Tea With the Black Dragon

Review of Fallstaff’s Big Gamble by Hank Quense

2012-02-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

Shakespeare is probably rolling over in his grave laughing. Quense “borrows” three of the bard’s best-known characters and sets them down in his mythical Gunderland. The denizens of this land are mostly trolls, elves, dwarves, half-pints (think Hobbits) and yuks, but they display all our basic human foibles: short-sighted, gullible, cunning, clueless, avaricious, self-serving … As is typical of Quense’s characters, they all are afflicted with a bad case of tunnel vision, lying to themselves as well as others and incapable of seeing the big picture.

Hamlet, the Crown Prince of Denmarko, is torn between avenging his father’s murder and following his chosen profession of beekeeping. Colonel Othello discovers that being in charge of Homeland Security for the city of Dun Hythe is fraught with complications—but those pale before the discovery that he owes his appointment to his wife’s grandmother, who is The Godmother, the local crime boss. And then there’s that fascinating rogue, the con artist Falstaff.

Any one of these would provide an intriguing story, but Quense stirs them all together to come up with a convoluted plot that could only take place in Gunderland. Schemes and counter schemes, bravery and treachery, battles on land and sea, true love…what’s not to like?

http://strangeworldsonline.com/books-main.html for more details: scheduled for release in April, 2012

Book signing event

2011-12-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 17 I'll be participating in a multi-author booksigning event at the PNWA Writer' Cottage in Issaquah's Gilman Village, from 1-4 PM. The address is 317 NW Gilman Blvd, space #8, Issaquah, WA 98027.

All my books are still on sale prices through December 31st. Paperbacks (The Mountains of the Moon, The Door in the Sky, The Mirror Door, Tales of the Slug) are all $8.00. The hardcover Hall of Doors (combining books one-three in the series) is $16.00. Christmas gift books are $5.00.

If you want books but can't make the signing, contact me at gramajan500@msn.com. I'll ship as many books as I can cram in a Priority Mail envelope for $5.oo S&H, with bookmarks and cat note cards (one per book purchase) thrown in for free.

I hope to see you there. Mention this post and I'll give you a free note card, whether you buy a book or not.

Bread crusts and other musings

2011-10-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning thinking about bread crusts. No, I don't recall what I was dreaming, but I suspect it was related to the baby shower I attended Saturday.

It was a delightful if somewhat unusual shower. The guests included adult males and children, instead of just women. We didn't have to play any of those silly shower games I was dreading. Just lots of good conversation and wonderful food.

The buffet had plenty of sweets--little cakes, cookies, tarts--offset by plenty of veggies and cheese. But I really chowed down on the little sandwiches. There were cucumbers, chicken with cranberries, and many other tasty fillings, nicely presented in little crustless bits of bread. That got me thinking about the sandwiches my grandma used to serve.

Of course all proper kids detest crusts and only eat them under duress. My siblings, cousins, and I were no exception. It didn't help that the grownups insisted they were good for us or even that they'd make our hair curly. But Grandma trimmed off the crusts. I don't know if she always did that, or if it was special for company, but I remember watching her trimming the sandwiches.

And then the miracle happened. Once those detested crusts were removed from the sandwiches and lying in a growing pile on the breadboard, they somehow were transformed into interesting little bread sticks; all the grandchildren clustered around to beg for the treat. Of course, Grandma always shared them with us. I wonder if she found our sudden yen for crusts as amusing as I do now.

Salmon surprise

2011-06-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

We're well off the beaten path, and rarely get unannounced visitors, so I was surprised when there was a knock on my door early this morning. It was our Chehalis Indian friend, who shows up now and then when he has extra fish to sell.

Too bad my youngest son wasn't available. He's a seafood manager at Safeway, and much more adept than I am at cutting up fish. But I cut them up in my own sloppy fashion, and had an abundance to brine for smoking, to freeze for later consumption, and to share with family. I ate the liver for breakfast--delicious.

Garden experiments and unfinished projects

2011-06-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

I'm very thankful I don't have to depend on my garden for sustenance. Not only is the weather often uncooperative--as in the cool, wet spring we've been experiencing--but results aren't always what you hope for.

I like to use bean sprouts now and then, and have learned to do a fairly good job of producing sprouts from seeds, although they still aren't nearly as fat and juicy as commercial sprouts. The next step was growing my own mung beans, so I'd have a supply of sprouting seed and wouldn't have to keep buying it. After a couple of unimpressive crops, I finally managed to grow a healthy stand of mung beans. A fluke, I think, as they really need more heat and sunshine than we normally get. I knew they had to be harvested slightly green, as the dry pods will split and shoot seeds all over. So I harvested, and put the pods in a paper bag to dry out. And there they remained for a year or so, as I found getting the seeds out to be a tedious process.

Today, in a rare moment of enthusiasm for finishing old projects, I looked up directions for threshing and winnowing beans. The tiny amount I had hardly seemed worth beating with a flail or any of the other methods described, so I put them in a bag and crunched them with a rolling pin, like making bread crumbs.

The winnowing instructions said I could take the beans mixed with chaff outside and pour them into a basket, letting the wind blow the chaff away. Why a basket, I wondered? I tried a large bowl, and immediately answered my question. The beans bounced on the hard surface, most of them escaping to the lawn. So I went up to the storage area in the barn loft, found a basket, and proceeded with the winnowing. It worked pretty well, but I still wound up sorting the beans out individually, and discarding the ones that had traces of what looked like mold.

My persistence paid off with a handful of smallish mung beans. I put them to soak for sprouting and hope they'll produce. Even if they sprout beautifully, that was a lot of work for a small amount of inferior product. Scratch mung beans from the planting list.

Since I was trying to finish up old projects, I also dealt with the soy beans. I had noticed that the grandchildren in Colorado (now the grandchildren in Alaska) were fond of edamame. I thought the Washington grandchildren would be interested also. Our first crop was mostly eaten by the local deer, but with higher fences I managed to get a good crop. I blanched and froze them, offering them to the grandkids at their next visit. They turned up their noses at them and requested more cucumbers.

I thawed and shelled a few beans from time to time to add to salads and soups, but that was rather labor-intensive. They nagged at me every time I opened the freezer. Tired of their looks of sad reproach as they gradually became the only veggies left in the freezer, I thawed them all, popped them in the dehydrator, and then proceed to follow the threshing and winnowing process as for the mung beans. They probably shell easily enough when raised to full maturity, but no matter how dry and brittle the pods, the beans still clung to them. Again, a lot of work for a small amount of inferior product. I put my handful of beans to soak for soup.

This year, I planted sugar snap peas and ordinary old green beans--legumes with edible pods.

Take a look inside the book...

2011-05-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

If you want to preview the inside illustrations for The Mountains of the Moon and The Door in the Sky before you decide to buy, they're posted on the artist's website at www.jwkalin.com. He hasn't put up The Mirror Door yet.

Also, if you want sort of a preview of the stories, you'll find an "extra scene" in addition to an author interview and a study guide for each book on www.janiceclark.net. They're all under "extras." Grab some recipes while you're at it, and take a look at the free picture book under "free downloads."

