All posts by Laurie Graves

I write about nature, food, the environment, home, family, community, and people.
Home, Nature

The First Snowfall of December

20 Comments

Yesterday, we had the first real snowfall of the season. The snow was light and fluffy and there was a satisfying chill to the air. Somehow, that first snowfall is always exhilarating, a treat for the senses when even the air smells cold. The landscape is white and silent and oh so lovely.

Admittedly, the thrill of snow is gone by March, but that is several months away. In the meantime, I revel in the snows of December, in the red lights we have strung outside, in the dark green of firs, pines, and cedars around our house.

Time to make soup. Time to make bread. Time to wrap presents.

December!

img_5420

img_5421

img_5428

img_5433

News

Bailey Library’s 100th Birthday Celebration

16 Comments

img_5408

Last Saturday, while I was selling books at the Winthrop Craft Fair, there was a party going on at the Charles M. Bailey Public Library in honor of its 100th birthday.

I was sorry to miss the party, but I sent Clif with our trusty wee wonder of a camera, and he got some very good shots. Normally, I don’t post this many pictures, but Bailey Library will only turn 100 once, so I’m going to make an exception with this post.

There was a cake, of course, with a picture of our beautiful library,

img_5324

a wall of birthday cards,

img_5327

and speeches by various friends and supporters.

img_5345Mary Jane Auns, Chair of the Bailey Library Trustees

Shenna Bellows, our State Senator

img_5353Sarah Fuller, Chair of the Winthrop Town Council

img_5365Paul Cottrell, Treasurer of the Library Trustees

img_5371Richard Fortin, Library Director

img_5376Shane Malcolm Billings, Adult Services Librarian

img_5388Phil Locashio, the Architect for the New Addition

Many people came to celebrate the library’s birthday.

img_5367

The festivities ended with a bell concert.

img_5416

A very happy birthday, Bailey Library, and thank you, Charles M. Bailey, for giving the the town this magnificent gift.

News

Maya Is Now Available Directly from Amazon

9 Comments

All right. My YA fantasy novel, Maya and the Book of Everything, is available directly from Amazon. And if you are an Amazon Prime member, then shipping is free. That’s what we Mainers call a wicked good deal.

Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Maya-Book-Everything-Great-Library/dp/0997845309

Because of the name of my book, when you do a search for it on Amazon, it is right next to Isabel Allende’s Maya’s Notebook. Now, how cool is that to be next to one of the giants of literature?

Very cool, indeed!

Books

Maya and the Book of Everything Is Ready!

30 Comments

maya-and-the-book-of-everything-web-mediumToday is a very big day at the little house in the big woods. My YA fantasy novel, Maya and the Book of Everything, is ready to be ordered as a Kindle ebook from Amazon and as a quality paperback from the publisher, Hinterlands Press.

In a few days, the paperback will also be available through Amazon, and this will include Amazon in Canada as well as in other countries. I will let readers know when it is available through Amazon, but I do want to mention that I will receive larger royalties if the book is ordered directly from Hinterlands Press. However, in the end, it’s all good, no matter where Maya is ordered, and we hope you enjoy the book.

For anyone who would like a signed copy, use the contact form, and I’ll get back to you.

For new readers of this blog, here is Clif’s nifty little description of my novel:Maya and the Book of Everything is a contemporary fantasy/science fiction novel set in various locations, including Waterville, Maine. The main character, Maya, is a fifteen-year-old girl who is drawn into an adventure involving a shadowy organization, the enigmatic Book of Everything, and the League of Librarians. Maya travels back in time, to distant planets, and to the mysterious Great Library, home of the Book of Everything.

Anyway, what a wonderful way to start the Monday after Thanksgiving. Truly, I am so grateful for all the help I’ve received and to have this book published.

 

 

 

 

Books, Home

Happy 2016 Thanksgiving!

19 Comments

Status report for the day before Thanksgiving.

Item: Banana and pumpkin bread are in the freezer.

Item: Ditto for the chocolate ice cream pie.

Item: And the gravy, which I made last week.

Item: The green beans are cooked and are ready to be made into green bean casserole.

Item: The bread has been shredded for the stuffing.

Item: The turkey waits in the refrigerator.

