Lifescapes

These are dunes on South Padre Island, where I made a couple of presentations to the Friends of the Library on Saturday. Great groups, a terrific brunch (the quiche was made from China's recipe), and plenty of good talk about books and the importance of libraries. Many thanks to Margie and Carolyn for inviting me--oh, and to Pamela for the great CDs, that made my drive home enjoyable. I had a good time, met some wonderful people, and even got in a couple of beach walks.

South Padre is a barrier island on the Gulf, at the southern tip of Texas. My first visit there was in 1973. There were a flurry of visits--mostly fishing trips--during the 70s, the latest in 1997. When I first started going to the Island, there was a small settlement, a couple of hotels, and mostly beach and wild places along the lagoon. There's been a great deal of new development since then: high-rise hotels and condos, new restaurants, etc. (You can guess how I feel about that.)

Walking on the beach, feeling gloomy about the trash, the development, and people's careless attitude toward this beautiful place, I met a guy on an ATV riding "sea turtle patrol." Turns out that there's an active turtle rescue operation on the island that cares for and rehabilitates injured turtles, protects turtle eggs, and educates the local folk about the importance of these creatures. Do check out the website, especially the page on the sea turtles. Kemp's Ridley is our native Texas sea turtle--native, because the females return to Texas beaches to lay their eggs. I felt differently about the Island after I learned about the turtle rescue. Clearly, some people do care, and are willing to work hard to save whatever can be saved.

But the tide of development is too strong to be resisted, I'm afraid. The Island road has been extended, and the property along both sides of it--wild dunes, lagoon shore--is all for sale. If I go back in another ten years, will  all the wild places be paved over?

Home again, but only briefly. This week and next: Borders in Austin, the library in Columbus TX, the Master Gardeners' Conference at Conroe, Murder by the Book in Houston, Arbor Gate in Tomball, Blinn College for the Lifetime Learning Luncheon, and the library at Angleton TX. All the details are here. Hope to see you if I'm in your neighborhood.

Reading note: Bearing witness to both the beauty and the pain of our world is a task I want to be part of. As a writer, this is my work. By bearing witness, the story that is told can provide a healing ground. Through the art of language, the art of story, alchemy can occur. And if we choose to turn our backs, we've walked away from what it means to be human.--A Voice in the Wilderness, Terry Tempest Williams

Remember the Alibi

Oops, I forgot! I'll also be in San Antonio this weekend, Sunday, 3-5, at Remember the Alibi--one of only two mystery bookstores in Texas (to my knowledge). If you've got a stack of unsigned China Bayles books (or books in the other two series), bring 'em along. I'll be glad to sign them. This is a special event: Alibi isn't usually open on Sunday.

Reading note, from Nightshade: If you will follow my counsell, deal not with Nightshade in any case, and banish it from your gardens and the use of it also, being a plant so furious and deadly. The Herbal, 1598, by John Gerard

Pure gold

Paintbrush doesn't always just bloom orange, red, pink. Sometimes it's pure gold. This was blooming in our meadow this morning, when I got home from my short swing through North Texas: Brownwood (where I spoke to the Garden Club), Abilene (the Texas Author lunch at the Abilene Library), Texas Christian University (an author series luncheon), and Barnes & Noble in Fort Worth. A busy three days, seeing old friends, making new ones. It was a pleasure to see so many interested readers! I'm glad to be home, if only for 24 hours--just long enough to answer emails and get some clean undies. Tomorrow, I'm heading south, to Port Isabel and South Padre Island, for an author weekend on the beach, sponsored by the Port Isabel Library. And yes, I'm taking my camera, but not the laptop. So no blogging while I'm gone.

And yes, the blog tour is over. Many thanks to those of you who came along for the ride. You're a dedicated lot, you are! Peggy will be posting winners' names on the blog tour calendar when she gets a chance. Congratulations to all fifteen of you, and to the grand prize winner, as well! It was great fun. Let's do it again sometime. (But not just right away. Okay?)

In the meantime, very, very nice news. Spanish Dagger made the NY Times extended best-seller list and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers best-seller list. China and I are very pleased.

And here's an idea for you, when you've finished reading Nightshade. Click on over to Amazon or B&N and write a review of the book. Easy-peasy, as my friend Dani likes to say. Just tell what you liked (or didn't) about the book. Now is a good time to do it, while there are still only a few reviews up.

