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life stories

One Hardworking Man

Ilona Erwin

When you live through all that there is much that you just take in stride (or suffer through- you pick), but when I read through Handyman’s account I started to remember just how hard he worked… and keeps working. We can say we were nuts, that we would not do this again if we had […]

Handyman+ kitchen+ life stories+ my husband+ remodeling Ilona Erwin

Greetings

Ilona Erwin

Hi: I am finally posting here for the first time and find myself suffering from writer’s block! My name is ‘Handyman’, and my wife and I live in a 100+ year old farm house. I often say I live in a project, because after 21 years of being here, the projects are never ending. I […]

Handyman+ life stories Ilona Erwin

Kudos and Complaints

Ilona Erwin

I had sort of s semi-complaint about my husband in the Garden Journal today, but immediately after posting I started to think, and realize we all have our negatives and positives. I was grousing a bit about how my children break tools, and my husband doesn’t have the disposition to train them to take care […]

life stories+ my dad+ my husband Ilona Erwin

Wedding Review

Ilona Erwin

I didn’t realize that I had not posted the promised report on the wedding. It went beautifully, truly did -I’m not just saying that for a public audience. The flowers were too much work for two hands (I accomplished it, but wouldn’t recommend it), and the bridesmaid’s bouquets turned out to be exceptionally lovely. God blessed […]

life stories Ilona Erwin

Mad Dogs And Midwesterners

Ilona Erwin

Now this is Midwestern summer. Hot, humid Fourth of July, hazy, and sunny weather. The kind that only mad dogs and ( forgive me, Englishmen) and Midwesterners dare to defy. Yep. We work in this weather, and lots of us don’t have airconditioning. Not on the full time basis of the South and SouthWest, anyway. […]

life stories+ Uncategorized Ilona Erwin

SlaveDrivers Anonymous

Ilona Erwin

I don’t know how it is at other people’s houses, but at my house I am the idea person/slavedriver. That is right….. they run when they see me coming. All except that poor guy, AKA my husband, who has nowhere to run. So what is it this time? A new porch. I brainstormed this idea […]

life stories+ Uncategorized Ilona Erwin

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Oh, hi there!

I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

Ilona Erwin: View My Blog Posts

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