Audio book coming out in the fall

My book that's coming out this fall, Heart's Journey, is also going to be released as an audio book. I found this out after it had already gone to print and it was too late to change it. My unfortunate narrator is going to find himself faced with some Cree and Blackfoot words to tackle. I'm sure he'll do fine. I mean, what can go wrong with words like I'taamikskanaotonni and Sooyaisiihtsi?

A lovely drive yesterday - Grand Bend to Kincardine

Explored an area of Ontario I'd never been to before. Lovely drive along Lake Huron, and a walk along the shore. Beautiful houses, beautiful fields, beautiful day. And a pig.

 

 

What else the garden is doing

The Asparagus from Outer Space

Look at what was in my garden. I swear I just harvested everything yesterday. It must be all the rain.

I sautéed it in lemon-infused olive oil with onions and peppers and stirred it into Orzo with some fresh basil for supper. Yum!

My First Introduction to Jodi Picoult: Leaving Time

I am not what you'd call a big consumer, and most of the time I completely ignore advertising. But there was a poster on the subway promoting Jodi Picoult's latest book, Leaving Time, and it sounded interesting. I'd heard her name before but hadn't read any of her books. So when I stumbled across the book at the library, I checked it out without even reading the blurb on the cover.

Wow. I had no idea what I was getting into. I won't give any spoilers, but it was a powerful story, well written, and I totally didn't see the ending coming. A bit of foul language in it, but it suited the character, and Ms Picoult drew me into the plot to the point where I forgot I was reading and felt I was there. I will definitely read more of her work. It isn't often an author can pull me in like that. Usually I'm too busy picking apart the writing or distracted by the inconsistencies to really immerse myself in the story, but this time was different. I'm glad to have discovered a new author, especially one who has written 20+ books, so I won't have to wait around hoping for the next one to come out all the time. And she mentioned Mormons or Salt Lake City at least four times during the book, just casually dropped into the narrative, which I found curious and intriguing.

I will tell you one of the themes of the book was how elephants grieve. I think the images she painted will haunt me for a long time. The most poignant thing, though, was in the afterword, where she noted that 38,000 African elephants are slaughtered every year, and at that rate they will entirely vanish from the continent within 20 years. And I am horrified. My first thought was, "I have to call my sister the biologist." And my second thought was "My grandchildren won't get to see these magnificent animals." And my next thought was "We as a race have so much to answer for." The pain we have caused, the life we have taken, the suffering animals have endured at our hands. I want to apologize to nature for what we've ruined. The things we have done to the innocents. And I want to cry out with Enoch, "When will the earth rest?"

I only had a few pages left of the book when my bus arrived at my stop, so I got off the bus and sat right down in the sweltering bus shelter and finished it then and there. And wanted to weep all the walk home. When a book can do that to you, you know you have found a profound truth and a talented writer.

Book available

For those who are interested, I have compiled my Blog posts from 2012-2014 in two volumes, now available on Lulu.com. In case you want to catch up on past posts without all the annoying scrolling...  Thanks!  - K

Brio Doesn't Like Thunder

We had a terrific storm here last night, with thunder like cannons going off most of the night and rain hitting the roof so hard I feared for the solar panels. Brio, usually intrepid and enthusiastic, who throws himself into every action with gleeful abandon, was not happy. He whined at the foot of the stairs until we let him come into bed with us, and then he spent the night turning restlessly, pressing his face into my back, and groaning. Poor little puppy. Poor little mommy, who got zero sleep until the storm abated right before the alarm was set to go off. As I dragged myself off to catch the bus this morning, Brio sacked out on the couch to spend his morning sleeping. I admit to a small twinge of resentment.