Thursday, August 27, 2009

Mystery Vine


Mystery Vine, which Kirkus Reviews calls, "a great choice to help prepare children for the fun and fruitfulness of gardening," is finally out. HarperCollins has a "browse inside" site where you can peek at some of the pages:
http://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061771989 or click here.
And for more about this book, Mystery Vine now has it's own blog page here.

Happy gardening, and happy reading!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sunday Heron


I've only seen this amazing creature once this summer--about two weeks ago. I've been watching for him (her?) every day. This morning, while trying, in vain, to photograph a particularly stunning dragonfly, I looked up.....and there was the magnificient bird. I wasn't able to get a photo of his flight, but watched in awe as this huge creature gracefully lifted off the log and flew down the pond.  

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Pond Watchers

Two young explorers arrived on their bicycles today for a visit to Frog Song Pond. Since I now have my very first copy of my new book, Mystery Vine, we took it along to the treehouse. Sam and Vick-- the first kids I have read this book to!--enjoyed the story and plan to make a bean teepee in their garden next year.






After the boys left, I came across this little fellow --perhaps composing poetry while gazing out across the water.



Sunday, August 16, 2009

Cat Daze of Summer



The dog days of summer have arrived....and we are now very sorry that we complained about our too-cool Maine weather. Ugh. So being lazy on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon is the only option.  Star (kitty...pictured here) chose the dock, as did a resident frog a bit later. The treehouse offered me a bit of a breeze. A very good day to read, indeed.



Sunday, August 9, 2009

Feast & Retreat




Just returned from a fabulous writers' retreat on a lake up near Lewiston, Maine. We managed to persuade the wonderful owners of Boat Building Vacation LLC, Nilaya and James Palmer, to branch out their business and host this event. The result was a heavenly 3-night stay with postcard-perfect weather and scrumptious gourmet food in a perfect environment to inspire creativity, complete with the call of loons.


 All participants enjoyed productive work-- occasionally breaking for a refreshing swim, a bit of yoga, or a romp with the adorable puppy-in-residence, Sashi. We're hoping that Nilaya and James (PERFECT hosts!) will be willing to offer this again next year! Check out their site--and the incredibly beautiful boats you can learn to build with them, too. 

Photos: (1)Kirsten Cappy and Sarah Thomson research for their novels; (2) Nilaya and Sashi serve appetizers(3) lakeside; (4) Kirsten at work

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Camden Library Illustration Show





The Camden Public Library on Main Street in Camden, Maine, is presenting an exhibition of children's book illustrations by six Maine illustrators. There will be a reception, open to the public, on Tuesday,  August 11th at 6:30 pm. Come and say hello!

Exhibiting in this show: Noah Z. Jones, L.A. Meyer, Garvin Morris, Jim Sollers, and Jay Piscopo ...and me!
This will be an interesting show of diverse styles and mediums. Many pieces will be offered for sale as well.

The show will be up for the month of August. Check the Camden Library site for hours.

Illustrations here are from SCOOT!  written & illustrated by Cathryn Falwell.
Greenwillow Books, 2008