Spring is galloping toward summer, and I am scrabbling to keep up. I’m not behind, which is a win for me. But there is a lot of planting to do, and that will be my focus for the next couple of weeks. Onward, ho!
However, I did take the time to visit our local Barnes & Noble this weekend. Shane Malcolm Billings, who once worked at our town’s library, alerted me that a certain series was displayed not once but twice in the store—with local writers and in the YA fantasy section. (Shane now works at Barnes & Noble as well as at another library.)
First, with local writers. What a treat for this indie writer to see her books displayed all in a row—Maya and the Book of Everything, Library Lost, and Out of Time.
Then in the Young Adult fantasy section. There was even a blurb/recommendation written by none other than Shane. Many thanks, Shane, for your wonderful support!
When the staff became aware of who I was and why I was there—to photograph my books—they asked if I would sign all the copies.
This I did, and the books received an “autographed” sticker.
After which Clif and I went out to celebrate with ice cream.
And here this short post will end. Usually, I feature links to other blogs, but until the plants are planted and spring chores are finished, I must be brief.
When this crazy but wonderful season is over, I will be back to a more normal blogging schedule.
Is this a table at someone’s plant sale? No, it is not. This is my haul after going to a local plant nursery the other day. The abundance is courtesy of my generous daughters and son-in-law, who gave me gift certificates, allowing me to splurge.
I like most aspects of gardening. Even weeding doesn’t bother me. However, what I especially love is planting annuals in various pots and containers. Somehow I find the process soothing, and the promise of flowers and bounty never fails to lift my spirits.
From my back garden, a little something extra, a dose of perennial beauty. Love that mouth-watering purple. Irises are one of my favorite flowers, and lucky for me, they will grow in my shady yard on the edge of the forest.
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Speaking of Iris…here is “Reckonings,” Episode 11 of “The Wings of Luck” from my podcast Tales from the Other Green Door. In “Reckonings,” after dealing with Iris, Jace and Thirret take Donod and the imps into the woods. Episode 11 is the penultimate episode of “The Wings of Luck,”and next week, Season 1 will come to an end. We have plans for Season 2 to air in 2022, after I’ve finished At Sea, Book Four in my Great Library Series.
For a over a year, Clif and I have lived an isolated life. Just as most of you have. The pandemic has dictated that socializing must be done outside, and in Maine, where the weather is cold from November through April, gathering outdoors has been pretty limited for the past six months.
All of our holidays have been spent alone. There have been no gatherings around the dining room table, no friends over for tea and muffins. Nobody dropping by for wine and appetizers.
Outings have been limited, too. A trip to get ice cream now and then. Take-out on rare occasions. Overall, Clif and I have been extremely cautious. Perhaps too cautious, but Covid-19 is unpredictable, and being of a certain age, we didn’t want to risk catching it.
However, May has brought us two wonderful things—warmer weather and our second vaccine. Suddenly the world seems more open to us. With our masks, we now feel safer going out and about. When we heard that Barbara Walsh, a local writer, was going to be in downtown Winthrop selling books on Saturday, we decided to visit her. Barbara is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who writes books for both children and adults. (Full disclosure: Clif is helping to format Barbara’s current children’s book, The Goose Lady, so that it can be offered on Amazon.)
Saturday was sunny, and Barbara was set up outside The Art Walk Shop & Studio, where her books are also available. Relatively new to town, The Art Walk opened shortly before the pandemic hit and has managed to make a go of it. Barbara encouraged us to go inside and check out the shop. She suggested that The Art Walk might be interested in carrying the books my Great Library series. Shameless promotion time for new readers: The books in my Great Library series are Maya and the Book of Everything, Library Lost, and Out of Time.
After buying one of Barbara’s books, in we went to meet potter Nick Shelton, the owner, and his mother Terry. Nick and Terry are warm and friendly, and the shop is an absolute delight, filled with crafts and art made by local folks. I spotted several items that would be just perfect for certain special people in my life. Readers, if you live in the area, stop by and check out this nifty shop. The Art Walk is open Thursday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 5 p.m.