2011-04-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

The "extras" for The Mirror Door are now up on my website. Help yourselves to the "extra scene" as well as the author interview and study guides. www.janiceclark.net

You'll also find extra items for The Mountains of the Moon and The Door in the Sky as well as the recipes that appeared in the first printing of Christmas Brings Joy to Every Heart.

I HAVE BOOKS!!!

2011-04-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

I received a big box of books today. Most exciting, of course, is The Mirror Door, book three in the Hall of Doors series. I've been rereading it, and enjoying the interior illustrations, which I hadn't seen. Artist JW Kalin did a terrific job, as always.

I also got more copies of The Mountains of the Moon as well as Tales of the Slug. Since I still had plenty of The Door in the Sky I'm all set for sales at the bazaar in Oakville (actually the Friends of the Library's community garage sale April 16th) as well as Norwescon, and I can start scheduling book signing events.

Unfortunately, Orchard House Press doesn't have The Mirror Door posted on Amazon yet, and their own web site is still being revised, so any sales will be through me for now. But that's just a matter of time. They did get The Door in the Sky up on Amazon, and there are some nice reviews there.

Speaking of Norwescon, the little blue man alien mummy whose picture I posted on Facebook a while back is going to be in the art show charity auction, so will help fund Northwest Harvest (food bank) and Clarion West (writers' conference). Many thanks to my grandson Jonathan Kalin for the donation. (Yes, he goes by Jon, but so does his uncle, the artist, which tends to cause confusion.)

Book Review: Pilgrennon's Beacon by Manda Benson

2011-01-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

Dana is autistic, but considered functional enough to be in regular school classes. Despite the best efforts of her foster parents, she endures the cruelty of uninformed teachers and schoolyard bullies. Dana also has a secret: she can talk to computers. There’s a wi-fi gadget implanted in her brain. Unknown to Dana, she’s the product of an experiment by Ivor Pilgrennon, a scientist with a bit of a Frankenstein complex.

When an attack at school sends Dana to the hospital for an overnight stay, she picks up on a distant computer signal that seems to be offering her a safe haven: Pilgerennon’s Beacon, calling the subjects of his experiment to the isolated island where he’s hiding out. She soon finds herself involved with Jananin Blake, a brilliant physicist and the inventor of the gadget in Dana’s brain. Jananin hates Pilgrennon, and is appalled by his experiments, which included unauthorized use of her invention. But her own moral compass is as skewed as Pilgrennon’s.

The adventure that follows is like a mad roller-coaster ride, with Dana caught between the two scientists, wondering whether she can trust either of them, finding herself in circumstances that demand she stretch her abilities to the fullest. It’s a trip down the rabbit hole, with forays into the world of virtual reality.

This is a thriller, an action-adventure book complete with world-wide conspiracies, chase scenes, a dollop of fighting and explosions, mysteries and madness. But there’s tenderness as well, little acts of caring, touches of pathos. Through it all, we see the two scientists gradually changing, as Dana struggles to make sense of a world that too often “doesn’t compute.”

It’s a hard book to put down, and I’m looking forward to the sequel. Highly recommended.

Check out Manda's website at www.tangentrine.com

Reviews

2011-01-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

This is my granddaughter Maggie's review of The Door in the Sky that her mom posted on Amazon. None of the adult volunteers who were going to post reviews in exchange for free books have done so yet. I know some have backed off because Amazon only allows customers to post, so if that's the problem, feel free to send me your review by email or in a Facebook message, and I'll put it on my blog like this one.
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This is a great book, my daughter loved it so much that she wanted to do a review of it herself. I'm going to type it for her. She is 7 years old but at a 4-5 grade reading level and is always looking for new books to read. Here is her review.

This is a book called "The Door in the Sky" which is #2 after Mountains of the Moon. It's about a little girl named Sammy. At the start she's in the gym and she's really really scared to go up a rope. She goes to the back of the line slowly so no one will notice her. She tries to figure out a way to get out of climbing the rope and then the bell rings.

She goes home and decides to talk to her cat, Peaches. Even though Peaches is not even a year old yet she talks back just like her old cat, BB did just by saying meow. They both take a rest and then when they wake up Peaches gets down and pats the rug near the window and there is moonlight there. She walks up the moonbeam! They go on an adventure to go see her old cat BB. The walk through the glass in the window!

They come to a castle and she shows Peaches how to ring the bell to get Selena to come. They go to a hall full of doors and there's a dragon, but don't worry, she's a nice dragon. The adventure that they go on helps Sammy not be afraid of climbing the rope any more.

It's a really cool story!

- I had to take a lot out of her review, she wanted to give a play by play of the whole story! I didn't want her to give the whole thing away. Happy reading!-

Public Speaking for Introverts

2011-01-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

I've been painfully shy or socially challenged most of my life, preferring to work "behind the scenes" with as little public contact as possible. The necessity of earning a living didn't allow me to be as reclusive as I would have preferred, but I did gravitate towards work that allowed me to spend most of my time hiding in a corner, working on my own.

About fifteen years ago, I started feeling prodded to do more writing and to share what I wrote. Call it fate or whatever you like--I just knew I had to do it. I began sharing poetry and songs in church, then moved on to occasionally filling the pulpit as a lay preacher. At least I could hide behind a podium so they couldn't see my knees knocking. I went on to joining writiers' groups, both receiving and offering critiques of my work. I finally went back to school to "lock in" my assorted credits by earning an AA degree, which required I take the dreaded speech class.

Now that I'm getting more serious about promoting my writing, I know I have to get out to meet the public. I've visited classrooms, sold books at bazaars, and started handing out bookmarks and other materials to anyone who will take them.

I've gradually come to understand that the best way to deal with fear is to follow the advice I put in the mouth of my character Samantha (Sammy), in The Door in the Sky. Get help if you can, practice, and finally just do it, even if you have to do it scared. I'm still doing it scared, but I'm told it doesn't show, so at least I'm learning to fake a calm I don't feel. And it does get a little easier with practice. A friend once told me that the first 100,000 times are the hardest.

This past month I've been a visiting author at the Tenino library (my second library visit) and once more served on several discussion panels at the Rustycon science fiction convention. They even gave me a time slot for reading and signing my books, and I actually had an audience. I will admit I was mildly terrified before each event, but I did it anyway, and hope to continue "practicing" on a regular basis.

I'm making myself available as a speaker for libraries, schools, scouts, or any other group that would like to listen to a story and/or discuss books, writing, and publication. Although most of my writing is focused on children, I can gear my presentation to adults as well.

Recycled Potatoes

2010-11-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

Last summer, we had a sudden hot spell just as my baby onions were getting started. The delicate shoots were fried beyond any hope of recovery.

As I was pondering what to put in the now-vacant 2 foot by 4 foot space in the planter box, I came across a few potatoes lurking in the back of the bin that were more sprout than potato. Just the thing. I cut them into chunks, being careful not to disturb the sprouts, and laid them gently in the area vacated by the onions. Then I covered them with a heavy layer of compost and left them to their own devices.

I soon had an impressive display of green potato plants. My only clue to what was going on underneath was an occasional glimpse of a tiny potato poking above the surface. I just added more soil whenever the baby potatoes became visible, and otherwise ignored them.

