Mud Month. Big Night! (Not What You Think . . . )

It’s mud month in much of the Northeast. I’m washing off my snowshoes and waxing my X-skies to rest them for a while. What to DO when it finally does melt off the high-up slopes?

Distancing is still with us! Here’s something very cool to do. (And then find Maine’s mud anthem, “I Love Mud,” at the end of this post. Sing along with Rick.)

Big Night!

Roads, Rain, and Amphibians. Big Nights are fascinating and unique natural events that occur every spring. With spring rain and warming temperatures, frogs and salamanders move to their breeding grounds by the truckload. However . . .

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"All night, in happiness, she hunts and flies . . . "

I know we’ve got lots more winter, but recently I read the opening of my novel Deadly Turn to a book group (the story opens with a bat) and realized I was thinking ahead to a spring without bats. I miss the great clouds of them winging over the cove at dusk, zig zagging over the water after smaller clouds of mosquitos. So much life in the sky just when the rest of the world is settling down for night.

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Messiah. Nutcracker. Blizzards. Butter. And Gratitude.

Sharing winter writing, winter performances you can stream and enjoy, and what I love about winter!

Working on the third Mystery in Maine, Deadly Taboo, I dug into my personal misadventure archives searching for a way to start the novel. (Yes, this moment did really happen to me. “Don’t ignore personal   experiences if they work for you,” said a writing mentor.)  

Setting up the Deadly Taboo excerpt:  tracking lynx across a late winter landscape, Patton and her often wayward dog discover that maybe spring is already on its way.

Up to my waist in broken ice, snowshoes scrambling for good footing in the melting marsh, I struggled for breath as freezing water saturated clothing and skin. I wasn’t too busy to miss Pock sinking into a happy crouch. My dog was a Lab. Water—any water— was heaven-sent.

“Nooooooo,” I yelled. “No, don’t jump! Not fun in here. Not FUN! …

Before we go outdoors, here are at least two things I will be streaming this holiday season. (After watching my fav holiday movie “Love Actually” too many times.)

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Who Knew? Of Salamanders and Their Service. Well. All Services.

Under the soil a large army of wiggly, illusive engineers, soil scientists, and food service workers are helping to create billions of dollars of economic value. If we could count each of them working in a factory, we could value them as part of our economy. Just how are we to value these tiny, essential and moist forest workers who add so much value to our lives?

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