"Heaven Gardens"

This morning I took the children to Wing Haven Garden and Bird Sanctuary, thanks to a tip from my friend Elaine. John kept mispronouncing "Wing Haven" and called it "Heaven Gardens." It was an absolutely beautiful place and a lovely way to spend an hour.



During our visit, after I walked past the quaint sign asking that parents keep their children "quiet and by your side," I reflected about how hard it is to get good photos of John--even to get photos of his front side! This child is always on the move. He is not one to stop or stand still, even when I ask. So much for being quiet: I hope the other visitors weren't overly bothered by my nearly continual raised voice calling John back to me, telling him not to pull on those plants or go down that blocked-off path . . .

The gardens are friendly to birds, including many bird baths and seed stations.

A brick wall surrounds the extensive gardens attached to a house in the beautiful Myers Park neighborhood. There are many spots along the brick wall to sit and reflect.

The herb garden was charming: it contained four sections contained by boxwood hedges. They were divided into Biblical herbs, medicinal herbs, fragrant herbs, and culinary herbs.

Throughout the gardens were plaques with gardening quotations set in the brick walkways.

Although the literature does not advertise the founding couple's faith, I took note that their gardens are full of Catholic statuary.

The gardens contain many serene water features.

Serene for the rest of us, but inspiration to splash for a two-year-old!

I take so many more photos of John because Mary is inevitably "tagging along" in my Maya, like a baby kangaroo. I swear, she's with us on our little adventures, and I took some photos today to prove it!

A bunny lives in the Children's Garden. However, we never found Chip the box turtle.

A charming story-telling area.

Poor sweet John led us out the exit gate and I asked him if he was ready to leave. In retrospect, I don't think he understood my question and we loaded into the van and drove off. Suddenly it dawned on him and he began crying, asking where "Heaven Gardens" had gone and saying he wanted to go back. I felt so bad because we certainly could have stayed longer as I had nowhere for us to go, but I also wasn't going to go park again, unload everybody, and so forth. I have promised that we will go back for a visit!