A couple of days ago, I took advantage of a break in the rain to check out the garden. The potato plants looked to be mostly dead, and were turning to slime in the rain. Although the gardening books tell you you can just store potatoes in the ground, I figured that wasn't a good idea in our wet climate. So I dug them up and brought them indoors. I gathered about eight pounds of potatoes, ranging in size from little marbles to about four inches long. Not a huge crop maybe, but not a bad return on a handful of potatoes that were destined for the compost heap.

Book News

2010-11-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

The Door in the Sky is now properly posted on Amazon and available for purchase. Thanks to my two reviewers who have posted so far; there should be more soon. I was quite impressed with granddaughter Maggie's review. (Grandmas have bragging rights.) I don't see it on Barnes and Noble yet, although they do have The Mountains of the Moon.

Orchard House Press reports that they are making all their books available on Kindle, the first ones starting in December. They'll follow that with other formats, such as Nook. They're also working on bringing out hard cover books, and The Hall of Doors will be among the first of those, with a combined version of the first three books. So there will soon be lots of choices, but I don't have confirmed dates on anything.

I'll be signing books at the Friends of the Library holiday bazaar in Oakville November 20, and speaking to kids at the Tenino library January 5. Just a reminder: I'm available to speak at schools, scouts, libraries, writer's groups or whatever and will work cheap (FREE!!) as long as I can bring books to sell and don't have to travel too far. I've been thoroughly checked out by the Timberland library system and pronounced safe:)

Pumpkins

2010-10-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Our entire pumpkin harvest. All the how-tos say to leave them on the vine to ripen, but the vines were nearly dead, and with all the rain we've been having, the slugs were moving in. These are small, even for pie pumpkins, but the paper tells me the commercial growers didn't do too well this year either. Since they've at least started to change color and the stems have hardened, I think there's a good chance they'll color up a bit more. The instructional blogs all say that sunshine is the key to ripening, but I think heat is more an issue, as the mostly-green ones were green where they were exposed to such sunlight as made it through the overcast, but yellow or orange where they touched the presumably warmer ground. Anyway, they're now on a card table in the back bedroom, which is the coolest part of the house but much warmer than outside. I'm hoping we'll get enough pumpkin puree for pies, pumpkin bread, etc.

More Pennypinching: Fruits

2010-10-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

This wasn't a good garden year in western Washington, and our little orchard didn't fare much better. A couple of deer incursions eliminated most of the apple leaves, then the brief but intense hot spell sunburned most of the apples that the deer had missed. Once they were sun-damaged, the apples invited insect attacks. The few apples that survived all that fell prey to birds and wind. All in all, we had mostly salvage and windfall apples. I finally picked the last of them short of perfect ripeness, to save them from the birds.

Salvage was an ongoing operation, with small green apples turned into puree (for applesauce bread and muffins) and larger ones canned for pie filling or made into chunky applesauce. But I was running out of pint canning jars and didn't want to buy more. Since there are usually just the two of us here, I prefer to can in pints. (Besides, the rack for the big canner went missing when we moved, and the little one isn't deep enough for quarts.)

Freezing in bags was the obvious option, but filling little bags with applesauce is a tedious and messy operation. Then I had one of those "Doh! Why didn't I think of that before!" revelations. I still had a wide-mouthed pint jar available. I placed a sandwich-size plastic bag in the jar, popped in my canning funnel to hold the bag open, and filled the bag as easily as filling a jar. Since the jar is tapered, I had no problem sliding the bag out and sealing it. I further simplified the operation by placing the small bags inside a gallon Ziploc, so I only had to label the outer bag. I do that when freezing small portions of meats and vegetables also. The outer bag doesn't touch the food, so can be reused, and a big bag is easier to find in the freezer.

***
Do you ever wonder what to do with the juice/syrup from either store-bought or home-canned fruits? It can be thickened with tapioca or cornstarch to make pudding or a sauce.

For tapioca pudding, mix two cups of juice with three tablespoons of quick-cook tapioca (Kraft's Minute brand). No need for sugar, unless your juice isn't as sweet as you want it. An egg is optional--I had one that had cracked a little on the way home from the store, so I wanted to use it right away. Stir it and let it stand about five minutes, then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full rolling boil. Let it cool and serve either warm or cold. You can also cook it in a microwave, in a large bowl to avoid boil-over, stirring every three minutes. It should take about 10-12 minutes.

You can make a sauce using one tablespoon of cornstarch for each cup of juice. Either mix it all together before cooking, or stir the cornstarch into a small amount of juice, bring the rest to a boil, and stir in the cornstarch mixture. It's about the same as making gravy. Use it warm as a sauce for cake or ice cream; it will set up into a pudding in the refrigerator.

Pinching Pennies: Bread and Butter

2010-10-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

What do you do when a friend or relative insists on giving you bread that is a bit too far past its prime to bother freezing it? The solution for me was to slice it thin and pop it in the dehydrator. A slow oven would probably do as well. So now instead of rather tough bread, I have a supply of crispy melba toast-like slices, good for eating like crackers or dropping in the soup. It can be made into croutons or crumbed for a variety of uses, and stores well at room temperature in a paper bag.

I used some of the crumbs for tuna patties, which are a great way of stretching a can of tuna into several servings. You can do crumbs in a blender or a food processor, but I get good results by putting the bread (or corn flakes, if I'm making meatloaf) into a paper bag and either crushing it by hand or using the rolling pin.

So on to the butter. Once we started learning about things like trans-fats and I realized the nutrition gurus had been lying to us all these years about hydrogenated vegetable shortening and margarine being the healthier choices, I went back to butter. I buy it when it's on sale and usually have a few pounds in the freezer. We don't use a lot, but I do prefer the convenience of the soft-spread variety for uses other than baking. It's easy to make your own soft spread. Just whip together a cup of butter, 1/2 cup canola oil, and 1/2 cup water. Store it in the refrigerator in a covered container.

***

In case you're wondering how the mouse problem worked out, son Jon took pity on me and removed the partition between the dishwasher and sink area. He then informed me that my theory of mousy access was wrong; there was no possible way they could get in there as the base of the dishwasher was tight against the wall, and in fact they seemed to be coming in on the other side of the sink, in my pan cupboard. He used a flashlight to point out the evidence, back in the dark recesses of the cupboard along the outside wall. Yuck!! So I washed all the pans, vacuumed and disinfected the pan cupboard and under-sink area, and sealed all around the edges with spray foam. This involved lying down on the floor, attempting to crawl into the cupboard, and using my handy-dandy grabber gadget to reach the far corners. It's all sealed and clean now, and the mousetrap that I re-installed under the sink has so far remained untouched. The partition between the pan cupboard and the sink area was loose, and had been sloppily installed in such a way that it couldn't fit tight, so I pulled it out and re-fastened it. End of problem? Only time will tell.

And yet another mouse story...

2010-10-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year. The weather's getting cooler and damper, the garden is winding down, The critters are starting to look for warmer quarters. I've learned to keep a mousetrap behind the trash can under the sink, since it appears the mice come in somewhere under the dishwasher, and scramble over the partial partition that separates that area from the one under the sink.

