Nostalgia and anticipation

My favorite coffee mug in my current office. So unpredictable, the things we love.

Astute readers of this blog will already guess (by the title of this post) that yes, Lesley is still out of town and Laura is at it again. Hence, no blog posting last week (I was very, very busy) and this week’s obscurely poetic title. You do not suffer alone, we all miss Lesley when she goes off meditating and yoga-ing and such. Argh. In warm and sunny places no less. Leaving us here with dirty, melting mountains of snow and ice. On May 1st. I am not bitter. Cranky, but not bitter.

Then, as I was making my coffee I became aware (this is where my teenager usually says something piercing like “deep, mamma, deep”) that I wasn’t exactly cranky. It was something less concrete…restless (OK, it is sort of spring)…eager (yes, I’m getting a new office for my design studio next week and can barely sit still in my current, cluttered space)…but that doesn’t quite hit the mark…ah, ha (that’s my inspired voice inside my head at which point my teenager usually just leaves the room) I’m anticipating my nostalgia for my present office!

Leave it to a writer to over-analyse a simple hunger pang in the morning.

–Laura

So, April is just like March

“Willow Wisp Cottage” aka the old post office in Copper Harbor.

Mudminnow’s often”silent” partner–by which I mean she steadfastly refuses to blog (howdy Lloyd)–occasionally lends me the use of this adorable little yellow house in Copper Harbor so that I can clear my head of the usual pressures of book design, small press publishing, teaching, and parenting long enough to remember that I set out in life to write poetry.

I spent a weekend reading and writing without interruption here in March when the snow was so deep I couldn’t find trails without snow shoes. And just last weekend spent another two days when the only change in the landscape was that I could sometimes find bare pavement to walk on. All the more reason to stay inside and write.

So today is just a small thank you for all those unsung patrons out there who help artists be artists in whatever ways they can, large or small.

Here is my suggested list, just in case you want to enter the ranks of patron but don’t have an entire cottage to lend someone:

1. Do not mock (this includes that slightly surprised look when you hear for the first time that your sibling, child, spouse, friend, etc. is writing).

2. Do not interrupt. Yes I know it was just to pop your head in and say good morning or how’s it going but that’s how the train of thought gets derailed.

3. Do not insist on reading something before it is ready to be read (only the writer will decide this).

4. When in doubt about how to characterize what your particular artist is up to don’t try. This is the “silence is golden” rule of art patronage.

5. And when your artist does attempt to share something of what they’ve been pouring their poor heart and soul into (not always successfully) listen closely enough to make an intelligent comment. And false praise is never good, but encouragement is always welcome.

There, pretty simple really. Off you go…

–Laura

Spring has sprung…indoors at least.

One lone bean sprouts in my makeshift indoor garden.

There are still huge mountains of snow in my yard, I can’t even see my propane tank in the backyard let alone my wrecked garden bed, but lookie here…I’ve got sprouts in my dining room window! Not quite as exciting as bald eagles on the beach…but I’m happy.

I’m also always optimistic that this will be the year my little organic garden started from seeds in my window (and later planted in my backyard raised bed and/or in my village’s community garden) will actually be successful. The growing season this far north is usually pretty short but the sun is intense and with a little technology on my side like a hoop house over my raised bed this year maybe I’ll finally get a few tomatoes and even a butternut squash. I live in hope.

In the meantime, the other growing season for Mudminnow is our next book and here’s a sneak peek at the latest version of the cover…

Barb Flanagin’s beautiful illustration for the cover of One Starry Night.

–Laura