SUMMER INTRIGUE
NATURE has forever intrigued and fascinated me—trees, birds, the ocean and its beaches, the open fields of central Illinois. This is probably obvious to anyone who reads my memoir Parsing the Dragon. Living in the midst of nature is a way to inhale her so I have camped in oil cloth pup tents (as a Girl Scout), ripstop nylon tents with front porches and windows as an adult, an RV for twenty years, and fourteen years in a sailboat.
As the summer of 2019 sluggishly emerges from months of rain and snow in the Pacific Northwest, I am grateful that gray, drippy skies are keeping fire at bay, unlike last year when our summer surrounded us in unsettling, smoky, hazy days. Living in the Northwest since 1993, I recall many years where we wrapped in fleece sweatshirts and blankets to watch fireworks on July 4th, quite a change from the sweltering July days in St. Louis.
During summer, our decks become living rooms, and lately I observed a flock of pigeons bill and coo and strut on the roof of condominiums between us and the waters of Hood Canal. For years, there were two to three pigeons, including one albino. This year, I’ve been surprised to see an entire flock! They soar together off the roof ridge, whirring out over the water or even up to and above our house.
Mornings, when the summer sun pushes dawn back as far as 4 a.m., I hear the “hoo hoo, hoo hoo” of an owl, probably in the wetlands area at end of The Canal.
Then there are the raven families who nest around us in cedar trees. Supposedly the smartest of birds, for two years, a couple raised their young in an elder 130-foot cedar missing all of its lower limbs and rising above the water. The nest held center stage in our picture window and was so close we could observe the baby ravens as they hatched and learned to fly. Even the grandparents (HUGE) came to help. So I was not surprised to see a parent raven perching on a branch the other day with its offspring. The young one clung to its parent, still grabbing food from its beak, reluctant to fly.
Evidently, even birds find the task of being an adult difficult.
SUMMER EVENTS UNFURL
ORCAS ISLAND--On the evening of June 11, I spoke about my book and about writing in the genre of memoir at the Orcas Island Library in Eastsound. Eighteen attended and several signed up to take a writing class with me. (See Photos) Thanks to Mary Pugh who invited me to speak at the OI Library and created a warm, inviting atmosphere for all of us, and also to Jenny of Darvill’s Bookstore, who sold books for me.
GIG HARBOR--On July 20 and 21, I will share a table with my daughter, Mindy Hardwick, at The Gig Harbor Arts Festival. We’ll be signing on the porch near The Landmark Bank! Mindy is the author of several romance series, two young adult novels and a handful of picture books plus her own memoir about writing with juvenile youth in Everett, Washington.
I’ll also be at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference at SeaTac in September, and will teach a memoir class on Orcas.
My books are now available at Union Market in our town as well as local Timberland libraries including North Mason, Shelton and Hoodsport. Also the Orcas Island Library as well at amazon.com
READING RECOMMENDS:
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall by Gilbert King, 2012 (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
CODE GIRLS: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy, Hachette books, 2017, 2018
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, 2018
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018
All four are available on amazon.com and probably at your library and local bookstore.
June 11, 2019, Orcas Island Library, Eastsound, WA
