Soon in Paperback

"Hurricane Warning", one of my little poetry books, will soon be available in a print edition.  It's taking a little longer than expected because of some changes in the interior design, but it should be available in early July.  

I love poetry!  Well, as a genre.  Obviously I can't love all poetry. I know there are a lot of people who are afraid of poetry.  If you are one of them, don't be.  Come on in; the water's fine!  I will, of course, let you know when "Hurricane Warning" is out in paperback. Of course, you can always buy it in ebook.

On Sale Right Now!

"A Changed World" is on sale right now for only 99 cents!  http://tinyurl.com/qz39o4u
Check it out at Amazon!

Sale Soon!

Coming very soon: a sale on "A Changed World" in kindle format only.  The details are set up yet but stay tuned. http://tinyurl.com/m9ego8l

The Gift

I woke up this morning and staggered out of bed in the half-light. I was barefoot and headed for the bathroom. There was something soft and lumpy under my left foot.  A cat toy, I thought, but it didn't feel right.  So I looked.  By now, of course you may have guessed. It was a small mouse, very dead. My cats do not go out to hunt, but we live in an old farmhouse and sometimes the mice come in; more fool they. The Lady is a mighty hunter.

I squeaked with surprise, probably not unlike the poor mouse, and almost lost my balance.

"Mow!" said the Lady, from her spot on the nearby cat condo.

"Yes," said I,"of course. Thank you so very much!"  I noticed that the ears had been chewed off the mouse, but naturally I didn't mention it; it seemed rude. One should always be courteous when a cat gives a present.

"I will eat it in the bathroom," I said.

I picked up the mouse with a tissue and proceeded to the bathroom, where I buried the mouse at sea.

Saturday at the library

I had a really nice time last Saturday at the Newport Public Library's Festival of Five, with four other New England authors.  I got to meet Tova Mirvis, Julie Wu, Nora Hall and Susan Reynolds.  I was so nervous going in but I didn't need to be.  These women are a lot of fun to talk to, and our facilitator, Mary Barrett, did a wonderful job.  We got to toss around questions from Mary and also from people in the audience.  I even got to mention my friend Marcella Burnard's newest book.

And I discovered something.  Anyone who lives in the vicinity of Newport, Rhode Island, heads up: the library has a book store.  A used book store where they sell extra copies and also donated books.  Lots of books.  For cheap. I have to go back there.

A festival! With books!

This Saturday, May 3, I will be at the Newport Public Library in Newport, Rhode Island.  It's their second annual Festival of Five. All five of us are women authors from New England.  I'm honored to be invited.  I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do or say but hey, it should be fun.  If you are in the neighborhood, stop by at 2 PM.  I understand there will be some books for sale!
http://www.newportlibraryri.org/npl/

Of birds and squirrels

At first it was a war.  At least, that's how I perceived it.  I had a suet feeder hung out for the birds.  The squirrels would climb up there and chase the birds away, eat the suet, and then throw the feeder to the ground.  Then they would drag the feeder off into the bushes and take it apart.  Yes, they really did, and on more than one occasion.

Needless to say, I got tired of retrieving the feeder and reassembling it.  I was not happy that the squirrels were chasing off the woodpeckers but I wanted the squirrels to be fed, too, so I put out food on the ground for the squirrels.  The birds ate that more than the squirrels did. 

I decided all would be well if I could keep the squirrels off the bird feeder.  Then the birds would eat from the feeder and the squirrels would eat on the ground.  I put spinners made of old plastic milk bottles on the pole for the bird feeder.  They did discourage the squirrels but my husband thought they were ugly.  He had a point, so I removed them.  Here's an example, with a red-headed woodpecker and a downy.

I tried putting hot sauce and pepper on the suet.  I read that birds don't mind that but squirrels do.  Sure enough, one of the squirrels ate some peppered suet and sat on the feeder pole with his mouth hanging open.  I felt terrible.  And it didn't work for long.  The squirrels realized the hot stuff was only a coating, which they could scrape off.

All of this made me think (and about time, you might say). What I really disliked about everyone eating from the bird feeder was that the feeder would get dumped on the ground and dragged into the bushes.  Aha!  I got some safety wire and wired the feeder so it would stay closed.  And I reinforced the hanger.

It worked.  At least so far the feeder has not gone walkabout.  Birds and squirrels can eat, no problem.  But there is a new development.  Grackles have discovered the feeder.  And grackles, apparently, can be bullies.  They are iridescently beautiful but they chase away other birds and even squirrels.  

The grackles won't let me take their picture so I borrowed these from the public domain, 10000birds.com.

I guess it's always something.