The Animals Take Over

We had animal visitors for the holidays.

This cute pooch (above)

pooped on the carpet

and

this cute pooch (above)

peed 

in the kitchen

and

this tired pup (above)

finally gave up

chewing the wrapping paper

and the Christmas tree

and the stuffed frog

and 

collapsed

with his buddy, the horse

and

these two mellow bears

let themselves 

be dragged and pulled

and hugged and ridden

and they did not

chew or poop or pee

anywhere

at

all.

Snow

No snow on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day

or the two days following

but when the guests - who were craving snow -

left

down came the snow.

It happens.

How to Write a Book in Four Easy Steps

1. First, choose appealing ingredients, including intriguing characters - I mean apples:

2. Next, peel away the skins and throw them all together and simmer for 15 drafts - I mean minutes:

3. Then, puree (edit in a blender), drain off the excess and reserve for another story - I mean drinking:

4. And there you have it - a book!  I mean - applesauce!

Oh well, I tried.  The analogy isn't perfect.  But what corresponds best, I think, is that if you begin with good ingredients, and have the patience to combine them and simmer them and drain off the excess, you are more likely to end with something good.  

Yes? No? Maybe?

Apples, apples, apples

This post is a nod to Lori Skoog and to Kate Jackson who regularly post enticing food photos.  Recently Lori posted a photo of an apple pie she was in the midst of baking, and it set off such hunger and yearning pangs that I went out in search of apples that very day.

At a local farm, I found Honeycrisps (shown above), an apple I'd been searching for since reading an article on apple growing in The New Yorker. I'd never eaten a Honeycrisp before - but, oh, are they good.  The name describes them well.


So, I made the pie. Here it is waiting for top crust and crimping:

And now ready to go in the oven:

And, ta da!  Warm apple pie!

It is now half gone. And I mean to tell you: it is goooooood.

Makes you hungry, doesn't it?

Makes you want to go out and get some apples, doesn't it?

Makes you want to bake a pie, doesn't it?

Mmmmmmmmm.

Geese at Sunset

Two nights ago, the scene above:

geese on tranquil lake

at sunset.

Tonight, though,

the wind is howling

the rain is pelting

the water surging

past sunset

inky black.

I had a calm scene to write tonight

but the relentless winds

are skewing the scene

tossing it

here and there.

And that's the way it goes.

Mm?

How'd you get that Twitter Name?

Time for an Explanation

"Why do you use ciaobellacreech as your Twitter screen name?"

twitter.com/ciaobellacreech

It sounds a bit vain, doesn't it? (Translation = 'Hello, beautiful Creech.' But wait! I have an explanation.  

When I signed up for Twitter and was asked to provide a screen name, I chose, simply, my own name, Sharon Creech, but was promptly informed that that was already taken. What? Really?  (Turns out there are several Sharon and Sherri Creeches around.)

I had just returned from a year in southern Switzerland, where the language is Italian, and every day when I walked through the local village, people would call out (to me and to other girls and women), "Ciao, bella!"  

Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Such a cheery refrain bouncing off the mountainsides.

And so, when Twitter told me I couldn't use my own name, the first thing that popped into my head was 'Ciao, bella!'

Ciaobellacreech.

I've since learned that Ciao Bella is also a lingerie chain . . . and somewhere I saw it as the name of an ice cream shop.

So.  There you go.

Ciao, bella!

Tracks

Someone

has been leaving

lipstick

kisses

all

around

the

house

. . .

and it wasn't

me

and it's not

my

house

. . .

xx

Texture and Story

I love this gnarly old tree.

What a history it must have.

It reminds me of a really, really old and wise woman.

You don't want to mess with her

but you might learn a lot from her.

On my walks I am drawn to texture

and to contrasts in texture

from the rough and gnarly, nobby, bare tree above

to this:

soft and floaty grass fronds

as delicate as lace.

I appreciate intriguing texture in story

 the accumulation of details and tone

of pacing and pattern

and I appreciate contrasts in texture

that guide me from the gnarly to the soft

skillfully.

I love when I begin reading a book

and sense immediately

that I am in the hands

of a skillful writer.

Have you had that feeling recently?

What book or what writer?

Pattern and Story

I am drawn to pattern

- not rigid, symmetrical pattern - 

but to pleasing balance

In life as in story

I need to see the particular 

and understand how it relates

to the whole

It wasn't until I got home

from my walk

that I noticed the similarities

in the scenes that caught my eye

much as, in writing a story,

the patterns are not always evident

until I complete a first 'walk' (draft)

but then, once noticed,

the task is to oonch them to the surface

right?

Layers and Water

I am addicted to walks

slow, meandering walks

drawn to layers

Everything relates to story

the frozen water

 cupping frozen leaves

is a mind

holding an untold story

it waits

and waits

until

the thaw

::

I am drawn to water

water

water

and what lies beneath:

layers

of stone and silt and shell

Writing a story

is uncovering

the layers

sifting the silt

hoping there is more

than sludge

down there.

Pencils

I admit a love for pencils and pens

papers

inks

all the instruments of writing

I also admit that I bought myself a present

greedy girl

the Blackwing pencils above

a box of them 

Steinbeck wrote with Blackwings

(I learned this from Sara Zarr)

: :

they are hard and smooth

and 

will

of course

produce

elegant

words

::

(Do you have a favorite pen or pencil?)