White her subject matter is varied, Daigon's music and language are consistent in their beauty. As a professional singer, she understands the music of poems, and she has an extaordinary way with image: fresh, provocative, original. Get in touch with a powerful poetry voice by reading "Between One Future and the Next". Read it slowly and let it wash over ou. Recognize your life in it, and your life that is to come.

To encounter Ruth Daigon's poetry is to meet at once an old friend at a coffee shop and an amazing wise-woman soothsayer on a village road. These beautiful poems celebrate life--not just any life, but a life lived fully. Daigon holds nothing back here as she explores the vicissitudes of a woman's life--raising children, having a family, being part of a couple, learning from one's history--the poems sing on the page. And the simple tasks of living-- planting, fishing, picking berries, washing clothes in winter, separating an orange-- take on a new vigor and transform into small windows of possibility. This book is a celebration and a treasure--one you'll keep and enjoy for life.

I highly recommend Ruth Daigon's new book Between One Future And The Next. It's lyrical and moving with a subtle operatic quality that reminds the reader that Daigon was, indeed, an opera singer. This is a finely-nuanced book, filled with fresh revelations about life and love. This is the book of a poet who understands both the darkness and light of life and is generous enough to share what she knows. I loved reading it and love owning it. In fact, I have given it as a gift to many of my friends.

Dry limestone based soils such as the Edwards Plateau area of Texas and other places in the southwest, provide a major challenge to gardening which is addessed in this book. In such areas many plants simply will not grow well. Trying to get them to do so is an exercise in frustration and general garden books can lead you far astray. This book is not about how to try to change your soil, high pH soils cannot be effectively acidified. The book is about plants, trees, shrubs and varieties that do well in dry calcarious soil conditions. It will save you a lot of time, money and frustration if you face these conditions. A great book, a gold mine of information.

This is the most practical, useful, and enjoyable book on gardening that someone in the Texas Hill Country could ever want! It's not as big or comprehensive as the Wasowskis' "Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region", but that's because it focuses on the challenges of gardening in these "difficult" (nice word!) soils that we live with. Ogden's observations and advice about dealing with our limestone and caliche, and his reality-based recommendations of plants to use and the ones to avoid, gave me hope, encouragement, and new ideas for making this corner of the world a more beautiful place! It's got some great color photos, too.