Ruffles, Ridges, Twists, and Tangles

Iris opening…

A dead tree trunk…

Edge of a cardinal feather…

Raindrops on leaves…

Poison ivy…

and part of a neighbor’s trash.

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It’s Official.

Spring is here. Ramps are breaking out all over. Arla and I spent a lovely hour or so on a hillside in Pocahontas County, digging enough for a supper of chicken enchiladas with ramps. Good eating tonight!

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In the Bleak Midwinter

Actually, it has not been bleak. Some days it has been sunny and beautiful—but cold! We haven’t had much of this frigid weather in southern West Virginia this winter, and I welcomed the three-day excursion into the teens and twenties, not the least because of the ice sculptures that appeared along the Carriage Trail. Here are few more examples:

 

 

 

 

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Snowdrops and Raindrops

Today was the day. I have been watching a little patch of earth along the Carriage Trail for the past week or two, wondering whether last week’s spell of warm weather would bring out the snowdrops. The first green blades began to appear about four days ago. And then the weather turned cooler again; we’re actually having seasonable temperatures. I like the cold.

Snowdrops must be okay with cold weather, too. Once they decide to bloom, freezing temperatures don’t seem to daunt them.

Today was a drizzly, dreary day, and I almost talked myself out of walking up the hill. Had I done so, I would have missed this first flower, bejeweled with raindrops. It made the walk worthwhile.

Something always does.

 

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Happy New Year from Harpers Ferry

I spent the few days leading up to this New Year in Harpers Ferry, visiting with my friend Neal, playing many games of Scrabble, walking all over town, discovering a wonderful local public library in Bolivar (adjacent to Harpers Ferry) and an incredibly good bakery, Royalicious, in a shopping mall between Harpers Ferry and Charles Town.

I’m not kidding about that bakery. If you are up to eating a flaky-yet-substantial pastry crescent that is stuffed full of marzipan, topped with sliced almonds, and dipped in dark chocolate—a pastry that will hold you until supper—this is the place to find it.

The whole downtown area of Harpers Ferry is part of a national historical park, and it’s a charming place to walk. The first two of these pictures were made on a bright and breezy day. On New Year’s Eve the weather turned grey, and it seemed appropriate to stroll through the old Harper Cemetery.

 

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Aurora and Irene

I love this picture of Irene McKinney enjoying an evening with other writers at the Aurora Project Fall Writers Retreat a few years ago. Irene loved the idea of the Aurora Project—a residency program for artists, where they have time and space to create, free from distractions. She generously donated her own time toward making the Aurora vision a reality, even while she was battling the cancer that took her from us in February of this year.

“I remember going to MacDowell Colony after four hard years of graduate school and teaching in a prison in Salt Lake City, and weeping in gratitude when they brought my lunchbox to my studio door,” she told me in an e-mail message. “I sat there in that quiet place looking out at the pines and feeling: someone thinks what I do is valuable enough to take care of me for a while.”

The Aurora Project Fall Writers Retreat takes place this year November 1-4. If you have attended a past retreat, you know what a wonderful weekend this will be: time to work on your own creative endeavor, fellowship with other writers in the evenings, beautiful surroundings, and wonderful food. Someone taking care of you for a while.

In past years we have invited a well-known writer to join us and give a public reading. Irene was our guest three years ago. Maggie Anderson and Anita Skeen have also been featured. This year we’re devoting that public evening to the poems of Irene McKinney. Everyone who attends the retreat will be invited to share, in a reading open to the general public, one of their favorite Irene McKinney poems.

For more information and a registration form, e-mail info@auroraproject.org.

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Mrs. Cornblossom Steps Out

About a week ago I got a call from publisher Bill Clements announcing that my first children’s book, Missing: Mrs. Cornblossom, had arrived at his warehouse. I’d have bragged about this before now, but it has been a busy, busy week: it was also my parents’ first week as West Virginia residents, and we were all busy getting them unpacked and settled in their new home.

Then, a couple of days ago, a series of massive thunderstorms came barreling through West Virginia, and I was without electricity for a while (many people still are without power, sad to say).

But I’m finally getting around to it. Missing: Mrs. Cornblossom is a book for children, families, and anyone you love. It takes place in a community called (oddly enough) Arlington Court, and it really is a love letter to my neighborhood, among other things. It includes a couple of eccentric fellows named Toothbucket and Inchbald, three 10-year-old kids, and a mischievous cat whose adventures, singly and together, teach them much about life and love.

Missing: Mrs. Cornblossom is available from West Virginia Book Company and will soon be available online in both print and ebook versions.

Here’s Mom, Dad, and me celebrating together on publication day.

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Sticky Business

This is the blossom of the wineberry, also called the Japanese wineberry or the wine raspberry. A native of China, Japan, and Korea, it was introduced to the U.S. in the 1890s, escaped cultivation, and is actually considered invasive in some parts of the country.

I am happy to be invaded by such a plant. The berries will ripen around the 4th of July, and, if I’m around to pick them, they will decorate my bowl of oatmeal every morning for a week or two. They are delicious. The word “wineberry” describes them accurately.

Collecting them, however, is a sticky business. See those little red hairs? Every one of them holds a tiny glob of an amazingly gluey substance. I have learned that it is a good idea to bring a couple of baby wipes along on a wineberry-picking expedition.

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All in One Week!

Walking has been a pure pleasure this week: plenty of sun, cool temperatures, and an amazing variety of blooming things! I certainly haven’t been keeping a brisk pace, however, because there are just too many wonders to stop and examine. Here are just a few, beginning with back-to-back jack-in-the-pulpits, above.

Above, a strawberry shrub. I love this plant mostly because of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem, “The Strawberry Shrub.” I believe that her description of the flower is also a metaphor for how poems work.

Lily of the valley. Blooming early, like so many things are this year.

The columbine—who could even invent such a shape?—and, below, a tiny insect taking shelter within the curve of the columbine bud. Really, this little creature was almost impossibly tiny. My camera can see so much better than my eyes.

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Sacred Spirals

So. The computer on which I do most of my work has crashed, and I haven’t had it for two whole weeks. That means I am doing a lot of walking, partly to pass the time and partly to keep from panicking about the computer and the backlog of work and bookkeeping that’s currently out of my reach. Luckily, it’s a great time of year for walking. Many wildflowers are blooming, and all sorts of growing things are pushing their way into the world.

When I saw these emerging fronds today, they seemed to be speaking to me about my life: telling me something about inevitability and time. Things will work themselves out. The computer will get fixed, or it won’t. I will retrieve my files, or I won’t. Tomorrow will come. Next week will come. These fronds will unfurl into ferns and flowers, whether I am sitting at a keyboard or walking up a hill, whether I am laughing or crying.

I think I’ll laugh. I think I’ll walk.

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