Yes, I could solve the problem by removing the partition and sealing up whatever holes they come through, or simply add on to the partition so they can't get through. It's been on my to-do list forever. I'm a talented procrastinator who really hates doing household repairs. Note to any of my children reading this: take pity on your poor old gray-haired mom and fix this for me. It would be a nice, cheap birthday gift, and my 70th is rapidly approaching. Pretty please?

Alas, 70 is the new 40 and my kids know I can do it myself if necessary. We'll overlook the fact that I taught them to use tools early on, just so I wouldn't have to.

End of digression--back to the mouse story. I had already disposed of one victim a few days ago and replaced the trap. Yesterday brother Richard glanced under the sink and said "didn't you put a trap in here?" There was no trap behind the trash can--but further over, stuck behind the pipes, the missing trap seemed to be bouncing around. A still-live mouse, caught only by one foot, had dragged the trap as far as possible and was trying to pull free, while simultaneously scarfing down the peanut butter bait.

I can deal with setting a trap and disposing of the remains. Doing the killing myself was more than I wanted to handle. Letting it struggle until it eventually died wasn't acceptable either. I picked up the trap with my handy-dandy two-foot-long grabber device, took it outside, and used a table knife to pry up the bar. The mouse immediately jumped free and dove between the boards of the cover over the crawl space entry. So it's lurking under the house, perhaps contemplating trying it again.

I don't imagine mice have very long memories, but I'm hoping that one won't be back for a while. I suppose it's too much to hope that he warned his friends away, too.

Experimenting in the Kitchen

2010-10-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

The house I share with my brother came with about 90 gallons of wheat stored in metal cans. I guess the previous owners had a survival hoard. I used to do a lot of baking when my family was growing up, but not so much in recent years, so I've forgotten a lot (and there was plenty I didn't know to begin with). Lately I've been experimenting with home-ground flour.

My first biscuits using 100% whole wheat flour were more like hockey pucks or ship's biscuit. They were edible, but nowhere near light and fluffy. The second batch, using half ww and half all-purpose flour, were an improvement. Then I got really daring and made chocolate drop cookies using half ww. Edible, even tasty, but the appearance and texture left a little to be desired. That's when I remembered making cracked wheat bread about forty years ago--I always soaked the cracked wheat overnight. Hmmm.

My friend Amanda had given me a roll recipe that she said worked with up to half the bread flour replaced by ww. But my home-ground flour is probably a bit coarser than the commercial stuff. So I mixed the ww (almost half) with the milk in the recipe, covered it and left it in the refrigerator overnight. The flour soaked up ALL the liquid. Her recipe was for a bread machine so added the yeast with the dry ingredients. I figured I'd better go with the more traditional method, plus I was guessing I might need more liquid, so I dissolved the yeast in (more) warm milk, then added that and the other ingredients to my milk and flour glop (which I had first warmed a little in the microwave). Success!! The rolls came out perfect.

I think next time I make cookies I'll try the pre-soak method.

The Door in the Sky is available

2010-10-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

I now have copies of The Door in the Sky, book two of the Hall of Doors series. The publisher hasn't updated either their website or Amazon.com, but you can get them directly from me. Contact me at gramajan500 at msn dot com if you want autographed copies.

In this adventure, Sammy learns that love and friendship are stronger than fear, and sometimes you just have to "do it scared." She's off on a roller-coaster dragon ride to help Princess Selena with a serious problem, one that will take all the courage she can gather. In helping her friend to open a spell-bound treasure chest, Sammy also discovers the key to solving her own problem.

The Mirror Door and The Secret Door are still in the publisher's queue, with no release date set. Since the illustrations are done for The Mirror Door, they tell me it's possible that it might be out this year. Here's a sneak preview of the cover picture.

And on a somewhat more silly note, can you imagine a bank telling a 46-year-old man that he can't add his wife to his bank account without his mommy's permission? That's what happened to my oldest son recently. Nearly thirty years ago, when he was a teenager, I cosigned so he could have his own checking account. We never took my name off the account--in fact, I had forgotten about it. But the bank refused to make any changes unless we both appeared in person to sign papers. A note wouldn't do, even if I had it notarized. So I made the 75 mile drive on a Saturday morning, which was the only time he and his wife could both make it to the bank, and we took care of it. Or at least we got my name off. His wife, a Chinese immigrant, didn't realize that she would need her social security number for the transaction, so they'll have to go back next Saturday to finish up. I guess a bank has to be careful about these things, but I wonder what we would have done if I were still in California, or had become mentally incapacitated.

Gray is the proper color for sky...

2010-07-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Not that dirty gray-brown of warmer but smoggy climes:

A soft, misty gray that soothes the eye and calms the soul.

The mist descends to pour over the hills,

Drifting through the firs,

Wrapping the world in a fuzzy gray comforter.

Gray is the perfect setting, enhancing the earth’s green

From somber firs to bright maples

And the myriad shades of green in my water-fat garden

Where deer amble around the fence, pretending nonchalance

Searching for the magic portal

That will grant them access to the tempting delicacies within.

Wildlife Invasion Number Three

2010-05-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Back in mid-March I mentioned finding a deceased mouse in the trap under the sink, and wondered if we were overdue for a starling invasion. We actually had more mice first—a total of five, I believe, before the end of April. I grew careless about keeping that trap set, so had the fun of starting my day by sanitizing the kitchen countertops on more than one occasion. One of these days I need to pull out the masonite half-wall partition between the under-sink cabinet and the dishwasher. I’m sure that’s where they get in. For now, I make it a point to check the baited trap under the sink every morning. So far, we’ve been mouse-free for about three weeks.

So back to the starlings. We usually get one or two in the “attic” every spring, and they eventually wind up in the vent pipe over the kitchen range. This is a manufactured house, so the gap between the ceiling and the roof isn’t accessible to big critters like humans. We couldn’t figure out how they got in the attic in the first place, nor how they went from there into a pipe that *should* run continuous and unbroken all the way through the roof.

Yesterday, brother Richard noticed the starlings were getting rather aggressive at pushing against the attic vents, trying to get to a nesting spot. Then he heard a lot of noise in one spot, but by the time he got there the bird was inside. He started prodding the overhead (soffit) vents with a pole and discovered that one was loose enough to be pushed up a little. He tried holding the loose vent up for a while, but the bird wasn’t about to come out while he was there. The trapped bird stomped and fluttered all over the attic for hours, and finally got into the vent pipe just as I was preparing to cook dinner.

I knew the drill. Spread a towel over the stove to catch dirt and feathers; take out the screws to remove the vent fan; push up the butterfly valve with a stick; keep pushing and prodding while the *stupid* bird insists on perching on top of the valve flap or jumps from one side to the other as it frantically tries to climb back up the pipe. Mumble a few unprintable words under your breath. Use two stick to hold up both sides of the valve so the $%;*# bird can’t keep jumping from side to side. Consider getting a pair of tongs to grab a leg or whatever presents itself and drag the bird out—in pieces if necessary.

The bird, of course, instinctively tries to escape by going *up*. Falling *down* is not in its repertoire. But eventually it loses its balance and falls through the hole, immediately flying toward what appears to be the nearest exit, the kitchen window. (bonk!) Then, slightly dazed, it makes a beeline for the patio door, which Richard has not managed to open yet. (bonk again!!) Knocks itself out this time. Is it dead? I don’t know, and at this point I don’t care. Richard opens the patio door and chucks it out. Either it will recover and leave on its own, or one of the neighbors’ cats that hunt on our property will find it.

