Lots of Helpers

Our family's life in New Zealand

Book Review–Guess Why God Made the Rainbow

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About the Book:

Book: Guess Why God Made the Rainbow

Author: Karen Ferguson

Genre: Children’s Picture Book

Release Date: October 1, 2025

Come join Lucy and her Papa Joe on another exciting adventure into the Bible, this time going back to Noah’s Ark!

Lucy is afraid of storms. She hides under her covers every time the thunder roars. But Papa Joe calms her fears, and then he has an important question for her, “Do you know what the rainbow means?”

Follow along in this third book in the Questions for Kids series as Papa Joe shows Lucy how God is faithful to protect and keep His promises, even amongst the storms of life.

My Thoughts:


A few years ago I had the opportunity to review a beautiful picture book about Creation, and last year I got to review a sequel, about the Fall, when Adam and Eve sinned. Now, we were given a copy of the third book in the Questions for Kids series, called Guess Why God Made the Rainbow. As with the first two, this one is a gorgeous hardcover picture book.


I like the way Guess Why God Made the Rainbow begins, with a little girl and her dog, who are both afraid of thunderstorms. Her grandfather followed her into the bedroom where she was hiding under the blankets, and explained, in a way any child can visualize, what the Flood was like, why it happened, and what rainbows mean. I read this book to my 6-year-old, and she seemed to enjoy it. It is easily simple enough for 3-4-year-olds, as well. 

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Karen Ferguson is a writer, host of the 5-Minute Parenting podcast, and the author of the Questions for Kids picture book series. A lover of words, family, animals, and Jesus, Karen is a passionate advocate for truth that transforms lives. Her faith in God and background in K-8 education inspires her mission to share God’s unchangeable truths and His unchanging love with the next generation. She wants every child to know their life matters.

More from Karen:

Are you a dog-lover? I sure am. Have been since I was a child, often referring to my 110-pound silver-tipped German Shepherd as my ‘best friend’ in elementary school. I consider dogs the finest companions and treat our own like they are family. Because they are! Well, I am pleased to introduce a new character in the third book in the Questions for Kids series, and she is a special one. Meet Rosie, the spirited Golden Retriever puppy hiding under the covers with Lucy, scared of the summer thunderstorm rumbling outside. It made sense to bring Rosie into the series with this book, because animals are an important part of this story. Rosie is extra special because she’s modeled after my youngest daughter’s dog, who I helped care for in her first of year of life. Here she is!

Guess Why God Made the Rainbow takes young readers on another exciting adventure into the Bible, this time going back to Noah’s Ark. Children will encounter God as the Promise Keeper and understand why He made the rainbow.

My goal with this book series is to promote biblical literacy in this next generation. Helping young readers engage with God’s truth through some of the most foundational Bible accounts essential to building a strong faith in an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God. Each adventure takes young readers into unique periods of Bible history, driven by curious Lucy’s earnest questions to her Papa Joe. It’s designed to captivate young readers and connect the Bible to their world. It’s also a great tool to spark spiritual conversations between kids and their parents, grandparents, caregivers, and teachers.

The first three books in the Questions for Kids series cover the Creation account, the first family in the Garden, and Noah building the Ark, with at least four more coming soon! I pray this new book and series is a blessing to you and your young reader.

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Hokitika

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One Sunday in January we couldn’t get through to Reefton where we have been attending a small Baptist church. There were some culverts that had to be replaced in the road, and because of the narrow valley at that spot it was not possible to create a detour. The only way to get to Reefton from here on that Sunday and Monday would have been to drive to Greymouth, up the Coast Road to Westport, through the Buller Gorge to Inangahua, then to Reefton–a 3-hour drive rather than our normal 30 minutes. We decided to go somewhere else for church! We chose a small Church of Christ in Hokitika (an hour away), and packed a picnic lunch. One person in the family was deep in a conversation when almost everyone else had left church, so we filled our car and part of the family went to locate a place to eat our picnic. While we were waiting, the girls played in a very unusual pohutukawa tree with aerial roots, and we investigated a cannon. Elijah studied it, found a number of markings and formulated a hypothesis about how those markings were used for aiming the cannon, then looked it up online to see if he was right. He was–partly!

We also enjoyed the view up and down the Hokitika River–what a gorgeous day!