Nick Shelton is indeed interested in carrying my books. Soon Maya and the gang will be available at The Art Walk.
After buying books and talking with Nick and Terry, we walked up the street to the Winthrop Historical Society, which was having a plant sale. We chatted with more folks that we knew, and even though mostly everyone was wearing a mask, it seemed almost like normal times. (Did I buy some plants? I certainly did.)
Even though Clif and I have coped well with the social isolation brought about by the pandemic, it felt oh so good to be out and about on a sunny May day, meeting new people as well as old friends. Saturday reminded me of how much I missed this simple pleasure.
This summer is certainly looking better than last summer.
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Simple pleasures from blogging friends near and far.
From Singapore, Ju-Lyn of Touring My Backyard features fried delights from “doughstick heaven.” Oh, my!
For sheer garden fun, you can’t beat Susan Ruston’s tall find in northern England.
May 8 was Birding Big Day, where bird lovers were encouraged to watch and count birds and report the results to ebird. In Colorado, Tanya Briton went birding with a friend, and they logged over 100 birds. And that, blogging friends, is enough to set any bird lover’s heart aflutter.
Closer to home,in northern New England, Eliza Watersfeatures an astonishing dose of tulip beauty.
Being Franco-American, I like things to be tidy and spic-and-span. Even though I don’t have the time or energy to clean the way I once did—writing, in various formats, absorbs much of my day—our home and yard are always neat and picked up. That way, when I do have the opportunity to clean, I don’t have to bother with putting things away first.
Usually, we start mowing the yard sometime the second week of May. Because we live in the woods, our lawn is spotty in the spring, but there are still areas that look downright shaggy. This nags at my Franco-American sensibility.
This year, however, we are adopting a new routine—no-mow May—and will be waiting until June before cutting the grass. In many places around the world, May is a time of abundant bloom. My blogging friends in warmer climates have posted many photos of all the glorious May flowers in their yards and and in wild areas near their homes. However, in the northern United States and in Canada, the riotous blossoming doesn’t start until late May or early June. In Maine, May is a pretty sparse time for all the pollinating insects.
Therefore, gardening and nature experts are advising northern homeowners to wait to mow until June when there are plenty of flowers for the pollinators. This we will do. After all, where in the world would we be without our pollinators? In tough shape, that’s for sure.
So for this month, I’ll try not to mind the shaggy bits in our yard. Instead, I’ll think of all the little buzzers who bring so much life to our town. Those dandelions and scraggly areas are there for you, my pollinating friends.
Heck, I’ll even go low for a picture of the violets that are dotting our backyard. Between exercising and losing weight, I can actually lie on the ground to take pictures and then get up all by myself. Progress!
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Today, “Showdown at Crescent Beach,” Episode 10 of “The Wings of Luck,” is available on my podcast Tales from the Other Green Door. Two more to go until the end of this story and Season 1. In “Showdown at Crescent Beach,” Jace, Thirret, and Niall discover that Iris has tricked them and has put them all in danger.
As Stephen Foster once put it, this is the merry, merry month of May. The grass is greening, the dandelions are blooming, and the birds are singing.
For Mainers who garden, it is also the busy, busy month of May. In northern New England, spring is a rushed affair. By the time mid-June rolls around, the gardens are so well established that you had better have all the composting, fertilizing, and moving of plants done or you are out of luck and out of time.
To add to the merriment, I am also in the thickets of At Sea, Book Four in my Great Library Series. My current podcast story is winding down, but I’m still working on it. Then there is blogging, and while the writing is more casual, I spend a fair amount of time on each post, even fluff ones such as my Friday Favorites.
In my younger days, I could have managed it all and still have energy leftover for night-time projects. I kid you not. Once the children were in bed, I used to do fun little things like, say, paint cupboards or clean out a closet. As I look back at my younger self, I marvel at how much energy I had. Now that I am a senior, evenings are spent watching an hour or two of television before going to bed far earlier than I ever would have imagined when I was in my twenties or thirties.
