All posts by Laurie Graves
A Not So Timely Out of Time
Recently, some of my blogging friends in the United States have mentioned that books they ordered from Hinterlands Press have just been delivered. As the books were mailed a month ago, it seems that Out of Time delivery has not been very timely. Sorry!
When books are ordered directly from Hinterlands Press, they are shipped within a day or two of when the order is received. The pandemic has spurred us into being completely set-up for processing orders from home. We have a scale, and we print labels directly, which include postage. Finally, our postal service picks up packages six days a week directly from our very own mailbox.
What we can’t control is what happens when the packages get to the post office. I think the postal service was extremely stressed over the holidays, and I expect they did their best, given the circumstances.
I hope now that the holidays are over, packages will arrive in a more timely fashion. In normal circumstances, books should arrive within five to seven days of when they are ordered.
Anyway, thanks for your patience and understanding.
The Weather Gods Laugh
This weekend, our friends Beth and John came over for a socially-distanced visit. The weather forecast had indicated that the temperature on both Saturday and Sunday would be in the mid-30s, which it was. Unfortunately, when Beth and John came on Saturday, there was also a brisk breeze, which made it just that much colder.
Here are Beth and John, bundled up.
With the cold, they could only stay an hour, but it sure was nice to see them. Naturally, we talked about the horrible events on Wednesday. How could we not speak of this day of infamy when it hasn’t even been a week since the mob stormed the Capitol? We are all still reeling.
Then the weather gods enjoyed having a little laugh at our expense. The weather on Sunday was still and sunny and thus felt much warmer even though it was still in the mid-30s.
A perfect day to walk down to the Upper and Lower Narrows Ponds, which are big and deep enough to be considered lakes. (I’ll write more about the Narrows in a future post.)
The sky was a brilliant blue that usually only comes in the winter in Maine. Here is a picture of a pine tree against the sky.
The lower Narrows, churned by a current that runs through a culvert under the road, still has a fair amount of open water.
Enough for a few ducks resting on a skim of ice.
The Upper Narrows, on the other hand, has a sweep of snowy ice. Friends who live on the shallow end have told me that folks have begun ice fishing.
A short walk, but a good one. So cozy to come back to a warm home, make a cup of tea, and have a nice long talk with our eldest daughter.
Technology is no substitution for seeing her in person, but it certainly is better than nothing.
No Friday Favorites this Week
After all that has happened in our country in the past two days, I simply don’t have it in me to share this week’s simple pleasures.
Clif and I did go for a walk yesterday, and I took this picture, which not only reflects Maine in January but also the way I feel right now.
However, this morning, on the phone, I had a jolly good rant with a friend and felt strangely cheered. This evening, we will have a another jolly good rant—via Zoom— with our children, and no doubt I will feel better still.
I do believe that right now is the time for completely inhabiting these uncomfortable feelings, for acknowledging the great damage that has been done to our country, damage that has been accumulating for many years. Gradually, emotions will settle down to be replaced by the resolve to vote, to speak up, to write letters.
And to also take heart from the positive changes afoot. Almost lost in the furor of Wednesday was the news that the citizens of Georgia elected two Democratic Senators—Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, the first Black man elected as U.S. senator from Georgia. The state is changing in a very good direction.
If Georgia can change, then so can other states.
A Heartbreaking Day
Yesterday was a heartbreaking day for this country. A mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Senators and Representatives convened to count the presidential electoral votes and formalize the choice made by each state. Make no mistake: Joe Bidden was the winner in November’s election with a solid lead over Donald Trump. But the mob, egged on by Trump not long before they rioted, maintained that the election had been stolen and that they wanted to “take back America.”
As soon as we heard the news in the early afternoon, Clif and I were unable to focus on anything else. We turned on the television and watched in real time as the mob broke windows, looted, scaled walls, waved Confederate flags, took over Nancy Pelosi’s office, and snapped selfies of themselves as they committed what can only be called sedition. Later, in the New York Times, I saw a picture of a gallows the mob had erected.
