After three days of brilliant sunshine I woke this morning to snow falling in huge puffy flakes--clumps of flakes really. They looked like communion wafters that someone had baked with leavening by mistake. While I was reading the Sunday paper (including a lovely story about 20-somethings discovering the joy of P-patches, that is, communal gardening) the snow turned to rain. And now I've just had an email advisory from the local weather station: high winds expected later. So it's officially March in Seattle. Don't like the weather? Wait ten minutes. (Don't like the service? Wait ten minutes.)
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Also, I've heard from a handful of readers that some of you are having trouble with the comment box: you're typing in a comment then Blogger eats it. If you've had this problem, could you let me know? It would be good to know how widespread it is, and whether its connected to browser or operating system or, hell, I don't know, star sign. Also, if you have any ideas about fixing this glitch, or have a notion where the fault lies, can you let me know? I really, really hate the notion of people trying to communicate and being shut out by the system.
Meanwhile, the only thing I can suggest is that if it's a lengthy comment, compose offline and cut-and-paste because apparantly the comment usually goes through the second time. I'm sorry about this. I'll see what I can do.
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Ever since I started writing Hild I've been searching for a way for her to have alone time that wasn't just wandering about in the woods. (Personally, I love wandering about in the woods, in real life and as a writer, but it is difficult to maintain any kind of narrative tension/reader engagement.) The other day the solution presented itself: Hild climbs trees. (I have Anthony to thank for this: I downloaded a sample chapter of Robert Macfarlane's The Wild Places and, bam, there was the solution.) So now I going through the ms. looking for places to feather in her tree climbing habit. Along the way I'm researching a variety of tree species and growing conditions, and the beasties that live amongst them. I'm enjoying myself immensely. Life is good.
