This and that

Garden this and that, in no particular order:

  • A buck has been skulking down by the pond, aggravating the dogs every time we go outside.
  • Relatedly, someone with hooves investigated the herb garden last night. They devoured one of the volunteer lettuces.
  • They left the herbs and marigolds alone. Since I don’t like lettuce, this is fine.
  • They also nibbled on the phlox and decided, like last year, it doesn’t taste all that great.
  • They left the newly planted blackberry bush alone.

Writing this and that:

15,000 words in Rose’s POV for The Rose Rebellion. I’m glad I listened to my intuition and didn’t dive into editing The Marigold Miracle. Several things came up this week that I need for that. So, for now, the printout of The Marigold Miracle will continue to sit on my desk, waiting patiently. 

Some garden pics:

Cottage garden in early spring

Current state of the cottage garden. Try to ignore the recycling bins and the Boler that needs a power wash.

Two white and pink peonies

The peonies, back for an encore.

Booking Through Thursday: Pomp and Circumstance

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

It’s graduation season! This week, ponder what book(s) you might give as a graduation present. Something to help them navigate the world? Or maybe some fiction to remind them it’s not all hustle and grind.

What book or books might you give to a young high school or college graduate to help launch them into the world?

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!

June’s Booking Through Thursday prompts

For those who like to plan ahead, here are the June 2026 Booking Through Thursday prompts:

  • June 4: It’s graduation season! What book or books might you give to a young high school or college graduate to help launch them into the world?
  • June 11: It’s also summer blockbuster movie season! Page to screen adaptations: Is the book always better? Is there a movie version you liked better than the book?
  • June 18: How do you feel about retellings? Do you enjoy them?
  • June 25: Do you have a favorite time of day to read?

Want to suggest a prompt? Leave a comment or use the contact form to send it my way.

Whimsy in the garden

Stone hedgehog and rain gauge by hosta plants.

Whimsy is maybe the watchword for the garden this year. Above is a stone hedgehog that used to live in my mother’s garden, along with a dachshund rain gauge. After all, if you’re going to have a rain gauge in your garden, make it a dachshund one.

Some things we’re trying:

  • An old-fashioned herb garden in the raised beds (inspired by a chapter in The Northern Gardener by Mary Lahr Schier).
  • A blackberry bush (we’ll see if it takes)
  • Carving out a few more corners for cottage-like pollinator gardens.
  • Possibly reclaiming a stretch of the lawn by the pond and returning it to native grasses and plants (this is ambitious, and I’m not sure it will happen this year).

I took some photos, but it’s cloudy today (you can tell that in the photo above). Everything looks rather dull, so I decided to hold off on sharing any more pictures for now.

And while I’ve been out lugging mulch and compost around (lots and lots of lugging), I’ve been writing. How, you ask.

Well, technically, not writing. I’ve been using text-to-speech to listen to The Pansy Paradox. I need that in my head as I revise book two and look forward to book three. Listening while working in the garden has been surprisingly enjoyable.

Booking Through Thursday: words and music

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

Do you deliberately choose to listen to music while you read? Prefer peace and quiet? Music, yes, but lyrics no? Whatever your preference, let us know.

Words and music. Do you like listening to music while reading, or does it distract you?

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!

Workshop weather

We had the perfect weather for an author workshop/online conference last week. Cool, cloudy, rain on and off. I had to turn the heat on at one point.

Mama duck and ducklings in the wetlands
Mama duck and her ducklings, braving the chilly weather

If you’re a writer, you can get a great overview of the workshop on Becca Syme’s Patreon. This post here sums it up nicely.

Granted, we went way more in-depth over the three days of the workshop. I’m still processing all the information.

I’m also looking at the weather report. The sun is making a grand reappearance. The heat is headed our way. I must head off and procure more compost and mulch (I live a glamorous life) and stomp around in the garden for a bit.

Sun on the wetlands
Here comes the sun

Booking Through Thursday: favorite lines (but not first lines)

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

This week, please share other favorite lines from books that aren’t the very first line. These can be from anywhere in the story, even the last line.

In a variation on a theme: what are your favorite lines from books that aren’t first lines.

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!

Sunshine and Shakespeare

Look at what we found in the yard. A Fivespot! A volunteer fivespot since we have no idea where it came from, and we haven’t been scattering wildflower seeds yet.

Volunteer Fivespot in the yard

Fivespots are annuals in Minnesota. Perhaps this little one self-seeded and somehow survived the brutal winter. If so, it’s resilient.

In any case, it was a nice surprise.

This week, I managed to combine my Shakespeare class and gardening. Part of the course includes studying an adaptation of one of the plays. This week, it’s The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson, a retelling of The Winter’s Tale.

The library has the audio version, so I’ve been spending hours working in the garden while someone reads to me. It has been lovely.

In writing-related things, I’ve been doing some preliminary work on book three, The Rose Rebellion. There are things I need to know before I tackle revising The Marigold Miracle. Rose has presented her story to me as a series of sent and unsent letters.

Yes. Because I can’t make anything easy on myself. But I’m having so much fun writing these letters, and I’m hoping that I can (fingers crossed) make them work in the overall narrative.

Next week looks busy, what with an author workshop, but I’m hoping for more Shakespeare and sunshine nevertheless.

Booking Through Thursday: favorite first lines

Welcome to Booking Through Thursday, a weekly bookish meme about books and reading for everyone who loves both. Booking Through Thursday was first hosted by Deb. With permission, I’ve restarted it in 2026.

This week’s prompt:

What are your favorite first lines? What first lines hooked you so much that you had to keep reading? Famous first lines are fun, but if you have a recent one, please share the line (and the book and author so we can check it out too).

What are your favorite (or fun) first lines? These can be famous first lines or ones you’ve happened upon recently.

How to play:

  • On your blog: Copy the question/image for your blog, answer it there, and post a quick comment here with a link or trackback to your post so we can read it.
  • On social media: Copy the image, answer the prompt, and post a quick comment here with a link.
  • Right here: Answer in the comments and start the discussion here. No need to have a blog to play.

Note: If it’s your first time here, your comment may end up in moderation. (My spam filter is aggressive.) I’ll be in after my writing sprints to set it free.

P.S. The prompt is always open, and you don’t have to play on Thursday. Comment whenever you like!