This is a roundabout way of explaining that I will no longer be blogging three days a week—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Instead, I am cutting back to Monday and Wednesday for the foreseeable future. Having an extra day to work on my book will be a big help. And who knows? Some rainy day, I might even be able to clean out a closet. We’ll see. Books, podcasts, and gardening always seem take precedence.
I will still be reading and commenting on other blogs. Such a wonderful community and a real source of comfort during the past year, which has been scary and lonely and just plain stressful.
Also, on Mondays, I will continue featuring posts from other blogging friends. I enjoy looking outward as well as inward, and it is my pleasure to share posts from folks near and far. Formerly, I did this on my Friday posts, and I decided it was a feature I want to keep even though I am cutting back.
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So here are some posts from blogging friends near and far:
On the green banks next to green water,Clover and Ivyfound a lone goose to add more atmosphere to this already moody picture.
On Thistles and Kiwis, along with the usual photos of mouth-watering food, is a photo of a tree with foliage so glorious it made my heart leap.
Ju-Lyn, of Touring my Backyard, takes a detour that brings her to some wonderful, funky public art.
This week, on a lovely day in May, we received the first farm share delivery from our very own Farmer Kev, a young farmer extraordinaire and a friend of the family. Farmer Kev has a farm and co-op and delivers a mix of things that he grows as well as items “from away,” as we Mainers would put it. From his co-op, you can order an astonishing range of items ranging from eggs to tofu to nondairy cream cheese.
Here is a picture of Farmer Kev.
Farmer Kev’s Organic publicity photo
Sometime this summer, I hope to go to his farm, take pictures, and do a short interview with him for the blog.
In the meantime, here is a picture of what was delivered on Tuesday.
The greens are from his farm, and I immediately wash, spin, and package them so that they are ready to eat whenever we want to make a salad.
The other vegetables are from away, but they taste amazingly fresh and delicious.
We have paid ahead for four seasons of Farmer Kev’s Organic, and I can’t think of a better way to spend the money.
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I came of age in the 1970s during the time of the great singer-song writers—Carole King, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell. The Rolling Stones were going strong. Ditto for David Bowie. In short, folk and rock are in my DNA. This is the music of my youth, and I still love it.
However, luckily for me, I have children who came of age in the 1990s, and what a time for music it was. As with so many things, my girls broadened my musical horizons, and it didn’t take me long to become a big fan of alternative rock—Counting Crows, REM, Pearl Jam, and Sister Hazel.
So here’s a trip back to the 90s with Sister Hazel. At the risk of sounding nostalgic, I do have yearnings for the time when gas was less than $1 a gallon, and climate change was still just a blip on the horizon (I know, I know. climate change was there, and we should have been paying attention.) Authoritarianism seemed to be on the wane, and there was even a book published called The End of History. (Again, I know, I know.) The 90s also saw the rise of independent cinema along with the rise of alternative music.
I could go on extolling the virtues of the 90s, But I’ll stop and leave you with “All for You” by Sister Hazel. I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.
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Simple pleasures and favorites from blogging friends:
It’s fall in New Zealand, and this week on Thistles and Kiwis, yellow calla lilies and crunchy leaves are celebrated. And rightly so.
The pandemic has been with us for well over a year, and I think for many of us, even the homebodies, it has been crushing at times. But with the vaccines there are glimmers of light, and on Piglet in Portugal, there is a rejoicing in going and out and about again.
InSomething over Tea, there is a lovely floral surprise to brighten the day.
Last week, the rain came and beat down this pink hyacinth in leaves of the yet to be cleaned garden bed. It seemed to me that fall and spring, those opposites, were meeting for a final farewell before I removed the leaves.
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It’s Wednesday, time for another episode from my podcast Tales from the Other Green Door. Here is Episode 9 of “The Wings of Luck”: “An Elfling, a Grenog, and an Onnea Go for a Bike Ride.” Iris, surely one of the most confident elflings in Portland, Maine, puts her plans into motion. Onward, ho!
And for those who might need to catch up, here is a link to the podcast on our Hinterlands Press website, where the episodes are available in descending order.
