Day: January 22, 2011

There’s a great deal of talk about the nature of this winter, and today some attention-getting temperatures hit the farm  – well below zero, and my fingers hurt just to go outside. Made my walk up the hill, though. Oddly, all the neighbors say this is what every winter used to be like, almost every year, and many of them feel like an old friend has returned. This one has some bite.

The Library Book tour starts tomorrow in Granville, N.Y., the Pember Library at 2 p.m, and then Monday morning, we head for Cobleskill. A bit uneasy leaving the farm with so much snow and ice, but Chris Barrett and Kevin Baylor came bye today and tied up the driveways and the snow piled up behind the house. They also sanded, which was much appreciated. When you leave, you just have to not look back. And the library tour will be exciting, and challenging. I’m planning on ignoring the weather and just charging ahead until something stops me. Looking forward to many stops, including Providence, my hometown library. I plan to visit my parents tombstones, both in Rhode Island and it will be important to go back and see my books in the library shelves. I remember that kid. He loved his library.

Tomorrow, looks like we’ll get way below zero, and we’ll be putting the donkeys in the barn. From Monday on, it is not that bad, I don’t think.

For some years, I’ve been fascinated by my barn cats, Mother and Minnie, who live somewhere between the world of the pet and that of a wild creature. Nobody knows where they go, what they do, or how they survive the many dangers and predators waiting for them. I’m working on a children’s book that I haven’t finished or sold yet, but that has been in my mind awhile. I call it the “Secret Dance Of The Barn Cats,” because that is the realm of these mysterious creatures, and I like to fantasize about what they do at night.

I’ll share a paragraph or two. I’m thinking of reading from bits of the story on the library tour, if anyone wants to hear it. I will also be talking about “Rose In A Storm” and my forthcoming book on grieving for pets, “Going Home: FInding peace When Animals Die.”

Excerpt, “Secret Dance of the Barn Cats:”

Chapter Three, first draft.

“The Dance always begins in the same way,

the tough old cat leaping up to the highest stack of hay

in the biggest loft.

He leaps through the moonlight,

streaming into the barn from an old and broken window,

and calls the other barn cats to life. And mystery.

Soon, the other barn cats, beckoned

by a secret signal appear,

jump through the moonbeams

and up from the ground through invisible holes.

They paw at the bats.

They stalk the mice.

And the rats.

Who live in the barn.

They jump through the big spider webs

that stretch through the rafters

and play hide-and-seek

in the bales of hay.

And call on their magic.

And nervous mice fly out of their holes,

and bats flutter across the beams,

and spiders run from their webs and skitter

up and down the big wooden poles,

and ride the soft wind, out through the windows…”

The Library Tour is just about here. Tomorrow, 2 p.m., Granville, N.Y., The Pember Library. Maria will do the first of her sketches, and then Monday, we head for Cobleskill, and an evening talk at the library there. Very glad it is hear, and the intense winter will just provide some more focus. A library tour should not be simple or easy these days. But it should be fun. I love these snow shadows, they remind us of the beauty in small things, and of the power in ordinary things we walk right by all the time. If you look a them, they can be mesmerizing.

Snow shadows, a natural art form, and free.

My neighbor Adam took his snowmobile on the path and cleared it, a good neighbor. Izzy was with Maria but the other three had a blast.

I am getting lovely messages from the librarians who are hosting Maria and I are on Loving Libraries book tour, which starts Sunday. I have to say the honor is mine, and I am flattered and very touched to be invited to these sparking jewels, as libraries are  nothing but helpful, inviting, encouraging and safe places for ideas to live and grow. I am very humbled to be invited to so many, and we will plow through cold and snow, if need be, and have a celebration – of libraries and their special place in the history of the world. If you can see you way to helping them, that would be great.