In the meantime, I’m trying to clean up the mess so I can cook dinner. Throw away the shingle nail that came down the pipe with the bird. (How did *that* get in there?) Carefully gather up the towel and shake off the debris outside. Wipe everything down with disinfectant. Try to re-install the fan. Hah!! Try working close-up overhead in a dark space looking through the long-distance portion of your trifocals. I fumble a screw; it bounces as it drops and winds up behind the stove. This isn’t working, and I’m so angry and frustrated that I’m close to tears. Time to call for help.

Son Jon says he’ll be over as soon as he can—he has to wait for Patty to get home so she can watch daughter Raven. So I take few deep breaths, leave the fan dangling by its wires, and cook dinner.

Epilog: Jon arrived, bringing a beautiful flowering plant for Mother’s Day. He put the vent fan back in, did some repair work on the starling’s entry point, and even pulled the dead battery from the van and put it on the charger.

It was, all in all, a pretty good Mother’s Day. I heard from all my kids and got to spend time with granddaughter Britni who is here visiting. I’ll have delayed Mother’s Day lunch with former foster daughter Kristina next Sunday, and probably spend time with son Jeff and daughter-in-law Joyce the Sunday after that. I hope all mothers reading this had a good day, too—minus the starling.

More on "Divine Appointments"

2010-03-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I mentioned, among other things, the possibility of "divine appointments" in which we are linked up with someone who can answer our prayer needs, or may have the privilege of being part of the answer to someone else's prayer. I commented that "When I pray that I might be a blessing to others, the opportunities appear." So I had made a public announcement of being willing, or as public as it gets on this blog, and had prayed, as usual, that I might be a blessing to someone. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by what happened.

My brother, Richard, and I have made it a habit of late to go out exploring one day a week. We've been to many of the small towns in our area, taking in the sights, visiting museums, and browsing through second-hand shops. We've been to Winlock to see the World's Largest Egg and may attend their Egg Day in June. We're looking forward to riding the steam train near Mount Rainier. On the day after my previous post, we were in the little town of Raymond, Washington. We had admired the park and all the artwork along the streets, and thought we would go visit the Carriage Museum. But first we took a detour to check out a little consignment shop that had caught my eye.

There was nothing in the shop that screamed "buy me" too loudly, so we were ready to go. I thanked the proprietor for letting us look, and offered her some of my bookmarks, mentioning that I write children's books.

She immediately became very excited, and said she had been praying for someone who could tell her how to publish the book she's been working on for several years. We must have talked for over an hour, as we discussed all the things that need to happen to get a book in front of the public--editing or polishing the writing, submitting to publishers, publicity, etc. I told her I didn't think I had the expertise to guide her through the whole process, but that I'd be happy to make suggestions and steer her toward other people who could help with each aspect.

By the time we finally got to the carriage museum, it had just closed. Oh well, it will be there for another day.

I spent most of the next day putting together a package of suggestions and reference material. I hope it helps.

Coincidence versus Fate

2010-03-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, granddaughter Britni posed a question on Facebook: are there coincidences or is it all just fate? In other words, are we all acting out a pre-arranged play, or is it all, in the words of Homer Simpson, “just a bunch of stuff that happened.” I think it’s a little of each.

Humans have an innate tendency to impose patterns on everything they see or hear or experience. Consider the constellations, for instance. Somebody, or several somebodies, played connect-the-dots with the stars, overlaid pictures of familiar objects, and made up stories to go with them. In a world without GPS, this helped people to remember star patterns for navigation purposes. It also helped to figure out seasons, so you knew when to plant the corn. The process got carried to extremes as the “science” of astrology, which was the forerunner of astronomy. Because many isolated groups of people were engaged in this ordering process, it’s not surprising that we have different constellations, and different stories, from different cultures. We see the same phenomenon at work when we choose to see specific shapes in the clouds, in spots on walls, or even in potato chips.

Our pattern imposition, and a strong urge to create order out of chaos, is seen in many of our recreational pursuits, from crossword puzzles and Sudoku to jigsaw puzzles. We teach our children sorting games, helping them to categorize by numbers, color, or whatever form of order is being studied.

Whether or not we consider ourselves to be writers, we also are concerned with stories—our own or other people’s, “real” or imagined or a combination of both. This, too, is part of our need to create order. When we recount an event for an audience, we pick and choose our words, emphasize some details while dismissing others, and generally impose a pattern on what may have been random events. We appreciate the abilities of a “good story-teller” and avoid the ones who insist on dragging in every boring, irrelevant detail. Even if we never relate the “story” to another person, we tend to go over it in our minds, analyzing and polishing, until it “makes sense” to us.

Does this mean that all events are random, only seeming to be related because of our need to see connections? I don’t think so.

As a Christian, I believe strongly in the power of prayer. I believe that God answers my prayers, even those I don’t voice but that come from the yearnings of my heart. I believe He works through people, and that I may have the privilege and responsibility of being part of the answer to another's prayer. Don’t ask me how the system works—I don’t know and I leave those speculations to those whose order-imposing drive focuses on such questions. I can drive a car without being a mechanical engineer, and I can flip on a light switch without having a detailed knowledge of the electrical system. But I have heard about, or witnessed myself, too many cases of people being in the right place at the right time—sometimes as a result of a string of seemingly unrelated events—to dismiss the idea of “divine appointments” or whatever you choose to call them. I have sometimes seemed to suddenly know things I didn’t know before, heard myself say things I wasn’t expecting to say, found myself focusing on certain words or ideas from seemingly unrelated sources, that prodded me to take certain actions. I find these things happen a lot more when I have consciously opened my eyes, my mind, and my heart in a willingness to be responsive to the needs of others. When I pray that I might be a blessing to others, the opportunities appear.

To those who would see all religious belief as just another instance of man’s trying to impose order on a chaotic, uncaring universe, I make no argument with you. I’m a live-and-let-live Christian. “Everyone to their own ridiculous opinions” as my daddy used to say. You are welcome to believe as you like, if that’s what works for you. I think you’re wrong, but I also know that my world view, like everyone else’s, probably contains some flaws. It’s like the poem about the blind men and the elephant, each trying to describe the elephant from the portion he was touching, and all arguing about it.

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

More Wildlife

2010-03-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Curiouser and curiouser. Frogs in the morning, mice in the afternoon. Or at least mouse, singular. The last time we had mice in the house, I used canned foam to seal all around the pipes or hoses under the kitchen sink, since evidence in the form of droppings suggested that was their way in. Just to be on the safe side, I set a trap as well. That was months ago.

This afternoon, when we pulled out the trash can to empty it, there was a deceased mouse in the trap. I don't think it had been there too long, as there was no noticeable olfactory evidence.

What next? We've been seeing squirrels, raccoons and deer outside, but I hardly think they're going to come in. Hmmm. We haven't had a starling in the vent pipe over the kitchen stove for a while.

