words of dear Nana Rose, who tried so hard to give her wings. Amy had not always wanted to be a teacher…