After the rest of the family joined us, we ate our lunch, then drove back through town a little way to a wood-chopping competition we had seen. A man who works with Simon was there, but we didn’t quite stay long enough to see him chop. On the way, Mom wanted a picture of this clock tower in the center of town.

These men are sawing through logs.

These 13-15-year-old boys were chopping through logs; each one had an older man coaching him.

After watching the wood-chopping for awhile, we went out to the beach. First, we stopped at the sign made of driftwood (probably the most-photographed item in the area!).

Then, we walked down the beach to the end, at the mouth of the Hokitika River, to check out the driftwood sculpture contest that was being held.

The titles given to the sculptures were very entertaining. This one is “In the Moment,” although we’re not sure what that was supposed to mean.

Pardon the language on this next sign. We sympathize with the sentiment, however–wekas are a major problem for gardens in this region. Can you see the “weka” digging up the garden (just behind the right-hand label)?

This one is “Questionable Pet.” Most of us agreed that this was our favorite.

Burl-o-pus

When I see creations like these, I marvel again at the creativity God has built into every person on earth–I love it, even though I didn’t like some of the ideas expressed.

December 2026 Photos

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Here are the rest of December’s photos! For some reason, we end up with a lot of pictures of Princess. One would think she’s a popular pet?

My animal-lover was delighted to find this hedgehog in the garden one afternoon. We told her she had to put it back out there, so the little girls found it a lot of slugs and watched delightedly as it slurped them down.

Jenga blocks rarely get used for the game….

We enjoyed watching the birds on the flax blossoms, as usual in the spring.

Our summer holiday project this year was to replace the lower part of the garage wall in the carport. It was pretty rotten. They ripped off the old weatherboards and dug out a trench for a footer, after propping up the roof. When they were digging, they broke into a cave we didn’t know about, which, at some time in the past, had been formed under the floor of the garage! We don’t know for sure what the purpose was, but based on some paraphernalia found in the attic of the garage when we moved here we have some suspicions. It is filled in now.

The carport was quite a mess for awhile. It was a good thing we didn’t have much rain for that time! I hang laundry in there when it rains.

The flower garden before it turned into a jungle!

This was one of our favorite visitors to the flax–a tui!

Another hatch of chicks. We’ve had very good percentages with the last two hatches–so fun!

One evening, we went to the Domain for a cookout with Elijah’s LandSAR group. One woman brought these balls on strings, and taught Maria how to swing them rhythmically. It’s a Maori game.

We’ve done a number of puzzles with Grandma; this was the first.

The girls created this one afternoon on their bedroom floor with thumbtacks!

We end up with a lot of photos of the birds, too. They are also popular pets.

Half-grown chicks–I think this was the batch in the incubator in the earlier picture.

One Saturday just before Christmas, the boys went on an overnight kayak trip on the Ahaura River. They started in the Haupiri, which flows into the Ahaura, and ended at Jim’s Hut. James met them there with their food and camping gear (he couldn’t go on the water because of a badly-cut hand), and they all spent the night. They had planned to kayak the rest of the way to Ahaura on Sunday morning, but decided instead to load up and come out for church, which decision I was quite happy with. Mr. Imagination found this beetle at the hut.

The river just below Jim’s Hut.

Book Review–Plague of Lies

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About the Book:

Book: Plague of Lies

Author: Marbeth Skwarczynski

Genre: Contemporary Christian Fiction

Release Date: January 6, 2026

Plague of Lies

The man who taught him how to live was living a lie.

Scott Andrews was content to be a rule-follower, happily attending church and youth group while planning a future with his beautiful girlfriend, Cindy. He and his friends planned to change the world. But when his mentor is exposed as a fraud, Scott’s life turns upside down. He’s forced to grow up, but unlike the man who betrayed him, Scott is determined to live honestly.

Lauren spent her life believing she was a mistake. Then, on her eighteenth birthday, a letter arrives from the father she’s never met. It seems out of character for a deadbeat dad who wanted nothing to do with her. But with the letter in hand, Lauren’s life suddenly has a purpose. She’ll confront the man and demand to know why he abandoned her so many years before.

It’s time for the truth to come out.

