Author: akatlowe

Ever since I stepped into the St. Albert Botanic Park, I’ve always wanted my very own flower oasis to tend to. The park is tended by dedicated volunteers who do an amazing job of caring for the park and its hundreds (if not thousands) of different plant species. Every time I visit, I’m delighted by the new flowers that have bloomed. There is such an abundance of plant life that attract all types of pollinators, so the park is always bustling with beautiful life.

I admire the simplicity of the garden beds and walkways. Nothing is too fancy or extravagant, just simple areas for plants to grow and easy accessibility for excited visitors to meander the grounds. It makes gardening look “easy”, and gives me the courage to explore my green thumb and landscape design creativity.

My husband and I recently bought a new home without any landscaping complete. AKA, a blank slate for all my garden oasis dreams to come to true! This is my first blog post documenting our landscaping journey and I hope you’ll follow along for this experience. We’ll be building a deck, fence, adding a shed, most of the usual backyard additions. However, we’ll be creating a “mow free” front yard by creating a dry creek bed bordered by mulch and flowers/shrubs. I’ll also be establishing a pollinator garden in the backyard framed by rocks and include a rustic bench for peaceful contemplation.

I don’t want the traditional looking landscape design. While those look nice and clean, I want to invite life to my yard. I want bumblebees to fill their fuzzy bodies with pollen from my flowers, have butterflies soar with delight through the tall stems of my well cared for shrubs, and have songbirds find protection and safety in my loving garden bed.

I plan to document everything that we do (mishaps included!) so you can see the companies, products, and designs that we use. It’s a learning experience for me and I hope you’ll be able to take something valuable away from it too. I’m going to be asking for your advice throughout and I’m so excited to read your ideas and thoughts. It’s a big project to take on, but I’m constantly keeping in mind…”It’s not the destination that matters as much as the journey”.

Stay tuned for my next blog post coming up in a week on our landscaping design experience. You’ll be amazed at the fantastic quote we got and I can’t wait to tell you about the excellent company we chose.

Your first task is to let me know if you chose “This” or “That” in the slideshow below! Please leave your answers in the comments section and thanks for reading!

We’ve all experienced writer’s block, and while it’s not completely unavoidable, you can plan your story to help the ideas and inspiration flow more easily. Below is an infographic sharing three principles of good storytelling that’ll help get you on your way to telling a focused and compelling story with less hair pulling.

Often times, the human mind will overthink and that can be the start of writer’s block. Help your noggin out by beginning the writing process with purposeful and strategic planning. Don’t let those words scare you as a story only really needs to be incubated with a few simple starting points to help it grow into an informative or entertaining piece. Don’t just take my word for it, Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats has shared The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar, which are bite-sized nuggets of advice you can incorporate along with the three principles below.

Bedtime snacks shouldn’t just be for the kids!

With this assignment, I had fun going with the flow and being creative. It was meant to be silly and the topic was pretty unimportant, but I feel the use of humor and GIFs make it a fun read.

I started the thread with a question as I felt that would encourage readers to think about the topic at hand before getting into my story. I wanted to keep the story dynamic with different visuals and types of visuals, so I incorporated photos, videos, GIFs, and emojis. I was also honest with my posts, so while the posts themselves weren’t very emotional, I feel the readers will resonate with my feelings about a bedtime snack.

A Twitter thread like this would be great for a food/drink company to do to market their products. I highlight Lotus Biscoff cookies and Nespresso in my thread, and do it in a way that shows how satisfying and delicious those items are. It’s so easy to do and when paired with the right influencer or celebrity, a quick thread promotion like this could have a great ROI.

Happy snacking!

Within the first few seconds of thinking about the beautiful story of Black Beauty, my heart feels heavy with the heartbreak that happens, and at the same time it feels full of love for the happy ending. I think this speaks volumes about why this movie is my favorite of all time. It fueled my love for horses at an early age, and started the foundation for my compassion and caring for all living things.

I know not everyone will be impacted by this movie like I have been, but I do know that any horse lover out there will have seen it or would fall in love with the story once they’ve seen it. It speaks to a very specific audience and that has helped its popularity (it was remade in 2020 with a new spin on the storyline and characters).

For those who don’t know much about the movie, it is based off of the 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell: Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse. The storyline is a coming of age tale that follows Black Beauty as a young colt into an old retired companion horse, and the trials and tribulations it took for him to get where he is at the end of the story. Throughout his life, he is owned by many different people (some good, some bad), which ultimately teaches viewers the importance of animal welfare and builds an understanding in them that horses (and ultimately all animals) have feelings/emotions and that it is important to treat them with kindness and empathy.

I find the story of Black Beauty so enamouring because it is narrated in first person, so for the entire movie you know exactly what Black Beauty is thinking and feeling, which gives a unique perspective on what may go on inside a horses mind. There are also many different “Because of that…” story spine moments where Black Beauty needs to be sold and he experiences the benefits or consequence of his new owners, all the while learning important lessons along the way that are relatable to human life. I believe this is what makes the story so successful. The viewer is on the journey with Black Beauty and is rooting for him to find a happy, loving home. Even when he’s treated unfairly, he still keeps his integrity and works hard at whatever he is asked to do. The “Because of that…” moments really shine a light on his personality and make you fall in love with him.

The movie ends with Beauty ending up in the hands of a man that took care of him when he was a young colt, and you can’t help but feel relief and joy that he never has to worry again. The storyline does an amazing job of encouraging you to empathize with Beauty because it takes time to focus on the grace and elegance that make horses so beautiful and loved by people. There are many scenes of horses running in beautiful English meadows and fields. This is juxtaposed with scenes of work horse barns in busy cities with cold, hard cobblestone roads. All along you know where Beauty is meant to be and you can’t stop watching until the end to make sure he ends up safe.

Black Beauty is successful at incorporating Ashley Fell’s four I’s and this is what makes it a timeless classic:

• Interest – The viewer’s interest is maintained the entire movie as Black beauty changes owners and homes. He is involved in many different experience that were unique to horse use in the late 1800’s, which is fascinating to watch.
• Instruct – It teaches kindness, integrity, hope, friendship and so much more. No matter what happens to Beauty, he never gives up and always gives 100% for whatever job he is assigned. This is inspiring for viewers and encourages them to be their best versions of themselves, even when the odds are stacked against them. Redemption will come.
• Involve – The trials and tribulations that Beauty faces are all the same ones that any human may face in their life. The story teaches a valuable lesson on how to handle those difficult challenges and rise above.
• Inspire – It’s hard to forget a beautiful, tall black horse with a quirky and loving personality. Black Beauty and all the other horse characters (and human characters) have such unique personality and life stories that are very intriguing. Also being a period piece, the movie is fascinating to watch to see what life was like in the late 18oo’s in England. All of this make the story very memorable. I believe people will take action after watching this movie, and that is to treat horses, and ultimately all living things, with kindness and love. The story teaches that everyone has their unique life story and those we meet along the way can be there to help us or hurt us. The lesson is to be someone that will help others, no matter what.

If you haven’t seen the movie, I encourage you to watch it. If you have seen it, I’d love to know what you think!