Have You Had Your Free-Range Egg Today?
An eyeblink. Setember to December. The silence on this blog.
Too long. Time to dust it off and put on some writing music. Fill you in on what has been happening.
We've had an exceptional growing year. My root cellar is full of jars of tomato sauce, jams (strawberry, blueberry, apricot, peach, raspberry),
verde sauce, sweet pepper sauce,
pickles, applesauce and so on. Freezers full of fresh veggies.
Exceptional year for tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, garlic, peppers sweet to hot-- all kinds, tomatillos, eggplant, cabbage (purple and green), butternut squash, acorn, green beans, dry beans (which I still have to shuck!) pumpkin, zucchini, yellow squash; not so good for cauliflower or broccoli, onions (fair). We're in good shape, though.
Our Thanksgiving meal was all farm produced, with exception of wine and beer. It was quite a moment for all of us gathered round, realizing that we did it. We had a big gang of family here. Such fun.
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On November 14, 2015, I received a Big Pencil Award from Writers & Books, for Lifetime Achievement. My family and friends were at the award's ceremony. It was a wonderful evening. My sister Karen made me a pencil tiara, which is so fantastic! It sparkles in my silver hair!
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On November 21, 2015 at Writers and Book, we celebrated the life and writing of friend and mentor Jusith Kitchen, and the new CNF anthology Close Encounters edited by Judith Kitchen and Dinah Lenney. It was an evening of beautiful readings by Sonja Livingston, Bill Capossere, Alicia Hoffman, Carol McMahon, Jenny Lloyd, Monica Gilligan, Bruce Bennett and me. I am grateful to all of these fine writers for saying "yes" to participating in this event and making it happen seamlessly. To Joe Flaherty and Al Abonado for giving us the space to celebrate and ordering the anthology. To everyone who came to be there and listen and remember Judith. It's so hard to believe that a year has passed since she left us physically, but her spirit and energy is everywhere. I share her words daily with my students. She is in my thoughts, always.
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This semester may be busiest yet. I have a 147 students, all doing a significant amount of writing. I have been keeping up with my usual 7-10 day turnaround on papers (critical and creative). It's been challenging to say the least. I have a World Lit class with 43 students, who love to read! Somehow, this class has been mostly discussion based. They have been such a gift, in so many ways, and a majority are freshmen, so they will only get better and better and better. I hope I'll get a chance to work with all of them again.
Actually, all of my classes have been a joy. I raise my cup of coffee to them all!
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