Bellinggrath Gardens

 

Bellingrath Gardens is a 65 acre garden and mansion located in Theodore, Alabama, a town on the outskirts of Mobile, Alabama.  They were first opened to the public in 1932.  The gardens include an Oriental garden, Mermaid pool, bridal garden, and a river pavilion where guests can take a river cruise down the Fowl River on a boat called the Southern Belle.  Beautiful flowerbeds adorn the gardens throughout the year. These include  azaleas, roses, tulips, snapdragons, begonias, and marigolds.

If you happen to visit around Christmas, be sure to see the phenomenal display of over three million lights, known as the Magic Christmas in lights.  It truly is magical!

The gardens are open daily from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.  During the Christmas light show, they're open until 9:00 PM.  Admission for the gardens, home, and cruise tour is $29.00 for adults at $19.00 for children.  Gardens only is $12.50 for adults and $7.00 for children.  

Now it's time for the IWSG question of the month:  Do you have favorite themes you like to explore in your stories? For the middle grade books, I like coming of age stories where the protagonist has to grow in order to overcome obstacles. In the one I'm currently working on, Resonance, a teenage fairy has to find her voice to overcome the villain's evil plan. For my picture books, I used to do a lot of family matters—new babies, messy kids...I suppose that was because I was in that stage of life when I wrote them. The other books tend to be educational—teaching concepts like counting, the alphabet, and days of the week. The lastest, Happy Birthday to US! teaches American history. 

What about you? Do you tend to explore certain themes in your writing?