Today will be a busy day of making the aforementioned green bean casserole as well as a sweet potato casserole. Also, I’m going to cook and mash the potatoes and then heat them in my slow-cooker on Thanksgiving.

Do I like to be prepared for this big and somewhat hectic day? You bet I do!

Despite the horrid political season, there is much to be grateful for—family, friends, a snug house, and plenty to eat.

Finally, there is my novel, Maya and the Book of Everything. We’re coming down the homestretch with that, and this is indeed something to be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I will be taking a holiday break, but I’ll be back next Monday.

img_5291

Nature

Lo and Behold! A Dusting of Snow

27 Comments

I always wake up listening to National Public Radio. I hear news—local, national, and international—and most important, I hear about the Maine weather. This morning I learned that there had been a dusting of snow in southern Maine.

Technically, Clif and I live in central Maine, but geographically, we are more southern than central. I wondered, could we have gotten a dusting of snow, too? As soon as I got up, I pulled the shades and discovered yes, we had. I had left some garden ornaments out for this very event, and I saw that snow caps covered their little heads. Also, some of the plants looked very fetching with an icing of snow.

Immediately, before tea, before breakfast, before getting dressed, I put on a coat, some shoes—no socks, however—and took some pictures. The steps were very slippery, and the dog and I had to creep carefully down them. (As soon as I was done taking pictures, I brought up the blue covered pail with the salt and set it in a corner of the porch.)

I so enjoy taking pictures of garden ornaments with a dusting of snow. They look solemn and stoic, and it appeals to my New England sensibility.

I also got a couple of good pictures of plants in the snow, and I’ll be using the red berry and evergreen as a winter card.

As much as I appreciated the warm weather, it does my heart good to see the Maine landscape look more like mid-November.

img_5277

img_5279

img_5280

img_5284

img_5288

Nature

Endless Fall: Tea on the Patio on November 19

16 Comments

This afternoon, it was actually warm enough to have tea on the patio after we came home from doing errands.  If this isn’t an example of “wicked weird,” as we Mainers would say, then I don’t know what is. Sixty degrees in mid-November in Maine? In what multiverse has that ever happened?

In the old days, when I was young—heck even ten years ago—November in Maine was what might called pre-winter. The ground was hard and frozen, but usually there was no snow or slush. This pleased my mother’s Franco-American heart, and it pleased mine as well. Sometimes we got snow by Thanksgiving. Sometimes we didn’t.

But we definitely didn’t have green grass, soft ground, and tea on the patio. I must admit, with a touch of sheepishness, that I do enjoy the milder falls we are having.

As we sat on the patio, Clif and I watched the birds swoop and flutter from the trees to the feeders. What a blessing to have these winged visitors come to the backyard in all seasons—winter, spring, summer, and fall—and in all weather.

Surely, today will be the last day for tea on the patio, and we will bring the two patio chairs inside. Tea on the patio in Maine in December is just too absurd to consider.

img_5272

Books

Fun with Author Photo and Bio

24 Comments

As we get ready for the publication of Maya and the Book of Everything, I’ve had to come up with a number of extras, including an author photo and bio for Amazon. After looking at other YA fantasy author photos and bios, I decided it would be all right to have fun with mine, and that is just what I did.

Here is the bio:

Laurie Graves likes to say she was born in County Tolkien, but really she was born in Kennebec County—in Waterville, Maine—and is a fifth-generation Mainer and a Franco-American. Nevertheless, from the time she was young, she loved fantasy, fairy tales, and other folderol. When she was eleven, her father gave her The Lord of the Rings trilogy and that is when she discovered her true county of origin.

Laurie Graves writes essays and fiction from her home in the Maine hinterlands. For seven years, she and her husband, Clif, published and edited Wolf Moon Journal: A Maine Magazine of Art and Opinion. She has a blog called Notes from the Hinterland (www.hinterlands.me ), which features posts about nature, rural life, food, books, and people.

Maya and the Book of Everything is her first book. You can follow Laurie’s fiction writing and get information about upcoming books at her author website www.lauriegraves.me.

And the picture? Well, it had to include a book written by J. R. R. Tolkien, whom I’ve loved longer than I’ve loved Clif and my daughters. (I didn’t know them when I was eleven years old 😉 )

img_5267-1

Onward, onward, and upward!