Miss Rumphius ---A story about passing down love through planting flowers

Yesterday I went to join a speech at our school, TMUE. The speaker introduced us a children’s literature book named “Miss Rumphius” which she had translated into Chinese. I am impressed with the plot of this story and I want to share with you.

Here is the plot summary that I found on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Rumphius
“ As a child, Miss Rumphius listens to her seafaring grandfather’s tales about his life. She resolves to travel the world and, when she is old, find a place to live next to the sea. Her grandfather tells her that is all very well, but she must also find a way to make the world more beautiful.

Miss Rumphius chooses a life that does not fit the stereotypical models for women’s lives. She does not marry and have children, nor does she cook and sew or worry about her appearance. Instead she travels the world, experiencing different cultures and environments. After injuring herself getting off a camel, she settles down to live next to the sea.

Her final goal in life, making the world more beautiful, is the one she finds most difficult to achieve. She stumbles on her particular way of achieving this aim by accident. Lupines she has planted scatter their seeds and beautify her neighborhood. The joy she takes in the spreading lupine flowers suggests to her a way she can make the world more beautiful – scatter lupine seeds wherever she walks.
The book is written from the point of view of Miss Rumphius’s niece, who is inspired by Miss Rumphius to live a life that leaves the world more beautiful, just as Miss Rumphius was inspired by her grandfather.”

One line in the story “The joy she takes in the spreading lupine flowers…” reminded me of the feeling that by taking care of the bulbs and measuring their growth, I could experience some kind of serenity when looking at the green leaves.