Yes, we have had riots before in this country, and property and stores have been burned and looted, but never in my lifetime has a mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to change the lawful results of an election. To my way of thinking, this puts yesterday’s event—an attempted coup—in a whole different category from previous riots, on par with countries that govern by dictatorship rather than by democracy.
Even the reporters, used to seeing many hard things, were shocked. An ABC reporter maintained that “history will remember January 6, 2021 as a day of infamy, the legacy of Donald Trump.”
While the Capitol police did a good job of protecting the Senators, Representatives, reporters, and other folks working there, they seemed woefully understaffed, and the mob more or less roamed at will for quite a while. Eventually the mob was cleared out. Some were arrested; most were allowed to go free. One woman was shot and killed. Others were injured. Pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails were found.
According to the New York Times, “Congress reconvened around 8 p.m. Eastern to certify the Electoral College results, and members of the National Guard from D.C. and Virginia were mobilized to prevent Trump supporters from entering the Capitol again.”
This time, the mob was foiled. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are officially the president and vice-president elect of the United States. Given there is no successful coup, Biden and Harris will be sworn in on January 20.
As for Trump? There are rumblings about removing him from office, but I will surprised if anything comes of that. I suppose it all depends on what he does between now and January 20. While Trump continues to falsely claim that the election was stolen from him, he promised there will be an orderly transition on January 20. That’s big of him, isn’t it? Well, we shall see.
Last night at the Capitol, Maine’s Senator Angus King spoke eloquently, and I will end with part of his speech: “We are a 240-year anomaly in world history. We think that what we have here in this country is the way it’s always been. It is a very unusual form of government. The normal form of government throughout world history is dictators, kings, czars, pharaohs, warlords, tyrants. And we thought 20 years ago the march of history was toward democracy, but it is in retreat in Hungary and Turkey, goodness knows in Russia. Democracy, as we have practiced it, is fragile. It’s fragile, and it rests upon trust. It rests upon trust in facts. It rests upon trust in courts. In public officials, and, yes, in elections…”
Wise words, and we would do well to heed them.
Unfortunately, a sizeable part of the population in this country does not, and what follows next remains to be seen.
Ducks on the Lower Narrows on a Cold January Day
The Holiday Week in Six Pictures
The 2020 holiday week was one of the strangest (and loneliest) we have ever had. Here is what our living room looked like the day before Christmas, when we Zoomed with our kids and opened presents.
A wind storm and power outages—which have unfortunately become the norm in Maine—were predicted for Christmas Day, and we decided to play it safe by celebrating the day before.
We made the occasion as festive as possible with drinks and special snacks. But, as I’m sure you all know, there is no substitution for having those you love actually with you. Zoom was certainly better than nothing, but we sure did miss our family.
On the bright side, along with many other lovely presents from family and friends, I received a stack of books as well as chocolates and snappy bookmarks. Woo-hoo! Few things fill my heart with more pleasure than having new books to read and chocolate to nibble on. Readers of my Great Library Series will perhaps get the “man who doesn’t smile” reference on one of the bookmarks. Beware, indeed!
On Christmas Day, the rain bucketed down. Fortunately, the wind wasn’t as bad as forecasted, and we didn’t lose our power.
We watched Pixar’s new movie Soul, available on Disney+. Such a deep, beautiful film about a middle-aged musician who has had a disappointing life and must come to terms with this. Not for young children, but it will certainly ring true for many adults, and it moved me to tears more than once. My favorite movie of the year, and I highly recommend it.
All that rain melted the snow, and out came the patio chairs for hardy friends who don’t mind visiting when the weather is a little on the brisk side. Actually, more than a little brisk, and I certainly understand why this kind of visit isn’t for everyone.
On the second day of the New Year, snow came. The chairs, along with the and blankets and little tables, were tucked down cellar.
