Everything is Research

So, you may be wondering…doesn’t she do anything but sit on the porch and count birds? Well, yes, she does. It’s called research.

In my work in progress, A Trick of the Light, the protagonist (not the heroine; this one’s straight fiction and not a romance) Julia, has left her childhood home and moved into an abandoned barn. Julia is thirteen years old. It’s fall in Kentucky. The landscape is pretty pitiful, as is her life, and there’s not a lot of beauty to describe. Her fall and winter will be, stylistically, pretty bland. She’s learning the lessons of survival (with a little help from her friends) and doing a lot of growing up. 

What I’m doing now is soaking up spring for the time when I start to write about it. Spring in Kentucky is glorious. Spring in Kentucky in the woods is breath-taking. Spring for Julia (all four of the springs she spends in the barn) will be life affirming. Summer will be hot. Her second fall and winter will mimic the first, but she’ll have the lessons of the year before to fall back on, and then, once again, it will be glorious spring.

For now, my “research” includes these activities and sightings:

I planted some Creeping Phlox seeds on the 15th and had seedlings on the 21st. I took this photo last night.

Tiny, huh?  Imagine what they'll look like in a month.

One of the many squirrels populating my woods is sprawled across the peaked roof of a feeder, sunning. I guess they have to occasionally take a break to digest. I think one of them is pregnant. Yippee, more squirrels.

There’s been a large yellow butterfly, a Cloudless Sulphur, flying around the yard for the past week. Nothing is blooming around here so I don’t know what they’re eating. I put the Hummingbird feeder out on Sunday. Last weekend (Friday through Monday, actually) was the Hummingbird count in Florida. My count was zero, but my hopes were high. Sometimes you have to have a feeder out for a long time before the hummers notice you. On my next trip to the home store I’ll be looking for firecracker plants and hibiscus. Red. Hummers love red.

And here come the Titmice, loud and raucous. The squirrels are wising up and vacate the feeders before the onslaught. The Cardinals are also catching on to the ability of the Titmice to temporarily clear the room. They fly in with the Titmice and snatch a seed or two while the squirrels are cringing up in the branches. There is a fledgling titmouse who can land on the feeder but hasn’t yet figured out how to navigate its way onto the ant-trap above the hummer feeder, now filled with water and serving as a water station. Did you know a nesting Titmouse will hiss like a snake when disturbed? Ah, well, I digress.

Here's a Cardinal who's stopped by for a drink:

Did you know that Cardinals generally stay up about half an hour later than squirrels?  And that they are often the first birds active at dawn?  When seed is low at the end of the day I wait until the squirrels have gone to bed, then fill for the late diners and early risers.  Julia will discover this in A Trick of the Light as she learns the rhythms of the woods where she lives.

The bottom line? Everything is research.

Happy writing (and researching)!

On The Road

I'm in Kentucky this week, visiting family, breaking in a new writing partner and searching out some old haunts.

Who's the new writing partner? His name is Inky and he's an adorable little wildman. Here he is, thinking up new plot lines:

Inky spends a LOT of time thinking up new plot lines.

I took a side trip to Bernheim Arboretum today. Bernheim is probably the most beautiful place on earth, but don't tell anybody. I want to keep it to myself.

Here's Inky in his little doggy house when I got back:

He was a very good dog while I was gone. He got a Milk Bone dog biscuit as a reward. Later he helped me fill bird feeders and water plants. Then he tore a paper towel into a million pieces and let me pick up the pieces. VERY good dog.

Bernheim Forest, where I went hiking, is in Bullitt County, Kentucky, about fifteen miles from historic Bardstown. Since I was there last they've built a new Visitor Center. It's a sustainable, certified green building, almost all windows, tucked in to a wooded area and looks like it popped right out of the ground.

Here's the beginning point of my favorite trail, Rock Run.

Rock Run loops through the forest between trees and around rocks. There's a gully that runs down the middle of the loop, which, luckily wasn't too wet. Sometimes, if I don't have on my hip waders, I have to turn around and go back. Not so today. It was a wonderful walk, mostly.

Here is a picture of the place where I fell the first time:

I didn't bother to take a picture of the place where I fell the second time.

And except for seeing the biggest horsefly I have ever seen in my life (when I heard it coming I thought it was a helicopter) I didn't see any other wildlife.

I hated to leave, but time was awastin' and critters were awaitin'. My last view was of these pink Black-eyed Susans. Don't have anything like this in the yard back in Florida.

Happy hiking.