Reading note, from Nightshade: The fruit of the silver-leaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium) is a berry that is yellow or blackish when ripe. It was used by Southwestern Indians in making cheese. The berries were also used to treat sore throat and toothache. Nightshade berries mixed with cream have reportedly been used as a cure for poison ivy.--Wildflowers of Texas, by Geyata Ajilvsgi

Turkey love songs

Walking with the dogs in the mornings, I've been hearing the unmistakable love song of the turkey tom. This morning, he sounded very close, although the dogs were too busy with a rabbit to notice. Not that they could catch the rabbit, who was much too fast for them. But they had a good time trying, while the rabbit was no doubt laughing up her sleeve at their foolish efforts. After I got home and fed the dogs, I looked out into the meadow in front of our house, and this is what I saw.

He strutted his stuff along the fence for fifteen minutes or so. Here, he's inflating himself and lifting his wings, getting ready to gobble. "Come on, girls, here I am, cocked, loaded, and ready to fire--and all yours!"

We've seen more turkeys this year than in previous years. One evening last week, reading in the living room just about twilight, I looked out the window to see a large turkey hen sail over our house and swoop (no other word for it) down onto the grass. They're not noted flyers, so this was a remarkable and lovely sight.

The blog tour is over--but it isn't, of course. Unlike a "live" event, which is over when it's over, the posts will be up for a long time. Eventually, I'll reassemble them into something for my website. But for now, they're on the blogs where they first appeared, and you can read them anytime. Check out the calendar here. Oh, and there's still time to enter the last couple of drawings--but you'd better hurry. Peggy has the last drawing scheduled for Monday, April 14.

I'm out for most of the week next week and won't have the laptop with me, so I won't be blogging. If you're in the Brownwood/Abilene areas, that's where I'll be on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday evening, I'll be at the B&N in Hulen Mall, Fort Worth, just off I-20. It's my only Dallas-FW visit this spring/summer. Hope to see you there. For all the details, go here.

Reading note. I seat myself at the typewriter and hope, and lurk. When an idea appears, I leap on it with all fours and hold it down till I've mastered it.--Mignon Eberhart

Early rose

I caught this Zepherine Drouhin yesterday morning, at her freshest. After last night's huge wind, it's looking a bit frazzled. (But photos are forever, right?) The wind took off our porch roof, too--ten panels of corrogated sheet metal. The repair job is more than Bill wants to think about right now, but it will have to be done, and soon, too. The sun on that side of the house can be pretty fierce. The wind kept us awake all night, so we're pretty groggy this morning.

I'm blogging over at Zanthan Gardens today. Bring your coffee and a doughnut (China prefers lemon cream) and join us. Oh, and there's still time to enter several of the drawings--they're open for three days from the date of the posting. Check them out on the calendar.

Reading note. Joys come from simple and natural things, mists over meadows, sunlight onleaves, the path of the moon over water. Even rain and wind and stormy clouds bring joy, just as knowing animals and flowers and where they live. Such things are where you find them, and belong to the aware and alive.--Sigurd Olson, Open Horizons

Earthquake, guest blogging, and Internet radio

Hey, did you know we had an earthquake here in Texas on Monday? True thing. And not the first time, either. In case you're interested, the US Geological Survey has a history of earthquakes in Texas. I mention it because it was such a surprise to me--hadn't even considered it a possibility, since Texas is in the "lowest hazard" earthquake zone. Rhonda suggested that I use an earthquake in one of China's mysteries. Now, there's an idea. Remember, you heard it here first.

Here's another idea. I'm blogging today with Tina at Essential Herbal, with Part 2 of the nightshade saga. If you missed Part 1, it's on May Dreams. You can read it first, then skip on over to Tina's.

And one more. Yesterday, I recorded an interview with Pat and Elisabeth at The Book Report, to be broadcast today. (Thanks, guys--that was fun!) If I have my facts straight, you'll be able to hear it via streaming audio here, from 8 to 9 this morning. If you miss it, you can listen via podcast. While you're on the site, take the time to listen to a show called "Tiaras and Books" (Jan. 16). If you haven't heard of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club . . . well, you're missing out, that's all I've got to say. The first chance I get, I'm going to see if Kathy Patrick will host a China Bayles party over there in the Piney Woods. China and I both need a good haircut.

