Back again!

Here's last week's excuse:

Gardening is under way, and not a minute too soon. Of course, all the hefting and hauling has wreaked havoc on my unhappy knee, which already had havoc wreaked upon it walking around England. Last week the orthopod pumped out a lot of fluid and pumped in corisone, but it still looks like one of those pale squashes with the protuberances. (See how cleverly I brought the topic back around to gardening?)

Other more joyful rites of spring:

1. Violets! I brought something like five plants up from my mother's garden in Massachusetts about 12 years ago, and now they're EVerywhere. I love the way they crept out under the step.

2. Boat launchings! This one took place Saturday morning. A friend of ours was building the boat in his garage for 13 years (his wife says 14) and it's stunning. I wish I'd taken a close-up of the woodwork, which is masterful. But I get self-conscious taking pictures at events like this because eveyone assumes I'm shooting for The Ellsworth American, which I hardly ever am these days. Bad excuse, I know.



3. Graduation! Possibly as a hand-me-down from the days when you assumed you might not bother making it though high school, elementary schools around here have elaborate graduation ceremonies for those leaving 8th grade and heading to high school. Our town's is particularly impressive because each graduate has to make a speech. This year's six graduates talked about individuality. One girl, who happens to be in my writers' group, spoke frankly and cheerfully about what she'd learned from being a social outcast. Hard to do without sounding bitter or self-pitying, but she pulled it off. Good for her.

The kids also hand out flowers to anyone who's helped along the way, mostly parents and teachers but also others in the audience. I got a white carnation from one of my writers, which was a big thrill.

While you're wandering about on-line, you might want to check out the latest 2k8 contest, which offers 2k8 books as prizes. (If I'd been smart, I would have directed you to my agent Kate Schafer Testerman's blog a week or so ago, when she was offering an advance reader's copy of The Unnameables as a prize. I'll be doing the same eventually, but first I want to establish a little more rythm to this blog. Like, more than one post every two weeks.)

Also, Daphne Grab, author of Alive and Well in Prague, New York, is the featured guest on the 2k8 blog. Go Daphne!