House of Boughs, Walls of Leaves, A Carpet of Wildflowers

Who won the big drawing for the Serenity Health and Home Decor outdoor fire pit?

Stay tuned and read to the end of the posting!

Dear Friends,

Maybe it is belated spring fever, but right now all I can think of is that I want to simplify my life. I want to live in a house of boughs with leafy walls and a soft carpet of wildflowers and herbs. At night, glowworms and fireflies will light my home. By day, the shifting shadows of sunshine will warm it and birdsong will be my music. And cleaning it? A heather broom, a watering can, and some helpful worms. What could be better?

I am thinking of you out there...all of you who are dealing with wildfires, "firenadoes" (a new word to describe a tornado-like whirling fire in California), flooding, intense heat, and tornadoes. This is a tough time throughout our land, and we need to draw together and help each other.

SIMPLIFY

Today I am taking a load of good things to our local Hospice Store. Sure, they're good enough to sell, but I want to gift them to someone deserving, someone who may not have the income to treat himself/herself to something besides groceries and gasoline.

These sweet cups, saucers, and creamer are headed for Hospice today.

Cleaning out cupboards and chests feels GOOD. I urge you to paw through your goodies and share them with others.

INTO THE GARDEN

All the artichokes on my healthy plants burned up in the heat. This was the last harvest.

Last week Jeff and I hosted a wonderful garden walk/talk with a group of California Native Plant Society Members. Thank heavens it was last week because this week has been a disaster. Heat of up to 105 and plants reduced to what look like piles of ashes. EVEN THE NATIVE PLANTS. Nothing survives such an extended drought and high, high heat. Jeff and I take short showers and cart buckets of water out to my potted herbs. That's all we can do to maintain.

The gate and arbor Jeff built for me. Peephole is an antique found in a vintage shop.

Before the crowds and the heat.

The last of the chokes. Note that all the beds have been heavily mulched with an under-layer of compost and worms.

Under the grape arbor for some drinks, conversation, and questions.

I love real dig-in-the-soil-and-wreck-your-fingernails gardeners.

Here is a short video I made of my little garden the day before the garden walk. I hope you enjoy it.

And now...DRUM ROLL. The random number generator chose as the winner of the drawing for the fabulous fire pit, donated by Serenity Health and Home Decor, is Sharon Calvert from Alabama's Gulf coast. (Sharon, e-mail us your shipping address.)

You'll love having this in your garden. My family likes to sit around ours, toast marshmallows, and tell creepy stories. The creepier the better.

All joys to you!

Sharon

"Married to Amazement"

"When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement."

from Mary Oliver's

New and Selected Poems

What would I do without my daily doses of poetry? Ethel Pochocki, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Wendell Berry, Robinson Jeffers,  Billy Collins, Theodore Roethke are just a few of the writers I turn to every morning. I guarantee that you'll find something, even if it is the tiniest constellation of words to help you through your day.

Pick up a book of poetry, take time to let the words soak into your soul, and I promise you will grow to love these spare, telling words more every day.

Yes, yes, I've been away. We've had surgeries in the family, caregiving, lots of guests, and lots of changes, but this afternoon I hope to share a short visit with you. And, stay tuned. I have an amazing give-away donated by Serenity Health & Home Decor to the lucky winner who is drawn from our latest posting.

The garden is bursting with life. Bees everywhere, birds everywhere, and blooms. Hurrah! Tall stands of hollyhocks sway in a slow garden waltz, hummingbirds empty feeders and visit blossoms until nightfall, and mamas and papas and baby birds now visit the birdbaths and fountains. I am in
paradise.

Please stay with me to the end of the posting and you'll see what a great give-away we have for you!

Glimpses of Paradise

My pomegranates are in bloom, and I've got my fingers crossed for fruit.

A favorite of the bumblebees. The backyard is literally a mini-forest of hollyhocks now.

A native Mimulus (monkey flower), which I grow in a huge pot.

The native Ceanothus attracts a host of beneficial insects.

This is the only violetta artichoke I grew because it has wicked bad barbs that always find their way into my hands and arms. But, the taste is incredibly good.

Many succulents are in bloom.

We always call this lavender Peter Rabbit.

Scented peppermint Pelargonium has huge, velvety leaves and tiny, tasty little white blooms.

One of my succulent mosaics. I just love these big pots of texture and form.

The hummingbirds are ALWAYS visiting the Cuphea for nectar. This is the busiest hummingbird plant in the garden–busier even than the Salvias.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden's Tour

Maybe some of you don't realize the rich, complex offerings of a California spring. It is beyond belief and will touch your heart. This is one of my favorite places in the world, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, which is where I learned plant propagation from Dr. Dara Emery, one of the greatest teachers ever. When we were in Santa Barbara, we attended a garden tour of about 8 or 9 local homes.

On the garden tour, we saw this old, iron outdoor couch, which had fallen to wrack and ruin. A very special lady turned it from a disaster into a fairy-sized landscape for her grandchildren.

Running Out of Night Begins its Run

I hope to soon be doing even more school and library visits. This was my first group from a local school (Hawthorne) at the home of Liz and Dan Krieger,  and I got to read a few pages from my new book Running Out of Night. My book will not be released until November so I read to the kids from my advance reader copy, which is sent out to reviewers, etc. The kids were enthusiastic and filled with curiosity and appreciation. I love working with children...

...and I love watching children exercise their sense of wonder.

A Going Away Party for Dear Friends

Our dear friends Frank and Aline rented a fabulous cottage in the town of Old Edna, which is owned by our friend Pattea. We celebrated together on one of their last nights in California. Pattea set up this table in front of the cottage, and we shared tapas out in the company of flowers and owls. Oh, and don't you love the treehouse they built for their son? The old tree died a few years ago, but the treehouse lives on.