Early Morning Surprise

2010-03-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

I had just turned on the water, planning to take a shower, when this dark gray-brown THING leapt out of the drain area and began rocketing around the tub.

I turned off the water and jumped back. My sleep-fogged brain was telling me “mouse” because of the size and coloring, but at the same time arguing “that thing didn’t look like a mouse, and it moves like a…” and I was just getting to “frog” when I cautiously drew the shower curtain aside again and peeked in.

Our little tree frogs have chameleon characteristics—this one had been hanging out in the drain area, mimicking the color of the metal crossbars, but was already well on the way to a more frog-like green. I tried to catch it by hand, but the critter was too excited by now to hold still and I was afraid I would hurt him.

I finally got a wide-mouthed glass out of the kitchen, and a stiff plastic CD mailer out of the office—didn’t think cardboard or paper would do as well in the wet tub. He was a very pale green by then—probably the closest he could get to the ivory-colored tub.

After a couple of false starts I managed to pop the glass over without injuring the frog, slid the plastic under, and voila, bottled frog. I dumped him on the mat at the back door, where he was still sitting when I closed the door.

They tend to “freeze” when frightened, using their camouflage to avoid detection. We get them in the house occasionally, but that was the first in the tub.

I guess he got over the trauma, as he was gone when I looked out later.

Westwind is back

2010-01-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

There were rumors that the NWSFS magazine Westwind was about to make a comeback. I was delighted to find a copy in my mailbox today, and even more excited that my poem, "Trapped in a Bubble of Eternity," was on the back cover. What a delightful way to start the new year.

Page Readers Interview

2009-12-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

To hear my recorded December 7 interview on Page Readers (Blog Talk Radio) go here

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/page-readers/2009/12/07/page-readers-talks-with-janice-clark-author-of-mou

I had a good time talking with Nanci Arvisu about my books and writing in general.

Good news from the publisher: Orchard House Press tells me that The Door in the Sky is at the top of the queue for layout. I'm not sure what that translates to as far as a projected publishing date, as editor and almost-everything-else Cris is treading water as fast as she can just to keep up with day-to-day operations. But I'm confidant that they'll continue to keep their heads above water and sufficient distance ahead of the sharks, and eventually things will get better.

New Book

2009-11-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

I've finished writing book four of the Hall of Doors series. It's tentatively called The Secret Door. In this one, Sammy and her mother are going to move away from the house where Sammy has lived most of her life, away from the place from which she (with the help of the cats) has been able to "climb a moonbeam" to Princess Selena's castle. Naturally, she's upset. But Peaches the cat takes her up the moonbeam path for another adventure.

I won't give you all the details, but the story includes unicorns, as requested by granddaughter Maggie. It also includes the "wild and dangerous teddy bears" she wanted, except that these are more like bandit koalas. I did have to pass on the space aliens--I couldn't see any way to work them in:) There are some tense moments, but Sammy makes it safely home again with the possibility that she may be able to return.

For a brief synopsis of the first three books of the series, see my website at www.janiceclark.net

Catching Up

2009-11-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

Looking over my old posts, which are few and far between, I see I left out a lot of important stuff. I had mentioned Joyce, my Chinese daughter-in-law-to-be. I'm happy to report that she FINALLY (!!) got her visa in June. She and Jeff were married on the fourth of July.

Later that month, brother Richard and I traveled to Colorado to visit my daughter Sarah and family. They recently moved from Fairbanks, AK to Fort Collins, CO. We got to help out a little while Sarah was in the hospital giving birth to Winter Rose.

Also in July, Anita Donihue and I finished editing our "Bless This Home" book and sent it off to the first publisher on our list. No response yet--I'm hoping no news is good news. Anita went on to work on another book, and I've been copy-editing for her.

September included a "visiting author" appearance at Oakville Library, as well as a Christian women's retreat in Easton, WA.

In between I tended the garden, and gave away or processed for storage a lot of food. Lots of peas and green beans went in the freezer. We were blessed with an abundance of tomatoes, which I finally picked green and brought inside to finish ripening. The cupboard is full of canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato jam, and dried tomatoes. Love that dehydrator. We'll eat well this winter.

Author Interview

2009-11-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, November 13, I'll be featured in an author interview on Hank Quense's blog. http://hankquense.com/blog
Hank has a couple of books to his credit as well as many short stories, and also writes articles on writing. Feel free to pass this on to as many people as possible.

Starting over

2009-06-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

I really intended to keep up this blog, but there were always other things clamoring for attention. So I'm starting over, and will endeavor to do better.

Today I updated the home page of my writing web site and followed up with announcements on Facebook, Myspace, and LiveJournal. I think I could easily spend all my time communicating and not get anything else done. How do people manage? Maybe they think and type faster than I do.

I'm looking for suggestion on jazzing up all my sites, the better to publicize my books. Suggestions would be welcome, keeping in mind that I'm not a teenager and feel a bit intimidated by modern communication methods. I want a family-friendly site that will attract more kids and their parents.

The latest news on books: The Door in the Sky should be out next month, The Mirror Door is at the publishers, and book four in The Hall of Doors series is underway. Anita and I finished the "Bless This Home" book and we're starting to look for a publisher.

The publisher said yes!!

2008-05-09T21:20:00.001-07:00

The publisher (Windstorm Creative) got back to me in record time, with an affirmative answer. The Door in the Sky has been accepted!!! Not only that, but they want my son, fantasy artist JW Kalin, to illustrate this book as he did The Mountains of the Moon. Needless to say, I'm excited.

I won't give away all the details, but the magic door they go though this time is the one featured on the cover of The Mountains of the Moon, and they'll be traveling by dragon.

I guess I'll have to forgive them for cancelling my Christian Daily Scheduler that I worked so hard on. Publisher's are on a very tight profit margin, and the current economic trends are taking their toll. So what do I do with 365 short, uplifting thoughts for the day? I can't believe how hard it was to come up with so many, with a 30-word maximum for each. As you may have noticed, writing "short" is not my easiest mode.

Book three of The Hall of Doors is in progress, and will include a tribute to Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. I remember helping my younger sister learn her lines for a short play based on a scene from Looking Glass, and driving her nuts for years afterward, quoting the lines which I had memorized in the process of prompting her. I thought it would be fun to have Sammy and her friend Kerri in a similar situation.

In other authorly news, my future daughter-in-law who lives in China says she likes my stories, and that they are helping her to improve her understanding of English. I've been sending her a story, poem or essay nearly every day by email. And my five-year-old granddaughter in Alaska wants to have her pictures in a book, like her cousins who posed for the illustrations in The Mountains of the Moon, so her Mom is going to send me photos and I'll make her a picture book. Maybe I'll self-publish:-)

How cool is it when your kids and grandkids are also fans? I feel so blessed.

Mother's Day Poems

2008-05-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

For many years, I wrote a poem for my mom every Mother's Day. A lot of them wound up in a little work-for-hire gift book I put together for Barbour Publishing. I was supposed to be mostly compiling quotes, so I figured I might as well quote myself. Mom was drifting into the haze of Alzheimer's, but she still was proud of what she felt was "her" book.

