Cal 99 Orchids Calendar

A Woman's Book of Herbs

The Happiest Tree: A Yoga Story Customer Review: Decent book
The story line here is simple but great for kids to understand the power of not giving up. However the ending is a little weak and I thought the emphasis on yoga a little odd in the title & in the book itself. However the illustrations are great. Overall not a bad book for a young girl to understand how to get some self esteem.
Customer Review: 4 1/2 Be the Tree
Young Meena is a girl of Indian ancestry who is going through a growth spurt common to many kids her age. As her mom explains, "your arms and leg are growing really fast. That can make you feel clumsy sometimes." When Meena rehearses for the school play (a retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood"), both her balance and self-esteem take a tumble. Her Dad reassures her that she needn't be perfect, "just try your best." Meena dejectedly replies, "I'm perfectly clumsy."

The next day Meena and her mom go to the "Auntie" Vohra's Indian grocery story. Snacking on some "matthi," an astonished Meena see legs shooting up, holding still, and lowering again! It's a yoga class, and Auntie encourages her to join. Through yoga practice, Meena improves her coordination, and more importantly, her self-confidence and ability to calm herself. All this comes in handy on the night of the play, especially when things don't go quite as planned.

The book is admirable on a number of levels. The richly saturated acrylic illustrations, add drama and intensity to the story. The author sprinkles a few Indian words throughout the book (there's a glossary), and depictions of Meena's home and the market show Indian decorations, and a colorful assortment of foods. The Indian influences add interest and authenticity without overpowering or stereotyping Meena, who is, after all, a child of the West. I thought that one of Ruth Jeyaveeran's pictures (the rehearsal) breaks the fluid narrative; she covers too many story elements in one illustration, but overall text and pictures mesh well.

"The Happiest Tree" shows a few yoga poses, and emphasizes the slow progression and the importance of the teacher's help. Luckily for Meena, who plays a tree in the play, Auntie Vohra teaches "Tree Pose" and Meena uses this to calm herself and use imagery during the play itself. After several classes, Meena thins to herself, "I can change my body by how I feel inside…IF I am quiet inside, my body will be still. That's what yoga is really about." Well, yoga is about many more things, and the book tends to deemphasize yoga and the mind, but perhaps the physical is more relevant and understandable for a young reader. It's nice to see a book about yoga for kids, especially one that equally informs and entertains. The author lists three nonfiction books ("Yoga for Children," "Kid Yoga: Fun with a Twist," and "Yoga for Kids") for those who want to pursue the topic.

Since the year eight hundred ten the city of Venice, Italy has been standing strong and mighty with its ever present clock tower, and St. Marks square. What few people know however is that 'The city of Venice rests on the hearts of Larch.' In the ninth century the name 'Pine' had yet to be coined, so today if you translate that saying, you get, 'The city of Venice rests on the hearts of Pine.' Today heart Pine is a very valuable building commodity, so imagine that the entire city of Venice rests on hundreds of thousands of antique, 'hearts of pine,' trunk, bark and all.

Pine trees throughout the world, have, since the beginning of time, been a key factor in the advancement of man kind. When cave men discovered fire, it was such a hot commodity that in order to keep their precious new discovery burning throughout the night, they would collect pine cones from the forests of towering pine trees and place them on the smoldering embers. The resin would act with the moisture of the pine cones and burn for hours. The next morning the Neanderthals were able to stoke the fire, and billows of smoke would come wisping out and as they added twigs of slag pine, and small, dry, kindling, branches the flames would begin to pour forth. The men would catch fish with triton's made from twisted and carved pine tree branches, and kill boar, and small game with spears caved from the small, strait, trunks of young pine trees. As the women would make loin cloths from the skins of large animals and cook food over flames, the men were experimenting with building. It is thought by some that the caveman evolved into the Neanderthal when he learned how to build. The evolving men would drive posts into the ground and strap pine tree limbs to the top using the sinews of animals, and resin from the pine tree was used to help secure pine tree needles to the roof for shelter.

Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous, (conebearing) trees that are found in all parts of the world (six of seven continents). There are approximately one hundred twenty species of pine trees. There are short pine trees, tall pine trees, wide pine trees, skinny pine trees and colored Pine trees. Pine trees have green to bluish grey leaves in the form of needles that are arranged in bundles of two to five or six to eight, depending on species. The cones of pine trees range in size from ?" to 12 inches. The Longleaf pine, Pinus paulustris, bears one of the largest cones, up to 10 inches and the Mugo pine, Pinus mugo, has one of the smallest cones at ?" to 2". Pine trees can tower to 130 feet high, such as the Longleaf pine, or grow to a shrubby 8 feet high, such as Mugo pines.

Pine trees are so adaptable that they are known to naturally cross pollinate between species to evolve into an improved species. This is the case with the Sonderegger Pine, Pinus palastris x Pinus teada, of the Southeast. A natural hybrid cross between Longleaf Pine and Loblolly pine that takes on the best qualities of both species: longer pine needles and fatter pine cones with faster consistent growth, resulting in a mature tree in an unbelievably short amount of time.

Pine trees are the leading source for paper products and building materials in the world. Loblolly pine, Pinus teada, is one of the leading timber species in the United States, growing from New Jersey to Florida to Texas. The timbers of this species are very compact and make them a great choice for pine tree flooring.

In the 19th century, pine tree growers noticed that the sap from pine trees could be collected and boiled down with several bi-products that could be equally marketed, making the "Tree Sap Boom" so successful. Resin oil could be taken for cough, and scratchy throat, and some soaps, and glues were also processed, with turpentine as the primary bi-product. Pine trees also began to be harvested around this time on a commercial level devastating forests to make paper, and build houses.

Pine trees are also known throughout the outdoor world as a survival plant. The cambium, or sub-bark, is moist and almost sweet, but rich in vitamins A and C. In Sweden in the winter time the Swedes often make 'strunt' tea from the needles and tiny baby pine cones of the Pinus nigra - European Black Pine tree or Austrian Pine tree.

Pine tree cultivars recommended to plant and grow in the United States, whether, you grow them as a specimen tree, or plant entire Pine tree plantations are as follows: Loblolly Pine, Pinus taeda; Longleaf Pine, Pinus palustris; Mugo Pine, Pinus mugo 'Compacta'; Slash Pine, Pinus elliottii; Sonderegger Pine, Pinus x 'Sondereggeri'; and White Pine, Pinus strobus.

"Strange that so few come to the woods to see how the pine tree lives and grows and spires, lifting its evergreen arms to the light ….. to see its perfect success." — Henry David Thoreau

About the Author

Learn more about various trees by visiting the author's website: http://www.tytyga.com

Disney Fairies Collection #2:Vidia and the Fairy Crown; Lily's Pesky Plant: Books 3 & 4 (Disney Fairies Collection) (Disney Fairies) Vidia and the Fairy Crown, by Laura Driscoll and read by Alissa Hunnicutt
When Queen Clarion s fairy crown goes missing, everyone in Pixie Hollow thinks sour-tempered Vidia is to blame. Now it s up to Vidia to clear her name. But time is running out. Vidia has only two days to solve the mystery of the missing fairy crown. If she doesn t, she will be banished from the fairy kingdom forever.
Lily s Pesky Plant by Kirsten Larsen, read by Ashley Albert
Lily has a talent for making things grow. So when she finds a mysterious seed during a walk in the forest, she plants it right away. The ugly seedling that comes up is a surprise, but Lily treasures all plants and has an extra-special feeling about this one. Bust all the other fairies don t like the mysterious plant one bit! Will Lily have to pull up her poor, ugly, stinky, pesky plant?
Customer Review: Great in the Car
We are a whole family of fairy lovers and this is great to entertain kids in the car. Good idea to offer this as audio; I wish more kids books would follow suit.
We have the two paper books too that correspond with this. The art is typical Disney (maybe a little too perfect because it looks computer generated) But it is still very beautiful, of course, as everything Disney.
As far as the stories themselves, they are entertaining. This series is meant for the fairly young. The plots are not too complex and the language is not too confusing or challenging. I think this fits somewhere between the Weather/Rainbow Fairies and the Fairy Realm Series, which I also recommend.