Beautiful May is here. Although there are no showy blooms in my yard in the woods, there are little delights sprinkled here and there.
In the front yard, tiny bluets on our mossy lawn.
In the backyard, equally tiny white violets.
All around, ferns continue to unfurl.
In the raised garden in the backyard, everything is green, but as my blogging friend Quercus has reminded me, green is a color, too. The emerging plants are so lovely and fresh, and in some ways, this is how I love them best, before the ravages of little chomping creatures.
In the shadier front yard, the plants aren’t as far along, but they are coming up, and I only have one more bed to clean.
I’m hoping to get the last bed done before Wednesday, when Clif and I are scheduled to have our second vaccine.
The last day of April, and there is a steady rain, much needed as the month has been dry enough for there to be fire warnings. For us, the rain couldn’t have come at a better time. A day or two ago, Clif removed moss from the roof of our little shed and added it to our moss garden. I have read that moss needs to be watered regularly for it to take, and there is no watering like a steady rain.
Here is a picture of the moss garden to date. Regular readers will notice what we have added—a cement lantern, which we had put in a side garden. As a result, the lantern was mostly unseen. Clif and I thought it was time for the lantern to come out front and shine.
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Readers who are fans of the wonderful The Great Pottery Throwdown will recognize the man in the picture below. His name is Peter White, and he was one of the potters in Season 4, which ended not long ago. For me, he stands out among the other potters—all who are excellent in their own way—because of his age and his willingness to learn new things. Peter turned 70 not long ago, and a clip on the Throwdown featured him expressing his desire to keep learning, no matter how old he is.
His attitude both inspires me and captures the way I feel about writing, which I have been doing for a long time. Nevertheless, even though I am not young, I always seek to be a better writer. Peter, who was not at the top of the pack at the beginning of Season 4, exemplified how being open and willing to learn can go a long way toward improvement.
And for those who have not seen Season 4, well, you will just have to watch for yourselves to see how far Peter rose.
PR picture from The Great Pottery Throwdown
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As for music…hot off the Tiny Desk (Home) Concert press—Lake Street Dive!
Rachel Price, the lead vocalist, has such a wonderful voice that it gives me the shivers. Her voice is smooth without being cloying or overly sentimental. Wowsah, that woman can sing!
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Favorites and Simple Pleasures from Blogging Friends:
For sheer lovleliness and wisdom, Xenia Tran’s Tranature is an oasis in a harsh, often chaotic world. One of her posts this week—Puente Poetry: Presence—captures the sadness and beauty of living.
Alys, from Gardening Nirvana, chronicles how her spider plants went from being indoor plants to thriving outside in her garden in sunny California. (New Englanders, do not try this at home.) She then goes on to compare the plants to bloggers. Alys concludes “You follow bloggers, they follow you, and before you know it, you’ve found a community.” Absolutely, and how wonderful.
Amanda, from Something to Ponder About, writes in praise of solar energy. In Australia, where she lives, “1 in 5 houses now produces energy from solar systems.” And this includes her own house. Yay!
In Touring my Backyard, Ju-Lyn rejoices in sunshine after a rainy spell. And perhaps even more important, getting her first vaccine. Great news, Ju-Lyn!
Because we live in the woods, we are surrounded by ferns, and I love seeing them come up in the spring. Like most young things, they are tender and fresh with a soft color that comes only with being new.
Here are pictures of ferns that are growing beside our driveway. I am pretty sure they are cinnamon ferns, but blogging friends, if you know otherwise, please correct me.
Let’s take a closer look.
I am fascinated by the fuzzy white overcoat that will go away as the fern matures and the coiled outline of the leaves tucked underneath.
So tiny and sweet.
In spring, I am always reminded of Wordsworth’s “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”
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I’m coming down the homestretch with “The Wings of Luck,” Season 1 of my podcast, Tales from the Other Green Door. This week is Episode 8: “What Iris Knew,” in which Iris takes matters into her own hands. Four more episodes to go!
Notes From the Hinterland 