No turkeys today

Why do I keep looking for them?

Turkeys Eleven

I saw them out the window, one and then another, and another. Big, brown birds casually strolling into my yard. I wasn’t casual at all. I leapt up practically babbling, OMGWTFBBQ!11! 1-2-3-4-5-6…Eleven wild turkeys!

Sure looks springlike

There are crocuses smattering on the hillside. The collards have survived so well, they look like flowers. I saw a hawk again this morning, distinctly red-tailed as it circled high overhead. Not only is today the vernal equinox, it actually looks like spring around here. But tomorrow, it’s going to snow.

Move along, something to write here

I’ve been fiddling with the first paragraph of the current rough draft, and fiddling with it, and fiddling with it, and, and. Enough. Today I finally told myself to stop and — shocker! — I pushed through the next five hundred words. And started working on the next five hundred. The maddening thing is this: […]

Spring is ready

It hit 80 degrees outside today. All sorts of green plants are coming up, getting ready to put on another show. I even have two barrels of compost that cooked over the winter, ready to spread on them again. I’m almost ready to enjoy the coming spring. But first you have to convince me that […]

The book stack shrinks, the give list grows

A whole lot of books went back to the library today. I only actually read about half of them, though. That’s the great thing about library books: not reading them is free, too. I’m still thinking about Japan. This heart-rending story of a dog refusing to leave its friend until they were rescued is reminding […]

Salmon Hot Pot

It’s been cold and rainy and nasty all day, just the weather I’ve been waiting for to make the last on my list of Japanese Hot Pots I wanted to try: Ishikari Nabe, or Salmon Hot Pot. Underneath all that salmon and tofu and mushrooms are cabbage and potatoes cooked in a miso broth. In […]

Don’t encourage me

So yesterday, I got an encouraging rejection, basically saying keep seeking a home for this story. I have no problem with that. I do my best to push a story right back out into the finest slush piles. And I’m hoping to find this story a good home, but all the professional markets that haven’t […]

Oh, hi, it’s Pie Day

Pie day, and I haven’t actually made a pie since last November, when I decided to revisiting the sweet potato pie of yesteryear with a sweet potato pie with pecan crust. Trouble was, I don’t really like adding sugar to sweet potatoes, so I cut back on the sweetness a hair too much. It wasn’t […]

First crocus is gold

Here it is, the first crocus of the year. As always a sturdy little yellow one. And I saw other signs of spring today. I went for a walk and saw lots of robins milling about amid the starlings. I went for a drive and saw lots of hawks circling the sky and brooding in […]