Reading note: Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.--E. L. Doctorow [I think the same thing can be said about launching a book. You just gotta keep from hitting the deer.]

In bloom this week

Welcome the first clematis of the season. The clematis, crossvine, and honeysuckle have all survived last fall's determined garden-clearing swath (documented today over at Transplantable Rose in a post called "Unbecoming a Gardener"). While you're on Annie's blog, check out the great photo of the two of us in her April 6 post. It was taken at the Spring Fling. Can you tell how much fun we're having?

If you live in the Austin area, please consider joining me at Hastings in Round Rock on Thursday afternoon, 5-7. I hate being all by myself at bookstore signings! Details here. 

Reading note: The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land on it harshly, light would elucidate the most difficult truths; wind would sweep away obtuse padding. Finally, the lessons of impermanence taught me this: loss constitutes an odd kind of fullness; despair empties out into an unquenchable appetite for life.--The Solace of Open Spaces, Gretel Ehrlich

Guest blogging this week

There's only one more week of the tour, which means five more chances to win a copy of Nightshade. I hope you'll be dropping in every day! Here's a bit of an overview of the blogs I'll be visiting, to whet your appetite.

Tomorrow, I'm at Transplantable Rose. Here's what "Annie in Austin" says about her blog:

I started the Transplantable Rose in June 2006, calling myself "Annie in Austin." It was a great way to find other gardeners who wanted to talk about gardening, with occasional dips into movies, music, books, genealogy and Austin events. I write songs about trees, gardening and plants - a few of them are now on YouTube. Blogging has been a blast! And meeting other bloggers in person is wonderful. (Back in 2003 I started a website about the Austin garden group called the Divas of the Dirt, seven women who take turns helping each other with garden projects. The group has been around for a decade - this is my 8th year as a member.)

On Wednesday, I'm blogging at Essential Herbal. Tina writes this:

The Essential Herbal blog began in the summer of '05.  At first, it was just going to be some sample articles and a sales tool for the magazine, The Essential Herbal. As time went on, blogging became an obsession. The blog turned out to be about 75% herbs and recipes, and about 25% "news from the hill." I live in a gorgeous area, and tourists flock here each year.  Looking at it through the eyes of a reporter has made me appreciate almost every aspect of my life more.  As a writer, a public blog is a wonderful challenge.  There have been times when things in my personal life needed an outlet, but couldn't be expressed directly.  Finding a way to express them in an abstract way that met my needs without being too revealing has taught me a lot and expanded my view of what writing is about.  There have been some very sad moments reported in the last few years, but the challenge is to find something beautiful or uplifting about them.  That has been a huge and wonderful gift!  Even better, a blog is a great place to shout about good news.

Be sure and check out Tina's recipe for Hot Pepper Vinegar, in her April 7 post--and the Garlic Chicken, too! Yum.

Thursday finds me at Zanthan Gardens, in Austin, with MSinclair, who beautifully describes the challenges of gardening in Central Texas (she is so right!), and the pleasures of having a garden blog:

I tend a weedy little patch of urban space just south of downtown Austin. Being south of the
river, I'm technically in South Austin, in an old neighborhood once considered funky and now
considered trendy. The house is over 60 years old and the lot overgrown with large trees. Most of the year I garden in hot, dry shade on black clay over limestone (alkaline soil). When I started gardening in Central Texas there were very few books on regional gardening for the south. Garden calendars in books had little bearing on what I observed and plant descriptions were misleading. A plant that likes full sun in England or Connecticut can shrivel in half a day of summer sun in Texas. So I wrote up my personal experiences and research in hopes of finding other gardeners in central Texas who would add their garden observations to my small store of knowledge.

Almost four years passed before blogging caught on in the gardening community. In the last two years I have seen my original hopes realized. Not only do I have many blogging buddies all over the world, in Austin we have gotten together on several occasions. All my new friends are garden bloggers. I feel very connected to the people whose blogs I read every day and who read mine.

