Hortobiography
A Gritty Woman’s Tale of People, Places and Plants
Carol Klein
Having read it
★★★★☆
An interesting look into a life – especially her early years – that has been well travelled and grown and that eventually has been well tended and nurtured with, to and from the guidance and help of many others and that really never had a specific plan to it . . . like a really good kind of gardening!
A good passage
I was hopeless at learning facts for their own sake. I have never been able to learn lines and would have been stumped if my television ‘career’ had depended on learning lines and scripts. If I understand something and find it interesting and worth passing on and there is the possibility of inspiring others with my enthusiasm, that is what I love.
A second good passage
Teaching art is a privilege. Now, when I watch my grandchildren making pictures, it is such a thrill to see what they make, and I was in the position for all those years of seeing, day after day, the work that hundreds of kids produced: drawings, paintings, collages, pots, models, fabrics, embroideries. It is heartening to see children feeling proud of what they have made. Children have their own style and all their work is valid. It is truly sad to see children lose their self-confidence and thereafter try to conform to what they think is right or wrong. Colouring-in books are anathema to me. For many children, making their own pictures and artwork is their only opportunity to express themselves unfettered by the idea of rights and wrongs or what adults have decided is how things should be done.
A third good passage
[...] gardening is not a question of turning out a product but rather of engaging in an ongoing process.