Books, Nature

Fabulous Ferns

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Library Lost has been sent to various proof readers, and now I have time on my hands, so to speak, as I wait for the comments and the, ahem, opportunities for rewriting.

What to do, what to do?

Just kidding, of course. Spring, lovely though she is, brings so much work that at times it makes me positively dizzy.  Breathe, breathe, breathe, as my daughter Shannon would say.

In fact, after being cooped inside for those long winter months, it’s a great pleasure to be outside, working in the gardens and feeling the sun on my face. Birds are everywhere, tweeting, flying, coming to the feeders.

Ferns are unfurling, and what fascinating plants they are. Because we live in the woods, ferns thrive in our yard. These dinosaur plants rim the edge of our house in the back, and I have encouraged them, not raking the leaves that blow there. Along with shade, ferns love leaves.

Yesterday, I took some pictures of the baby ferns, stretching from their winter’s sleep.

As they mature, their color deepens, but this bright green sings, “Spring, spring, spring!”

Let’s take a closer look. Their little heads look as though they are composed of a ball of tiny ferns.

Let’s take a closer look still. So fuzzy and new!

With all this beauty and excitement in the yard, it’s a wonder I get anything done in my gardens.

And yet I do.

 

 

Books, People

I Have Been Noted

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One of the great delights of blogging is becoming friends with people you normally wouldn’t meet. Some of those friends are not that far—in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Others are actually much farther away—Canada, England, Scotland, and even Australia.

One such blogging friend is Quercus, who lives in England. (He has a blog called Quercus Community.) In response to one of my comments on a recent post, he referred to me as “a noted author of YA fiction.”  So very kind of him, but I replied that “noted” might be overstating the case. He wrote back: “I stand by what I said. If necessary I will write a post tomorrow titled ‘A Note About Laurie Graves’, and then you really will be noted!”

By gosh, Quercus did exactly as he promised, and he wrote a lovely post entitled A Note About Laurie Graves – Author, Raconteur and Eater of Ice Cream. 

I was tickled, touched, and oh so pleased that he would take the time to write about me, to, in fact, note me. Also, as an indie author with a budget as big as a minute, readers’ kind words and promotions really help.

Many, many thanks, Quercus, for noting me. And thanks to all my other blogging friends who have bought and read Maya and the Book of Everything and have been so encouraging.

It really makes a difference.

And, Quercus, thanks to you I will no longer hesitate to state that I am a noted author.

 

 

Books, News

First Draft of Library Lost: Done!

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Yesterday came that magical moment when I wrote the ending line of Library Lost. Somehow, it is both exciting and a let-down to finish a novel. Wonderful, after all that work, to come to the end, but I felt restless, and I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. Fortunately,  plenty of gardening chores await, and I spent a couple of hours removing leaves from one of the beds out front.

I posted the Library Lost news on my Facebook page, and one of the sweetest responses I got was from an acquaintance who lived in central Maine but who has just moved to the Southwest. She wrote that Maya and the Book of Everything traveled with her across country and has just been unpacked. It is now on her bookshelf along with other favorite fantasy novels. That sure made me smile!

Although the first draft of Library Lost is finished, there is still much to do. I need to read it from front to back to see how it all comes together. Some writers work from an outline, and they know, from chapter to chapter, how things are going to turn out.

I am not one of those writers. In my head, I have a notion of where I want the story to go, but basically I just wing it from chapter to chapter, and sometimes what I write in Chapter 15 changes what happens in Chapter 8. This means I have to reread very carefully to be sure that I’ve made the appropriate changes.

Perhaps this seems like a funny way of writing. In a way, it is. But I have tried outlining a novel, and it didn’t work for me. First, it seemed like everything was already mapped out, and where’s the fun in that? For me, the adventure in writing lies with not exactly knowing what the characters are going to do at any given moment. Second, I deviated so much from the outline that it felt like a waste of time to even have one.

Anyway, now it’s time to reread carefully before sending Library Lost to my proof readers, who, with squinted eyes, will go over the story. So again, for the next week or so, I will be primarily absorbed with the book and probably won’t do much blogging.

A lot of work, but it’s good work, the work I want to be doing.

Last night, the weather was warm and lovely, and with drinks on the patio, we celebrated the completion of the first draft of Library Lost.

Cheers!

Nature, News

Weather Report: A Farewell to Winter and Time for a Short Break from Blogging

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Well, folks , the time has come to bid farewell to winter and to Clif in his snow-gauge role. As the picture I took this morning indicates, the snow is gone from our front yard  Note the straw hat. Somebody is definitely ready to retire from being a snow gauge, at least until next year.

For a wee reminder of how quickly the snow has melted, here is snow-gauge Clif two weeks ago, on April 9.

However, there is still a sliver of snow in the backyard, which Liam, dog of the north, found. Every since he was a puppy, Liam has followed the melting snow. It’s where he likes to chill. Literally.

But, the temperature  has finally risen above freezing, and that sliver of snow will soon be gone.

Yesterday, we brought out the small patio table,

and toasted Shannon on her Earth Day birthday.

Because she and her husband now live in North Carolina, they could only be with us in spirit on the snow-free patio.  (We did, however, Skype with them .)

Starting today, I’m going to take a short break from blogging—a week and a half or possibly two. I’m coming down the homestretch with my YA fantasy novel Library Lost, the second book in my Great Library Series. I really need to just focus on finishing the book, so that the long process of editing can begin.