My Thoughts:


I often end up requesting review copies of books just because more reviewers are needed, and often I find myself disappointed with them. Then, once in awhile, I get one that makes me continue to take chances! Plague of Lies was one such book. I got started reading it—and didn’t want to stop! By the time I was about halfway through, I was thinking about the book when I had to be doing other things.

Plague of Lies is a good book. (Now I wish I had signed up for the other book I saw available once from this series! Too late now.) This is a clear picture of what happens when people lie, when sin is covered up, and when people live a double life. The fall-out in the church and community after a trusted person did the opposite of what he taught the youth group, and did not suffer any consequences for his betrayal, sounded all too familiar. 

This book is a split-time novel. Part of it is set in 2018, and there are frequent flashbacks to 1999. The parts from 2018 are in first-person, present tense; when Scott’s memories from 1999 are being shared, the point of view switches to third-person, past tense. That made it quite easy to know the setting and characters for each part. I couldn’t make up my mind which time period I liked better. Of course, I knew the outcome for the 1999 story, but the author did a great job of making it suspenseful. I didn’t know what would happen in 2018, and there was one situation that I completely misunderstood for awhile, just as Lauren did—that was done well!

Scott’s church and youth group, in 2018, seemed almost too perfect to be real. He learned from his and his parents’ and church’s mistakes when he was a teenager, and seemed to be doing everything right in his own youth group. I liked the good example that was set, but it just didn’t seem quite real. Also, the changes that Lauren made in her life happened almost too fast for real life. Overall, though, this was a great book, and I would love to read more in the series.


WARNING: Potential triggers: Cutting, premarital sex (off page, but no doubt about it and one time it was discussed openly between the couple, though not graphically), abortion (fairly graphic), verbal abuse.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

Like many writers, I began as a reader. My favorite authors were those whose styles were realistic and relatable, so when I began creating my first novel in my thirties, I knew that, above all, I wanted my stories to connect with readers.

My first foray into writing was a book about the biblical character Ruth. I spent years rewriting and shelving the book before finally submitting it to Elk Lake Publishing. They loved the book, and helped me prepare it for publication. Now, my work of biblical fiction, Princess of Moab: A Novel of Ruth, is finished and ready to find its readership.

I also have a contemporary Christian fiction series called The Rose Collection. These timely novels spotlight healing after spiritual abuse. I keep my characters grounded in the real world, so while they grow, learn, and seek solutions, they must also confront the detritus of the past. I write what I know, whether firsthand or through close observation, infusing the joy, happiness, and humor that come with spiritual freedom and love. The Rose Collection goes further than the deconstruction of broken spirits to the reconstruction of rescued souls.

My non-fiction book, The Women Who Set the Precedents: An Exploration of the Bible’s Bill of Rights for Women, is a deep dive into the prophecy of Bathsheba. Each chapter explores the life of a biblical woman as she embodies the principles of empowerment, intelligence, and spiritual maturity mentioned in the iconic, but often misapplied, last chapter of Proverbs.

More from Marbeth:

I wrote Plague of Lies during school holidays while teaching at my church’s Christian school and raising two teen boys. Some of the conflict in the novel was inspired by the sudden appearance of a youth pastor from another school (my sons played against that school in basketball and football). He joined our church and was immediately placed in leadership positions. Later, it came out that he was fleeing from a bench warrant.

My story follows the fallout after a beloved church leader and mentor is exposed as a fraud and shuffled off to another church. I wanted to explore what happened to one of the students left behind as he attempts to pick up the spiritual pieces of his life.

While the book contains some heavy subject matter, it also offers hope, encouragement, and relatable main characters.

Scott Andrews, a seventeen-year-old who is blindsided by his mentor’s moral failing, has a failing of his own. But, instead of running away, he repents and becomes determined to live his life with complete honesty.

Eighteen years later, the fallout of the lies and betrayal continues as Lauren Andrews-Gianni reconnects with her long-lost father and learns the truth about her birth, why Scott walked away, and how he remembered her during their forced separation.

The rebuilding of Scott and Lauren’s relationship is the crux of the book and serves as a picture of how our Heavenly Father is preparing a home for us

To purchase your copy, click here.

To visit more of the blog stops on this tour, click here.

To enter a fun giveaway, click here.