My friend, Anita Donihue, recently asked for a copy of one poem, as she had misplaced it. She discovered several years ago, that the poem could be sung to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me," and uses it annually with her Sunday School class at Algona-Pacific Church of God in Washington. So I get my annual dose of "fifteen minute of fame." Actually, most of my Mother's Day poems have been read at least once in one church or another, and several have been published as well. Since I still hold the copyrights, I decided to share a few. Feel welcome to pass them on.

This is the one Anita wanted. She added as a chorus, "Yes, we love Mom (3 times) and Jesus loves her too."

Moms

Wife, companion, sweetheart, friend,
One on whom we all depend,
Chauffeur, laundress, cook and baker,
Casserole and cookie maker,
Seamstress, skilled in many arts,
Mending clothes and broken hearts,
Girl Scout leader, Sunday School teacher,
Confidante, advisor, preacher,
Bargain hunter, tutor, nurse,
Keeper of the family purse,
Neighbor, cousin, daughter, niece,
Making beds and making peace,
Always smiling, always giving,
What a busy life they're living,
Feeding children, dogs and cats,
How do they wear so many hats?

Janice Lewis Clark May, 2000

Actually, I think this one is my favorite.

Life: With Safety Net

Life is an ocean the sailor must cross
In a boat with threadbare sails:
Riding the billows from trough to crest,
Braving the fearsome gales.
And the waves roll up, and the waves roll down,
And the breakers roar and foam,
But the beacon light of a mother’s love
Will guide the sailor home.

Life is a journey to faraway lands,
On a road fraught with perils and care,
Where many a beckoning dead-end trail
Awaits, the unwary to snare.
And the road climbs up, and the road slides down,
Over rocks and through valleys gray,
But my mother set me upon the path
With a map to guide my way.

Life is an acrobat’s balancing act
On a narrow, raveling rope,
In a gusty wind, with slippery shoes,
And a tattered net for hope.
And the rope sways left, and the rope sways right,
And the watchers hoot and call,
But my mother’s waiting with open arms
To catch me if I fall.

Though the sea is wide, and the road is long,
And the dancing tightrope sways,
Still I carry inside my mother’s song,
That will last me all my days.

Janice Lewis Clark, 2001

This is my most requested, and a favorite for baby showers:

Motherhood

Smiles and dimples, sweet delights;
Diapers, teething, sleepless nights.

Creeping, crawling, growing strong;
Into everything ere long.

Toddling, tripping down the halls;
Crayon murals on the walls.

“Mama”, “Papa”, happy laughter;
“No”, “I hate you” follows after.

Bedtime stories, magic rings;
Skinned-up knees from slides and swings.

Halfway grown and off to school;
Teacher’s smart but Mom’s a fool.

Race through lessons, out the doors;
Messy room and half-done chores.

Plans and day-dreams, fits and starts;
Broken bones and broken hearts.

Hitch your wagon to a star;
Need new clothes, some cash, the car.

Graduation, running wild;
All grown up but still a child.

Taste a bit of life and then,
Funny thing, Mom’s smart again.

It’s a calling like no other;
What a joy to be a mother!

Janice Lewis Clark 1996

One more for now, another popular one:

Laundry Musings

Little boys' pockets, full of odd things:
Bubble gum wrappers and butterfly wings
Nails, screws, and washers, a Crackerjack ring,
Pencils and pebbles and pieces of string.

The whole world is changing, each day something new
Cell phones and faxes and microwave stew,
Video movies and games on the set;
Grandma sends e-mail and cruises the net.

Satellites orbit, the shuttle's routine.
Holograms shimmer from each magazine.
Lasers for surgery, robot-built cars,
Telecommuting and photos from mars.

Washers and dryers grow more automatic;
Glass fiber lines give us phones with less static.
Life is confusing, amusing but strange.
Isn't it grand that some things never change.

Little boys' pockets, full of odd things:
Bubble gum wrappers and butterfly wings
Nails, screws, and washers, a Crackerjack ring,
Pencils and pebbles and pieces of string.

Janice Lewis Clark 1998

Enough for now. It's time to tend to other chores. I finally finished my latest review for The Fix, an anthology called The Return of the Sword. I also finished tweaking the manuscript for The Door in the Sky, which is the sequel to The Mountains of the Moon for the Hall of Doors series. Now I need to write a couple of critiques for Critters and then get back to book three for the series. Maybe I'll steal a few moments to get out and enjoy the rare sunshine.

Technology is amazing

2008-05-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Back in the early 70s, I was learning to program with a computer language called RPG2, I think. It's probably a dead language now. We used it to write programs for a computer that ran on punched cards and probably had less computing capacity than most calculators today.

I had been hired by a steel mill as a keypuncher--equivalent to a data entry clerk. I hated keypunching, but it was a skill I'd picked up, and I was desperate for a job. Running the computer and writing little programs for my friend in the bookkeeping department was fun. Then we had a management shift, and I was told in no uncertain terms that I was not to do any programming, not to so much as discuss programming with anyone, even after hours, and was to sit at that keypunch eight hours a day like a good little robot. So I shifted positions as soon as I could, and wound up being a reinforcing steel detailer for about thirty years. I had a couple of other opportunities over the years to get back into working with computers, but there was always a good reason to do something else. I did finally have to learn CAD (computer assisted drafting) but never got back to programming.

So I'm not a total Luddite, but not a techie either. PCs and the Internet just blow me away. I've been a science fiction fan most of my life, but the modern computers available to the average person can do things I never even dreamed of in my younger years.

Now I find myself having an almost-daily slow-moving conversation with my oldest son's fiance in China, via email. I've already met her face-to-face on Skype, but the time difference is an issue. I can exchange pictures with my daughter in Alaska, participate in a couple of international writing workshops, and even keep in touch with an eighty-year-old cousin without waiting on the post office. I can research almost any subject (keeping in mind that some sources are unreliable). I can send manuscripts to my publisher instantly via email (but I still have to wait forever for a response) or print out labels with postage to send packages by "snail mail." I can put together professional-looking little books for my grandchildren.

Of course, the techno-savvy do far more than I do, but I don't expect to catch up with my grandkids, for instance. You can teach an old dog new tricks, but the learning curve's a bit longer, and I'm content with my level of participation in the information age. My current project is to persuade my youngest son to become a computer repairman, so he can keep my computer in good shape:-)

If winter comes...

2008-04-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

...can spring be far behind? Oh yes, definitely. I remind myself that Western Washington is blessed with a mild climate, that we are so much better off weatherwise than many people, including my daughter in Fairbanks, Alaska. But still, here we are half-way through April, and they're predicting snow this weekend. Many local people have warned me not to plant before May 1, and I'm happy I took their advice.

Oh, there are plenty of signs of spring. The trees are blossoming and putting out new leaves, and the daffodils and hyacinths in my front yard seem to perk up again after each frost. And of course the neighborhood deer are out nibbling everything in sight.

Speaking of deer, we've decided that the only way to protect the garden and our baby fruit trees is with eight foot fences. We found they jump six feet easily, when there are tasty green beans or baby apples on the other side. Son Jon is adding poles and stringing wire to get our protection high enough. Maybe we'll get to eat a few apples and cherries this year.

