It's a Jumble

“The October Country …that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain…” --Ray Bradbury, The October Country

In celebration of fall, yesterday I put up my autumnal fae tale, "Wild Ones," on my author page at Curious Fiction. Curious Fictions is a site that gathers a wide range of stories and posts from authors of different genres. . . and also allows readers to directly tip/donate to authors! Anyway, Curious Fictions has now made my story one of their featured stories! “Wild Ones” is about mothers and daughters, growing up and growing old, autumn, a faerie queen, and the Wild Hunt. And about the wildness in us all. It's one of my favorite stories that I've written, and was first published in 2018 in Bracken Magazine. You can read it there, and now you can also read it at Curious Fictions here  .

August has only begun, yet I feel the summer ending. The evening sky darkens too soon. I’ve heard geese honking overhead at night, and tonight Youngest One and I saw two flocks of them passing overhead—like harbingers of the first migrating waves, pressed dark against the blue twilight.

Snowfall outside, but hot tea and a snug blanket within. Quiet, and the space and time to write and read and think. And also to cook. Some lists for the month so far: New recipes Tried Traditional Vietnamese Pho , as presented by the infallible J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats. There is a good pho place about 20 minutes from my house, but being able to eat this soup without ever leaving the house (on a frigid January Michigan winter night) is the absolute best. All the steps are worth it. Yes. Char those onions and ginger! Parboil the meat! I used a combo of oxtails and beef shanks. Heaven. The next day my kids' schools were canceled due to snow, and they were thrilled to have pho again for their lunch (yes, the soup is better the next day). Oyakodon .  Recipe from the website Two Red Bowls. So very very simple to make. Chicken and custardy eggs simmered in a sweet, salty sauce and served over rice. It's warm and comforting and perfect for winter. Onion tart...

I got back a bit more than a week ago from a family vacation in the San Francisco Bay area. Glorious sunshine, lemon and orange trees, green lawns and flowers in bloom.  Drought? There’s a drought going on?  Oh, no, it’s going to RAIN ! the locals freaked out while we were there. I’m so sorry, but there’s RAIN in the forecast, too bad about RAIN while you’re here on vacation. Rain? That five-minute sprinkle? Ha! My family and I are Midwesterners—you call that “rain?” A hike by the sea, a stay at Half Moon Bay, and my husband and I were marveling at local flora like Dorothy dropped off by her tornado in the land of Oz. What are these trees? we wondered (wind-sheared cypresses on the coast). What are these orange wildflowers? (California poppies) And these flowering succulents on the beach? The Internet identifies these as "iceplants." Not actually native to California, although they grow all over the coas t. Iceplants on the beach at Half Moon bay ...

  It’s been a long winter. The polar vortex (what a marvelous term! When I was a kid we just referred to it as a winter storm or “cold weather”) comes again and again. Snow piles past the height of our mailbox, buries shrubs and half-buries small trees. In between freezing spells the ice thaws; mud and slush puddle in the streets. Sun teases us with longer daylight hours; we hear robins in the trees. And then it all freezes again, hard and glistening. Snow swirls outside my window, and I feel I could just stare out the window all day, hypnotized by its falling patterns. Polar temperatures have kept us housebound; snow days have taken off a week of the kids’ school year. I let them watch too much TV. There’s paid work to do; there’s the struggle to find time (and will!) for personal writing; there’s always laundry to do, unrelenting as the snow. Last week we returned from a trip to Chicago, where my family had gathered to celebrate my father’s birthday. There was great ex...