Tramp to Cone Creek

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A couple of years ago, our boys heard a rumor that a hut they had tramped to twice had burned down. They were rather unhappy with this news, since it was a pretty nice hut. Elijah decided he wanted to know for sure whether it had burned or was still standing, and planned a tramp awhile back to find out. Other things came up and the tramp had to be canceled; this happened at least once, if not a couple of times. Finally, sometime in December, he and his two younger brothers were able to go up there and find out. They did just an overnight tramp, leaving late one morning and returning the next afternoon. This first one is a fungus on a tree next to the creek–I’ve never seen such a thing!

A creek partway up the track.

A blue duck, an endangered native species. Both of the pair are in the second picture.

The hut is still standing!

The track to the Lake Morgan hut is up the scree slope in the middle of this picture.

The blue ducks again, this time when the boys were on the way out.

The younger boys made these signs from scraps they found at the hut and posted them at the junction of two tracks.

Returning to the main track from the hot pools, which were across the river.

November 2026 Photos

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I have not been keeping up with posting photos of our life very well! I guess this will just be a photo dump from November. Can you guess who took the first one? Yes, the cat lover–Miss Joy!

I’m guessing one of the girls took this picture, too, of a snail on the lemon tree.

Little Miss climbed the tall tree in our garden one day and took a lot of pictures. Our parking area was almost empty that day! The pink house is ours.

I took this picture one day while we were preparing the garden for planting. It sure looks different now! It’s a jungle today.

We were pulling up self-sown parsnips in this area.

We had visitors one day and I grabbed a picture of the water-gun fight to send to the friend who gave them the water guns.

When the children came inside a little while later they were cold, so Miss Joy got a pan of warm water for herself, and shared it with her three friends!

The greenhouse blew apart in the big storm the end of October, so the boys spent a couple of Saturdays rebuilding it. It is very nice now, except that the end wall still needs covered.

Towards evening, we heard the ice cream truck come through our village. A couple of the boys ran out to buy ice creams for everyone–think they enjoyed their treat?

Elijah saw the Southern Lights on the way home from work one night, and was able to capture them with his phone.

I think these two pictures should actually have been in the October post. We had a big truckload of compost delivered, and it had to be dumped on the edge of the street, so we spent an entire afternoon working hard and fast to move half of it in order to clear off the tarseal. We were glad, a few days later, that we had done that when the ambulance came to pick up the lady who lives in that house beside our garden. (This is the end of the street–it just stops there.)

Another cat-lover’s picture?

Sighting in the slingshot rifle he built. He actually killed a starling with it!

New in the Library! January 2026

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To start out, I’m going to share a quote from a book Esther listened to the end of December. The book is The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley, a sequel to Parnassus on Wheels. It was published in 1919. This passage is a newspaper clipping, and is from Chapter 3 of the book. It struck me funny, and I thought people who enjoy this post might like it, too.

ON THE RETURN OF A BOOK LENT TO A FRIEND

I GIVE humble and hearty thanks for the safe return of this book which having endured the perils of my friend’s bookcase, and the bookcases of my friend’s friends, now returns to me in reasonably good condition.

I GIVE humble and hearty thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant as a plaything, nor use it as an ash-tray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething-ring for his mastiff.

WHEN I lent this book I deemed it as lost: I was resigned to the bitterness of the long parting: I never thought to look upon its pages again.

BUT NOW that my book is come back to me, I rejoice and am exceeding glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honour: for this my book was lent, and is returned again.

PRESENTLY, therefore, I may return some of the books that I myself have borrowed.

Now, on to the new books for this month! Several of us had some fun sorting through a lot of boxes of books that a local used bookstore could not sell, which the proprietor offered to us for free. I like the format of the Ladybird biographies, and my little girls loved the book of flowers. These have gone on the Junior Biography and Science shelves. Those Were the Days looked interesting as a glimpse into New Zealand’s daily life nearly a hundred years ago; I’ve put them on the New Zealand History shelf.

This one about Captain Cook looks like it will be a good one to go along with a study of New Zealand history, too.

We read a few books from the shelf, too. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Carry On, Mr. Bowditch aloud for the third time (although it’s been at least 10 years since the last time). It’s a great, very interesting biography of the man who transformed navigation at sea. We also finished The May Series with The Fortunate Ones. This was a great way to see what life was like in rural areas in New Zealand during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. I also finally read Committed, which was a very interesting biography of a man who flew bombers during the Vietnam War.

