Perhaps Mozart never envisioned his operas being performed in the great outdoors, but the practice has actually been a long-standing tradition in England.  This June and July, music lovers will be attending “open-air” festivals all over the country.  Garsington Opera’s  outdoor production of Mozart’s "Magic Flute", for example, will take place on the beautiful estate of Wormsley, north west of London.

Many adults caring for their children in the 1930s were unaware of all the health dangers and issues that may have been affecting them.  Now, with modern science, we are more on top of the health risks that chemicals and even fabrics can pose to adults and children.  Sometimes, the most convenient and modern products are the ones that pose the biggest barriers to living a safe and eco-friendly lifestyle.

Sometimes the less traditional flowers are the ones that can make the greatest impact on your dining or living room table.  Branches of Apple Blossoms, a staple of Prince Edward Island, would make a beautiful Spring centerpiece.   In Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley decorates Marilla’s dinner table with a jugful of them, saying,

Before, we’ve discussed how L.M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables and the books that inspired Road to Avonlea, saw the presence of God in nature.  Pantheists believe that nature and God are one, and some of Montgomery’s favourite poets followed this doctrine.

Come, come, my love, the bush is growing.
The linnet sings the tune again
He sung when thou with garments flowing
Went talking with me down the lane.

Preparing a new garden each Spring may seem like a daunting prospect.  If you want to narrow down your interests and grow plants that will look pretty as well as perform a real function, you may want to consider a herb garden.  Here are some guidelines from New Book of Herbs that explain how to initially approach creating a herb garden.

Shooting winter scenes in the heat of summer is not as challenging as you might think for filmmaker Kevin Sullivan.  In fact, A Wind at My Back Christmas, which contained scenes with a lot of snow, was actually filmed in late summer, early fall.  Here is a direct explanation from Kevin himself as to how he has managed to convincingly portray the season in a number of different productions, including Wind at My Back, Road to Avonlea and other films.

Surviving winter in small Canadian towns during the Depression (and even now) could be times of both hardship and celebration.  A Wind at My Back Christmas demonstrates this, especially when we see the town coming together outdoors in the cold on Christmas Eve to sing carols together.

Most travel articles that talk about the beauty of Prince Edward Island begin stating the Canadian province’s obvious connection to Anne of Green Gables.  But now, the gorgeous island has another claim to add to its list of worthy achievements and attributes: it has just been named 2011’s “Undiscovered Golf Destination of the World” by the International Golf Travel Writers Association.

Though in many ways Lucy Maud Montgomery had a singular mind – her view of the world often differing from the women she kept company with – her own personal desire for a beautiful “house of dreams” in which to raise her children is a universal dream held by most women.  And she gave that same vision to her heroine, Anne Shirley, in the fifth novel of her series, Anne’s House of Dreams.