Today I got out my gardening journal . I started it in 1997 ! It is filled with garden plans, photos of flowers, letters, mother's day cards, but this is one of my favorites... especially if you have ever lived on a dirt road...
How to Drive in Mud Season
1. In snow, drive slow. In mud, drive as fast as you can (without bottoming out).
2. Stay in the ruts whenever possible. (unless the ruts of your front wheels differ
from the rut of your rear wheels, in which case you are going sideways and best
move on to step three.)
3. Hitch up the oxen.
Happy April and Mud Season !!
Monday, March 31, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Signs of Early Spring
When your birthday is on March 8, you know you were born between unforgiving Winter and Early Spring. Soon the sugar maple trees will start to thaw , with tears of joy flowing into buckets that will be turned into the sweetest syrup.
The earth will soften from the inside , out , and make mud for dogs to get all over their paws, and cars to get stuck in. The Cardinals will have fat bright red babies, and the Robins will be dancing with the fairies. The snowdrops will begin to peek out of what is left of the snow, and the air will smell like clean laundry.
Out at Holliday's Blueberry Acres, we will be watching the blueberry fields, and waiting for the bees to wake up. We have our gardens planned, our seeds ordered , and now we have to wait just a few more weeks.
Happy Early Spring ~
The earth will soften from the inside , out , and make mud for dogs to get all over their paws, and cars to get stuck in. The Cardinals will have fat bright red babies, and the Robins will be dancing with the fairies. The snowdrops will begin to peek out of what is left of the snow, and the air will smell like clean laundry.
Out at Holliday's Blueberry Acres, we will be watching the blueberry fields, and waiting for the bees to wake up. We have our gardens planned, our seeds ordered , and now we have to wait just a few more weeks.
Happy Early Spring ~
Saturday, February 22, 2014
New York Times Best Seller List !
Town in a Strawberry Swirl made the New York Times Best Seller List for Mass Market Fiction!! We are number 20 on the printed list for Sunday February 23rd. The book is also number 20 on Barnes and Noble Mass Market Fiction list!
There have been some other well know writers in Cape Willington, Maine. I guess the most well known is the poet, Sebastian J. Quinn. He is best known for The Bell of Chaos, his Pulitzer prize winning poetry book. He also wrote A Drop of Peace, which was a best seller for several months.
Sadly, he is no longer with us after meeting his maker under a pile of pumpkins.
Then there was Darkness Raven. No one actually knew his real name, or what has become of him.
His poetry started a whole group of followers. I think his most well known book was From this Lighthouse Tower.
The only other well known writer I can think of is Fred Chevus. He made the Best Seller list with his non-fiction book on the impacts of the environment on the oceans, titled How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Waves. That was back in '02. They still use that as a textbook at the Ocean Institute.
Cape Willington is a beautiful place to live. We are all inspired in some way by being here by the ocean.
Congratulations B.B. Haywood!!!
There have been some other well know writers in Cape Willington, Maine. I guess the most well known is the poet, Sebastian J. Quinn. He is best known for The Bell of Chaos, his Pulitzer prize winning poetry book. He also wrote A Drop of Peace, which was a best seller for several months.
Sadly, he is no longer with us after meeting his maker under a pile of pumpkins.
Then there was Darkness Raven. No one actually knew his real name, or what has become of him.
His poetry started a whole group of followers. I think his most well known book was From this Lighthouse Tower.
The only other well known writer I can think of is Fred Chevus. He made the Best Seller list with his non-fiction book on the impacts of the environment on the oceans, titled How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Waves. That was back in '02. They still use that as a textbook at the Ocean Institute.
Cape Willington is a beautiful place to live. We are all inspired in some way by being here by the ocean.
Congratulations B.B. Haywood!!!
Thursday, January 9, 2014
A New Year
2014 is the Year of the Wooden Horse, promising luck and prosperity.
We certainly feel lucky. Town in a Blueberry Jam, the first book in the Candy Holliday murder mystery series, has been released as an unabridged Audio Book, narrated by Tavia Gilbert!
The fifth book in the series, Town in a Strawberry Swirl, will be on sale February 4th! We also have the first four books in the series available in large print editions.
The artwork for all of the book covers is outstanding, and a good reason to choose our books from the many others on the shelves.
We are fortunate to have Leis Pederson, our wonderful and patient editor at Berkeley. Kae Tienstra, our agent, is the reason we are published! James and Matthew Feeman created the beautiful Website and Facebook page for the series.
Most importantly, Happy New Year to our readers! Thank-you for your e-mails and comments, and for returning to Cape Willington .
Wishing you all happiness and good health in 2014 *
Beth and Rob
B.B. Haywood
We certainly feel lucky. Town in a Blueberry Jam, the first book in the Candy Holliday murder mystery series, has been released as an unabridged Audio Book, narrated by Tavia Gilbert!
The fifth book in the series, Town in a Strawberry Swirl, will be on sale February 4th! We also have the first four books in the series available in large print editions.
The artwork for all of the book covers is outstanding, and a good reason to choose our books from the many others on the shelves.
We are fortunate to have Leis Pederson, our wonderful and patient editor at Berkeley. Kae Tienstra, our agent, is the reason we are published! James and Matthew Feeman created the beautiful Website and Facebook page for the series.
Most importantly, Happy New Year to our readers! Thank-you for your e-mails and comments, and for returning to Cape Willington .
Wishing you all happiness and good health in 2014 *
Beth and Rob
B.B. Haywood
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Phone Lines
This week I have been struggling with lack of cell phone coverage and a crackling land line.
Phone problems happen so often in Cape Willington. I believe it is what led up to the misunderstanding between Timothy Granber and his very long time girlfriend , Amalia Vasar.