I found a way to fit The Road From Home and Maniac Magee into a reading challenge this month. I think I read the first many years ago, before we moved to New Zealand, but didn’t really remember it. It’s an incredible account of the Armenian genocide in the 1910s. When I was young, we had a neighbor whose mother was caught in that, so the topic has always been of interest to me. I have reassigned it to the Junior Biography shelf, from the History shelf. Maniac Magee has been on our shelf for at least ten years. Now that I’ve read it, I’m wondering why I waited so long. It’s an amazing story that defies description. So many hard topics are covered here, within the context of a great story. It goes on the Young Adult shelf. Pure Joy is one that came home from America with us a few months ago. I’ve enjoyed reading through this devotional, and now it’s on the shelf for others to borrow.

I also bought some more books from a Facebook group. My girls were delighted to have another Amelia Bedelia book, and I was also glad to find Winky, another easy reader. There was also a Jungle Doctor book we didn’t have yet.

Sometimes I see some books on that Facebook page that I reserve as fast as I can. These five by Kenneth Thomasma are good examples. We already had three of his books on the shelf, and our children, at least, have loved them. I was thrilled to be able to add five more, and I’m looking forward to reading them. They are on the Junior Fiction shelf. I noticed Are You an Art Sleuth? on the page as well. We have never done much art study, but this one is a lot of fun. I’m still debating on which shelf to place it–the Junior Art shelf, where there are a lot of how-to books, or the Adult Miscellaneous shelf, where I put the Norman Rockwell book I recently purchased? Any input?

These five books from the Wonders of Creation series were also an immediate purchase. We already had The Weather Book, which I read to the children last year sometime. I found it very readable, quite interesting, and I learned a lot from it. I’m planning to work these books into our morning homeschool routine over the next year. They go on the Junior Science shelf. I was also delighted to find a copy of Genesis: Finding Our Roots. I borrowed a friend’s copy a number of years ago to study with some of the children, and loved it so much that I’ve been looking for my own ever since. It is on the Junior History shelf.

These next three books have just been added to the Young Adults Fiction shelf. We like most of Rosemary Sutcliff’s books, and have read Beowulf online. I love reading that legend from the persepective presented in After the Flood, which, sadly, is hard reading, that the dragon was a form of dinosaur. The Watsons Go to Birmingham is an engrossing, humorous, hard story about a Black family during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Rowan Farm is the wonderful sequel to The Ark–both make great family read-alouds.

Prudence and the Millers and Storytime With the Millers are good books to read as part of a morning routine, offering encouragement in Godly living. They are on the Junior Fiction and Independent Readers shelves. Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day was given to us by someone who borrowed five other books in the series for her son–thank you! It will go on the Independent Reader shelf, along with the others in this series that children love. I bought Pink and Say because I love almost all of Patricia Polacco’s picture books. This one is not fuzzy and warm, though. It’s a war story, and has a sad ending. It was written to honor a person who gave his life for a friend–but we ended up with tears after reading it. “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” Said the Sloth is a fun one about rain forest animals. Tracks of the Tiger is great for boys who need a high-interest story. I put it on the Junior Fiction shelf, but when I picked up the next Bear Grylls book I had bought, and pre-read it, I decided that one would not go on our shelf. I would recommend caution with his books, and I’m trying to be wise about choosing ones to keep.

We have several new books for adults! I bought the rest of the books I didn’t yet have in Chautona Havig’s The Agency Files series. These are unique thrillers with a small amount of romance in most of them. My mom and one of my sons are working their way through them right now. I plan to reread the entire series at some point, too. I also bought Ties That Blind to finish the Sight Unseen series by the same author. Trim Healthy Wisdom was my recent “continuing education” read; I learned of some amazing research about health. Gut healing has become a passion of mine in the past few years, since I’ve seen what a difference it has made in my husband’s life, and I learned a lot in this book.

With a recent order for schoolbooks, I also ordered a few reading and picture books. These included Tell Me the Stories of God and His People, a beautiful Bible storybook; Zainab’s Miracle, about a child in a refugee camp; and Money in the Cow Feed, a true story that happened to the author’s father. All of these are gorgeous, full-color, hardcovers. Beautiful books and wonderful stories!