Will we bring them out again? I expect we will. Several of our friends have indicated they would be up for a driveway visit if there is too much snow on the patio. With my creaky knees, standing in one place is not a good thing, and even though the weather might be chilly, sitting is a better way for me to visit.
The pandemic has been terrible, but it has taught us how to be creative and patient. Nevertheless, I certainly hope that the vaccine is widespread enough so that the 2021 holiday season isn’t as lonely.
Onward, Ho, to 2021!
Phew, what a year it has been! I remember thinking last January 1 that 2020 might be a year for clarity. It certainly was but not in a way that I expected. Not in a way that any of us expected, I think.
Yesterday, on the last day of 2020, Clif and I took a walk to the Narrows. The day was gray, but the Narrows were soothing and peaceful in the way that inland water usually is. It does my spirit good to look upon water, and one of my 2021 goals is to walk regularly to the Narrows, only about a quarter of a mile away from our home.
I am feeling refreshed from my break, and on Monday I will be back to to my regular blogging schedule of Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I also will be back to reading all the wonderful posts from my blogging friends from around the world. Finally, I’ll begin working on Book Four of the Great Library series as well as a podcast that features a spin-off story.
Busy times ahead, but it feels good to be back in the saddle again, so to speak. I am someone who needs creative projects to work on, and without them my life just doesn’t have any fizz.
A very happy New Year to you all! Onward, ho, to 2021. Let us hope that it is a better year than 2020.
It Hardly Feels Like Christmas
How quiet Christmas is this year. No wrapping of presents—all have been sent directly from where they were ordered—no rushing to clean the house, no flurry of cooking and baking. Less stress, to be sure, but also much, much less fun. As Clif noted, it hardly feels like Christmas.
In the guest bedroom, there is a stack of presents for us, which we will open via Zoom with the kids tonight on Christmas Eve. But without the kids actually being here, somehow things just don’t feel right. While we certainly appreciate their generosity, it is the presence of the kids that really makes the holidays special.
Next Christmas, I hope, will be better with a big pot of chili and other goodies, with kids and family and friends and movies and lots of laughter.
I expect this will be a quiet holiday season for most of you. But I wish you all a good one nonetheless.
I’ll be taking a break from blogging, reading as well as writing, from now until the new year. It will give me a chance to rest and gather my energies for 2021, when I will begin work on Book Four of my Great Library Series and record my podcast Tales from the Other Green Door, a spinoff of Out of Time.
Stay safe, be well. A vaccine will soon be available to us all, and life will open up again.
See you all in 2021!
Little Green, We Have a Problem
Time was when Clif and I and our daughters hand shoveled and scooped our driveway, which is neither long nor wide. For some reason, it was a chore that Clif and I didn’t mind doing.
But then the years passed. Our daughters moved far away, and we—ahem—were no longer as spry or as strong as we were in our younger days. One Christmas, Dee took pity on her aging parents and bought us an electric snow-thrower, which I promptly dubbed “Little Green.”
Here is Clif with Little Green last winter.
Last Friday, when Clif took out Little Green to clean the snow left behind from our first snowstorm, he had an unpleasant surprise as he turned it on—a loud grinding noise and then nothing. Fortunately, the snow was light and fluffy, and clearing the driveway and walks didn’t require much effort. We were done within an hour.
Because we are Mainers, we always try to fix things when they break. Always. This trait has been passed down by our frugal ancestors. It is in our DNA. So Clif brought Little Green into our dining room. (Little Green is light and easy to carry.) When Clif set Little Green down, there was a mighty rattle, as though marbles were rolling around inside.
No, not marbles. Instead, acorns. Lots of them. Some enterprising rodent had decided that Little Green would be the perfect place to store nuts.
Those acorns snapped both belts, which is why Little Green wouldn’t throw snow.
After much measuring, Clif ordered belts.
Fingers crossed that they arrive before we have a major storm.
If not, Clif and I will go back to shoveling.
Oh, that rascally rodent!
Notes From the Hinterland 