Bab's Fruit and Veggie Truck

03/10/2025

Chapter One, The River Bank. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, 1908

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Illustration By Chris Dunn Illustration

You can read the book here for free https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27805/27805-h/27805-h.htm

03/09/2025

She sat at the back and they said she was
shy
She led from the front and they hated her
pride
They asked her advice and then questioned her
guidance
They branded her loud then were shocked by her
silence

When she shared no ambition, they said it was
sad
So she told them her dreams and they said she was
mad
They told her they'd listen then covered their
ears
And gave her a hug whilst they laughed at her
fears

And she listened to all of it, thinking she
should
Be the girl they told her to be, best as she
could
But one day she asked what was best for
herself
Instead of trying to please everyone
else

So she walked to the forest and stood with the
trees
She heard the wind whisper and dance with the
leaves
And she spoke to the willow, the elm and the
pine
And she told them what she'd been told, time after
time

She told them she felt she was never enough
She was either too little or far, far too much
Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak
Too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek

Then she found a small clearing, surrounded by
firs
And she stopped and she heard what the trees said to
her
And she sat there for hours not wanting to
leave
For the forest said nothing, it just let her
breathe

******

Breathe 💚 on International Women's Day.

Becky Hemsley 2021
Artwork by the amazing Siski Kalla, from the children's book of this poem.
https://a.co/d/5sXcdZl

This poem is in my first collection 'Talking to the Wild'
https://a.co/d/hILggul

03/09/2025

03/09/2025

Now is the time to divide your rhubarb. Here's how to do it and why you should >>>

03/05/2025

Dangerous as can be 🤭 are you a “rebel” too?!

02/22/2025

Try to travel, otherwise
you may become racist,
and you may end up believing
that your skin is the only one
to be right,
that your language
is the most romantic
and that you were the first
to be the first.
Travel,
because if you don't travel then
your thoughts won’t be strengthened,
won’t get filled with ideas.
Your dreams will be born with fragile legs and then you end up believing in tv-shows, and in those who invent enemies
that fit perfectly with your nightmares
to make you live in terror.
Travel,
because travel teaches
to say good morning to everyone
regardless of which sun we come from.
Travel,
because travel teaches
to say goodnight to everyone
regardless of the darkness
that we carry inside
Travel,
because traveling teaches to resist,
not to depend,
to accept others, not just for who they are
but also for what they can never be.
To know what we are capable of,
to feel part of a family
beyond borders,
beyond traditions and culture.
Traveling teaches us to be beyond.
Travel,
otherwise you end up believing
that you are made only for a panorama
and instead inside you
there are wonderful landscapes
still to visit.

Translated from Italian

02/20/2025