Devon Monk
Summer Blooms
My neighbor across the street wants flowers blooming in her front yard from spring until the end of summer. To do so, she’s planted dozens of tulips, daffodil, California poppies, wildflowers, and other random bloomers.
Her yard is bright and colorful for months.
Autumn is creeping in, though—just the breath of it cooling the breeze and tempering the sunshiny days. Her flowers have done their job spectacularly, but now their colors have faded.
I love autumn, I do. But seeing her yard go fallow made me realize summer went by far too quickly. I stood at my gate wondering if I had enjoyed the sun enough. Had I drank lemonade, dipped my feet into lakes, rivers, oceans? Had I taken time to run through a sprinkler, sleep outside beneath a wide starry sky, told the people I love just how much I love them as we laughed and sang old songs?
Had I savored it enough, the sweet summer-ness of summer?
I’m happy to say YES! I did all those things! Summer was wonderful. I mean, Life has still been Life, with happy days and really sad days, hard things and joys. But time moves us all forward, and the seasons are turning once again.
I think this autumn I’ll take a hint from my neighbor. I have buckets of daffodil, iris, and tulip bulbs down in the shed. Maybe it’s time to plant them, a small hope—a promise—of more sweet summers to come.
Categories: Authors
World Con Day 1
Worldcon was a very fun experience for me this year! Here I am on day 1, waiting in the registration line. Even though I arrived just after noon on Wednesday, it took an hour for me to make it to the front of the line and there were even more people arriving behind me.
I headed straight to the dealers’ room, and was happily shopping all the tables (So Many books and authors present!) when I heard a familiar voice. Who should I see but…
the fabulous, amazing author (and terrific friend!) Nina Kiriki Hoffman!! We strolled more of the dealers room together and eventually went out for a bowl of chowder at Pike Place Chowder.
I’d just had a bowl of Mo’s Chowder a few days before, and sorry, Mo’s, Pike Place Chowder was the superior bowl.
I can’t quite remember the order of things but eventually Nina and I ended up going to Martha Wells Q&A session:
I thought it was a wonderful Q&A, and that Martha had thoughtful, interesting comments about her writing process, what she’s writing next, and even a bit of what she would take away from the Murderbot show and possibly use in her upcoming work (it’s the costuming, and how the people from Preservation leave obvious patches on their clothing to acknowledge both injuries and recovery.)
I finally caught up with my fabulous roommate (and writer friend) Diana Pharaoh Francis by the evening and if I remember right, we talked for hours and called it a day.
Categories: Authors
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