Okay… Who knows Washington?

I have a favor to ask…

We’ll be taking a family vacation soon, staying in Olympia, but also spending time in Seattle.  If anyone knows the area, I’d love suggestions about specific places to go — great beaches for tide pools, hiking trails, restaurants, etc.  We like to be outdoors better than indoors, and we love all kinds of food but especially Dim Sum, Thai, Italian, and big breakfasts.  And ice cream.  Of course.

Any thoughts??  Thanks!

Now it feels real

I left home just after 4:30 yesterday morning to catch a train into Manhattan on one of the muggiest, steamiest days of the year. 

Whatever would possess me to leave the lake on such a day?

I had a noon lunch date and editorial meeting with my editor for Marty McGuire, Frog Princess.  I was an hour early because I fully expected to get lost  and end up wandering around Brooklyn when I changed trains on the subway.  I didn’t, though, which left me some time to explore the neighborhood and the Scholastic Store.  I’m sure the sales people thought I was a little crazy because I couldn’t stop smiling, looking at so many of my favorite books and imagining Marty among them in 2010.

I recognized my new editor as soon as she came into the lobby (Google Image Search is a many splendored thing).  She is as marvelous in person as I knew she’d be, and she has great ideas for how to make Marty a stronger, funnier story.  We agreed on all the most important issues — character development, plot elements, and dessert.

They called this gooey wonder S’mores.  It was a graham cracker with a brownie on top and a torched marshmallow on top of that.  That’s homemade chocolate malt ice cream on the side.  I traveled home high on sugar and book talk and arrived back on Lake Champlain well after midnight a very tired but very happy writer.

Pilgrimage

I went to Ripton, VT yesterday for research in the latest revision of my MG novel.  It’s currently titled MAPLE GIRL but needs a new title (but that’s a whole ‘nother story). 

What’s in Ripton?   There’s a country store that still sells penny candy.  There’s Robert Frost’s summer cottage, which was in the news recently when kids broke in and trashed it during a party. And not too far away, there’s a short trail through a forest and blueberry fields – the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail

I’m trying out a scene where my MC comes here with her mother and grandmother collecting leaves for a school project.  There are whispers of Frost throughout the novel, but right now, my MC needs a place where she can understand her mom and grandmother a little better.  She also has to collect a whole bunch of leaves — fast — so she doesn’t miss her deadline.

I’ve hiked this trail before, but not recently enough to remember the kinds of tiny details that make writing real — the electric blue damselfly, the feel of sap stuck on your skin after you touch a pine bough.  And I wanted to read the poems again.

The Frost trail has short poems and quotes from his work posted all along the walkway, in places that relate to the poems.  This was one of my favorites, near a lush marsh buzzing with dragonflies.

And this one…posted at the entrance to a bridge with dark woods on the other side.

Here’s the reason my MC wanted to come here…

The trees are already identified for her, so she doesn’t have to use her leaf key.

While I was walking the path, I kept a lookout for someplace where my MC might observe her mom and grandmother from a bit of a distance. Then it appeared in front me – the perfect climbing tree!  Of course, I had to climb it in the name of research.

There was an amazing, amazing view from the top, and best of all, I discovered that my MC could duck behind a branch to see and hear people passing on the trail below.

When I climbed down and rounded a bend in the trail, I found another well-placed quote from a Frost poem.

Heaven gives its glimpses onto to those not in position to look too close.
                                                          ~from “A Passing Glance”

I got home last night more than ready to tackle my new chapter. I’m back to manuscript, pen, keyboard & screen revisions today but with visions of mountains and butterflies to carry me through.
 
The research for this novel has fed me in more ways than one.  Last year when I was drafting it, I had to make and eat three batches of Italian wedding cookies before I got one right.  (Definitely more pleasant than getting stung by a bee, which is research

-style!) 

What about you?  What wonderful or painful things have you done while researching a book?

My Firecracker Neighborhood

When my husband and I first looked at a house in our neighborhood fourteen years ago, it wasn’t the actual house that convinced us to make an offer.  It was the sense of community, embodied in events like this…

On  Independence Day, every kid in the neighborhood, plus lots of grandchildren on vacation, gather at the beach for the annual Fourth of July Bike Parade.  It’s serious business, led by a fire truck blaring “Stars and Stripes Forever” through the bullhorn.

Kids are inducted in to the festivities at a very young age.

And this part always cracks me up…  Neighbors without kids come outside with their morning coffee, line the parade route with lawn chairs, wave, and applaud when the kids ride by. 

 has posted a full list of bloggers posting pictures of their home towns this week, so stop by her blog for more flags & fireworks.

Wherever you are, I hope your Independence Day was full of parades and sparklers, too!

Crab Island

My photo today is the island I see off my back deck, and though I’ve posted photos of it before, I don’t think I’ve ever shared its story.

This is Crab Island, one of my family’s favorite places to picnic on the rocks and check out fossils.  It’s about a mile by kayak in summer or cross country skis in winter, and it’s one of the most historical spots on Lake Champlain.

Crab Island was a hospital during the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 — part of the War of 1812.  Before the September 11th battle, hundreds of sick soldiers were cared for here.  On the eve of the battle, they were moved to Burlington, and after the battle, Crab Island became a graveyard for both British and American troops who were reportedly buried together in trenches on the north end of the island.  A simple monument honors the fallen, though the graves remain unmarked and thankfully, undisturbed.

Be sure to check out

‘s journal for a full list of bloggers posting photographs of their hometowns this week.   I’ll be posting an extra-special photo of my neighborhood’s Fourth of July tradition tomorrow.

And thank you so much for all the birthday wishes!   Did you know that Elizabeth Bunce, author of the fabulous A Curse Dark As Gold,  is a July 3rd girl, too?    You can head over to her LJ (

), send along good wishes, and pick up  her recipe for peanut butter cake while you’re at it.

Near Where I Live

It’s not exactly the backyard, but I think I’m staying within the spirit of

‘s challenge to post a photograph of home every day this week.  Today, we drove with some friends to a trailhead along Route 86 in the Adirondacks and hiked 1.2 miles into the woods.  Here’s what we found at the end of the trail.

Copperas Pond is one of our favorite swimming holes for a few reasons.  Because of the climb to get there, it’s rarely crowded.  There are huge rocks that you can jump from, into cool, deep water below.  And there are giant tadpoles and bullfrogs galore.

My main character in Marty McGuire, Frog Princess would have loved it.

Where I Live (along with some ducks)

I’m sharing another photo from the backyard today.  About a week ago, we noticed that a mother duck had moved into a new nest on top of the neighbor’s sea wall.  She’s hard to see, but she’s there, tucked in the plants behind an owl decoy meant to scare off seagulls.

Today, she finally left the nest long enough for me to take a peek.

We’ll be watching quietly and waiting these next few weeks.  I’ll keep you posted!