The soil here is rocky, mostly glacial gravel, so not conducive to growing root vegetables. Oddly enough, the ubiquitous moles plow through it with impunity. The plan to solve both problems is to make raised beds--big wooden boxes with chicken wire on the bottoms. We're setting the boxes in the orchard, between the trees. I have a pretty good pile of compost going, and will fill in with purchased topsoil. It seems a lot of time and money to invest for a few vegetables, but I'm hoping that once the system is in place, it can be easily maintained.

I'm already dreaming of crisp cucumbers and vine-ripened tomatoes.

Second Graders are terrific people.

2008-04-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

What an ego trip!! I made my first classroom visit last Thursday, April 10. The kids treated me like visiting royalty, and didn't seem to want me to leave. In fact, I spent so much time in the first classroom that I had to re-schedule the second visit I had planned for that day. After visiting a second classroom Monday and a third today, I can conclude that the teachers in the Rochester (WA) Primary School are doing a great job. The children were polite and attentive, asked intelligent questions, and were in general a delight to talk to.

These children are already learning the basics of writing a story or other composition, as well as becoming critical readers. They're full of ideas and enthusiasm. I can only hope that their great beginning will continue through their school years.

Do it scared

2008-04-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

As you know, if you've visited my web page at www.janiceclark.net, I'm an author currently working on a children's chapter book series, The Hall of Doors. The books are about a little girl (Sammy) who follows her cat (BB, for Princess Buttermilk Biscuit) up a moonbeam to a magical world. Book one, The Mountains of the Moon, is in print, and book two, The Door in the Sky, will go to the publisher shortly.

I have a wonderful online critiquing group called Critters (www.critique.org) that provides me with lots of feedback on a work in progress, but from an adult viewpoint. Wanting to get a child's-eye-view as well, I enlisted the aid of a local school. So today, I get to play "visiting author" in a couple of second grade classrooms. That might not seem like a big deal to some people, but for a shy, reclusive introvert the whole process has been fraught with anxiety. I only managed to set it up by taking the advice of my character, Sammy. When you decide something needs to be done, don't sit around thinking about it, just do it, and do it scared if you have to.

Maybe it will help if I think of it as just a practice run. I'll let you know how it turns out.

An oldie but goody?

2008-04-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

When I set up my personal web page, with much help from daughter-in-law Patty, I intended to start blogging regularly. Needless to say, life got in the way. Besides, I didn't like the way the blog pushed my Amazon hot buttons out of sight on the page. No doubt that's an easy thing to fix, for those who know what they're doing (a category which definitely does not include me), but I decided to simply move that entry to this site instead. So here is my dissertation on sand tables, dish gardens, and other points of possible interest, originally posted Friday, September 7, 2007 at www.janiceclark.net.

Fun stuff for kids, or grownups who still are kids inside

The evolution of dish gardens--Art project, therapeutic play, spiritual aid, or maybe all three…

Nearly six decades ago, my mom brought home a sand table the church didn’t need any more. It rapidly became a magnet for all the kids in the neighborhood. We subdivided it into individual ‘building lots’ with the understanding that we each kept within our own boundaries, unless invited by a neighbor to share a project. We spent many happy hours building our own private worlds, adding accessories such as rocks, twigs, leaves and flowers. Some built raceways for tiny cars; others made mountain or beach scenes or planted fantasy gardens. It was day-dreaming made visual.

Some years past that time, an artistic aunt showed me a miniature ‘bonsai’ tree she had made. She embedded a piece of twisty manzanita in plaster in a little Japanese bowl, sprinkled the plaster with rock salt to simulate gravel, and glued tufts of plastic pine needles to the branch tips. I wanted to make one of my own, and even went so far as to accumulate the materials, but never followed through.

In many years of teaching Sunday School off and on, I had worked up several simple craft projects that would adjust to almost any age group. One, sometimes used for such occasions as Mother’s Day, usually consisted of a bouquet of artificial flowers planted in playdough in a small container, such as a detergent bottle cap. When my daughter joined Girl Scouts and I was asked to lead a craft project, I combined all of the above and we made dish gardens. I furnished containers (mostly margarine tubs), lots of home-made playdough, and an assortment of materials: twigs, rocks, shells, buttons, bottle caps, plastic flowers and greenery, fir and alder cones, aluminum foil, and other odds and ends. I explained the basic concept: choose what you want from the materials provided and make a miniature version of some special place, real or imagined. Then I stood back and left them to their own imaginations. The results were varied and delightful.

One little girl made the heart-breaking pronouncement, “I’m not creative.”

Had her home life or school already stifled her natural creativity at so early an age? I told her, “Of course you’re creative. Maybe you just haven’t been allowed to make a mess. It’s okay if we make a mess here, because we’ll clean it up afterwards. Now just imagine you’re really tiny, and this dish is part of your world. How would you like it to look? It can be anything you want.”

When she proudly showed me her beautiful little garden, complete with a small pebble path and flower beds, I felt like I’d struck a blow for humanity. Not creative indeed!! What sort of dead-from-the-neck-up stodgy adult would tell a child such nonsense?

A few years ago, my friend Anita asked me to substitute in her Sunday School class. I explained to her that I had mostly worked with mixed-age classes, and found the best teaching technique for me was to get their hands busy and then sneak in the lesson. She was okay with that, so we made dish gardens, but with a spiritual twist. We talked about prayer and meditation, and I asked the kids to think of a place where they felt safe and happy, somewhere they could feel closer to God. I told them that when they had problems, when they were having a bad day, they could make things better by closing their eyes, imagining that special place, and pretending they were there for the moment, like a mini-vacation. While they were there, they could talk to God about whatever was bothering them, and He would listen. They could also tell Him “Thank you” for all the good things in their lives.

Special places and memories varied from a fishing trip with Dad to a spot at the beach to their own back yard—or the yard they wished to have. Even the youngest seemed to understand the concept of making a visual representation to help them “be there.” Kids have a special knack for entering into imaginative play. Working along with them, I made an image of a spot at Double K Ranch where I had gone on a women’s retreat, and told them what a special time that had been for me. They all shared their stories as well

Just recently, Anita asked me to do dish gardens again, but with the women’s group she leads. They had just as much fun as the kids, and the ‘play’ atmosphere helped them to open up and share their stories. I showed them the little garden I had made with the kids, which had been to California and back with me, and had helped anchor me as I dealt with my mother’s Alzheimer’s and all the challenges of being so far from my children and grandchildren. One lady made a representation of her baptism in the Jordan River, which was obviously a deep emotional experience for her. She said later that explaining the image to her husband had also helped her communicate her feelings to him.

All that from a little playdough and odds and ends. Try it.

The time has come, the walrus said...

2008-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

...to talk of many things, such as why am I blogging and why did choose the dragon title? Tea With the Black Dragon is actually the title of a book by R.A. MacAvoy, featuring a Chinese dragon who takes on human form. I've always been intrigued by dragons, and like the thought of being able to chat with one. I intend this blog to be a collection of my thoughts and experiences, such as one might share over tea with a friend. On the other hand, I do have ulterior motives, such as hopefully promoting my writing.

I had intended to start a blog on the web page my daughter-in-law created for me, but everyone tells me this is the place to be seen, so here I am. Now if I can just get myself motivated enough to keep it up...