I took homemade bread and flower cheese,on a platter surrounded with edible flowers.

Pattea decorates her porch as amazingly as the insides of her cottages. Yep, that's me.

The Old Edna store in the background.

Pattea's office. Don't you love it?

Part of the table decor.

My girlfriends. Left is Debra Prinzing (Shed Style, The Fifty Mile Bouquet, Slow Flower movement and more), and Aline Cullen, who is one of the dearest people in the world.

Pattea's gypsy wagon where...

...all of us girls read stories and talked. Sorry, Frank, no boys allowed!

Ok, I know that I've wandered everywhere in this posting, but I had some catching up to do. Right?

Now I want to hear from YOU. And do you know how I am going to thank you? You'll have an opportunity to have your name drawn for the offering of this fantastic fire-pit. 

Outdoor Classics Cosmic Fire Pit Grill

Thanks to Serenity Health & Home Decor

We love ours and think you'll love one too. All you need do is leave a comment on this posting. Sorry, out of country entrants excluded. It would cost a fortune to mail it out of the continental US. 

Love across the miles,

Sharon

p.s. Due to the large number of spam comments coming from "anonymous," all anonymous comments are set to be deleted automatically unless your comment begins with "Sharon."

Gatherings and Give-Aways

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Despite the cold, cold nights, the trees keep producing.

I never take it for granted when I pick a fruit in my own garden.

Hello dear friends,

Thank you for your e-mails, cards, letters, and the photos of My First Bird Book and Bird Feeder, which you've been snapping and sending to me from bookstores all over America!

January has been a time of many changes and much reflection, a busy time for work, garden, and gatherings, so this will be a short posting, and it sort of jumps around–a bad habit I have and one which my grandmother Nonie Clarke called "jumping around like a fart in a skillet."

The old farm table is set for our New Year's eve supper. Rosemary, the herb of remembrance (and believe me, all at the party were doing lots of remembering of friends and loved ones) is garlanded down the table. We hadn't planned a gathering, but our friend Bruce had a mother in a local care facility, another friend had a husband in the hospital, another just wanted to be with us, so we all came together for an evening of friendship.

I always drape the dining room chandelier in olive branches to bring peace to the new year.

Susie Bassetti (my cooking class co-teacher), John Gonyer, and my Jeff.

Susie Bassetti brought their first pressing of virgin Taggiasca olive oil (an absolutely amazing taste), and a bottle of Bassetti wine. Ginny helps prepare the salad.

We all cooked and contributed and later we had a huge fire in the fireplace. Our friend Ginny passed on the tradition of writing what you want in the new year on one side of a piece of paper. On the other side, we had to write what we wanted to erase from the past year. We all did that, wished each other well, and tossed our papers into the fire.

Nights grew freezing cold. Around midnight, Jeff and I would drape citrus trees, succulents, and lemon verbena in sheets and my nightgowns.

Don't the nightgowns look like they're hugging as they do their job of protecting the succulents?

And everything survived the 32 degree weather (colder than in Maine).

January has mostly been about work, getting over colds, and resuming a normal life after the hectic holidays. Since I work alone all the time, it is a special joy to welcome my Kiddie Writers Group to my home for the first meeting of 2013.

Only my girlfriend Sherry Shahan (Ice Island just released in paperback) would bring me a newly sprouted avocado as a hostess gift. I love it.

Elizabeth Spurr (my Lizzie) has a new book out called In the Garden (pre-school board book), and another just being released, At the Beach, also a pre-school and both published by Peachtree.

Artist/illustrator Helen K. Davie, author Cindy Rankin, author Elizabeth Van Steenwyck, who is the author of more than 65 books for children, one movie, and a zillion magazine articles.

Author/illustrator Stephanie Roth Sisson shares a storyboard for her new illustrated children's book, which will be published by Roaring Brook. Steph has a long line of books to her credit, but this will be both written AND illustrated by her.

The group does very clear, instructive critiques. Always done with love and the interest of YOU doing your best work possible. They spent 45 minutes critiquing a synopsis I have been slaving over for two weeks. A synopsis–what could be so hard about that??? Everything. You try to encapsulate 250 pages in just two pages. And, it has to be exciting, have a narrative arc, AND make an editor WANT your work. Yikes. (Cynthia Bates, who won "Most Promising Manuscript at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, is a fantastic writer, who has had things published, but is awaiting word on her novel). Good luck Cynthia (she is behind the book lampshade)

Enough already. I have gone on too long and must get ready for a birthday party for an 80 year old friend. 

Please do leave a comment, and you will be eligible for the drawing of this gorgeous Timber Press book, Garden to Vase by Linda Beutler, which will lead you to creating fabulous and unusual bouquets from your garden.

And, if you are a member of the Grimy Hands Girls' Club and you are drawn for the book, you'll also receive a bonus of these fantastic, hand-saving, Royal Horticultural Society gardening gloves, which were donated to the drawing by Gardener's Supply of Burlington, Vermont, one of my favorite companies (employee owned and operated). I have a pair, and they've saved my hands from bramble and rose scratches, from cold and water, from everything. They're wonderful.

Heavy duty Winter Touch garden gloves from Gardener's Supply.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave a comment so that you're eligible for the drawing, which will be held one week from today.

Simple joys,

Sharon

Thank you to Country Gardens (Early Spring 2013) for featuring My First Bird Book and Bird Feeder in your pages. I love all the birdie products and stories. You're the best.