Lifescapes

Bluer than Blue: Indigo Bunting

Here in the Texas Hill Country, we have our resident year-round flocks of cardinals, chickadees, titmice, doves, and several species of sparrows. But we're summer hosts to two buntings: the Indigo and the Painted. This week, a male Indigo visited the seed trays--the female is probably around, too, but she's an inconspicuous brown, shy, and much harder to spot. This guy is bluer than blue, a lovely treat for the eyes. We're on the far western cusp of hisTexas breeding area, so I feel quite privileged to see him. Thanks to Wikipedia for the photo. where I learn that the Indigos often migrate at night, routing by the stars. Makes me feel extra-special, somehow, knowing that their celestial GPS is set for Meadow Knoll.

Homestead report. The baby girls (2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Barred Rocks) are big enough to spend their days in the chicken pen, separated from the Big Girls by a bird-net "fence." Some of them can fly, now, too, and they delight in testing their wings. As soon as the nighttime temp rises to 70, they'll move to the coop fulltime, and I can clean up the bathroom. They've been living in a plastic bin in the bathtub for over 3 weeks. You can imagine the mess.

Book report. I  have two projects in the works (a novel and a novella series), but both have been laid aside so I can focus on the new website I'm building, with the help of a Wordpress designer and a graphic designer. My longtime webmistress, Peggy, has retired, which means that it's time to make the big switch to a site I can maintain myself. It will probably mean some changes in the monthly eletter. When I know what I'm doing, you'll be the first to hear.

Coming soon: the second book in Ruby Wilcox's slightly spooky novella series, SomeBODY Else. It's available for preorder on Kindle, Nook, and iBooks, with a launch date of May 14. (Book 3 is finished and ready for a mid-June launch. More good news: there will be an audio edition from Dreamscape, available in 3 releases, August-October.

Print? Perhaps, as a 3-novella set, later this year or early in 2020. But it won't be hardcover (so it won't make it to your local library) and it's likely to be expensive. (Here's why you rarely see novellas in print.) But you print-only readers will have A Plain Vanilla Murder, China's 27th mystery, coming in early June. Twenty-seven? OMG. Impossible.

Yes, impossible. But there it is. Fact. And thanks to you for taking this ride with me. It's been nothing short of amazing.

Reading note. Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible.--Sharon Schuster (I bought this as a bumper sticker in Berkeley when I was in grad school eons ago. I look at it at least once every day.)

Chicks' First Day Out & More

These baby girls are enjoying their first day outdoors, in the chicken pen. There are six in this new flock: 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Barred Rocks. (The little Rock in the lower right is fine--she's just stretched out her wing to get some sunshine on it.) They're about 5 weeks old now, have their first set of feathers, and are almost ready for the big move from their plastic bin in the bathroom to the chicken coop/pen. I would move them today, but we're expecting some heavy weather (wind, rain, colder) on Wednesday, so the move is delayed until later in the week. In the meantime, they can spend the afternoons outdoors (if it's not too windy) and the nights indoors.

Our 2 elderly hens, both Barred Rocks, haven't yet met these little ones. Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge for all to get along, but we have a net "fence" that divides the chicken pen--half for the seniors, half for the juniors--so they can get acquainted without actually mixing and mingling. Until they move outdoors, the chicks are a lot of work--but lots of fun to watch, too. And there will be plenty of fresh eggs in five or six month.

Book report. There's another novella available for pre-order in the Crystal Cave trilogy. You can find SomeBODY Else on Kindle, Nook, or iBooks. Launch date: May 14. Several readers have written to ask whether there will be only three of these half-size mysteries--or if there will be more. I'd love to do more, if enough people enjoy them, so be sure to let me know. Meanwhile, you'll soon have A Plain Vanilla Murder. (Be sure to let your librarian know!)

Here at Meadow Knoll, life is busy, fun, and full of springtime projects. Hope spring comes quickly for you, wherever you are.

Reading note. It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.― Rainer Maria Rilke

Roses and Baby Chicks

The antique rose on the trellis beside the deck is having a stellar spring. I lost my rose plant list long ago and I can't remember the name of this one, so I just enjoy the sight and the scent (it's remarkably fragrant). The temperature has set records already, we've had some rain, and everything is green, green, green. Except for the bluebonnets, of course--there are lots of them. And the Indian paintbrush. The vibrant red, orange, or yellow "flowers" are really leaves, like poinsettia "blossoms." And they're edible. They make a pretty (and somewhat spicy) addition to a salad.

And of course, it wouldn't be spring at Meadow Knoll if we didn't have baby chicks.

This little flock of pullets is mixed: bottom right, two Buff Orpingtons; top left, two Barred Rocks; middle, two Rhode Island Reds. They came from a local feed store, so they were a couple of weeks old when I got them. All three breeds are reliable layers; these little girls will begin their careers in early 2020. Until then, all they have to do is eat, sleep, and hang out with their friends. They'll spend the next couple of weeks in a large plastic bin in the bathtub and then move out to the coop to join the elderly hens already in residence. Such fun to watch--and the little Barred Rocks can already fly! I've had to put a piece of screen wire over the tub to discourage their flight adventures.

Book report. A lot going on! The first book in the Crystal Cave novella trilogy (NoBODY) will be out next week; the second in mid-May; the third in mid-June. I had some unexpected news last week: the trilogy will appear in audio, as well, beginning in August. The paperback edition (if there is one) will be along later. This is Ruby Wilcox's first solo outing, so both she and I are excited about it. It's different--we hope you like it.

And A Plain Vanilla Murder will be published on June 4, in print, digital, and audio. This is China's 27th mystery--hard to believe! The 28th--Hemlock--is in the works, along with another novella project. (I like the shorter form and the ease of digital publication.) I'm traveling much less this year, and spending more time writing.

Reading. I've just finished Anthony Horowitz's inventive mystery, The Word is Murder (and have already preordered the sequel, The Sentence Is Death). I loved it--and as a writer, admired the creative ways Horowitz tweaked the mystery formula. In the book, Horowitz (you may know him as the creator of Foyle's War and the author of a wildly popular YA series) plays Watson to a Sherlock-like detective named Hawthorn. Hawthorn is attempting to solve the crime; Horowitz is documenting his efforts for a true-crime book he has reluctantly agreed to write. Throughout, Horowitz offers meta-commentary on the process of resolving mystery. This, for instance: "If I were in control of events I would have introduced the killer by now but I wasn’t at all certain that we had met anyone yet who fitted the bill." This is laughably false, of course: as the real author, Horowitz has entire control of events. But he has cleverly cast himself as a clueless narrator who is baffled by everything that happens. If you like cerebral mysteries, now-you-see-it-now-you-don't shell games, and plays on words (i.e. "lacerating" and Laertes, which every spellcheck victim will understand), this one is for you.

Reading note. Narrator Horowitz to Detective Hawthorn, discouraging him from an early identification of the villain: "They’re not called murder victim stories. They’re not called criminal stories. They’re called detective stories. There’s a reason for that. I’m taking a big risk here. If you solve this crime right now, I won’t have anything to write about. Worse than that, if you don’t solve it at all, it’ll be a complete waste of time."