And for a totally different take on things, join me--and Bill!--at Berkley Heights Public Library, in a blog entry called "The Other Half." (I'll let you guess which half is which.) Ellen, one of the library bloggers, says this:

Two reference librarians at a small public library in New Jersey write about books, libraries, and news on the Berkeley Heights Public Library Book Blog. We started the blog in 2005 as a way to reach out to the local community, but judging from the comments, emails and questions we get, we have readers from here to California.  For us, blogging is a fun way to share interesting reference questions (and their answers, of course) or books that we just can't put down.

You can keep track of all this on the handy calendar Peggy constructed. We'll leave it up forever--well, for a very long time, anyway--so you can come back and revisit the posts and the blogs. It's been a great joy to meet such creative, energetic bloggers. What a treat this is for me!

Bentley Badger's Arrival

Quite unexpectedly, with no advance notice, Bentley Badger arrived this morning via the post, with this delightful accompanying note:

Dear Mrs. Wittig Albert,
Allow me to present to you Mr. Badger, who has resided in our company since September last. We find him to be quite companionable, and knowledgeable in genealogy. After spending the winter in Alberta, he expressed a desire for a warmer clmate. Austin, a longhorn of impeccable breeding, from the city of the same name, suggested that Mr. Badger might find the Texas hill country welcoming. We commend him to your care.

Yours truly,
Bunny Tibeaux-Mosby (Mrs.)

As you can see from the above photograph, Bentley did not hesitate. Having stretched his legs and scratched his nose, he made his way immediately to the nearest bluebonnet patch, to see what all the fuss was about. After a nip or two, he pronounced the flowers satisfactory, but was more interested in learning the whereabouts of a few worms. He settled for a sliced apple and pieces of orange, then joined his new friend, Shadow, in the rocking chair on the front porch. They  had a great deal to discuss.

   
















I should also mention that Bentley had a box of peppermint lozenges (nearly empty by the time he arrived) in one pocket, and a few cards in the other--notes, a cautionary quotation ("It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is 'soporific.'"--B. Potter), and a to-do list:
1) Ask G.N.O. not to eat field mice in front of young badgers. It upsets them.
2) Check jam supply.

We have author and fiber artist Sharon Wildwind to thank for this creative foolery. Sharon, many thanks for directing Bentley to Texas. We hope to make him happy enough that he will stay and help in the writing of the tales of his friend, Bosworth Badger XVII, who still resides in the Lake District, near Miss Potter's Hill Top Farm. Bosworth appeared not to notice Bentley's absence (as directed by the Rules of Thumb), but of course he did.

Reading note. Badgers abide by the animal axiom that it is an impropriety to inquire into the whereabouts of one's absent friends and companions, for life in wood and field is prone to accident. (This is obliquely expressed in the Seventeenth Badger Rule of Thumb, which says, 'Hold a true friend with both paws, but be willing to let him go when the time comes.'--The Tale of Holly How, by Susan Wittig Albert

Flinging into spring

Yesterday was one of those days that stay with you for a lifetime. The great garden bloggers who have been giving me root room on their blogs for the tour? I actually got to meet four of them yesterday, at the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling! Carol, from May Dreams; Kathy, from Cold Climate Gardening; Annie-in-Austin of Transplantable Rose; and MSinclair of Zanthan Gardens. And many more--some 35+ garden bloggers, soaking up the splendid Saturday morning sunshine at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. Here are Transplantable Rose and May Dreams, as we gathered for the start of our garden tour. Real people behind those really wonderful blogs you've been visiting with me, all concerned for the health of the earth, of the soil, of the air, of our water.

One of the garden's many beauty spots is the small pool near the entry, where this delicate spider lily was blooming, in the company of a trio of redeared sliders, soaking up the sun.

After a morning in the gardens we had lunch at Nuevo Leon, with Tom Spencer (of KLRU's "Texas Gardening") as our speaker. Then I had to say goodbye and go back to the LBJWFC, to the gift shop, where I was scheduled to do an afternoon book signing. We had a good turnout of Austin friends and out-of-town folks. I love to sign there--Joe Hammer and his gift shop volunteers always make me feel at home. From the garden bloggers in the morning to the signing in the afternoon, it was a lovely, blessed day, rich with old friends and new. I can't say thank you enough to the wonderful Austin garden bloggers who organized the gathering, to the people who came from so far away to share their energies and their friendship, and to Joe for his hospitality.

Reading note: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.--Margaret Mead