From childhood, Ilona Sala Weinstein had a broad grounding in religion, with a Baha'i father, Jewish mother, and Catholic primary schooling.  Her years at McGill University introduced the concepts of agnosticism and atheism.  Travel adventures culminated in independently investigating and joining the Baha'i Faith far from home in Miami, Florida.

A career in teaching expanded into other education-related fields including creating museum activities for children and helping develop an online reference library of educational websites.  Love of reading began with fairy tales and nursery rhymes,  and never stopped. Writing seemed to follow. When some boxes of letters and papers of her aunt and uncle came her way she saw that these contained treasures to be shared, and Tending the Garden was the result.