The Mystery of the Date Palm and Fitting In, Frankly were also in that order. The first is a picture book retelling of an old parable. It is another beautiful, colorful, wonderful hardcover story. The second is an exploration of what it really means to fit in–and how much do we want, as Christians, to fit in with the people around us? It is especially meaningful for missionary children. As I read it, I constantly compared it to our family; our children don’t feel like they fit in with their relatives in America–but they don’t totally fit in here, either. I really enjoyed this book! It is going on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I have also been doing some reorganizing. We have many wonderful nonfiction picture books on our shelves, which are rarely, if ever, read. I decided to pull them out of their slots and put them all together in one section. Look at all these fun resources for learning about all sorts of subjects! While I was at it, I also pulled out the nonfiction books that are at the same reading level as the Independent Readers, and put them in their own area, and also the Graphic Novels (which are mostly nonfiction!). As of writing this post, I haven’t gotten the shelf assignments relabeled in our catalog, nor made new spine labels for them, but that will come soon.

To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. Find out how we loan books on this page.

Mending Books

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I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last five months mending our books, and a few of them were interesting enough that I decided to document the job in case my ideas help someone else. These are pretty amateurish fixes, but the books are back in circulation, which is what counts in my opinion. This first book, Evangelists in Chains, was a typical perfect-bound paperback. Perfect-bound books are simply glued into their covers, and often the glue gets brittle and the pages just fall out (the name is a misnomer, in my opinion!). With this book, so many of the pages were loose that I carefully pulled all of them out, in twos or threes, and then glued them together as shown. Then, I glued the cover back on and put the whole thing in the book press that Esther made awhile ago, for a day, and the book is nearly as good as new. For glue, you want to make sure to use a flexible book glue. Something like Elmers glue, or school glue, will dry hard and crack when the pages are opened, leaving you with a book that is still falling apart. A flexible PVA book glue, though, allows the pages to open and close the way you want them to. The technique I’m using here to put the glue on the pages is called fan binding. Esther came across it somewhere when she was interested in bookbinding, and I’ve been happily using it ever since. (I now make books this way when I have loose printed pages I want held together–they take up much less space than a ring binder!)

Our old copy of Elsie Dinsmore needed help, too; the spine had ripped off. I wanted to preserve the original look of this book, so I created a new spine with some book tape–see the second picture. The white layer is hinge tape cut to exactly the original size of the spine. Any kind of paper would work, also; you don’t want the tape to be fastened directly to the spine of the book, but you want it to be loose. Then, I brushed book glue onto the original spine and glued it to the tape so that the book still looks nice. Not a professional job, but it works for our library!

The next time I had a couple of paperbacks whose pages had come loose, I decided to make a video of the fix-it job. See if this makes sense!

Garden Video–January 2026

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I took a little over ten minutes a couple of weeks ago to made a quick video of the garden. It’s amazing how much it has changed already in that two weeks! We’ve gotten a few tomatoes and the first several cucumbers by now, and the zucchinis are coming out our ears. I was thankful that ladies at church were happy to help us out with that problem today.

Spring Flowers

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One thing that I love about spring is the flowers! Our lemon tree, just outside the main door of the house, was covered in blossoms this spring. They smelled heavenly! I love it when the aroma of citrus blossoms wafts through the house.

Our one lonely peony, which has been moved several times in the last several years, put on its normal one bloom this year.

These columbines bloom every year in the bathtub in which we grow strawberries.

The flax plants have put up a record number of flower stalks, and we are enjoying seeing tuis, like this one, as well as bellbirds and wax eyes, sipping nectar.

I’m not sure how a lavender plant got into the strawberry barrel, but it adds a touch of color there.

One morning, Mom was going to take a walk with the girls, and I decided to drop what I was doing and go along. It was a beautiful morning!

A train came through while we were enjoying the flowers beside the tracks.

A few minutes later, we saw another train going the opposite direction!

We picked raspberries at a friend’s farm, and noticed lots of these flowering shrubs. I had an inkling they were a weed, so asked him. Sure enough, they are Himalayan Honeysuckle, and very invasive. They’re sure pretty, though!