What I love about early spring here in Maine is the serenity, the quiet, the settled calm before the burst of buds, flowers, bees, and visitors. It’s also the strength of presence in the ledge and rock and stone here at our beach in southern Maine that has sustained us all through our harsh winter and spring storms.
I take in the beauty of a gray, wet, and a soon to blossom season of dormant plants sprouting through black dirt with patches of dirty snow. I can see and sense the tilt towards the light. Even when the winds howl as happened on our pre-eclipse storm of April 8th, the rattle of the windows, along with a continuous ticking wood stove prompts me to pick up my pencil and jot notes into an aging manuscript, but with renewal and brighter words that race to fill my thoughts and make their way to the pages of this newer picture book idea.
~ Who I’m with: my husband, my 7 month old kittens; Cookie & Cato
~ What I’m reading: Mercury by Amy Jo Burns
~ What I’m writing: stronger action words in my picture book manuscript
~ What I’m making: floral embroidered mini pillows stuffed with pine wood shavings
~ What I’m sipping: N’espresso Italian coffee with almond milk
Writer Amy Jo Burns crafts clear luminous prose in a new riveting story that is “Well-drawn, has engaging characters and a vivid setting making this story a compelling study of family dynamics, love, and loss.” This sentiment pairs well with my feelings about the onset of spring in Maine, where the days are still mostly gray, a blob of blue peeking between velvety gray clouds, the bulbs mere green slips of shoots in the leaf-laden garden, the tenderest of possibilities that can be quickly extinguished with an unexpected snow storm. Yes, snowstorms in April do occur as we are told not to rake the fallen leaves, another act of caring & hope that we can do to support our tiniest of pollinators.
Writing and words from other writers always gives me pause. Fiction teaches life. It can ask us to discern what lies at the bottom of our hearts and pull us to the center of our very being. I guess the question begs…What is the most important thing?
For me, the reply is often to be open to new possibilities with my larger response being love.