Amalia was at the knit a pair of socks class at the Town Library, when her cell phone rang. It was Timothy, or she wouldn't have answered it during class. He was calling her from home on his crackling land line. "Amalia, will you pick up Larry for me?". The cell reception at the library not being totally clear, Amalia heard " Amalia, will you marry me?".
"Yes!" , " of course I will".
So, while Amalia was telling all of her friends in the knitting group "Timothy finally asked me to marry him! , and I said Yes! ". (though it wasn't quite the romantic proposal she had dreamed about), Timothy was home waiting for her to drop off his brother Larry so they could watch the rest of the game together.
My friend Walter Harper told me "this one will take some time to sort itself out". "Kind of like when Barry Laskow called and asked me if I would take in a stray dog". "Yes, of course I would". which is how he ended up owning Charlotte the 350 pound hog.
Phone problems happen so often in Cape Willington. I believe it is what led up to the misunderstanding between Timothy Granber and his very long time girlfriend , Amalia Vasar.
Amalia was at the knit a pair of socks class at the Town Library, when her cell phone rang. It was Timothy, or she wouldn't have answered it during class. He was calling her from home on his crackling land line. "Amalia, will you pick up Larry for me?". The cell reception at the library not being totally clear, Amalia heard " Amalia, will you marry me?".
"Yes!" , " of course I will".
So, while Amalia was telling all of her friends in the knitting group "Timothy finally asked me to marry him! , and I said Yes! ". (though it wasn't quite the romantic proposal she had dreamed about), Timothy was home waiting for her to drop off his brother Larry so they could watch the rest of the game together.
My friend Walter Harper told me "this one will take some time to sort itself out". "Kind of like when Barry Laskow called and asked me if I would take in a stray dog". "Yes, of course I would". which is how he ended up owning Charlotte the 350 pound hog.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Summer Wreath
Joan Donnelly's Christmas wreath has been hanging on her front door for 8 years. I know it was alive once. Now it is brittle shades of brown and yellow. The once cheery bow is drooping, faded green bleeding into red. Granted , we don't use our front doors here. Always the side door. (I even heard that Steve Briar built his house without a front door at all!). So I suppose Joan may not even know the wreath is still hanging there, waiting for attention. Or maybe she is thinking 'hey', only a few months till Christmas, why bother?.
Thinking about that summer wreath, and front doors, Candy Holliday showed up at my door the other day. Maggie was out of town, Doc is too busy, and Candy wanted someone to go with her to deliver three dozen high bush blueberry plants to The Lightkeeper's Inn. The gardener at the Inn, Dahlia Roseet is a piece of work. Her name used to be Sandra, but she changed it to Dahlia when she started her job at the Inn. I hear from Candy that Dahlia can predict the weather from looking at pine cones. An open pine cone means good weather, a closed up cone means rain. "What do the pine cones say?" she asks everyone.
Candy and I unloaded the blueberry bushes from Candy's jeep, with Dahlia's help. There were ooohs and aaahs by guests and employees . I can't wait to go back and see them all planted and in bloom.
On the way home from the Inn we drove past Joan's house. "Hey! That reminds me, I need to take down my Christmas wreath " Candy said laughing.
Thinking about that summer wreath, and front doors, Candy Holliday showed up at my door the other day. Maggie was out of town, Doc is too busy, and Candy wanted someone to go with her to deliver three dozen high bush blueberry plants to The Lightkeeper's Inn. The gardener at the Inn, Dahlia Roseet is a piece of work. Her name used to be Sandra, but she changed it to Dahlia when she started her job at the Inn. I hear from Candy that Dahlia can predict the weather from looking at pine cones. An open pine cone means good weather, a closed up cone means rain. "What do the pine cones say?" she asks everyone.
Candy and I unloaded the blueberry bushes from Candy's jeep, with Dahlia's help. There were ooohs and aaahs by guests and employees . I can't wait to go back and see them all planted and in bloom.
On the way home from the Inn we drove past Joan's house. "Hey! That reminds me, I need to take down my Christmas wreath " Candy said laughing.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Winter Moths
The leaves have finally unfolded, they are beautiful Spring green and full of holes.
Late last Fall/early Winter, when driving home , I drove through like what looked like a snowstorm, made up of tiny white moths. Every day for several weeks.
In the evenings every window of the house was covered with swarms of the moths.
I had never seen anything like them, nor did I realize how devastating they can be to the trees.
The moths apparently just arrived in Maine with a landscaper from 'away'. All of those moths laid eggs in the trees during their stay. The leaf eating caterpillar chewed holes in the leaves that just unfurled. They will then send new cocoons down into the soil to continue the cycle. No plants should be transported inland from May to December, to stop the spreading.
The worry is that the moths will spread into areas where wild blueberries are growing. If they like the blueberry plants , it could be damaging to the industry.
There is a certain fly that when released , will eat the moth eggs, but this season only 800 flies were available for 3 towns to share! that's 266.6 per town, so hopefully we will get more flies and the winter moth will be history.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Late last Fall/early Winter, when driving home , I drove through like what looked like a snowstorm, made up of tiny white moths. Every day for several weeks.
In the evenings every window of the house was covered with swarms of the moths.
I had never seen anything like them, nor did I realize how devastating they can be to the trees.
The moths apparently just arrived in Maine with a landscaper from 'away'. All of those moths laid eggs in the trees during their stay. The leaf eating caterpillar chewed holes in the leaves that just unfurled. They will then send new cocoons down into the soil to continue the cycle. No plants should be transported inland from May to December, to stop the spreading.
The worry is that the moths will spread into areas where wild blueberries are growing. If they like the blueberry plants , it could be damaging to the industry.
There is a certain fly that when released , will eat the moth eggs, but this season only 800 flies were available for 3 towns to share! that's 266.6 per town, so hopefully we will get more flies and the winter moth will be history.
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)