Today I read Peter Brown’s delightful book to my son’s class. I told them there was a curious garden quite close to our school. They made me promise to take some pictures.
I’ve always been fascinated by how quickly nature overwhelms our puny human structures once we get out of the way. This bridge is a case in point.
In the story, Liam helps his garden transform an entire city. I love it!
As a teen, I used to spend hour upon hour sitting on the floor in the Blue Room reading books. Now you’ll find me in the Rose Room haunting the children’s books.
The goal today was to buy The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman because my son came home from school saying, “Mom, you have to read this book. It is the best!”
Other books that came home with us today:
Stagecoach Sal by Deborah Hopkinson
I’m Not Sleepy! by Jonathan Allen
Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000 by Eric Wight
Toot & Puddle The One and Only by Holly Hobbie
The Uninvited Guest by Nina Jaffe
Miriam’s Cup: A Passover Story by Fran Manushkin
Miriam in the Desert by Jacqueline Jules
Here I am with Ramona in Grant Park, the spot where Beverly Cleary played as a little girl. We visited her childhood home and school, the library where she read and the apartment building her mother forbade her to enter. Altogether and delightful (and sunny) day! If you’re in Portland, you should go. This weekend there are three tours scheduled with Portland writer Laura Foster.
Today I went on a field trip with my daughter and 55 other K/1 kids. I can’t remember the last time I was on a school bus. How kooky! I forgot that little people can’t even see over the seats so it’s like being in a little space pod. And the wheel wells kill the leg room. And stopping at train tracks. And the way you slosh around in your seat during curves. And no seat belts! That feels weird, weird, weird.
After a several week long hiatus, I’m back to my current WIP. I’m about 30K squishy, all-over-the-place words in to the thing and have enough of a handle on it to know it’s time to get serious about plotting, story arc, character arc, etc.
So for the last hour I’ve been on the wood floor with a huge piece of drawing paper, scribbling, sketching, and drafting out the bones upon which the words will hang. Can you imagine me totally absorbed?
Imagine my shock to look up and see snowflakes the size of frosted flakes falling thick and fast outside. Right on my newly planted peas.
So much for the best laid plans in gardening (and writing)!
The secret twin of my life as a writer is my life as a mini-farmer. I’m not mini. My farm is. I tend a 40 x 40 vegetable garden (fenced to keep out the deer and elk) as well as the potatoes, artichokes, rhubarb, herbs, and asparagus (which have sprawled outside the fence because the herbivores don’t eat them.
It’s all manual labor for me out there: tilling, weeding, planting, harvesting. And it’s work that leaves my back aching but my belly full and – here’s the writing connection – my writer’s mind loose, free, and open.
As creatives, we must make times for our minds to wander, to get lost, to be unproductive. When I’m stuck, I’m usually trying too hard. There’s nothing like a little pulling weeds to get me on track again. That, and chickens. They are delightful and so are the omelets!
My divine critique group member, Elizabeth Rusch, celebrated the release of her newest picture book biography with a powdered wig!
For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart is a must read!
When she got to the part about how all of Maria’s original compositions have been lost, the audience and I teared up. Brilliant!
Last week I had a great school visit to James John Elementary School. You can get the inside scoop on Mr. Leach’s fantastic third grade blog! The killer librarian at James John had a canoe AND a tent in the library in honor of my visit! Go, Robin!