My first book, Maya and the Book of Everything, is featured in the upper left-hand corner of this blog. Many thanks to all the blogging friends who have read the book and have made such thoughtful comments. I appreciate it so much.

I’ll back sometime in May, when spring is in full bloom, and there will be many flowers to photograph.

Until then, happy spring if you live in the northern hemisphere and happy fall if you live in the southern hemisphere.

 

Art, Books

Five for Friday: The Golden Age of Illustration

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Today’s post is going to be a little different, a reflection of my newest obsession, the golden age of illustration, which ran roughly from 1880 to 1920. As Artcyclopedia puts it, advances in technology allowed for “accurate and inexpensive reproduction of art,” both in books and magazines.

Nowhere was this more evident or glorious than in illustrations for children’s books. Beatrix Potter, of course, comes to mind, but there were many others, too: Edmund Dulac, Jessie Willcox Smith, Walter Crane, and Sir John Tennial, to name a few.

As chance would have it, there is even a Facebook group called The Golden Age of illustration. I joined the group not long ago, and that’s when I became hooked on illustrations from this period, especially the ones for children’s books. Not surprising as I write books for young people.

Many of the images from this period are in the public domain, which means we are free to use them as we wish. Clif, who is a talented graphic artist, has caught the golden age of illustration bug and is working with some of the pictures. He has been enlarging the illustrations, smoothing the pixels, and retouching the illustrations. We plan to sell matted prints at fairs we go to, and he has done research about the artist and the books the illustrations come from. This information will be included with the prints.

Below are five of the illustrations he has worked on, and they are by Edmund Dulac and Jessie Willcox Smith.

This is one of my favorites. The illustrator is Edmund Dulac, and the picture is from the story “A Little Girl in a Book,” written by Mrs. Rodolph Stawell. Funny to think there was a time when women writers went by their husband’s name, but there you are. Progress has definitely been made on that front.

This is another of Edmund Dulac’s illustrations, and it’s from “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen. It’s not a scene I’m familiar with, that’s for sure.

Jessie Willcox Smith did this illustration for The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik.

As well as this one—Little Red and the Wolf—otherwise known as Little Red Riding Hood.

And finally, here is a Jessie Willcox Smith’s illustration from The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley.

Today, there are many fine artists who create illustrations for children’s books. But for me, there is something about pictures from the Golden Age of Illustration that captures the wonder, magic, and even the dread of fantasy and fairy tales.

I wonder what it was from that period that allowed illustrators to tap into art that goes so beautifully with the stories.

Nature

Weather Report: In which Progress Is Made but Then Is Ruined by Freezing Rain

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Spring is quite the little trickster, she is. On Friday, she brought us weather so warm that Clif and I raked part of the back lawn, and we didn’t even need to wear our jackets. But Saturday arrived with a cold rain. On Sunday it became even colder, and the rain turned to a freezing drizzle.

This is what our car looked like this morning, with one window scraped and the other left untouched.

But progress has been made. Here is a shot of the Kennebec River.

There are still ice chunks along the banks, and I wonder if they will be there until the end of April. They are so thick! The one below looks like a mini-iceberg.

Here is another view of horizontal ice chunks.

Despite the miserable drizzle, our yard is nearly snow free, and snow-gauge Clif’s job is coming to an end. Next week, perhaps, depending on what Spring has up her sleeves.

Come, Spring, Come! We long to see your pretty face.

 

News

Five for Friday: Gone, Baby, Gone

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Ta-dah, ta-dah! The patio is officially snow free, a full ten days before we wanted it to be that way.

This is how the patio looked yesterday morning, with just the smallest patch of snow on one edge.

Here is a closer look at that stubborn little patch.

Stubborn or not, that patch’s days were numbered, and by late afternoon, the snow was gone, baby, gone. Note the hay on the walk rimmed with snow. No, our yard is not totally snow free, but it sure is good to see the patio once again.

Snow-out from the patio put in me in such a good mood that I decided to sweep the driveway. Hundreds and hundreds of little cones had fallen, the most I’ve ever seen in our driveway in spring. What a nice feeling of accomplishment to have the driveway free of those little cones.

And maybe, just maybe, Clif and I will take down the Christmas lights next week. It is time, that’s for sure.

Nature

Weather Report: One Down, Two to Go

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I am happy to report that the three or four inches of snow that fell on Friday is gone, gone, gone. Goodbye, and don’t come back until next winter! But Winter is not quite done with us yet, and she has given us a blast of cold weather that is more than a little brisk: 25°F  and very windy. Although he put a brave face on it, Snow-gauge Clif shivered as I took his picture this morning.

But I am getting ahead of myself. On Sunday, we went to Hallowell for a picture of the Kennebec River. Despite the snow, despite the cold, the Kennebec is nearly free of ice. Oh, the blue of that sky and water!

But the ice chunks aren’t gone. Not quite yet. I’m wondering how many weeks it will take before they finally melt.

Now, back to Narrows Pond Road with a ta-dah! The snow is nearly all gone from the backyard, and thus Snow-gauge Clif’s job there is done. Not enough snow to worry about. In fact, it’s time to think about raking.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the front yard, which is much shadier than the back. Snow-gauge Clif’s job is not quite done.

But let’s return to the backyard, where I saved the best for last. Another ta-dah, ta-dah!

The snow is nearly gone from the patio, and it’s not even close to April 22, Shannon’s birthday.

What do you think? One more week? Such excitement on Narrows Pond Road. Stay tuned!

 

 

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