These blue mist flowers are among the dining favorites of the Queen butterfly, a monarch lookalike. These are growing beside my front porch, and are covered right now with a gaggle of Queens, having breakfast on this cool morning. Their lifespans are short, only a few weeks, but they're clearly enjoying what they have, while they're here. The mist flower is high on their list of places to be.
The temperature is the lowest since last May: 54 when I got up, courtesy of a blessed cold front that swooped down from the north on the heels of angry Ike. We had no effects from the storm, thank goodness--although we would have welcomed some of the rain that others got too much of. Our hearts are with our friends in Houston and Galveston who have lost so much, some losing everything. It will be months or years before life is "normal" there again. To keep up with the news from the Coastal Bend, bookmark the Houston Chronicle.
I spent the storm weekend reading the copyedited manuscript of Landscapes of the Heart, which may be in for another name change. The marketing gurus at the University of Texas Press find that title a bit "sentimental," and I agree. If I kicked and screamed, they'd probably go with that, but I've come up with something I like better: Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place. We'll see what they think of that. A book's title is always much discussed by the marketing people, who (sometimes this is spelled out in the contract) have the last word. I learned a long time ago to think of "my" title as a "working title," subject to change when the book is in production. But don't hold your breath. This one is a full year away. The Press works on a longer production calendar than Berkley, my mystery publisher.
Garden report. We're eating green beans, southern peas, and zukes from the garden. In case southern peas are as new to you as they are to me, take a look here. We're eating them fresh (rather than the more familiar dried), steamed. These are "cream" peas, tiny and delicious--and they grow like crazy here. I'm glad to find a prolific vegetable that grows easily in this climate. I was hoping to get seed potatoes in time to plant for a fall harvest, but they're not shipping until October (big disappointment), so I think I'm out of luck. But I sprouted some from the grocery store and have planted them in potato "towers." I'll let you know what happens with that.
Writing, Reading. I'm filling out a promotion questionnaire for UT Press, working on the journal book, thinking about the next China Bayles, and planning the April tour. Oh, and I have Sharon Astyk's very fine new book, Depletion and Abundance--a hopeful book that will help us face difficult times--to review. Should keep me busy this week.
Reading note. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.--Anne Lamott