We saw on a rock underneath a fir tree,
Dozens of crescents--made the same way--
Thousands! Even our straw hats produced
A few as we moved them over the bare granite.
~ from "Seeing the Eclipse in Maine" by Robert Bly
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What a month April has been! We had a nor'easter (~12 inches at our house; more not far away) and a total eclipse. The wood frogs and spring peepers started (and, in the wood frogs' case, finished) singing their spring songs, the painted turtles rose from the mud to sun on logs on warm days, migratory birds began returning to the trees (three types of warbler at our house so far, plus phoebes, broad-winged hawks, and tree swallows). Every morning I walk outside to hear a chorus of birdsong, and every evening I step out to hear peepers, woodcocks, geese, and owls.
I went for my first kayak trip (around the gravel pit pond on our property, which is bigger and fuller than ever.) As I paddled around I filled my kayak with glass and plastic bottles that floated to the surface from the old dump. Curry has started the garden, indoors and out. We cleaned up trash along our road Earth Day weekend (and agreed that the bottle deposit should be raised to $1).
I received my certification in book coaching for both fiction and memoir. Stay tuned for an official launch of my book coaching business, with packages and pricing and so forth. But in the meantime, if you're working on a novel or memoir, at any stage in the process, and have been thinking about getting professional help with planning, keeping going, or a manuscript review, send me a message and we can chat!
Our firstborn child headed of to Spain to walk el Camino de Santiago, and Curry and I *finally* got a taste of empty-nesting, before the twins return from college--we even went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant to spend our tax return. I've also spent some quality time with friends--a wonderful movie (The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill), an inspiring pizza-and-poetry night, a fun lunch date, and a delightful bird-watching trip to Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. And I still have a poetry festival to look forward to tomorrow.
Also this month, the coltsfoot bloomed. The speckled alders, beaked hazelnuts, and quaking aspen have all flowered and the red maples are mid-flower now. The grass has turned green, the daffodils are blooming, and the tulips are on the verge. I think it's official--spring is here!
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Writing
I am currently trying to write three books at the same time. As you might guess, it's a struggle. At least two of them get neglected most days. The one I've managed to stay most focused on is an essay collection around the theme of joy and everyday encounters with nature. Here's an excerpt from a piece I'm working on for that collection about the eclipse:
"The hillside has turned silvery, colors dulled like a hand-tinted photo, like a time-faded technicolor snapshot. We're in a photograph. We're on a movie set, filming with lighting effects meant to mimic moonlight. We're in a diorama in a dying museum, the scenery flat and painted on, the trees one-dimensional, the light bluish. Our skin has turned ashen. I forget to look down. I forget to look at the shapes of the shadows. I forget to look at the glimmer on the surface of the snowmelt water streaming down the hillside."
I'm thinking of serializing this collection in some format, in advance of turning it into a book, such as on Medium or Patreon (Substack would probably be the most ideal, and I was planning on moving my newsletter over there at the new year, but then they had their whole "we're cool with Nazis" kerfuffle, and it just feels icky to me now, even if they did eventually resolve that (did they??)). Do you have any experience with these platforms or other methods of serializing a book? Would you be interested in reading a short weekly nature essay, either in an eventual book or week-by-week on a (paid) electronic platform? Send me an email if you have thoughts.
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Fiction: In April I continued to plow through my (random) stack of murder mysteries, with two by Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness and Busman's Honeymoon, which were fun. I really like the way Sayers shuffles a large cast of characters on and offstage, like watching a play unfold.
I also read Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer, the premise of which is Joe Biden and Barak Obama as a detective duo, which you've got to admit is pretty hilarious. Shaffer does make a lot of cheap shots about Biden's age, but to be fair he had no way of knowing that would be the only thing critics would have to hold against him in his second election.
Nonfiction: I had an article to write about the ocean this month, and decided it was high time I read The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson, to put myself in the mood. I'd have to say it's the densest of RC's books that I've read, but still fascinating. Fascinating, too, is how much our scientific knowledge has grown since its publication (plate tectonics wasn't even a going theory yet!).
Finally, I mostly read Splinters by Leslie Jamison. I know this won't be a popular opinion, but I found it completely infuriating. I've only got about 12 pages left and I'm not even sure I'll be able to force myself to finish it.
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Poetry: Every day since January 1 (except 2 days when I was not in Maine), I've walked the trail that goes through our woods and along the Eastern River. About 1/2 way along the trail, there's a bench that Curry and the boys built for my Mother's Day present last year. Most days, I stop on the bench to sketch and write a poem in my nature journal, and this month (National Poetry Month), I've also read from the new anthology collected by US Poet Laureate Ada Limon, You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World.
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Teaching
I'll be offering three nature writing workshops at Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson, ME, in the coming months. Here's the description of the first workshop, to be held July 20, 2024, 10 am -12 pm:
Standing Among the Trees
In A Poetry Handbook, Mary Oliver writes "If the poem is thin, it is likely not because the poet does not know enough words, but because he or she has not stood long enough among the flowers--has not seen them in any fresh, exciting, and valid way." In this workshop, we'll go into HVNC and stand among the trees, practicing using all of our senses to observe. We'll each choose one particular tree and ask questions that will help nurture our curiosity and deepen our relationship with that tree. From these observations and questions, we'll write poems or prose to celebrate our trees.
The cost is only $5. You can sign up here. You can also check out my website for descriptions of workshops I'll be teaching in September and November at HVNC, as well as my general course offerings and prices, if you want to host a nature journaling or writing workshop at your organization.
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Services
I provide freelance writing and editing services of all types, with a special emphasis on reports, newsletters, and articles and expertise in nature, science, and the environment. Check out my website to learn more, and stay tuned for information on book coaching.
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Or visit your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy for you
and a few to put on the shelves for other customers.
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Happy spring, friends!
~ Andrea
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