The Fall Equinox, Hanging Out with Artist Friends, Pumpkin Farms and Sunflower Walks, Zoom Classes and Prizes and more

Mt Rainier and Hot Air Balloon

Happy Fall Equinox

We’ve had a beautiful weekend with days that start with mist and end in sunshine, although it was cloudy and rainy for days before—the Harvest Supermoon barely visible behind clouds. We stopped by a farmer’s stand to pick up apples and squash and even more corn (!) and enjoyed visiting the newly opened JB Grower’s Pumpkin Farm and Corn and Sunflower Maze, where we snapped this picture as a hot air balloon landed near the corn maze while Mt Rainier is out.  I also got to visit with my visual artist friend Michaela, who created the art on the cover of my first two books. It was great to catch up!

They say the things you’re supposed to do to celebrate the fall equinox include getting into nature, celebrating the harvest, lighting a candle, cleaning and practicing gratitude. I’m grateful for seeing so many friends in the last few weeks, and though I’m still trying to find an endodontist who will do a root canal without Novocain, I’m grateful for the flowers and sunshine and local beauty of fall. I am also waiting for the results of the Washington State Book Awards, which will be announced tomorrow. And I’m grateful that Flare, Corona is in such good company with the other finalists (like Rena Priest and Gabrielle Bates). I’m also grateful (but still a little nervous) about possibly getting the new covid monoclonal antibody (maybe I should wait ’til after dental work?) And I’ve got a writing residency and an ADA bathroom remodel coming up soon! Busy times!

Hanging Out with Artist Friends

Michaela and I in the sunflower walk

I was also happy to get together with my visual artist friend Michaela Eaves, a wonderful artist who did the art for my first two books, Becoming the Villainess and Unexplained Fevers. We hadn’t gotten to catch up in person for a while, so it was good—Glenn made apple and cheese scones and coffee and ginger tea, we visited the pumpkin farm (she especially liked the cute-dog watching at the farm!) and generally got to hear what was going on with each other’s lives. We talked about everything from books to the election to the difference between acrylic and oil paintings (I still have a hard time discerning which is which). I have wonderful friends, but some of them live a good distance away, so I am always grateful when they make the trek out to Woodinville.

Hanging out with pumpkins

Classes, Prizes and More

I also recorded a talk for Writer’s Digest this past week but have been having issues with Zoom with my new-ish HP laptop. Anyone have any recommendations for computers that have no issues with Zoom? Kelli and I are doing a Spooky Season Zoom class next month on the natural and supernatural worlds (see previous post to register!). I may start to do more Zoom classes in the future and want to make sure these crashes aren’t an issue. I’m also going to create a dedicated space to do Zoom classes in the house (I’ve been doing them in the bedroom, which isn’t the best room in the house for this). Isn’t it strange how the pandemic altered the way we interact with people but maybe made it easier for people like me (who can’t travel often due to health issues) a way to teach and visit and interact with people around the world. I’m grateful for the technology (even with the computer snafus).

Sunflower Walk, blue sky

And on pins and needles waiting to hear tomorrow about the Washington State Book Award for Poetry. It’s hard waiting for news! But I’ll distract myself by driving out to Edmonds for a meeting with a potential endodontist. Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll have a root canal (or similar) scheduled for that broken tooth. I’m also picking out a book for “spooky season” for the Bookwalter’s Winery Book Club, torn between Haruki Murakami’s After Dark, Yoko Ogawa’s Revenge, and a few others. Last year we did the fantastic funny ghost story collection, Where the Wild Ladies are from Aoko Matsuda, and is it hard to live up to that book. (Commenters are welcome to recommend more spooky stories!) It’s times like these I wish my friend Felicity Shoulders (who writes a great spooky short story) had a collection I could give out to book club members. Sometimes to your writer friends you want to say “hurry up and publish! I want your book! but I’m not a big fancy publisher so I can’t just go around granting lucrative book contracts, wish though I might.

Wishing you all a pumpkin and cider-filled first week of fall!